Are the Dining Plans worth it for people who don't drink alcohol

[WilliamK99]

Worth it is entirely up to you. I just did Deluxe Dining Plan for 8 days with my family of 4 (Never again) But I dont regret it because it made for a nice stress free vacation where we got to eat what we wanted and not have sticker shock after every meal. We also did a ton of experiences we never would have thought about doing. Most of the alcoholic beverages are 12 to 15 dollars so by not getting them, it may be cheaper to pay per meal, but again its up to you. Fairly certain I may have not gotten my full moneys worth on DDP, but the lack of stress and sticker shock more than made up for it.

 

[mj2v]

We don’t find them worthwhile for our family.

I like to pick what I eat. If I have the plan, I find myself eating more and more frequently. I order things I normally wouldn’t to make sure I use every credit.

we use Tables In Wonderland and ap/DVC discounts.

 

[WDWTrojan]

I'll never understand the dining plan people. To break even you have to eat every meal at a character meal or basically order the most expensive items on each menu and missing one dinner can cost you a bunch of money. Love watching people hoard packages of Disney-branded snacks and treats, they'd never otherwise buy, into their luggage because they have so many snack credits left. Just doesn't make sense to me.

This doesn't include the damage its done to food, menus and the availability of dining across property.

 

[psuchad]

There isn't an easy answer. It all depends on how you use the Dining Plan and how you pay for your vacation. If you purchase the dining plan a year in advance and make cash payments on your reservation, I can see it saving money, especially if you would normally put your meal payments on a credit card at 17% interest.

I hate to say, but you have to do a lot of homework. Find an online calculator or use a spreadsheet. It's tedious work but it could save you a ton. You also have to balance savings/convenience. For example, on my upcoming 10-night trip, it is only $80 more for us to purchase the Park Hopper Plus vs standard Park Hopper. We have no intention of visiting the water parks. But on the off chance that we would, it would cost $280 for a one-day waterpark ticket for four people. So I paid the $80 for the convenience.

 

[JMcMahonEsq]

I'll never understand the dining plan people. To break even you have to eat every meal at a character meal or basically order the most expensive items on each menu and missing one dinner can cost you a bunch of money. Love watching people hoard packages of Disney-branded snacks and treats, they'd never otherwise buy, into their luggage because they have so many snack credits left. Just doesn't make sense to me.

This doesn't include the damage its done to food, menus and the availability of dining across property.

Besides the simple convenience factor of having your meal budget already paid for, it really does come down to character meals, thought not every meal as this post would suggest. Though time length of you trip may vary, if you are doing 2 character meals or more, I think (and this is a broad generalization) the meal plan ends up being cost effective. For example lets say you are doing Cinderella's Royal Table and Chef Mickey's during your stay (which we happened to do in 2016). Chef Mickey for a family of 4 (2A and 2K) is $190 for dinner. CRT is $240 for dinner. The cost of paying cash for those restaurants far exceeds what the share of the meal itself off the overall Disney Meal Plan would be.

 

[hystericalbende]

You also need to factor gratuity into your calculations. We ended up spending more on our tips each meal than we would on a QS meal. So while you get the benefit of the nicer meal, you may be spending more collectively out of pocket than you would by only paying directly for those one or two special meals. There were several points where we would have preferred to eat QS for convenience, but felt obligated to "get our money's worth" by booking all the TS credits we have. Totally agree with others that free dining changes things. For us, I don't think we'll purchase the plan outright again.

 

[m3000]

Doing the math based on 2020 prices, this is how much Disney calculates each type of meal is worth (edited to fix math based on discussion below):
Snack: $7
Quick Service: $20
Table Service: $44

So if you typically spend under those prices for those types of meals, then it's better to pay out of pocket.

Looking at menus, the vast majority of meals and snacks are less than that, so it's quite unlikely someone would come out ahead. If you add alcoholic drinks and everyone gets their own dessert for every meal, then you might tie it, but rarely would you significantly beat it. As I read somewhere, the dining plans aren't meant as a money savings plan at all, it's simply a "pay ahead for worst-case food cost" plan. To me it only makes sense to get the dining plan if you get it for free, and even then it might not be worth it depending on room and ticket discounts you give up to get the free dining.

Though I understand the arguments that even if it's mathematically a better deal to pay out of pocket, the psychological aspect of not seeing a $150 dinner bill every night you're on vacation vs a $2000 bill you already forgot about can't be underestimated and might be worth a few extra hundred dollars to some people.

 

[Weather_Lady]

Doing the math based on 2020 prices, this is how much Disney calculates each type of meal is worth:
Snack: $11
Quick Service: $16
Table Service: $40

So if you typically spend under those prices for those types of meals, then it's better to pay out of pocket.

Looking at menus, the vast majority of meals and snacks are less than that, so it's quite unlikely someone would come out ahead. If you add alcoholic drinks, then you might tie it, but rarely would you significantly beat it. As I read somewhere, the dining plans aren't meant as a money savings plan at all, it's simply a "pay ahead for worst-case food cost" plan. To me it only makes sense to get the dining plan if you get it for free, and even then it might not be worth it depending on room and ticket discounts you give up to get the free dining.

Though I understand the arguments that even if it's mathematically a better deal to pay out of pocket, the psychological aspect of not seeing a $150 dinner bill every night you're on vacation vs a $2000 bill you already forgot about can't be underestimated.

At first I thought your math was $11 short (DDP for 2020 is $78/day), but I assume you meant $11/snack for each of the 2 snacks per person, per day. Just curious where you got that figure -- I thought most designated snacks were in the $3-$7 range.

 

[m3000]

I thought your math was $11 short, but I assume you meant $11/snack for each of the 2 snacks per person, per day? Just curious where you got that figure -- I thought most designated snacks were in the $3-$7 range.

The numbers come from doing the algebra based on $55 for QS plan, $78 for TS, and $139 for Deluxe. Though in double checking this, I forgot the 2 snacks you also get with the Deluxe plan, which messes up the math. So more realistically given that a snack would be valued at $7, then it comes out to:
Snack: $7
Quick Service: $20
Table Service: $44

So it's actually even harder to come out ahead on the dining plans as almost all meals and snacks would be less than that. And if you skip a snack or get a cheaper snack, it means that you have to spend that much more on dinner to break even.

The Deluxe plan is a slightly better value on a per-TS-meal value, but that is soooo much food. And even that would mean you'd need to spend more than $35 a meal, including breakfast, every day, along with the two $7 snacks, to make the Deluxe plan worth it.

 

[JMcMahonEsq]

Doing the math based on 2020 prices, this is how much Disney calculates each type of meal is worth (edited to fix math based on discussion below):
Snack: $7
Quick Service: $20
Table Service: $44

So if you typically spend under those prices for those types of meals, then it's better to pay out of pocket.

Looking at menus, the vast majority of meals and snacks are less than that, so it's quite unlikely someone would come out ahead. If you add alcoholic drinks, then you might tie it, but rarely would you significantly beat it. As I read somewhere, the dining plans aren't meant as a money savings plan at all, it's simply a "pay ahead for worst-case food cost" plan. To me it only makes sense to get the dining plan if you get it for free, and even then it might not be worth it depending on room and ticket discounts you give up to get the free dining.

Though I understand the arguments that even if it's mathematically a better deal to pay out of pocket, the psychological aspect of not seeing a $150 dinner bill every night you're on vacation vs a $2000 bill you already forgot about can't be underestimated.

Although this isn't a likely dealbreaker for anyone, this math also leaves out the re-fillable cups which I will admit to using pretty frequently, especially in the summer seasons. Figure using cups once in the morning and twice in evening that's got to add at least $7-8 dollars per day min and with unlimited refills, YMMV but it could be even further savings.

 

[Jon81uk]

Although this isn't a likely dealbreaker for anyone, this math also leaves out the re-fillable cups which I will admit to using pretty frequently, especially in the summer seasons. Figure using cups once in the morning and twice in evening that's got to add at least $7-8 dollars per day min and with unlimited refills, YMMV but it could be even further savings.

The cup is about $20 one-off for length of stay if you don't have the dining plan. So on a 10 night stay that's about $2 a day, or for a 7 night stay about $3. Its almost not worth worrying about how much the refill mug is in the grand scheme of the dining plan.

 

[JMcMahonEsq]

The cup is about $20 one-off for length of stay if you don't have the dining plan. So on a 10 night stay that's about $2 a day, or for a 7 night stay about $3. Its almost not worth worrying about how much the refill mug is in the grand scheme of the dining plan.

Thanks Jon, I hadn't realized their was a non-dining plan purchase option for that.

 

[Dave B]

Doing the math based on 2020 prices, this is how much Disney calculates each type of meal is worth (edited to fix math based on discussion below):
Snack: $7
Quick Service: $20
Table Service: $44

So if you typically spend under those prices for those types of meals, then it's better to pay out of pocket.

Looking at menus, the vast majority of meals and snacks are less than that, so it's quite unlikely someone would come out ahead. If you add alcoholic drinks and everyone gets their own dessert for every meal, then you might tie it, but rarely would you significantly beat it. As I read somewhere, the dining plans aren't meant as a money savings plan at all, it's simply a "pay ahead for worst-case food cost" plan. To me it only makes sense to get the dining plan if you get it for free, and even then it might not be worth it depending on room and ticket discounts you give up to get the free dining.

Though I understand the arguments that even if it's mathematically a better deal to pay out of pocket, the psychological aspect of not seeing a $150 dinner bill every night you're on vacation vs a $2000 bill you already forgot about can't be underestimated and might be worth a few extra hundred dollars to some people.

The TS cost is cheap, we spend A LOT more than that per person when we eat TS, A Lot more, we also try not to use QS for hamburgers and nuggets, we try and eat at places like Satulli canteen, Flame Tree BBQ and places that are far superior to the norms. We also use our snack credits at the Food and wine booths at the festival and the cost of the items are generally a lot more than $7, so I would agree if you don't eat like a king and you just use it on basic meals it is not worth it. But if you eat at Le Cellier, any character buffets, Yachtsmen Steakhouse, Narcosses. California Grill, Liberty Tree Tavern etc, I know you come out ahead, especially if you drink any alcohol or specialty drinks

 

[Jon81uk]

The TS cost is cheap, we spend A LOT more than that per person when we eat TS, A Lot more, we also try not to use QS for hamburgers and nuggets, we try and eat at places like Satulli canteen, Flame Tree BBQ and places that are far superior to the norms. We also use our snack credits at the Food and wine booths at the festival and the cost of the items are generally a lot more than $7, so I would agree if you don't eat like a king and you just use it on basic meals it is not worth it. But if you eat at Le Cellier, any character buffets, Yachtsmen Steakhouse, Narcosses. California Grill, Liberty Tree Tavern etc, I know you come out ahead, especially if you drink any alcohol or specialty drinks

California Grill, Le Cellier, Narcosses all need two TS credits so based on the same figures you would need to spend $88 per person really and given there are some main courses that are only $35ish it can be hard to break even if you don’t get the $55 steak at those places.

 

[Mr Ferret 75]

Last trip we upgraded from the free standard plan to the 1Ts 1cs plan. Kept all the receipts and did the maths when we got back.
Saved us several hundred dollars over the two weeks.

 

[Dave B]

California Grill, Le Cellier, Narcosses all need two TS credits so based on the same figures you would need to spend $88 per person really and given there are some main courses that are only $35ish it can be hard to break even if you don’t get the $55 steak at those places.

Always get the steak, or steak and lobster

 

[Weather_Lady]

California Grill, Le Cellier, Narcosses all need two TS credits so based on the same figures you would need to spend $88 per person really and given there are some main courses that are only $35ish it can be hard to break even if you don’t get the $55 steak at those places.

Agreed!

If I may offer an example to illustrate your point, I just checked out the Tiffins menu (a 2-credit experience and with one of the most expensive entrees to be found): if you order the most expensive entree (the $65 surf and turf), the most expensive dessert ($14), and a glass of wine or beer ($9), you only break even at $88, and you've ingested about 4,000 calories to do it -- and if you're on the dining plan and committed to getting your money's worth, you're going to have to turn around and order the same types of food all over again at your next, gut-busting TS meal, plus find the time each day to cram down two of the biggest, most expensive snacks you can find, and a counter-service meal combo with another alcoholic drink or giant specialty beverage, in between slugs of fountain beverage refills in your refillable mug. I'm a big eater, but even when we got the DDP for free, DH and I couldn't remotely handle that amount of food every day!

I'd much rather order the stuff I really prefer to eat (e.g., at Tiffins, split an appetizer with DH which the dining plan wouldn't even cover, order the shrimp and grits or the pork belly, split a dessert trio and have a glass of wine -- all for $60-65 per person out of pocket, and I'll still leave the meal totally satisfied, albeit perhaps with room for a Dole Whip later on...)

For my family, the DDP offers nothing more than a way to "overpay to overeat." No judgment for those who like it, though: for those who get a kick out of having the most expensive entree or the most food for every meal and prefer to do it via the DDP, I say rock on!

 

[Mr Ferret 75]

Agreed!

If I may offer an example to illustrate your point, I just checked out the Tiffins menu (a 2-credit experience and with one of the most expensive entrees to be found): if you order the most expensive entree (the $65 surf and turf), the most expensive dessert ($14), and a glass of wine or beer ($9), you only break even at $88, and you've ingested about 4,000 calories to do it -- and if you're on the dining plan and committed to getting your money's worth, you're going to have to turn around and order the same types of food all over again at your next, gut-busting TS meal, plus find the time each day to cram down two of the biggest, most expensive snacks you can find, and a counter-service meal combo with another alcoholic drink or giant specialty beverage, in between slugs of fountain beverage refills in your refillable mug. I'm a big eater, but even when we got the DDP for free, DH and I couldn't remotely handle that amount of food every day!

I'd much rather order the stuff I really prefer to eat (e.g., at Tiffins, split an appetizer with DH which the dining plan wouldn't even cover, order the shrimp and grits or the pork belly, split a dessert trio and have a glass of wine -- all for $60-65 per person out of pocket, and I'll still leave the meal totally satisfied, albeit perhaps with room for a Dole Whip later on...)

For my family, the DDP offers nothing more than a way to "overpay to overeat." No judgment for those who like it, though: for those who get a kick out of having the most expensive entree or the most food for every meal and prefer to do it via the DDP, I say rock on!

Thing is we didn't always have the most expensive item on the menu and didn't use all oir snack credits and still came out ahead by several hundred dollars.

 

[Weather_Lady]

Thing is we didn't always have the most expensive item on the menu and didn't use all oir snack credits and still came out ahead by several hundred dollars.

I'm happy that you did -- but per your post, you were only paying the cost to "upgrade" a free [presumably QS] dining plan to the DDP. My post was comparing the price of TS items to the "value" of a TS meal for those who are paying to purchase the DDP outright, at full cost.

For anyone in your position -- getting the DDP for free or upgrading to it with a substantial discount -- yes, it's a good deal.

 

[Mr Ferret 75]

I'm happy that you did -- but per your post, you were only paying the cost to "upgrade" a free [presumably QS] dining plan to the DDP. My post was comparing the price of TS items to the "value" of a TS meal for those who are paying to purchase the DDP outright, at full cost.

Outright purchase i would agree on the pay out of pocket option