2019 Dining Plan costs

[HauntedPirate]

I was just exchanging text messages with a friend/neighbor about prices for next year. Looking at 7 nights in June, the QSP is $210 per person per night (The DDP is $302 per person per night). To us, that's just ridiculous. Can you even break even with the QSP anymore? Even with ordering the most expensive items at the various quick service locations plus the most expensive snacks, I think you'd struggle to break even.

Thoughts? If I'm way off-base, I'll readily admit to it, but this pricing seems to suggest I'm more accurate than off-base.

EDIT: I didn't divide the daily cost by the number of people, so the $210/day figure is accurate, for 4 "adults" (2 adults and 2 children, in the case of my friend), or $52.50 per person per night.

 

[epcotisbest]

I was just exchanging text messages with a friend/neighbor about prices for next year. Looking at 7 nights in June, the QSP is $210 per person per night (The DDP is $302 per person per night). To us, that's just ridiculous. Can you even break even with the QSP anymore? Even with ordering the most expensive items at the various quick service locations plus the most expensive snacks, I think you'd struggle to break even.

Thoughts? If I'm way off-base, I'll readily admit to it, but this pricing seems to suggest I'm more accurate than off-base.

Where in the world are you getting those numbers?

 

[DisneyJoe]

QSP is $52.50 (tax included) per night per adult or junior (ages 10+) and $23.78 (tax included) per night per child (ages 3-9).

DDP is $75.49 (tax included) per night per adult or junior (ages 10+) and $27.98 (tax included) per night per child (ages 3-9).

 

[DisAl]

That sounds more like the price per day for your whole party. How many in your group?
The QS plan is $52.50, the 1 QS 1 TS plan is $75.49, and the 3 TS plan is $116.25 per day per adult according to the info I have.

 

[DisneyJoe]

I bet 4 adults or juniors

 

[epcotisbest]

I bet 4 adults or juniors

Yes, that makes sense. $52.50 x 4 adults would come out to $210. When OP said "per person, per night" I thought there is a mistake somewhere.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Yeah, never mind. Forgot to continue that hard math stuff and divide the $210 by 4 people.

Still, I think it’s crazy to spend $50+ a day, at WDW, on fast food.

 

[DarthVader]

$52.50 x 4 adults would come out to $210.

The problem is, what Disney considers kids, they have the age limit set way too low, and because of that, the meal plan makes no sense for us. Its cheaper for us to pay out of pocket. Heck, even now, at age 12, they still order from the child's menu.

 

[jaklgreen]

The dining plan has not been a good deal in many many years. It is not even a convenience, IMO since you are constantly trying to keep track of your points and make sure you use them up so you feel like you are getting your money's worth. Just pay out of pocket. Better yet, charge everything back to your room and pay once. To me, that is the most convenient way to do things.

 

[Jon81uk]

Quick service plan has never been a good deal and the regular DDP is only just about worth it. Only really a good idea to get the plan if it is free and the discount is worth it for you. Although now you can get alcoholic drinks with both plans it can be easier to get value for over-21s.

If you think of a QS meal as $18 including a soft drink and snacks are around $4-5, then two meals and two snacks is only going to cost around $45. Its very difficult to get to $52, unless you regularly order alcohol, which I wouldn't really do with QS.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Still, I think it’s crazy to spend $50+ a day, at WDW, on fast food.

People always say this, but who eats "fast food" at WDW? On an eight night trip, I have maybe one hot dog and maybe one hamburger, even if all we do is QS. If you order the right things, WDW has some of the best counter-service food you'll find anywhere.

(To be clear, I don't like the dining plan. But I'll happily defend WDW's "fast food.")

The problem is, what Disney considers kids, they have the age limit set way too low, and because of that, the meal plan makes no sense for us. Its cheaper for us to pay out of pocket. Heck, even now, at age 12, they still order from the child's menu.

Yes. The 10 year old "adults" and the three year old "children" make the DDP or any prix fixe dining option a terrible deal. Even if you pay cash, something like a buffet is usually a poor way to spend your money. It doesn't make much sense that a three year old and a nine year old are the same price at Crystal Palace.

The dining plan has not been a good deal in many many years. It is not even a convenience, IMO since you are constantly trying to keep track of your points and make sure you use them up so you feel like you are getting your money's worth. Just pay out of pocket. Better yet, charge everything back to your room and pay once. To me, that is the most convenient way to do things.

It's "convenient" for people with poor self control and/or bad money habits. Most people who are very pro-DDP will say things like "it's convenient to put it on my credit card now so I don't have a big surprise bill after my trip."

 

[J_Krafty24]

I consider the quick service plan to be worth 25-30$ per person per day. Between the two of us my husband and I typically share 3 quick service meals (with free water) and 3 snack credit qualifying snacks a day. We have free dining for our upcoming trip which makes sense for use only because we would be getting park hoppers anyway. I am looking forward to having some things that I typically wouldn't at the parks (why get a single scoop cone ice cream when the ice cream sundae is also a snack credit! Why not get a milk shake with my meal if it counts as my drink! ) But I would never pay full price for any of the dining plans in their current state.

 

[slappy magoo]

At the very least I think there needs to be a third price tier for those "juniors." Yes I know some 10 year olds might eat more than many adults but no 10 year old is ordering wine with their meals in WDW. So a $15 difference between adults and juniors makes sense, to compensate for one alcoholic beverage for their TS or QS meals.

 

[crxbrett]

Everybody is different in terms of what they eat and drink, so research the menus and add up what you eat in a day. I always say, big eaters/drinkers definitely benefit and save with the DP.

For me personally, the regular DP saves me money. Even more so now that they added an alcoholic drink with each TS meal. Most DW cocktails are $12-$16 alone. That 1 drink alone already puts me 1/5 of the way to the $75 per day it cost me to get the DP. Throw in 2 snacks (bfast) and it's another $10-$15. Add a QS for my lunch, which is usually $15-$20 and now we are already at $40-$50 for the day. Then dinner, which is easily $40-$75 for me and I am looking at $90-$125 for the day, even though I only paid $75. So I easily see a good $25-$50 saved in a day using the DP. On a 14-day vacation, that adds up to a lot of money saved.

But again, not everyone eats and drinks the same. If you find you eat the menu items that tend to be not as pricey and don't eat dessert or drink alcohol - I don't think the DP saves you anything at all.

If you utilize the DP to it's full extent, it saves a lot. But you have to utilize it. Have to. But also don't force yourself to overeat or choose items you normally wouldn't want to eat, either. Me? I workout a lot, so in-turn I eat like a bear and power down a ton of food. Plus, I have a huge sweet tooth for dessert with every dinner and enjoy alcohol as well as eating steaks. So the DP fits perfectly with my food needs and actually does indeed save me some dough. The convience and ease of using it is just an added bonus/perk for me. But I can see why for some people the ease of using it may make it worth it, even though some may not actually save any money at all by electing to get it.

That being said, I have never used the QS DP. Perhaps that one isn't as great of a deal.

 

[Jayhawkie]

I have always done the regular DP. After figuring up how much it would be for 5 adults and one child I'm going with the QS plan. We will still go to some sit down restaurants but not as many as we normally would. I agree that Disney needs to come up with a middle DP for children that are 10 and older but aren't quite eating adult portions yet. We will probably share some CS to help stretch our QSP as far as possible.

 

[DisAl]

There have been many questions as to whether the dining plan is worth the cost.
We just got back from WDW and were on the Deluxe Dining Plan for 6 nights. The cost of the plan is $116.25 per adult per day. Our average "spend" was $162.39 per day (not including out of pocket tips) per adult, so we "saved" quite a bit. FYI the tips were about what we normally pay for a 10 oz. strip steak and 6 shrimp dinner here at home! The $162.39 does not include the two snacks per day, I just didn't keep up with that but you could add an average of $10 per day for snacks.
We did a signature and one regular seated meal per day. We ordered whatever we wanted, not always the most expensive items. The catch is that we would never order an appetizer, entre, AND desert if we were paying out of pocket. SO, you could spend less than the cost of the plan but not get what we got for the price.
Bottom line is if you really like the dining aspect of a WDW trip and really want to splurge you can "save" some money with the dining plan but you really have to plan ahead and get some good restaurants to do so.
What I am most pleased with though is that with an average of 8.2 miles per day walking I didn't gain any weight that week!

 

[aliceismad]

There have been many questions as to whether the dining plan is worth the cost.
We just got back from WDW and were on the Deluxe Dining Plan for 6 nights. The cost of the plan is $116.25 per adult per day. Our average "spend" was $162.39 per day (not including out of pocket tips) per adult, so we "saved" quite a bit. FYI the tips were about what we normally pay for a 10 oz. strip steak and 6 shrimp dinner here at home! The $162.39 does not include the two snacks per day, I just didn't keep up with that but you could add an average of $10 per day for snacks.
We did a signature and one regular seated meal per day. We ordered whatever we wanted, not always the most expensive items. The catch is that we would never order an appetizer, entre, AND desert if we were paying out of pocket. SO, you could spend less than the cost of the plan but not get what we got for the price.
Bottom line is if you really like the dining aspect of a WDW trip and really want to splurge you can "save" some money with the dining plan but you really have to plan ahead and get some good restaurants to do so.
What I am most pleased with though is that with an average of 8.2 miles per day walking I didn't gain any weight that week!

Congrats on your 45th anniversary!

Your comment about having an app, entree, and dessert are why the dining plan doesn't work for my family. I won't eat my entree if I get an app. And I usually prefer to do some walking and get a dessert somewhere else. But I'm glad the plan worked out well for you.

 

[jaklgreen]

Congrats on your 45th anniversary!

Your comment about having an app, entree, and dessert are why the dining plan doesn't work for my family. I won't eat my entree if I get an app. And I usually prefer to do some walking and get a dessert somewhere else. But I'm glad the plan worked out well for you.

Same with me, there is no way I can eat that much food. But I seriously wish that I could on my Disney trips. LOL

 

[DisAl]

Congrats on your 45th anniversary!

Your comment about having an app, entree, and dessert are why the dining plan doesn't work for my family. I won't eat my entree if I get an app. And I usually prefer to do some walking and get a dessert somewhere else. But I'm glad the plan worked out well for you.

I agree with you. After some meals I felt like Jabba the Hutt.
The only time we do the deluxe plan is when it is just the wife and me on one of our every five years anniversary trips and we are planning for a signature restaurant every day. And yes, it is too much food but we figure once every five years we can handle it.
We would never do the deluxe plan when we take the whole family including two grandchildren. We would never be able to extract the value from the plan.
The only reason we do even the regular dining plan with the whole family trips is because we always do a number of character meals and those tend to be rather expensive too.

 

[aliceismad]

I agree with you. After some meals I felt like Jabba the Hutt.
The only time we do the deluxe plan is when it is just the wife and me on one of our every five years anniversary trips and we are planning for a signature restaurant every day. And yes, it is too much food but we figure once every five years we can handle it.
We would never do the deluxe plan when we take the whole family including two grandchildren. We would never be able to extract the value from the plan.
The only reason we do even the regular dining plan with the whole family trips is because we always do a number of character meals and those tend to be rather expensive too.

I’d love to do some more of the signature restaurants. Is there one or two in partythat you enjoyed?

ETA: I mean to ask which restaurants you liked the best. My brain was just too sleepy to function.