I've heard positives and the negatives of buying a dining plan. Being a DVC member we always winged are meals, snacked in the parks (if we wanted) then went to our reservation Dinner and back to the room where we could make what ever. I know there are different plans but what are the advantages. Will appreciate any enlightenment.
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Dining plan or NO Dining plan ?
- Thread starter Daddyoh
- Start date
JennSmith
Well-Known Member
We will be going 9/17-9/26 and we were fortunate enough to get the plan for free, (although I've heard that's never an option for DVC members 
). However we planned on getting it regardless of the promo or not. I just liked the idea because it meant once our trip was paid for it was really pretty much paid for except for souvenirs and possibly some additional snacks here and there. I am thinking about possibly not getting it next time around though, just to see how it compares - DP vs. no DP. We aren't HUGE eaters so the DP may not be all that it's cracked up to be and this is the first time we'll be on property so it was never an option before. Oh another reason I liked the idea is because my oldest daughter has really BIG eyes when she orders food and it really gets on my husband's nerves because she rarely eats half of what she orders and rarely eats the leftovers later but we feel mean if we don't let her order, (you never know...this may be the meal she finishes lol). I figured having the DP and not really worrying about the bill at the time of the meal would make thing less stressful for me when I see my husband's face when my daughter orders lol.
). However we planned on getting it regardless of the promo or not. I just liked the idea because it meant once our trip was paid for it was really pretty much paid for except for souvenirs and possibly some additional snacks here and there. I am thinking about possibly not getting it next time around though, just to see how it compares - DP vs. no DP. We aren't HUGE eaters so the DP may not be all that it's cracked up to be and this is the first time we'll be on property so it was never an option before. Oh another reason I liked the idea is because my oldest daughter has really BIG eyes when she orders food and it really gets on my husband's nerves because she rarely eats half of what she orders and rarely eats the leftovers later but we feel mean if we don't let her order, (you never know...this may be the meal she finishes lol). I figured having the DP and not really worrying about the bill at the time of the meal would make thing less stressful for me when I see my husband's face when my daughter orders lol.
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Disnee4Me
Well-Known Member
I'm trying the free dining plan for this first time this December, although it's not really free because we had to change resorts from POR to CS in order to qualify and pay an additional $400 for the resort. The other problem being my DH loves his appetizers, so we'll definitely be spending $$$ out of pocket. But I figured what the heck, let's give it a shot this one time.
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Monty
Brilliant...and Canadian
- In the Parks
- No
If you like the convenience of pre-paying for your meals, you generally eat in the pattern of the DDP credits (averaging one TS, one QS and one snack per night of your stay) and tend to order the more expensive entrees at Table Service restaurants, then DDP is probably worth considering.
As an AP holder, I find the TiW card a much better option. I don't tend to eat in the DDP "pattern" and don't get any reassurance in loaning my money interest-free to the Mouse. But your results may vary...
As an AP holder, I find the TiW card a much better option. I don't tend to eat in the DDP "pattern" and don't get any reassurance in loaning my money interest-free to the Mouse. But your results may vary...
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NeedMoreMickey
Well-Known Member
I think you have to decide how you are going to spend your days. When I go with my sister we don't usually do the dining plan because of timing, not wanting to take the time for table service every day. On the rare occasion I can get my husband to go we have done the dining plan mostly because the time of year we go Sept or Oct the plan was included. He like a very low key, relaxed, almost boring vacation so taking time to sit and eat fits his plans.
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Oh I understand your husband completely those $25 hot dogs can be a "KILLER" (lol) we had those days for sure. We like our periodic reserved dinner but not on a daily basis, we like cooking our own meals. One of our favorite's is the Liberty Tavern who doesn't like a home cooked turkey dinner. We've eaten at O'hana's the first couple of times I wasn't impressed but went back this last visit and they changed the menu which I liked much better. We're not that big of eaters either and I see that you may wind up eating more junk foods so you get your $$$ worth and it's not a loss. Enjoy your trip, Good Eatens !
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I'm with you, low key and not into time is my speed. Some of the best time is around the pool just vegging .
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If that is your typical MO for dining at WDW, skip the dining plan. There is next to a zero chance of it being any kind of a value for you.
At most, I would look into getting a Tables in Wonderland card.
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Master, Tables in Wonderland card ? This is a new one on me.
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It is a dining discount card available to Florida residents, AP holders and DVC members.
The short version is gives you a 20% discount at nearly every table service restaurant on property and a few of the counter service ones.
The cost for a DVC member is $100 per year making your break even point $500. If you will spend $500 or more at participating locations it is a no brainer.
http://tablesinwonderland.com/
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sxeensweet
Love a little Disney every day!! ;)
Again the biggest misconception is that you have to eat at a TS everyday if you are on the plan! You could eat every other day or every few days and use 2 credit places, etc etc. So many ways to spread your credits out to not have to eat at a TS every single day. I am a DVC member like the OP but we love to get 1.5 hours or so in the evening to relax a bit and be waited on, and have a great meal. We also like the pre paid factor for most of our food like a lot of people do. So we always purchase the plan. And yes we have done the math of having a TIW card but it does not save us really enough to not still want to do the pre paid dining plan option. (Most quick services besides a few here and there are not included of course on TIW and we eat usually at 1 QS average per day besides our TS) But yes the dining plan not for everyone.
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FrostyNaples
Well-Known Member
Honestly, truthfully, my bestest solid advice is this on the DDP.
Try it for yourself.
Then make the future determinations if ever to use it again based on how it worked or didn't work for you.
When it comes to eating food, so subjective this matter is - everyone has a different opinion.
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It seems to me like a lot of people fall into one of these two camps:
1. People who get the Dining Plan like the prepaid aspect of it.
2. People who don't get the Dining Plan like to save money.
I found this site helpful in evaluating the financial aspect of the Dining Plan:
http://www.distripplanner.com/
I would love to try the Dining Plan but based on how we eat, I can never get it to break even, much less save us any money.
I'm a big advocate of Tables in Wonderland. It saves you 20% off food AND alcohol at table service restaurants. I'm DVC so I'm eligible for it.
That's another reason I can't get the Dining Plan to work out financially: I am never eligible for free Dining Plan promotions as I always stay at a DVC resort on points, so I have to pay full price for the Plan.
1. People who get the Dining Plan like the prepaid aspect of it.
2. People who don't get the Dining Plan like to save money.
I found this site helpful in evaluating the financial aspect of the Dining Plan:
http://www.distripplanner.com/
I would love to try the Dining Plan but based on how we eat, I can never get it to break even, much less save us any money.
I'm a big advocate of Tables in Wonderland. It saves you 20% off food AND alcohol at table service restaurants. I'm DVC so I'm eligible for it.
That's another reason I can't get the Dining Plan to work out financially: I am never eligible for free Dining Plan promotions as I always stay at a DVC resort on points, so I have to pay full price for the Plan.
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officialtom
Well-Known Member
We are HUGE fans of the dining plan and I doubt we'll ever go without it. We find it offers more than enough food for each day (with the odd paid-for snack here and there), and we always skip a TS on one day to double-up for a fancy meal another day. We definitely like the pre-paid aspect. At the end of our trips, we almost always have leftover snack credits that we use to buy packable treats to bring home to family and friends.
We're going next at the end of Jan 2016, and are hoping for a free dining promo to come out soon. For now, we only have the room booked.
We're going next at the end of Jan 2016, and are hoping for a free dining promo to come out soon. For now, we only have the room booked.
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lostpro9het
Well-Known Member
IMO, the best dining plan is a loaded Disney gift card combined with a TiW card! The gift card resolves the paying up front issue plus adds flexibility and TiW gives you great discounts on some great food.
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bigorangeandy
Well-Known Member
When I've ran the numbers for our family, it has been less expensive not to have the dinning plan. We don't normally have dessert, and mostly drink water with our meals.
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allgiggles
Well-Known Member
For our family and the way we eat, OOP is typically $300-500 cheaper for us (depending on the length of stay, how many kids are traveling with us, etc). We've used the dining plan in the past but found it to be way too much food for us. We wasted *a lot* of food when using it. I convinced my husband to try a trip without the dining plan but not worry about the cost of what we were ordering. We ate what we were hungry for -- whether that was a full meal or just an appetizer; we bought all of our water in the parks (yes, I know we can get it for free We prefer the taste of bottled water to the free water.); we ate snacks...often; we ordered desserts when we were hungry for them We came out $400 ahead by paying OOP on that trip. Now we don't even consider the DDP (but might if it was free since it would probably be a better discount for our family than a room only discount). I budget the *cost* of the Dining Plan when saving for our Disney trip. I keep that money in our vacation savings account and we just charge everything to the room while we're at Disney. When the credit card bill comes, I pay it off with the money I have set aside for it. And the extra money stays in the account for the next trip.
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This is pretty accurate, I think. We fall into #1.
We had a lovely meal at the Cheesecake Factory on the first night of our trip. The bill came, and we had major sticker shock. In that moment, I was so happy that we wouldn't see a bill like that on our vacation. We wanted to eat at some more expensive places and enjoy a couple of character meals without having to think twice about it.
Having said that, we went 6 years between trips and have no trip planned for the future (though we do dream). We were okay with possibly paying more initially to avoid what we find stressful - large restaurant bills. If we went more frequently, I'm sure we'd be looking to save more money.
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JIMINYCR
Well-Known Member
Every trip we've priced out the menu items, do the comparison and sometimes it works to our benefit by giving us a savings, other times not. The other major factor we take into account is how much time we want to take up with meals. There have been some trips we did a lot of TS and others we didnt feel like we wanted to spend so much time waiting for our ADR table to open up, sit through a meal and then wait for the CM to check us out. There has never been a trip where I found the DDP has saved us a major amount of money. But when its offered free in a package it feels like its a plus.
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DfromATX
Well-Known Member
We have always done the dining plan. To be honest, cost wise, I basically break even - most of the time, but we always end up buying more snacks, so... We use our snacks for breakfast, eat lunch in the parks, and TS for dinner (special & unique). Like others have said, I like the prepaid aspect of it and it's really fun for me to plan the TS meals. I also like the idea @lostpro9het had about a loaded gift card. That's a really great idea!
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