Dining Plan worth the $$$ ???

[soin2disney]

Hi everyone,
Just a quick question about Disney's Dining Plan. Is it worth it??? Have already booked for April 2011, but don't know whether or not the dining plan is worth the $$$. Three in my family, myself, my husband, and my 16 year old daughter. Any suggestions are welcomed Thanks

 

[wvdisneyfamily]

I'm confused as to why you are suggesting to figure up the tip? If you pay out of pocket, you're gonna pay a tip (well, I guess you don't HAVE to, but it's customary, LOL) and if you use the dining plan, you're still gonna pay tip. So, since you're paying tip either way, tip really shouldn't factor in to the value of it.

Or are you saying that you might order a cheaper entree out of pocket vs the dining plan, in which case you'll be paying 15%-18% on a cheaper price, thereby affecting the amount of the tip?

You tip based on what you order. If you are on the dining plan, you will most likely order more since it is an entitlements based dining experience (i.e. entree, dessert, appetizer on DxDP). This will increase your tip cost. If you are dining out of pocket, you may order only an entree at the TS and get a dessert at a CS. Therefore, your tip will be based on the entree as opposed to the entree plus the entitlements you felt obligated to order because you already paid for them. The amount of tip you will have to pay DOES factor into how much of a value the DDP is for you.

 

[sbkline]

You tip based on what you order. If you are on the dining plan, you will most likely order more since it is an entitlements based dining experience (i.e. entree, dessert, appetizer on DxDP). This will increase your tip cost. If you are dining out of pocket, you may order only an entree at the TS and get a dessert at a CS. Therefore, your tip will be based on the entree as opposed to the entree plus the entitlements you felt obligated to order because you already paid for them. The amount of tip you will have to pay DOES factor into how much of a value the DDP is for you.

Alright, that makes sense! Thanks for explaining. :wave:

 

[Monty]

Our trip in May will be the first time we've used the dining plan. We got it free but looking at the figures I wouldn't have bothered if we'd had to pay. We aren't massive eaters and it seems an awful lot of food, especially in (hopefully) hot weather. However, I'm very much looking forward to eating at some places we'd never have tried had we been paying OOP. As it's also our first time staying at a deluxe hotel, it will be quite a different trip for us, can't wait!

I realise it's none of my business, but have you looked at the Room-only discounts offered for when you're there? The "free" dining plan requires that you pay rack rate for your deluxe room... A 40% discount off the room would easily pay for two or three people's food for your trip, making your free dining plan more expensive...

It's worth doing the math.

 

[disney magic 06]

I realise it's none of my business, but have you looked at the Room-only discounts offered for when you're there? The "free" dining plan requires that you pay rack rate for your deluxe room... A 40% discount off the room would easily pay for two or three people's food for your trip, making your free dining plan more expensive...

It's worth doing the math.

Thanks very much for your interest and input, we did check but we needed a room with bunk beds, and the only 40% discount deals available here in UK were for Old Key West and Sarasota Springs, neither of which have them, or particularly floated our boats. The offers we get here seem to quite different to the ones over there!

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Thanks very much for your interest and input, we did check but we needed a room with bunk beds, and the only 40% discount deals available here in UK were for Old Key West and Sarasota Springs, neither of which have them, or particularly floated our boats. The offers we get here seem to quite different to the ones over there!

You could book with Disney US direct or use a Disney agent. I used to do it all the time, gives more options.

 

[disney magic 06]

You could book with Disney US direct or use a Disney agent. I used to do it all the time, gives more options.

Really? I thought we had to book with Disney UK or a UK agent. I didn't realise we could use a US one. We'll have to bear it in mind for our next trip. And there's me, worked in a UK travel agency for years!

 

[ddbowdoin]

for the QS... not really, the quick options really kind of suck. I mean, not bad in a pinch, but a week of that stuff would kill me.

 

[MaxsDad]

The way I look at it, if you really wanted the steak but got the chicken instead, you did not save $6 - you just wasted $57.

Good point. I never really tought of it that way.

 

[soin2disney]

$$$

Hi,
So does anyone know how much per person, per day it would cost???? I'm talking about the one with 1 quick pick, 1 table, and 1 snack..... Thanks :shrug:

 

[sbkline]

Hi,
So does anyone know how much per person, per day it would cost???? I'm talking about the one with 1 quick pick, 1 table, and 1 snack..... Thanks :shrug:

It's around $43, or $42, I'm pretty sure.

Disney has this silly semantic game that they seem to play when it comes to pricing the dining plan. Rather than give a firm price for the dining plan, they say it's under such and such amount. Instead of saying it's $42.99 per person per day, they say "under $43 per day". But I do know it's either $41.99 or $42.99 per person per day, I just can't remember for sure which.

I mean to do this last year, but I forgot. So I'm gonna try it this year; I'm gonna bring a box of envelopes with me and use one envelope for each day. In each day's envelope, I'm gonna put all of our dining receipts (well, any that the dining plan paid for, so it won't count cash purchases), so that way I can add up the cost of all the food for that day (snacks, counter service and table service) and see what the total dollar amount was. This will be for my wife, my son and myself. So I'll see what the dollar amount of everything was, and then compare it to the price of the dining plan and see how it compares, so then I can better decide if I want to do the dining plan on future trips. Well, I don't know if it's necessary to compartmentalize it by day, since there may be some days when we get 6 snacks and other days when we don't get any. Or some days where we don't use a counter service meal, and another day when we do two counter service meals. But however I store the receipts, my intent is to add up all the dollar amounts and see how the grand total compares to the amount we prepaid for the dining plan.

 

[NYwdwfan]

I'm gonna bring a box of envelopes with me and use one envelope for each day. In each day's envelope, I'm gonna put all of our dining receipts (well, any that the dining plan paid for, so it won't count cash purchases), so that way I can add up the cost of all the food for that day (snacks, counter service and table service) and see what the total dollar amount was.

When they ring you up at a QS restaurant, just before they swipe the card the register shows the cost of the meal - my mom brought a little memo pad one trip and jotted down those amounts at each meal. We had the receipts with prices from the table service meals and estimated the snacks at $4. It came out we saved about $150 doing DDP. This was for my parents, in one room, and my family of 4 (2 adults, 2 kids under 9) in the other room.

 

[sbkline]

When they ring you up at a QS restaurant, just before they swipe the card the register shows the cost of the meal - my mom brought a little memo pad one trip and jotted down those amounts at each meal. We had the receipts with prices from the table service meals and estimated the snacks at $4. It came out we saved about $150 doing DDP. This was for my parents, in one room, and my family of 4 (2 adults, 2 kids under 9) in the other room.

Ya, I may need to do something like that, because I don't know if the final receipt that I receive has the actualy prices on it, or just all zeros. I remember seeing my bill at alot of the restaraunts and it has all the totals on it, but I can't remember if I get a copy of that one or not. I do remember that after they swipe my card and give me my final receipts, those have all zeros, showing that the dining plan credits took care of it. So I may have to rething my plan of keeping the receipts, if that is the case, and just trying to remember to write down all the totals, which will be a tougher challenge.

 

[NYwdwfan]

Ya, I may need to do something like that, because I don't know if the final receipt that I receive has the actualy prices on it, or just all zeros. I remember seeing my bill at alot of the restaraunts and it has all the totals on it, but I can't remember if I get a copy of that one or not. I do remember that after they swipe my card and give me my final receipts, those have all zeros, showing that the dining plan credits took care of it. So I may have to rething my plan of keeping the receipts, if that is the case, and just trying to remember to write down all the totals, which will be a tougher challenge.

I have a sneaking suspicion the difference is about $25 a person over a week and that it's all the perception of saving that has people getting it when they go. You figure $30pp for TS, $10pp for QS and $4 for a snack. That's $44 a day for an adult. Maybe a TS would be up to $40 a person. That's still only $54 a day. Mealplan is $42-ish + tax. Not really a massive savings - but I still like having the trip paid for - including meals but not tips - in advance!

 

[Dwarful]

For some the savings will be more esp. if they go during the Summer Seasonal upcharge Disney has been doing on their dining options these past few years. Even an 'ok' buffet dinner can run you $38.99 per adult for one sit down meal...if people see this and think well for $10 more I get another QS meal AND a $4 snack then its a real bargain!

 

[MissingDisney]

Worth it? Yes and no, based on your personal preferences and will be debated until the end of time.

Convenient? Again, yes and no. Nice that it's paid for and you "order up" at meal time but can spend time waiting for ressies and requires planning and can restrict activities, etc. to meet ressies.

Really, unfortunately no one can answer this for you. How much do you eat, how often, where do you like to eat, do you mind being on a schedule, etc.

Good luck.

 

[ggauthier82]

I took out the old calculator last night and came to the conclusion that for my family of 4, the dining plan was worth it. I used allears.net menus and prices, and was very realistic about it (for example, I always drink water, so I didn't calculate any drinks for myself). For us, with all the character dinners we want to have, it is definitely worth it.

The kids' dining plan is usually less for the whole day than just 1 character meal, so that really adds up!

Also, my husband and I both love the desserts in DW, so we will be glad to indulge without worrying about the price! :sohappy:

 

[AJScooch]

We've used the DDP just about every year we've been down. Usually it's the regular plan (TS, CS, snack). This past August we were booked for 12 nights with the free dining and upgraded to the Deluxe DDP. It cost us $840 extra but I kept all of my receipts and we wound up eating about $500 worth of food more than what we paid. Even if we had paid full price for the Deluxe DDP, we still would have saved money. A perfect example was that we ate lunch at the Coral Reef restaurant one day and the bill was $86. That alone would have covered the cost of one person's DDP for that day. We still ate breakfast and dinner with the plan.

Hope this helps.

It's around $43, or $42, I'm pretty sure.

Disney has this silly semantic game that they seem to play when it comes to pricing the dining plan. Rather than give a firm price for the dining plan, they say it's under such and such amount. Instead of saying it's $42.99 per person per day, they say "under $43 per day". But I do know it's either $41.99 or $42.99 per person per day, I just can't remember for sure which.

I mean to do this last year, but I forgot. So I'm gonna try it this year; I'm gonna bring a box of envelopes with me and use one envelope for each day. In each day's envelope, I'm gonna put all of our dining receipts (well, any that the dining plan paid for, so it won't count cash purchases), so that way I can add up the cost of all the food for that day (snacks, counter service and table service) and see what the total dollar amount was. This will be for my wife, my son and myself. So I'll see what the dollar amount of everything was, and then compare it to the price of the dining plan and see how it compares, so then I can better decide if I want to do the dining plan on future trips. Well, I don't know if it's necessary to compartmentalize it by day, since there may be some days when we get 6 snacks and other days when we don't get any. Or some days where we don't use a counter service meal, and another day when we do two counter service meals. But however I store the receipts, my intent is to add up all the dollar amounts and see how the grand total compares to the amount we prepaid for the dining plan.

 

[Marion]

If it is free great. I find it works if you are like me and find that I enjoy the qs for breakfast a snack about 1:00pm and ts for dinner. Plenty enough food per day. Sometimes we save snacks and get them all on the morning that we leave for home. This comes in handy for our 10 to 12 hour trip home.