Ways of prepaying for food other than the dining plan?

cslafferty

cslafferty

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We have done the dining plan in the past. DH loves it - he loves that everything is already paid for before the trip even begins; no credit card bills after we get home and no need to bring lots of cash. But, I have crunched the numbers and it’s cheaper for us NOT to do the DDP. I’m wondering if any of you have come up with creative ways of setting aside $$ so that it FEELS like the DDP - gift cards, separate debit card account, etc??
 
wdworlandlover

wdworlandlover

Active Member
cslafferty said:
We have done the dining plan in the past. DH loves it - he loves that everything is already paid for before the trip even begins; no credit card bills after we get home and no need to bring lots of cash. But, I have crunched the numbers and it’s cheaper for us NOT to do the DDP. I’m wondering if any of you have come up with creative ways of setting aside $$ so that it FEELS like the DDP - gift cards, separate debit card account, etc??
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I’ve gotten where I’ll try to buy Disney gift cards whenever I can at Target, using my Redcard (5% discount). Before my trip I’ll load all my gift cards onto a single card, and then use it to pay for my meals/snacks/drinks when I’m in the parks or at the resort. It’s worked out great! Since I’ve purchased the gift cards in the months or weeks prior to the trip, I don’t have to worry about the big bill I used end up with at the end of the trip.
 
MrsPrice96

MrsPrice96

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
We don't use the dining plan for our family of 4- all grown adults. We have found it forces us to eat more than we need and it costs way more than we would spend. We eat what we want, when we want and its less stressful. Typically we set aside money into a savings account for our trips and use our cc or magic bands to pay. Even with the freedom to eat whatever /whenever we still spend and eat less.
 
Legendary

Legendary

Active Member
We do the same but we buy our gift cards from Sam’s. We look at menus and get a rough estimate of what it would cost for meals then transfer and condense balances to a couple of cards. Not just for food we pay for our entire trip using gift cards. As an added bonus the credit card that we use to buy the gift cards gives us a cash back rewards bonus.
 
CaptainAmerica

CaptainAmerica

Premium Member
wdworlandlover said:
I’ve gotten where I’ll try to buy Disney gift cards whenever I can at Target, using my Redcard (5% discount). Before my trip I’ll load all my gift cards onto a single card, and then use it to pay for my meals/snacks/drinks when I’m in the parks or at the resort. It’s worked out great! Since I’ve purchased the gift cards in the months or weeks prior to the trip, I don’t have to worry about the big bill I used end up with at the end of the trip.
Click to expand...
Even better than Red Card for people who don't have it... Get 4% discount at a wholesale club and pay with your best cash back rewards credit card for an additional 1-2%.

wdworlandlover said:
Go to disneygiftcard.com
You can set up an account, and whenever you get a gift card, enter it. You can choose one card to transfer the others to.
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Up to $1,000 per card.
 
larryz

larryz

I'm Just A Tourist!
Premium Member
cslafferty said:
We have done the dining plan in the past. DH loves it - he loves that everything is already paid for before the trip even begins; no credit card bills after we get home and no need to bring lots of cash. But, I have crunched the numbers and it’s cheaper for us NOT to do the DDP. I’m wondering if any of you have come up with creative ways of setting aside $$ so that it FEELS like the DDP - gift cards, separate debit card account, etc??
Click to expand...
So you guys leave cash for the 18% tip?
 
Heppenheimer

Heppenheimer

Well-Known Member
This only works if you start planning far in advanced, but if you have the Disney Chase Visa card, you earn points with every purchase. You can then convert your points into a Disney gift card. So, if you pay your balance every month, you can eventually accumulate enough to pay for your meals.

I visit only visit every few years, so this gives us enough time to accumulate a large balance. At the rate we're going, we should eat for free on our next trip.
 
cslafferty

cslafferty

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Heppenheimer said:
This only works if you start planning far in advanced, but if you have the Disney Chase Visa card, you earn points with every purchase. You can then convert your points into a Disney gift card. So, if you pay your balance every month, you can eventually accumulate enough to pay for your meals.

I visit only visit every few years, so this gives us enough time to accumulate a large balance. At the rate we're going, we should eat for free on our next trip.
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I usually use our Disney Redemption Card to pay for souvenirs and “extras.” This year I used it to pay for our MVMCP tickets.
 
NeedMoreMickey

NeedMoreMickey

Well-Known Member
We have the Disney Reward Visa card and I buy gift cards. I have three different cards I’ll transfer money to so my husband and I both have one. Got the original cards from Disney, Mickey playing golf, Mickey & Minnie on the beach and the chipmunks. Just keep reloading them
 
Rsj88

Rsj88

Well-Known Member
We used gift cards for food last time we went in January. It was our first time going without free dining. I’m not sure if it has changed or not but at the time you could not use mobile ordering with gift cards. I had not thought of that and I was disappointed as it would have been much more convenient at times. Just something to think about.
I’m a big planner and before we went I looked up menus, planned out meals and made up budget. I didn’t think I would have a hard fine with it but I did still worry the whole trip about staying on budget. It wasn’t a big deal if we went over but just seeing the prices made me think twice about what I ordered even though I had planned for it. Sometimes we would need extra snacks or whatever so I was constantly trying to adjust. Plus they raised the prices on snacks and drinks before we went which I had not accounted for. This time I am over budgeting everything and I’m going to try not to worry about it! But I really do miss not thinking about money with the free dining.
Also, we still used our magic bands even though we had the gift cards. We just made sure to pay our bill at the hotel every couple of nights so they didn’t charge our cc.
 
correcaminos

correcaminos

Well-Known Member
Admittedly I don't quite understand how you are pre paying for it all if you still you have to pay for the tip in the end. Even if you pay cash, you're still carrying around a significant amount of cash in my opinion in order to do so. I personally would do the gift card grout and then whatever you have left over you can buy for souvenirs. Granted we don't actually prepay anything, because we went up spending less than we always think we're going to.
 
Queen of the WDW Scene

Queen of the WDW Scene

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
IF YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU'LL BE SPENDING... then I would consider the gift card route. put the exact amount on. Otherwise you're gonna either buy too much in gift cards or you're gonna end up paying with cash or credit at the time.
You could do a Disney gift card or like a prepaid visa/master card.
Other than that I don't really know of another way to really feel like you're paying ahead of time.
Anyother thing I'd consider is again knowing exactly how much you will spend and then putting that money aside and when the CC bill comes you have the money put away ahead of time to pay for it.
 
wdworlandlover

wdworlandlover

Active Member
Heppenheimer said:
This only works if you start planning far in advanced, but if you have the Disney Chase Visa card, you earn points with every purchase. You can then convert your points into a Disney gift card. So, if you pay your balance every month, you can eventually accumulate enough to pay for your meals.

I visit only visit every few years, so this gives us enough time to accumulate a large balance. At the rate we're going, we should eat for free on our next trip.
Click to expand...
I do this as well. My cousin actually puts all her expenses on her Disney Visa each month and pays it in full before it accrues interest. She builds up a lot of Disney $ this way.
 
Minnesota disney fan

Minnesota disney fan

Well-Known Member
As other posters have stated, we don't do the dining plans: too much food, a waste of food, spend less money without the plan.
We make sure we have saved enough to pay for our food, and then simply hook our CC up to our magic band and tap the band when paying. We also budget for souveniers too. Then we pay it when we get home. We know how much we spend on food, as we have done this many times before. We usually spend less than budgeted for. This works for us, as it is convenient to just tap the band for all purchases at WDW. We keep some cash to use as a tip too.
I hope you find a way that fits your touring style.
 
jaklgreen

jaklgreen

Well-Known Member
danyoung56 said:
I just budget for food and expenses, and make sure I have the bank to pay for it on my AMEX card. Then I put everything on my hotel account via MagicBand, and then I only have one hotel bill to worry about.
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This is what I do. I put everything on my card and then pay it. That way I get my rewards. I don't get the whole "pre-pay" for the food thing. Why even bother with the gift cards. If you have the money for it, then just charge it to your room and pay at one time. It is more inconvenient to go and get gift cards and worry about loosing them or wondering how much is left on them, etc then to just pay it all at once at the end of your trip.
 

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