So many people post about getting the dining plan for “convenience,” which I don’t really understand. Or they don’t want to think about prices and how much they’re spending while on vacation so they pay Disney in advance. This is a psychological value that you can’t really put a price on.
These folks aren’t pricing out hundreds of menu items in advance. They know the dining plan may be costing them more than paying out of pocket and simply don’t care.
We had the free dining plan when it was first offered and included appetizers and gratuity. After they changed we bought it only once - the first time we took our kids’ now-spouses to WDW. I knew if they saw the menu prices they would not have ordered what they really wanted. (They grew out of that quickly

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