Paying OOP for first time! Are we wrong to try this????

[LuvtheGoof]

The mixed feeling part comes in when I see a family of 5 or 6 at a character meal and suspect that if it were not for free dining or even pre-paid dining those kids would probably not be able to have that opportunity to meet the characters that up close and personal. Depending on the season Chef Mickey's could cost of family of 6 anywhere from around $200 to $350 for breakfast.

I have to give you that one, but the family has already spent thousands of dollars for lodging, airfare (or gas), park tickets, etc., so they could save their money for 6 extra months or a year, and then spend less on the resort. They could stay off-site and save a whole lot over a Disney resort, and that might even be enough to cover the cost of some the ADRs. Lot's of ways that they can still make it happen, without relying on "free dining", which of course, isn't anywhere near free, since you are paying full rack rate for a hotel. JMHO.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I have to give you that one, but the family has already spent thousands of dollars for lodging, airfare (or gas), park tickets, etc., so they could save their money for 6 extra months or a year, and then spend less on the resort. They could stay off-site and save a whole lot over a Disney resort, and that might even be enough to cover the cost of some the ADRs. Lot's of ways that they can still make it happen, without relying on "free dining", which of course, isn't anywhere near free, since you are paying full rack rate for a hotel. JMHO.

Yep. To get free TS credits you're paying rack rate at moderate or better. That's $400 per night per the example provided (since you need two rooms for a family of six). You can save at least enough on that amount by staying off property to afford a character meal.

I have a hard time with the people who cry "poverty" when it comes to a Disney vacation. You have many options to make the trip fit your budget. Don't go, go less frequently, stay off property, go but realize you won't be able to do character dining, etc.

 

[rob0519]

I have to give you that one, but the family has already spent thousands of dollars for lodging, airfare (or gas), park tickets, etc., so they could save their money for 6 extra months or a year, and then spend less on the resort. They could stay off-site and save a whole lot over a Disney resort, and that might even be enough to cover the cost of some the ADRs. Lot's of ways that they can still make it happen, without relying on "free dining", which of course, isn't anywhere near free, since you are paying full rack rate for a hotel. JMHO.

I still agree Free Dining should go. I can only guess it was a knee jerk reaction (mistake) to some downturn in either attendance or food and beverage profits. If they try to get rid of it now, it could be a public relations disaster. It's always been our finding that the discounted room rate and paid dining plan or no dining plan works out best for our family. We book two rooms so my wife and I pay out of pocket while the rest of our party in the 2nd room buys the dining plan more for convenience than any perceived savings.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

I still agree Free Dining should go. I can only guess it was a knee jerk reaction (mistake) to some downturn in either attendance or food and beverage profits. If they try to get rid of it now, it could be a public relations disaster. It's always been our finding that the discounted room rate and paid dining plan or no dining plan works out best for our family. We book two rooms so my wife and I pay out of pocket while the rest of our party in the 2nd room buys the dining plan more for convenience than any perceived savings.

I'm not sold on the convenience factor either. There are multiple sites that have full menus for each restaurant, so would really not be that huge of a deal to sit down, go over the menus with everyone, pick out what they might want there, add it up, and put it on a gift card. Even add 10-20% if someone changes their mind, and there you go. Just as convenient as any other option. Now for someone who doesn't want to do the research, sure the prepaid dining plan can be more convenient, but why would you go to Disney without doing research in the first place? On the first trip that we took the kids, we printed out every menu from every eatery, and had the kids go through them to decide where they might want to eat. We asked them to mark their favorites, and which places they did not want to go to. It took time, but everyone was happy about where we were eating, and we didn't worry about over-spending for a dining plan.

 

[Hockey89]

As you mentioned earlier, you pretty much have to eat steak every place to make it "worth it". And if you use it for a 2 credit signature restaurant, Disney wins big time. Obviously, we don't and never will use the dining plan, but that is us. I wish the dining plan would just go away, as it has really messed up the dining at WDW. Prices at most restaurants have been jacked up like crazy to make the dining plan people think they are getting a good deal. Yes, I have talked with managers, and was told this by many of them. They HATE the dining plan, and so do I.

I will probably get flamed, but if you can't afford to go to WDW without free dining, you shouldn't be going.

Oh I agree.... I would rather them raise prices by 25% to cut down on crowds....

 

[Disnee4Me]

We just switched resorts (POR to CS) to get the free dining in December. Our room rate went up about $400 for the nine nights we are staying, but we average (family of four) about $200/day for food, so I *think* in this case free dining is better than OOP. However, my DH is more or an appetizer type of guy vs a dessert guy, so there will be some OOP expenses. This is our first time trying the dining plan.

 

[righttrack]

The dining plan offers freedom for my teenage children who go off by themselves sometimes. They know how many credits they have and can eat/drink/snack when they want to. Were that not the case, I'd just pay out of pocket. It would be cheaper in many cases.

 

[Mukta]

I think you will do fine without the dining plan. I stopped using is because I don't drink soda, I don't always want dessert after every meal and sometimes I want to try 3 appetizers and no entree.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

The dining plan offers freedom for my teenage children who go off by themselves sometimes. They know how many credits they have and can eat/drink/snack when they want to. Were that not the case, I'd just pay out of pocket. It would be cheaper in many cases.

You trust your teenagers with dining credits but not a $20 bill? At least if you gave them the $20 bill, the damage done from "teenager being teenagers" would be capped at $20. If they go crazy with the dining credits, they can wreak havoc on the meal plan for the whole trip.

 

[righttrack]

You trust your teenagers with dining credits but not a $20 bill? At least if you gave them the $20 bill, the damage done from "teenager being teenagers" would be capped at $20. If they go crazy with the dining credits, they can wreak havoc on the meal plan for the whole trip.

It's not about the cash, it's about the flexibility. My kids are pretty miserly with their credits. We usually end up having a "snack and CS party" the last day on property to use up all the unused credits. YMMV

 

[CaptainAmerica]

It's not about the cash, it's about the flexibility.

That's the argument against the DDP. If I want a bratwurst and only a bratwurst, I'm screwed if I'm on the DDP. It doesn't count as a snack credit so my only option is to do a meal and get a desert I don't feel like eating and a beverage I don't feel like drinking. What if I want eight snacks one day and no meals? Not an option on the DDP.

But like you said, YMMV.

 

[rob0519]

I'm not sold on the convenience factor either. There are multiple sites that have full menus for each restaurant, so would really not be that huge of a deal to sit down, go over the menus with everyone, pick out what they might want there, add it up, and put it on a gift card. Even add 10-20% if someone changes their mind, and there you go. Just as convenient as any other option. Now for someone who doesn't want to do the research, sure the prepaid dining plan can be more convenient, but why would you go to Disney without doing research in the first place? On the first trip that we took the kids, we printed out every menu from every eatery, and had the kids go through them to decide where they might want to eat. We asked them to mark their favorites, and which places they did not want to go to. It took time, but everyone was happy about where we were eating, and we didn't worry about over-spending for a dining plan.

Believe me, we do our planning, but we've never gone so far as to print out menus ahead of time. By convenience, I mean specifically for us. We have two daughters and a disabled son. It's just easier for him to understand that when he goes to breakfast, lunch or wants a snack he doesn't have to worry about what he picks or that he has no money. (He does not comprehend the difference between prices, so this way he gets what he wants.) Since our daughters usually share his room they get the dining plan as well.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

Believe me, we do our planning, but we've never gone so far as to print out menus ahead of time. By convenience, I mean specifically for us. We have two daughters and a disabled son. It's just easier for him to understand that when he goes to breakfast, lunch or wants a snack he doesn't have to worry about what he picks or that he has no money. (He does not comprehend the difference between prices, so this way he gets what he wants.) Since our daughters usually share his room they get the dining plan as well.

That's fine as long as you understand that you are spending more money for your vacation that way.

 

[Otterhead]

I travel with my housemate's brother's DVC points occasionally, and we've always purchased our dining plans when we arrived on-site. Something changed, however, because on one recent trip, when we arrived, we were told that the dining plan had to be arranged beforehand. Oops! So we went out of pocket.

When we tallied up costs afterwards, we found we'd spent more -- but our group drinks alcohol at dinners, often orders more than one appetizer, and often gets deserts. If you eat frugally, you can easily spend less without the dining plan. For me, the plan is still worthwhile.

But I'll echo what Captain America says above: if your group has people going off on their own, the dining plan can be hazardous. I traveled with a teenager this year who discovered he could order room service with the dining plan. He burned through half a week's worth of his table-service credits by ordering a pizza, a hamburger, and a pint of ice cream.

 

[rob0519]

That's fine as long as you understand that you are spending more money for your vacation that way.

Nice to know I have your approval. Of course I understand I'm spending more money. Raising a special needs child into adulthood sometimes means spending more money on a lot of things than other people. Making sure he has an enjoyable and worry free time while at WDW is one of them.

 

[allgiggles]

The dining plan offers freedom for my teenage children who go off by themselves sometimes. They know how many credits they have and can eat/drink/snack when they want to. Were that not the case, I'd just pay out of pocket. It would be cheaper in many cases.

When our sons were teenagers and I didn't trust them with full room charging privileges, we just bought gift cards with the amount of their daily food budget on each card. I think it was $25 at the time (12 years ago). I handed them each a card every morning and they could spend it however they wanted to. Any money left on the card at the end of the day was theirs to put towards more food or drinks another day or they could put it towards their souvenir budget. That gave them a lot of flexibility. If they wanted a lot of snacks and/or drinks during the day they could get them -- they just knew that meant a smaller meal later on. They weren't restricted to the 2 meals and a snack daily allotment like they would be with the dining plan.

Believe me, we do our planning, but we've never gone so far as to print out menus ahead of time. By convenience, I mean specifically for us. We have two daughters and a disabled son. It's just easier for him to understand that when he goes to breakfast, lunch or wants a snack he doesn't have to worry about what he picks or that he has no money. (He does not comprehend the difference between prices, so this way he gets what he wants.) Since our daughters usually share his room they get the dining plan as well.

He could do the same thing and pay OOP and you'd save money. He'd have to order the most expensive thing on the menu every single time to even come close to breaking even on the dining plan. Buy gift cards with the daily cost of the dining plan (minus a few dollars for the cost of the refillable mug) on each of them -- or one card with the total cost of the dining plan on it -- and you'll most certainly have money leftover at the end of the week to put towards souvenirs.

We've done free dining (with 5 kids, Free dining was a better discount than the room discounts offered at the time) and while we enjoyed that "freedom" of feeling like we didn't have to worry about what we were ordering, we realized we threw away a lot of food. And on the last day, we still had 20 snack credits to use up before we left. The next time we went, my husband wanted to pay for the dining plan but I convinced him not to because I was sure it would cost us less to pay OOP. We still ate whatever we wanted at the restaurants (including desserts when we were hungry for them); bought all of our water and other drinks in the parks when we were thirsty (I refuse to lug around drinks to save a few $$$); ate snacks when we were hungry; and we all got refillable mugs and we *still* saved over $400 by paying out of pocket. The dining plan will never make sense for us...unless we have several kids (Disney adults) traveling with us and it's offered for free.

 

[Otterhead]

He could do the same thing and pay OOP and you'd save money. He'd have to order the most expensive thing on the menu every single time to even come close to breaking even on the dining plan.

Not really. It very much depends on what restaurants you eat at, whether you're ordering deserts, whether you're ordering appetizers, etc. For some people's dining habits -- like yours -- the DP isn't worthwhile. For others, it can be a cost savings. Now, I'll say that even a best-case scenario, it's not much of a savings at all. But it's certainly nice to not carry cash or a credit card.

 

[rob0519]

When our sons were teenagers and I didn't trust them with full room charging privileges, we just bought gift cards with the amount of their daily food budget on each card. I think it was $25 at the time (12 years ago). I handed them each a card every morning and they could spend it however they wanted to. Any money left on the card at the end of the day was theirs to put towards more food or drinks another day or they could put it towards their souvenir budget. That gave them a lot of flexibility. If they wanted a lot of snacks and/or drinks during the day they could get them -- they just knew that meant a smaller meal later on. They weren't restricted to the 2 meals and a snack daily allotment like they would be with the dining plan.




He could do the same thing and pay OOP and you'd save money. He'd have to order the most expensive thing on the menu every single time to even come close to breaking even on the dining plan. Buy gift cards with the daily cost of the dining plan (minus a few dollars for the cost of the refillable mug) on each of them -- or one card with the total cost of the dining plan on it -- and you'll most certainly have money leftover at the end of the week to put towards souvenirs.

We've done free dining (with 5 kids, Free dining was a better discount than the room discounts offered at the time) and while we enjoyed that "freedom" of feeling like we didn't have to worry about what we were ordering, we realized we threw away a lot of food. And on the last day, we still had 20 snack credits to use up before we left. The next time we went, my husband wanted to pay for the dining plan but I convinced him not to because I was sure it would cost us less to pay OOP. We still ate whatever we wanted at the restaurants (including desserts when we were hungry for them); bought all of our water and other drinks in the parks when we were thirsty (I refuse to lug around drinks to save a few $$$); ate snacks when we were hungry; and we all got refillable mugs and we *still* saved over $400 by paying out of pocket. The dining plan will never make sense for us...unless we have several kids (Disney adults) traveling with us and it's offered for free.

As Otterhead says in a later post, it's not the best case scenario, but we found it works for us. No one has to carry cash or gift cards. No one has to worry about what to order and for us. I said we do it for convenience, not savings. We don't do "free dining", preferring the discounted room rates. Most if not all of the TS meals are Character Breakfasts or Dinners. Plus we already know how much food will cost for three fifths of our party. If Disney completely dumped the dining plan tomorrow, I wouldn't have a problem with it.

 

[mousehockey37]

Yep. To get free TS credits you're paying rack rate at moderate or better. That's $400 per night per the example provided (since you need two rooms for a family of six). You can save at least enough on that amount by staying off property to afford a character meal.

I have a hard time with the people who cry "poverty" when it comes to a Disney vacation. You have many options to make the trip fit your budget. Don't go, go less frequently, stay off property, go but realize you won't be able to do character dining, etc.

I've never done character dining but from the reviews that people give, the meals seem to be rather simple. So you're using your credits or are paying OOP for the location and experience... it's not even about the food at that point. Character Dining should just be called a "meal character FP" lol.

 

[mousehockey37]

There are so many factors with these Free Dining things. Of course it's going to be better for some than others. A large group will benefit more than someone going solo or a couple. I'll seemingly start to agree with others that maybe free dining should be shown the door. Wasn't it a way to get people to come during the "slow times" of the year? Last I checked, September isn't really all that slow anymore with Halloween stuff starting up and F&W (which can bring up a totally new thread of what IS and IS NOT covered on the DP at F&W), not to mention, the growing popularity of the runDisney stuff (not that there is a run that time of year, I don't think anyway) but you can see where I'm going... Disney has other things in place to pull in the crowds where the normal dining plans are still being sold and people still pay OOP.