Is Food Plan worth the cost?

JIMINYCR

JIMINYCR

Well-Known Member
The DDP makes Dis a lot of money. They arent going to put in place a plan where they lose. For most guests they want the convenience of having meals paid for up front so for them its a convenience thing. Go in, sit down and in their mind the meals paid for and out of the way. When its a free promotion you are still paying from the cost of your resort room and tickets. And Dis gets you on property so you will spend cash on other things.
Where the savings come from is when you use the plan to your advantage by dining places maybe that were out of your price range before and ordering meals that also you wouldnt ordinarily order due to the expense. IF you do dine at those more expensive spots and order the more expensive meals you will see a bit of savings. It wont be a huge amount but its something. Decide where you want to dine, check the menu sites for the cost of the meals you would be ordering and see if you will come out ahead.
Disney is counting on the majority of guests just ordering what they might ordinarily order and that doesnt add up for a savings. Families with picky kids certainly dont get any advantage.
All the years weve taken the plan weve seen a bit of savings but again it isnt huge. But still worth it for us to add it into our trip plans. If you arent playing the game to your advantage then just pay for all your meals out of pocket.
 
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Eric Graham

Well-Known Member
May be a better idea to budget for what restaurants you want to enjoy in the parks. The dining plan can be rather expensive. We've done it before. For our family, it's better for us to just pay as we go. Each family may be different, though. Happy Disney travels!
 
Minnesota disney fan

Minnesota disney fan

Well-Known Member
Gpa25 said:
If you only have 2 people in your party and you do not drink alcohol, is the Disney meal plan worth the cost for 7 days?
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When it first came out quite a while ago, it was a great value and we did it once. Since then, for the 2 of us, it wouldn't work out. We don't like to schedule daily reservations, and tend not to eat as much and at different hours. We like to play it by ear that way. Some days, we just get snacks most of the day. Now, I wouldn't think it would be a good thing for us if we ever go back, due to our touring style. We always felt like we Had to eat enough just to make it worth, which is not a good thing.
 
donaldtoo

donaldtoo

Well-Known Member
Gpa25 said:
If you only have 2 people in your party and you do not drink alcohol, is the Disney meal plan worth the cost for 7 days?
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The only times we purchased the DDP was when I was still a local mall Disney Store CM, during our week-long WDW family trips (with other friends and family included) in the summers of ‘12 and ‘13.
The CM DDP discount, at the time, was 50% (resort discount was 60%, but there were blackouts for certain resorts).
Anyway, we got the plan that included a snack, QS/CS and a table service meal for every day.
The regular price then was $60/adult/day, but I don’t remember what it was for some kids in our group, as our 3 children were already “adults” during those trips.
So, it only cost the adults in our group $30/day.
I ordered the most expensive meal at all of our table service meals every night on both of those trips, which was about anywhere from $32-$36.
There were no appetizers or alcohol included in the plan then, but soft drinks and such, and desserts were included.
So, as you can see, at that price, everything beyond $30 was “gravy” ;).
At the full cost of $60/day, no way was it worth it, even back then, at least to us.
A little background for clarity on that…
On all of our previous week-long family WDW trips, beginning in the summer of ‘01, we only scheduled about 2 table service meals. We ate a light breakfast of food we had with us in the room, and usually shared 3 meals between the 5 of us for lunches and the rest of our dinners at a Park QS/CS, or resort food court.
That’s all we really needed, as none of us wanted for anything food or drink-wise.
Also, on those two DDP trips, I felt like a complete and total pig for eating as much as I did, tryin’ to get my moneys worth, even with the 50% discount…!!!!! 🤪:hilarious:
We almost never get dessert anywhere we go, unless we share one or two…on those two trips I had the most decadent dessert, all by myself, every single night…!!!!! 🥴
Bottom line for us, even with the 50% discount, it was just too darn much food, even without apps and alcohol included.
At what I’m now seeing on the internet as $94.28/adult/day, I’m just LMAO…!!!!!!! :hilarious:🤣
I get the “convenience” aspect of it all, but as others have posted, the house of mouse always wins…!!! ;)
 
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nickys

nickys

Premium Member
John park hopper said:
Disney gives nothing a way free you are paying for it in some other charge
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They do sometimes.

But again, that depends on the deal being offered. A true free dining plan per person offer is worthwhile. $200 per room is not always, especially when there’s more than 2 people staying in the room.
 
Worldlover71

Worldlover71

Well-Known Member
An important thing to remember with the dining plan is that tips are not included. Therefore, you haven't really paid everything in advance, thus negating the convenience factor that many people cite as their reason for getting it.
 
westie

westie

Well-Known Member
When I did it, it was cost effective but we were constantly reminded that not everything on the menu was included. The staff was less than happy to see us, I guess because we were some what of a pre fixe customer. And yes, they always reminded us that the tip was not included. Tried it once, it was ok, not again.
 
M

Mr. Pusskers

Active Member
We always gotten the DDP and did well with it. We would have a big breakfast that would last us and have a snack and use the lunch credits for better higher end dinning at night. For us we worked the plan to the max. But we were younger. Now I feel the plan would not be worth it anymore since we eat about two meals a day on average.
 
mf1972

mf1972

Well-Known Member
for the 2 of us with the dining plan including quick service & table service, we’d have to eat over $100 worth of food per day. doable, probably, but your waistline won’t forgive you as much. i don’t think it’s worth it nowadays.
 
Weather_Lady

Weather_Lady

Well-Known Member
Eric Graham said:
Sometimes there has been deals where you get it for free also.
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True.

While "free" is almost always "worth it" in the real world, because "free" usually means "costs nothing" (so I suspect that wasn't what the OP was asking about), there are arguably situations in which getting the DDP for free isn't worth it either, if you are thereby disqualified from room discounts that would have benefitted your party more, or if you're required to upgrade your room or ticket package to be eligible. The one time we got "free" dining for a 5-night stay, we had to upgrade our tickets to parkhoppers, upgrade our room from standard to preferred, forego the 15% room discount we'd have had on the standard room, pay extra gratuities on all that "free" TS food, and accept some limitations to our ordering choices, to get the most "bang" out of those dining bucks. What we really got in the end wasn't so much a free dining plan as a discount of a few hundred dollars off the total cost of our trip. Still a net positive, but not what I'd call free. ;)
 

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