Meal Plans - Are they worth it??

[GoochDSA]

..I think I'm going to start a new thread to see what opinions are between the Sit down meals and the Quick Service meals. ...

When you ask general opinion questions, like "do you prefer TS or CS?" or "what TS or CS restaurants are good?" you could end up with so many conflicting opinions that you will end up worse than when you started. The best thing to do is check out the menus either here or at allears.net and start narrowing things down. Then, when you can get more specific, like comparing restaurant "A" with restaurant "B", ask questions.

 

[tmstephe]

Hi! We are going to Disney in October for the first time. Would you recommend that we purchase a meal plan? We will only be there two days. We are doing Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios.

This is always an interesting topic, and it usually boils down to simply a personal decision... it all depends on what you value and how how much you typically eat. In your situation (a short trip), I would probably say no. We go to WDW for 5-7 days with the QS dining plan and then add one or two TS for the experience (our next trip will be Cinderella's Royal Table). Here's my rationale:

1. I have two children, 7 and 4, who can be picky eaters. QS meals are generally perfect for them.
2. There is, in fact, a great deal of variety with QS if you seek it out and don't just settle for burger and fries at every meal.
3. We get the desserts and snacks and carry them with us (grapes, pre-packaged brownies, etc.) for those "dad, I'm hungry" in-between meal times.
4. I don't want to think about spending $50+ on every meal. When we pay ahead of time and it's just a credit, the price becomes out of sight, out of mind. I get what I want, not what I think I can afford.
5. I'm okay with an extra dessert because of all the walking I do to burn those extra calories

We've done the math and for our eating habits, we either break even or lose just a tiny bit of money. It's WELL worth it for the peace of mind and the feeling of being on an "all inclusive" vacation.

 

[gregsanity]

@Burghdiva Meal plans are totally worth it. I've done it twice most recently two weeks ago. Although you are only there for two days, you still save money using the dining plan. I disagree with the above statement about waiting 45 min even with a ADR. The longest I've waited after my scheduled ADR was 10 minutes. It also depends on the time of year you go too. Ultimately, the decision is up to you and your family and how cost effective you want to be. Work the numbers out and if it works to use the dining plan then great but if not great too at least you're exploring your options. Good luck!

 

[Phonedave]

So far most of the advice you have received is good. As you found out, since you will only be at WDW for two of the four days you are staying there, a meal plan is definately NOT in your best interest.

Now, if you were going to be eating in the parks for four days, is the meal plan worth it. - Maybe. Putting all the "soft" reasons aside, such as "I like to have my meals paid for ahead of time", "It allows me not to think of money" etc, lets look at how it works.

The meal plan gives you a set number of credits per night of your stay (all at once, if you are there 4 night you get four nights worth of creadis as soon as you check in)

Those credits are good for specific things - snacks, Quick Service Meals, or Table Service meals, with specific things included in each meal.

Now comes the tricky part. If you order the most expensive items for each credit, and max out each credit (such as making sure you get dessert with every table service meal you have) then you will save money over what you would have paid with cash.

However ....

Is that how you would have eaten if you were on cash. Instead of steak every night, would you have had chicken or pasta some of those nights? Would you have skipped dessert because you were not hungry or nothing appealed to you? Would you have not bought a Mickey Ice Cream bar but instead had a bottle of water if you weren't trying to max out your snack credits?

Many people say the plan is worth it, but it only is if it does not change your dining habits.

Looks at it this way. Disney is in the business of making money. They would not offer you a plan if there was nothing to gain for them. Having the plan does two things for Disney

1) It keeps people from eating off property (as you found out - hence the plan is not for you on this trip)

2) It makes people spend more by making them think they are saving. If you would have normaly spent $80 on food with cash, but now you buy a $90 plan in order the "save" money on $100 of food - in my book, you lost and Disney won.


-dave

 

[luv]

Minthorne - could you please explain what you mean by this? I'm very sorry but I'm not up on the lingo and how anything works in Disney. This is our very first time going with our 16 month old daughter and it's like the blind leading the blind here. We are going to stay in one of the All Star Resorts. What do you mean by Free or paying?

Disney sells the dining plan. Sometimes, they jack up the cost of the room and tell people that the dining part of the package is free.

The only way to know for sure is to do the math and see how you'll save the most money.

Cute baby!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

So much of this depends on your family's dining habits, IMO. While I've found some value in the deluxe plan - it's still too much food and the regular plan doesn't fit our dining preferences at all. We tend to like 2 TS meals a day, but aren't big on QS or a ton snacks...and we often share those things when we do partake in them. I also don't love the idea of having to order to most $$$ things just to make the plan work out to a savings. i.e. sometimes I just want the lower priced chicken dish, but the steak is where the most bang for the buck is at...or maybe I want an appetizer but could care less about dessert.

I certainly wouldn't turn it down if it's free (since we know we'll be doing a number of TS meals regardless of freebies), but I wouldn't pay out of pocket for the regular plan or the quick service plan. Still, the best thing to do is sit down and crunch the #s and see if it will save you. I've seen it save some people, so it might work for you- but for 2 days...it might not be worth it.

 

[bethymouse]

We tried the quick service plan. My hubby hated it because he enjoys a nice "sit down" meal.
My boys are "heavy" eaters, but picky. We always get the dining plan mostly for peace of mind.
We figure we "break even". We are guilty of using "free dining" when it's available. we know we're not really "saving " any money, but it's nice to know it's already "paid for".
The character meals are expensive. It depends on where you'd like to eat. If BOG is on your list or "non-buffets" or no signature restaurants, then by all means do not get the dining plan. It's really up to you. Snacks can get expensive as well. The quick service meals are pretty fairly priced.
Good luck! Have fun! Welcome to the World of Disney!

 

[tnpoohbear]

To jump in here,
They often offer free dining in the fall season to attract more visitors.
We always do the dining plan. It's not or everyone but we like not having to worry about the bill. Make sure you get ADRs for a character meal for your little one!

We love the dining plan and we get the middle level one - we get to eat at places that we might not normally eat at or if we did we would share, well worth the money~