Should I take the Disney dining plan?

[Ana Klein]

Hey guys,
I would appreciate you helping me decide if the Disney dining plan is good for me or not.
I'm going to visit Disney on Xmas week and will stay at one of the resort's hotels for 5 nights.
The first day (Dec 22th) I'll arrive late at night, so I will not have any meals in Disney that day.
The next five days (I check out on Dec 27th) I have a reservation for one table-service restaurant each day
(T-REX lunch; La Hacienda de San Angel dinner; The Diamond Horseshoe dinner; Mama Melrose lunch).
The day I check out I have a reservation for Bon Voyage Adventure Breakfast with characters),
and in one of those days I'll have breakfast at Be Our Guest.
I've counted 7 more meals (quick service) that I will probably have those days (mostly breakfasts [not much of an eater in the mornings] and lunches).
The different in my package with or without the dining plan is 377 USD.
Should I take the dining plan?
I've tried the Disney calculator, but I'm not sure which restaurant is quick/table service, which one redeem more than 1 table service meal, etc...
Thank you for your help

 

[I am Timmy]

The best way to figure it out is to look up the menus, see what you are likely to eat, and add up the cost. Are you looking at the regular dining plan (1 table service, 1 quick service, 2 snacks a day and a refillable resort mug)? Sounds like you are - if that is the case, you'll also need to look at whether you will need all those snacks each day, and if you'll be at your resort enough to refill the cup at all (or maybe you just want the cup as a souvenir). Don't forget to include tax (6.5% I think? Double check Florida tax just in case). All of your table service choices are 1 credit (the ones you listed are table service). Be Our Guest is quick service for bfast (although you need a res.). Disney World website will tell you which restaurants are quick service or table service, and loads of sites have current prices. If I take your meaning that you already know you will "save" $377 with one course of action (not sure which you meant) then I think saving the cash is the way to go. Hands down I'll take a savings to spend more in another area.

 

[Jon81uk]

Might not work out worth it for you.
Standard dining plan is one table service (main drink and dessert), one quick service (main and drink) and two snacks per day.
Its not worth using credits on breakfast as they are the cheapest meals of the day.

Look at the menu of the table service places and find the cost of the main and dessert you would order. Also will you have an alcoholic drink?
Then check the quick service menus and gauge what sort of thing you would order. But they are a bit easier to predict, mains are $10-15 and soft drinks are $4.
Will you eat two snacks per day, best uses of these are around $6-7 on sundaes etc but can also just be used on the $4 soda.

The dining plan is $75 per day, so if your quick service meal is around $20, two snacks around $10 then you need a $45 table service meal each day which is difficult to come get.
For example at T-Rex if you order a burger at under $20, plus dessert at $10 and soda then you could be looking at a $35 meal and you have lost over $10.
For the Bon Voyage character breakfast you will probably break even as that should be $40-45. Be our Guest breakfast is also a good value on a quick service credit as that meal is something like $25.

But the short answer is you need every quick service to be over $18 (main and drink), every snack to be over $5 and every table service to be over $40 (main, dessert and drink) to get close to breaking even with the dining plan.

 

[Ana Klein]

OK, great. Thank you both!
I'll go and check those menus, and start calculate...