Figured the Paying for food out of pocket vs. Dining Plan for our Trip of 4

[MissViv]

Well, I finally sat down & figured the cost of food vs dining plan for our family of 4 Adults. Dining Plan is $1,207.84 for 4 nights. Paying out of pocket is $1,171.36. This includes the refillable mugs but we would only need 3 because one does not drink sodas or juice (only water & coffee).

Savings $36.48

The bigger savings would be not to buy the tickets through Disney but Undercover Tourist and save $168.88.

We would probably NOT eat 2 snacks each per day.

I think we are going to pass on the dining plan.

 

[nickys]

Well, I finally sat down & figured the cost of food vs dining plan for our family of 4 Adults. Dining Plan is $1,207.84 for 4 nights. Paying out of pocket is $1,171.36. This includes the refillable mugs but we would only need 3 because one does not drink sodas or juice (only water & coffee).

Savings $36.48

The bigger savings would be not to buy the tickets through Disney but Undercover Tourist and save $168.88.

We would probably NOT eat 2 snacks each per day.

I think we are going to pass on the dining plan.

For that price difference, I would probably get it. Personally I can drink 2 or 3 bottles of water a day, plus I can always manage a Mickey bar! I do take water with me into the parks, but find refilling them a pain tbh.

That's a decent saving on the tickets though.

 

[Weather_Lady]

I'm surprised your savings aren't even higher, especially with four adults. We just got back from 5 nights at WDW. My party consisted of 3 adults and 1 child, but even with some really expensive table service choices ('Ohana dinner, HEA Dessert Party, California Grill Brunch at the Top), and eating 1 TS, 1 CS, and 1 or 2 snacks per person per day, plus some specialty/alcoholic beverages and appetizers, we saved an average of $50-$80 per day by paying out of pocket, over what we'd have spent for the same meals using the DDP.

...and we also saved a couple hundred dollars on tickets by going through Undercover Tourist.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

For that price difference, I would probably get it. Personally I can drink 2 or 3 bottles of water a day, plus I can always manage a Mickey bar! I do take water with me into the parks, but find refilling them a pain tbh.

That's a decent saving on the tickets though.

Why would you voluntarily pay more for the "benefit" (i.e. headache) of needing to manage credits and sacrifice flexibility?

Well, I finally sat down & figured the cost of food vs dining plan for our family of 4 Adults. Dining Plan is $1,207.84 for 4 nights. Paying out of pocket is $1,171.36. This includes the refillable mugs but we would only need 3 because one does not drink sodas or juice (only water & coffee).

Savings $36.48

The bigger savings would be not to buy the tickets through Disney but Undercover Tourist and save $168.88.

We would probably NOT eat 2 snacks each per day.

I think we are going to pass on the dining plan.

It also gives you lots of flexibility if you want to skip a meal and get a few snacks instead, or if you're not hungry one day and want to share an entree. You definitely can "beat" the dining plan if you try, but it's not worth the loss of flexibility IMO.

 

[WDWFan2018]

We crunched the numbers too and decided it was only worth it for us because we have 2 kids and the DDP price for kids is pretty reasonable. Once the kids become adults (you know, 10 yrs. old) I feel it will no longer be worth it.

 

[nickys]

Why would you voluntarily pay more for the "benefit" (i.e. headache) of needing to manage credits and sacrifice flexibility?


It also gives you lots of flexibility if you want to skip a meal and get a few snacks instead, or if you're not hungry one day and want to share an entree. You definitely can "beat" the dining plan if you try, but it's not worth the loss of flexibility IMO.

We haven't done the dining plan for a full stay for about 8 years, when we got the UK free DDP deal at Beach Club. I didn't see it as sacrificing flexibility. We usually did Cape May for breakfast, QS for lunch in the parks/SAB and either a TS for dinner or a QS from Epcot or the Boardwalk (fish and chips or pizza kept the boys happy). So we were still paying OOP for one meal a day, which meant we could choose which to pay OOP for - the dinner or breakfast.

Last time we did it over the Christmas weekend, just because of what ADRs we had lined up - 2 character dinners, 1 character breakfast, 1 BOG breakfast and 1 BOG lunch - for the 24th/25th/26th Dec. Bought it after booking the ADRs and realising we could save by getting the DDP, especially since the mugs were good for all 17 days.

It isn't always a bad deal. To me, if it comes out roughly break even, it saves a lot of hassle and can be paid up front. Since we can't buy the gift cards in the UK we don't have that option to "pre pay" in the same way you guys can either.

Everyone's circumstances are different, and no one should write it off as pointless just because it doesn't' suit your party.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

It isn't always a bad deal. To me, if it comes out roughly break even, it saves a lot of hassle and can be paid up front.

I just don't see the "saves a lot of hassle" angle. If it's break even, what hassle are you saving?

To be clear, I'm not anti-DDP. It can save certain parties money depending on their configuration and eating habbits. But I can't see any reason to choose it if your family's situation makes it break-even.

 

[eliza61nyc]

We stopped the dining plan when they got rid of gratuties and appetizers. full disclosure, I do take advantage of the 10% discount through Annual pass and dvc.

anyway, we found that we eat more natural when we are not on the plan. We go in the hot months and there are meals when someone, usually me just wants an appetizer and a salad. We rarely get dessert at meal time, we are more of the late night sweet treat type of guest. Much more flexibilty off the ddp.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

We stopped the dining plan when they got rid of gratuties and appetizers. full disclosure, I do take advantage of the 10% discount through Annual pass and dvc.

anyway, we found that we eat more natural when we are not on the plan. We go in the hot months and there are meals when someone, usually me just wants an appetizer and a salad. We rarely get dessert at meal time, we are more of the late night sweet treat type of guest. Much more flexibilty off the ddp.

Completely agree. Maybe dining plan is break-even at 'Ohana or when you order a steak some place. But then you're locked in. Sure, in theory you have the flexibility to order the salad for your entree or a bottle of water for a snack on the DDP, but then you're drifting further and further from your break-even math.

 

[eliza61nyc]

I just don't see the "saves a lot of hassle" angle. If it's break even, what hassle are you saving?

To be clear, I'm not anti-DDP. It can save certain parties money depending on their configuration and eating habbits. But I can't see any reason to choose it if your family's situation makes it break-even.

This isn't me, but I do know a few people who are happy with it for the pre paid element. Some folks no matter how much they budget, when they see prices at the world will always feel as if they should or should not pick an entree based on the price. with the ddp they feel that element goes away. It's more of an "all-inclusive" type of feel.
A friend of mine will not go without it because it saves her the "hassle" of worrying and being the budget police.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

This isn't me, but I do know a few people who are happy with it for the pre paid element. Some folks no matter how much they budget, when they see prices at the world will always feel as if they should or should not pick an entree based on the price. with the ddp they feel that element goes away. It's more of an "all-inclusive" type of feel.
A friend of mine will not go without it because it saves her the "hassle" of worrying and being the budget police.

I guess I can see that. It's unfortunate though. If you're stressed about being able to afford food at WDW, you probably shouldn't be going to WDW. I'd rather delay a trip than go on a trip that's going to give me anxiety about a credit card bill I can't pay off when I get home (Disney or anywhere).

 

[eliza61nyc]

Completely agree. Maybe dining plan is break-even at 'Ohana or when you order a steak some place. But then you're locked in. Sure, in theory you have the flexibility to order the salad for your entree or a bottle of water for a snack on the DDP, but then you're drifting further and further from your break-even math.

LOL, not only that I think I stressed way more on the plan because of that. Does anyone remember threads where folks wanted to know how to make the "most" of their points so as to not "waste" credits. We realized that many times we ordered food not because we really wanted it but because we thought it was a "waste" of a TS credit if we got a salad and not the steak.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

LOL, not only that I think I stressed way more on the plan because of that. Does anyone remember threads where folks wanted to know how to make the "most" of their points so as to not "waste" credits. We realized that many times we ordered food not because we really wanted it but because we thought it was a "waste" of a TS credit if we got a salad and not the steak.

Yup. We had the dining plan on a ten night trip in 2012 and I'm pretty sure I had steak nine times.

 

[nickys]

I guess I can see that. It's unfortunate though. If you're stressed about being able to afford food at WDW, you probably shouldn't be going to WDW. I'd rather delay a trip than go on a trip that's going to give me anxiety about a credit card bill I can't pay off when I get home (Disney or anywhere).

I can see it too.

I guess for me it would be more the paid up front aspect, if it was going to be break even. At least that way, the sticker shock on getting the emailed invoice at the end of the stay is less.

Normally we wouldn't get it. We are DVC, we cook some meals in the room, and we just buy the mugs. But if I was doing it with a package, we might get the DDP just to get some of the cost paid up and done. That way Incan start saving for the next trip quicker!

 

[Weather_Lady]

I guess I can see that. It's unfortunate though. If you're stressed about being able to afford food at WDW, you probably shouldn't be going to WDW. I'd rather delay a trip than go on a trip that's going to give me anxiety about a credit card bill I can't pay off when I get home (Disney or anywhere).

Just to chime in -- I hate that feeling of a big vacation bill hanging over my head too, but instead of pre-paying Disney, I just pre-pay MYSELF. I saved up the $2,500 we'd have spent for the DDP over a few months, and then set it aside in my savings account (the same one I'll use to pay our credit card bill). Now that we're back having spent far less than the DDP would have cost us, I get the pleasure of paying off that bill in full with money that was already put aside, and I'll STILL have a few hundred extra dollars in the savings account. Even though I didn't technically pre-pay, I knew the money was there are waiting, so it felt like I had.

EDIT: Oops -- I meant $1,500, not $2,500! Still saved hundreds.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Just to chime in -- I hate that feeling of a big vacation bill hanging over my head too, but instead of pre-paying Disney, I just pre-pay MYSELF. I saved up the $2,500 we'd have spent for the DDP over a few months, and then set it aside in my savings account (the same one I'll use to pay our credit card bill). Now that we're back having spent far less than the DDP would have cost us, I get the pleasure of paying off that bill in full with money that was already put aside, and I'll STILL have a few hundred extra dollars in the savings account. Even though I didn't technically pre-pay, I knew the money was there are waiting, so it felt like I had.

I do something similar. We have two small kids so we don't do much TS dining... $1,500 is always enough to get us through the week for food and souvenirs. I usually bring one gift card with $1,000 and then $500 in cash. When I get home there's no bills to pay.

 

[danyoung56]

You definitely can "beat" the dining plan if you try, but it's not worth the loss of flexibility IMO.

Bingo!

 

[beanbunny]

I just noticed the 2018 QS dining plan now includes an adult beverage or specialty drink in lieu of the beverage on the plan. Am I reading this correctly? Also all points are pooled so there is no difference between children's points & adult points for QS. Again, is this correct?

 

[WDWFan2018]

I just noticed the 2018 QS dining plan now includes an adult beverage or specialty drink in lieu of the beverage on the plan. Am I reading this correctly? Also all points are pooled so there is no difference between children's points & adult points for QS. Again, is this correct?

This is how I understand it too.

 

[NeedMoreMickey]

We found the dining plan is too much food for us and we like to be flexible with our choices. Another vote for buying gift cards in advance because it can be used for food or my need to buy more Alex & Ani bracelets