Dining plan vs on your own

[twoweirdos]

Did anyone get the dining plan and enjoy it?Did you save money?
Im soo confused over the options and cost
I wish there was a lil booklet/brochure that covered it all
tia

 

[wizards8507]

There is. You can pick it up at AAA or from the Disney website.

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/me...alog/WaltDisneyWorld/en_us/PDF/2010Dining.pdf

Basically, the dining plan is worth it if you use every single credit offered to you. If you skip out on some snacks, or you don't feel hungry enough for desert, then you're better off buying your own food. (Rumor is the 2011 plan will exclude desert and slightly lower prices so that might solve one problem.) The reason I personally enjoy DDP is because it allows you to pay for your food all at once without cracking open your wallet every meal. Taking that big expense all at once might be painful, but (IMO), less painful than shelling out the cash each and every time you eat.

 

[Monty]

There is: http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/me...alog/WaltDisneyWorld/en_us/PDF/2010Dining.pdf

I personally don't use the Dining Plan any more. I find it too restricting for my eating style and virtually impossible to actually save money.

I much prefer Table Service dining to Quick service, so we ended up paying out of pocket for extra TS meals and not using all our QS credits.

For our eating style I find I save much more having APs so I can get room-only discounts and the Tables in Wonderland dining discount card and eat at my pace in places I want to eat. Last August my son and I stayed at the Beach Club for 8 nights. Our AP discount on the room easily paid for an AP for me, his hopper ticket, the cost of our TiW card and all of our meals and snacks while we were there. Even getting the supposedly free dining plan would have cost us much more.

 

[twoweirdos]

i cant find the cost for the quick service dining plan
WDW is good...they want you to get it all...BUT im nuts and have to rpice compare
I tried at the website...to check room rates vs room and plan
and i would just minus out the room and have the cost
but it kept including tix,,,,so not an accurate way for me to determine
we would normally eatall quick service to save time...money
it includes 2 snacks and two quick meals I think

 

[durangojim]

We're pretty much in the same boat as Monty, -- AP holders and TIW members and have never used the DDP as we almost always stay in deluxes with an AP discount. However, our APs expired in May and we weren't planning on going back until October, so we didn' renew our passes or TIW card. We then made a spur of the moment reservation to go in August for our son's 5th birthday and decided to stay at Pop Century and take advantage of the Free Dining, as an AP discount wasn't much. So we'll still upgrade our tix to APs and buy the TIW card, but we'll be using the DDP for the first time ever and will see how it goes.

 

[lilclerk]

i cant find the cost for the quick service dining plan
WDW is good...they want you to get it all...BUT im nuts and have to rpice compare
I tried at the website...to check room rates vs room and plan
and i would just minus out the room and have the cost
but it kept including tix,,,,so not an accurate way for me to determine
we would normally eatall quick service to save time...money
it includes 2 snacks and two quick meals I think

The QS plan is $31.99/night for adults and $9.99/night for children 3-9.
http://allears.net/pl/packages.htm#qsd

 

[twoweirdos]

The QS plan is $31.99/night for adults and $9.99/night for children 3-9.
http://allears.net/pl/packages.htm#qsd

finally...lol
i found it right before you posted,,,lol
and i added up and nooo...it saves me NO money
most of the places were around 8 bucks for the sandwich etc that would be eligble for the plan
plus a buck each for a piece of fruit
this is almost twice the cost to eat on our own
OR im wrong...and i could be

 

[disney magic 06]

You do get a drink included with your meals - but you're right, it doesn't sound much of a bargain to me either :shrug:

 

[Korfar]

I have only done the free dining which of course saves a family of four a lot. We know how to use it to get the most out of it. With that said I have never actually paid for the dining and probably never will. The QS meals are fine for us if we are paying for our meals so I don't see a value in buying it. I think you can eat cheaper paying as you go if you eat mostly QS meals. Now if you are eating a lot of TS meals then there might be some value in buying the dining plan. All depends on your family's eating habits.

 

[blackthidot]

As far as food goes I don't think I would do the dining plan if it were not free. We are gonna be in trouble once they start making us pay for it. We WILL eat all the food if we buy it but it still needs to be like $10 cheaper. We dont HAVE to eat all that food but we will if it is available.

 

[stlbobby]

finally...lol
i found it right before you posted,,,lol
and i added up and nooo...it saves me NO money
most of the places were around 8 bucks for the sandwich etc that would be eligble for the plan
plus a buck each for a piece of fruit
this is almost twice the cost to eat on our own
OR im wrong...and i could be

It depends on your eating habits, but for most people it is a bit of a savings, of course the more expensive the plan is the bigger the savings.

If you are a light eater and are planning on going with the lowest priced menu options then you would come in under $32. But if you eat everything offered, snacks, drinks, and desserts you can easily top the plan price.

I had one client/friend that is a real bargain hunter and tracked his meals for a 7 day trip on the basic plan. He returned home extremely proud he had topped the 30% savings WDW advertises. Of course he only ate the most expensive thing on the menu and searched out the most expensive restaurants so his whole vacation was based around beating that 30% even if it meant ordering his second or third choice at some venues. Not my idea of a vacation, but it made him happy.

 

[pluto77]

finally...lol
i found it right before you posted,,,lol
and i added up and nooo...it saves me NO money
most of the places were around 8 bucks for the sandwich etc that would be eligble for the plan
plus a buck each for a piece of fruit
this is almost twice the cost to eat on our own
OR im wrong...and i could be

It does depend on your eating habits and the type of people going. Keep in mind that the plan does cover a meal, drink, and dessert. I think that probably most people wouldn't normally get a dessert eating at a quick service restaurant. I think if you use every credit on the QS plan and eat it all, you'll probably end up saving a little bit of money (I would probably be the type to use my 2 snacks for breakfast ). But if you don't get desserts, don't get the most expensive entree every time, and don't eat too many snacks, you would/could probably save money without the plan. Now the regular dining plan probably does save you a little more money if you want to eat at table service restaurants, but again it depends on what you are going to order, if you are going to sit down for lunch or dinner, where you are eating, etc....

I think the biggest benefit of the plan now (if you don't go during the free dining period that is) is that you have all your meals paid for in advance so you don't have to stress about it on your trip.

 

[mouselvrmom]

It does depend on your eating habits and the type of people going. Keep in mind that the plan does cover a meal, drink, and dessert. I think that probably most people wouldn't normally get a dessert eating at a quick service restaurant. I think if you use every credit on the QS plan and eat it all, you'll probably end up saving a little bit of money (I would probably be the type to use my 2 snacks for breakfast ). But if you don't get desserts, don't get the most expensive entree every time, and don't eat too many snacks, you would/could probably save money without the plan. Now the regular dining plan probably does save you a little more money if you want to eat at table service restaurants, but again it depends on what you are going to order, if you are going to sit down for lunch or dinner, where you are eating, etc....

I think the biggest benefit of the plan now (if you don't go during the free dining period that is) is that you have all your meals paid for in advance so you don't have to stress about it on your trip.

I think that is the biggest reason why we do the dining plan.

We are DVC members so we can't get free dining or use AP discounts for our room. And I suppose we could do TiW and save more money that way (I really should look into it), but we actually like to pay for it before we leave and that way we know that our meals are all paid for. It is super convenient for us to just not worry. Our room is taken care of, our food is taken care of. Then, it's just spending money and tips.

 

[wizards8507]

You do get a drink included with your meals - but you're right, it doesn't sound much of a bargain to me either :shrug:

It's not really supposed to be a bargain. The savings are small and a moderate perk, but the real benefit (if you consider it one) is the convenience.

 

[Tomi-Rocket]

depends....

It depends on if you eat just to have a quick bite or you want a meal. We've had some great food at WDW and wouldn't have been able to eat at most places if we had to pay out of pocket. We added up our receipts after our last trip and the total came to over $1500. We always do the DP for two reason, sometimes it's nice to sit back, relax and have a good meal and we couldn't save that much money just for food and for souveniers, too. We will never go without the DP. :slurp:

 

[Wishmaker]

Dining Plan all the way. With all the energy you burn at the parks, you're going to want some good food. The monotony of the counter-service restaurants (with some exceptions) will get old and my family has always saved money on the plan than off. On our first trip, we didn't use it and the food bill was more than two trips worth on the dining plan... and we only went to a handful of restaurants.

 

[amykissangel]

For all who say they like not having to get their wallet out at every restaurant while on the DDP - gratuity is not included, so technically not everything is paid for beforehand. To me, if I'm shelling out $50 per meal for a couple of glasses of wine or beer and the tip, and perhaps an appetizer...it is really not worth the cost. Nor is it any more convenient paying for it beforehand - as I'm still paying something right then and there.

And can you put the tip on a credit card? Or do you always have to have cash?

 

[mouselvrmom]

For all who say they like not having to get their wallet out at every restaurant while on the DDP - gratuity is not included, so technically not everything is paid for beforehand. To me, if I'm shelling out $50 per meal for a couple of glasses of wine or beer and the tip, and perhaps an appetizer...it is really not worth the cost. Nor is it any more convenient paying for it beforehand - as I'm still paying something right then and there.

And can you put the tip on a credit card? Or do you always have to have cash?

Yep, you can put the tip on a credit card. In fact, if you have your key to the world card linked to a credit card, you can just tell them to put it on that when they take it for the dining plan.

 

[Dwarful]

It also depends on when you are going. If you plan to do very many Table Service plans and you go in the summer you will be paying "Seasonal Pricing" which mean buffet dinners for adults will be about $38 each...only a little less than one whole day's DDP cost. But if you do breakfasts or lunches it is cheaper.

The counter service meals most places will let you sub the dessert (usually a prepacked cookie, choc. or carrot cake or sugar free brownie that all pretty much taste blah) for a yogurt or fresh fruit. Some places give you better options...Seasons in the Land at Epcot, & Cosmic Rays at MK have better options. Also you can split meals at CS on the plan or not. So take that into consideration as well.

The last time we used our card for tips on the dining plan we had to really watch it as some places charged it twice. We got it taken care of, but it took some time and thankfully I had my receipts.

 

[cemeb4dk]

Being a DVC member we do not get any discount offers like rack rate payers do. When the DDP first came out and it included tip, app, dessert and all it was worth it. The last few trips we opted out of it. This comming Oct trip I was really torn about doing it or not. So I printed out the menus and did some comparing. of what we would order. Then added tax and tip, then figured what the DDP would cost us. by my calculations we will save just about $100 doing the DDP. I figure it most makes up because there is 3 of us and my daughter is still at the kids rate. And with us doing some character meals thats where the difference is saved. Plus it is a bit easier to budget when most of all your food cost is taken care of up front.

So if you have the time, look at where you want to eat, look at the menus and do some comparing.