Dining Plan?

[tmantuano]

My wife and I are just starting to plan out our next trip. We're trying to figure out how much $ we are budgeting for each aspect of our trip, i.e. hotel (on property), park tickets, etc. The one thing that we are in debate about is whether or not to add on a dining plan. It would be for myself, my wife and our 5 year-old daughter. We looked at both room & ticket packages with and w/o dining plan. Obviously with the dining plan is more but is it worth it?

 

[Monty]

Depending what level resort you're planning, it might be better to look at room-only and a discount. A 5-yo tends not to eat enough to make the Dining Plan a value in my experience, but you really need to do the math for yourselves based on what/where you would likely eat and the costs versus the credits you'd get with the plan and whether it works for you.

 

[disneysince71]

Depending what level resort you're planning, it might be better to look at room-only and a discount. A 5-yo tends not to eat enough to make the Dining Plan a value in my experience, but you really need to do the math for yourselves based on what/where you would likely eat and the costs versus the credits you'd get with the plan and whether it works for you.

Totally agree with @Monty you have to look at the menus. DDP claims to save you 20/30% but that is if you order the most expensive items on the menu.. and the dessert. In order to see if you are truly saving money you need to look at menus. Good luck.. Personally I would go with paying out of pocket and taking the room discount... but that's just me!

 

[G00fyDad]

Pretend you are at Disney, look at the menu's with prices, and make your orders. Order what you would see yourself actually getting. Tally that up, and add 7% for tax. Now add up the cost of the dining plan. See if there is a big enough difference.

 

[JIMINYCR]

Pretend you are at Disney, look at the menu's with prices, and make your orders. Order what you would see yourself actually getting. Tally that up, and add 7% for tax. Now add up the cost of the dining plan. See if there is a big enough difference.

Thats the approach we take and it's made the difference. We have always seen a slight savings doing the dining plan, not a huge savings, but any savings makes it worth doing for me.

 

[G00fyDad]

Thats the approach we take and it's made the difference. We have always seen a slight savings doing the dining plan, not a huge savings, but any savings makes it worth doing for me.

We usually save huge with the DDP. Like $1500+ huge. However, this trip we would have lost money using it so we opted for paying out of pocket.

 

[lovepooh]

For us we did with out for the first time with no dinning plan. we ended up spending about 850.00 for 7nights.
that was for a family of 4 .. I believe the dinning plan would be about 1000 for a family of 4. so its a bit savings.
we didn't get dessert every night. I really didn't feel like we missed out at all.

 

[danpam1024]

My wife and I are just starting to plan out our next trip. We're trying to figure out how much $ we are budgeting for each aspect of our trip, i.e. hotel (on property), park tickets, etc. The one thing that we are in debate about is whether or not to add on a dining plan. It would be for myself, my wife and our 5 year-old daughter. We looked at both room & ticket packages with and w/o dining plan. Obviously with the dining plan is more but is it worth it?

We are a family of 3 as well, from past trips, I have done the math multiple times and cannot make the dining plan "worth it". We prefer Tables in Wonderland (20% off). We enjoy light breakfasts and lunches and Signature dinners. That said, we are also FL residents and when we do plan a Disney vacation, we buy APs and go several times during the year. On a similar thread, many people do the dining plan for the simplicity of budgeting and knowing the food is paid for

 

[luv]

Yup, like everyone said, you have to do the math. It is tedious, but it's the only way to know.

I did one dining Plan, one time...back when they were a much better deal Han they are now. But I found it to be a magical pain in the butt and swore off of them.

 

[Weather_Lady]

Agree with the above! Grab a few of the menus (posted on this site in the dining section), take a look at the pricing, and figure out what it would cost your family for a couple of days of Disney dining out of pocket. It's actually pretty quick and easy to do. Then compare that amount with what you'd be spending, per day, on the dining plan. (*Keep in mind that if you want any of the 2-credit table service restaurants, they are almost always a better deal out-of-pocket. Don't waste your dining credits on them.)

We got the dining plan last time (2 adults, 2 children), and even ordering the most expensive things on every menu and eating at the more expensive 1-credit table service locations, we saved exactly nothing. We broke even, paying the same for the dining plan as we would have if we'd ordered the same items and paid out of pocket.

In fact, the dining plan cost us more money than we'd have otherwise paid, because we ended up with more food than we'd otherwise have wanted to order or eat. (We tend to drink water instead of fountain beverages, seldom order dessert, and don't necessarily always WANT the most expensive entrees on the menu.) Had we gone without the dining plan AND ordered only the things we'd normally order, we'd have saved about 20% by paying out of pocket rather than using the dining plan.

 

[SAV]

Also remember to factor in the Tips that you will need to pay in spite of the dining plan cost. At a sit down meal, that can be a HUGE number if you are ordering the most expensive thing for each person if it is a larger family.

 

[G00fyDad]

Also remember to factor in the Tips that you will need to pay in spite of the dining plan cost. At a sit down meal, that can be a HUGE number if you are ordering the most expensive thing for each person if it is a larger family.

But tips are tips. They will be the same regardless of DDP or paying out of pocket.

 

[polymissy]

There have been times that we have saved a lot of money using the DDP, but other times, not so much. If you're planning on eating at several table service restaurants, it's very possible that it may pay off for you, too. The best way to tell is checking the menus, as mentioned above, and deciding where you'd like to eat. Many times the numbers come out so close that there's not a big difference either way. In that case it comes down to deciding if having a majority of you meals prepaid is a convenience or not. For many people, it is. Good luck!

 

[SAV]

But tips are tips. They will be the same regardless of DDP or paying out of pocket.

They are, but some may think it is included in the DDP(thus already paid for) and it isn't. A family on our daughter's softball team came back and was shocked at the amount of the tips because they were using the DDP, but hadn't factored it in. It is a common thing.

 

[G00fyDad]

They are, but some may think it is included in the DDP(thus already paid for) and it isn't. A family on our daughter's softball team came back and was shocked at the amount of the tips because they were using the DDP, but hadn't factored it in. It is a common thing.

I see what you're saying. I made the assumption that people would know that tips are not included since Disney Dining tells you when you make an ADR, it is on the brochure, and the receipt reflects it as well. LOL

 

[Violet]

I just did this calculation and even with a whole bunch of TS meals, I couldn't make it worth it, or it was too close.

IIRC, one of the factors that seemed to tip the balance was that we never order dessert, and there are a lot of desserts included.

 

[Minthorne]

Disney does the dining plan because it makes them money. If you are not getting it for free then it is almost a sure bet that you will pay less, and get to eat and pay for only what you really want, by skipping the dining plan and just paying out if pocket. The dining plan just gets you to agree before hand that you will pre-purchase the max amount of food at each meal regardless to the fact if you feel like eating it. You agree that you want dessert and snacks every day. If you don't feel like a meal (or you get a stomach bug and are sick and can't eat) you are out of luck - there is no refund.

 

[Violet]

The other thing that turned me off was that there seemed to be all these snacks on the plan, and a whole bunch that aren't or don't qualify, and it just seemed annoying to me to try to figure that all out when I am just trying to get a snack

 

[Hot Lava]

The other thing that turned me off was that there seemed to be all these snacks on the plan, and a whole bunch that aren't or don't qualify, and it just seemed annoying to me to try to figure that all out when I am just trying to get a snack

How do you figure it out? Is it posted everywhere, or do you have to carry a list around with you?

 

[Violet]

How do you figure it out? Is it posted everywhere, or do you have to carry a list around with you?

I think you find out when you get to the purchase if there is a little logo on the sign. There are some lists on the internet too.