We were at WDW last week, two adults for 7 nights. Originally we had planned to use the dining plan, but canceled it when our time frame was not included in the free dining offer. I kept track of our out of pocket food expenses to compare to the cost of the dining plan. I had purchased Disney gift cards at Target at a 5% discount to use for our food. We were joined the evening of day 3 by my son and daughter-in-law, who have a TIW card. When the four of us dined together, we just split the bill instead of trying to figure out who had ordered what.
The meal plan would have provided 7 snacks, and 7 table meals and 7 quick service meals, which would have included a non-alcoholic drink, entree, and dessert each. Instead, we ate what we wanted, sometimes getting two appetizers and splitting an entree. We sometimes skipped dessert at the restaurant to get something later in the parks. We had adult beverages most every night. We often split appetizers. We had dinner at two signature restaurants; Citricos and California Grill. Our California Grill night included drinks, appetizers, entree and dessert for all. We also ate at Crystal Palace, Be Our Guest (lunch and dinner), 50's Prime Time Cafe, Tutto Italia Ristorante, and twice at Beaches and Cream for lunch and ice cream. We spent our last evening at the Food & Wine Festival, eating and drinking our way around the world.
Our total out of pocket costs, including alcohol and appetizers that would not have been covered by the meal plan, ended up being $105 less than the cost of the meal plan. Not only did it save us money to pay out of pocket, we ate what we wanted, when we wanted, instead of trying to order to make the most of the meal plan. We certainly didn't skimp on snacks. We never had a problem anywhere splitting an entree or appetizer. In fact, if we told the server we were splitting, it would be brought to us split onto two plates.
