Is the Dining Plan worth it?

[MickeyMouseCD524]

I think the real point is the age of any kids....are they kids or 10+ and adults (in Disney's eyes). With 2 kids under 10, the DDP is going to be close to making sense for you especially if you do a lot of character meals. Once you have kids who are 10+, it is VERY hard to make it make sense as far as $$$ goes. Disney does not sell this to save you money, just a fact. It can be convenient, but just as convenient as using a CC or GC to pay. We have been paying OOP since my first child was 10+ of age.

Good to know. I had friend rave about it so we tried it out but I just didn't really feel like we got the value out of it. We're doing a handful of character dining experiences cause we love the characters. But having just run our tentative plans in that calculator. It seems like we'll be losing money rather than saving. I liked the convenience of not pulling my wallet out but I could also easily charge it on a GC or to the room.

 

[Disneychick75]

We enjoy character dining but this trip we're only doing two or three. We mainly planning on eating in EPCOT. The most we get is entree and dessert and 8 times out of 10 the dessert people want is something like a cakepop. Not big drinkers as I said. I think the only dessert we're getting is at CRT cause it's included and I really want the little moose from Le Cellier when we go for someone's bday. (I've never been and it looks adorable).



Thank you!!!! This looks like it will be very helpful!

You're welcome!

 

[Firebird060]

After looking at your numbers and the places you are planing on TS and the fact that you have Table in wonderland, the answer is no you wont save money with a Dinning plan. Unless you planning to buy everyone every snack they can imagine and even then its doubtful. I understand your friend prob just wants to help bring the magic to everyone by not having them have to worry about anything. Trust me I understand that I have done that before for people as well, but from a strictly numbers and cents view point the answer is no. Even without tables in Wonderland with the AP discounts on food alone at some of the places you would still be close to breaking even and thats with only the 10 percent discount that AP provides and not the 20 that TIW applies.

 

[ThisIsJason]

Well if we were to do it I would want to get deluxe cause we're doing quite a bit of TS but I'm just not sure we're going to get our money's worth. Do you remember where you found the calculator that would be a huge help.

https://www.distripplanner.com/

Now to be honest, this one never seems accurate for us, but it gives you an idea.

Friends/family/coworkers always ask how we do deluxe and not have credits left over. For us it is simple: 1 credit breakfast, 1 snack credit for lunch (maybe buy a coke out of pocket to split) then do a 2 credit dinner, 1 snack credit later in the night. Rinse and repeat. Not like that 100% each and everyday but close.

 

[kristenrice]

I liked the pre-paid idea of the dining plan, but I did not like feeling like I had to eat like a glutton to get my money's worth. Now, I sit down and decide which restaurants we want to eat at and pick a few appetizers, entrees, desserts and beverages for each meal. I add up the costs of the TS meals and then repeat with the CS meals (main dishes and beverages, no desserts) and add another $10 per person, per day for snacks. I take that total and it becomes our dining budget for the week. I load that amount on a Disney gift card and, POOF! Our dining plan is now pre-paid. We can now order pretty much anything we want at each restaurant and not worry about the cost since it has already been "paid for" on the gift card. If there is anything left over, it either rolls over to our next trip or gets spent on souvenirs. Usually, I end up overloading the card by about $100 or more.

 

[Marionnette]

When we've been at Disney without kids, the TiW was always a better deal for us. The TiW card allows up to 10 people to dine at one time and receive the discount. This fall, we're doing a trip with my brothers, sister and their spouses and the TiW card is going to pay for itself after only a couple of meals.

 

[MickeyMouseCD524]

After looking at your numbers and the places you are planing on TS and the fact that you have Table in wonderland, the answer is no you wont save money with a Dinning plan. Unless you planning to buy everyone every snack they can imagine and even then its doubtful. I understand your friend prob just wants to help bring the magic to everyone by not having them have to worry about anything. Trust me I understand that I have done that before for people as well, but from a strictly numbers and cents view point the answer is no. Even without tables in Wonderland with the AP discounts on food alone at some of the places you would still be close to breaking even and thats with only the 10 percent discount that AP provides and not the 20 that TIW applies.

Oh I totally get where he's coming from too. But I think the two of us are being more than generous by covering the rooms at Beach Club and the tickets. The only thing that Tables in Wonderland won't cover is the dining packages for Candlelight and Fantasmic but that doesn't bother me too much. Thanks so much this really makes me feel better thought I was going crazy for a hot sec.

https://www.distripplanner.com/

Now to be honest, this one never seems accurate for us, but it gives you an idea.

Friends/family/coworkers always ask how we do deluxe and not have credits left over. For us it is simple: 1 credit breakfast, 1 snack credit for lunch (maybe buy a coke out of pocket to split) then do a 2 credit dinner, 1 snack credit later in the night. Rinse and repeat. Not like that 100% each and everyday but close.

Thanks so much! I'll keep all that in mind.

I liked the pre-paid idea of the dining plan, but I did not like feeling like I had to eat like a glutton to get my money's worth. Now, I sit down and decide which restaurants we want to eat at and pick a few appetizers, entrees, desserts and beverages for each meal. I add up the costs of the TS meals and then repeat with the CS meals (main dishes and beverages, no desserts) and add another $10 per person, per day for snacks. I take that total and it becomes our dining budget for the week. I load that amount on a Disney gift card and, POOF! Our dining plan is now pre-paid. We can now order pretty much anything we want at each restaurant and not worry about the cost since it has already been "paid for" on the gift card. If there is anything left over, it either rolls over to our next trip or gets spent on souvenirs. Usually, I end up overloading the card by about $100 or more.

That's what I'm thinking of doing is put dining budget on a gift card.

When we've been at Disney without kids, the TiW was always a better deal for us. The TiW card allows up to 10 people to dine at one time and receive the discount. This fall, we're doing a trip with my brothers, sister and their spouses and the TiW card is going to pay for itself after only a couple of meals.

I've never done TiW before I'm a new passholder. But I do think it might be the way to go for us.

 

[adamak]

I have never had dining plan because (1) no kids before, (2) we drink and we usually order bottles of wine which was not covered (3) the plan assumes you eat at least 2 meals a day but we prefer to snack along (4) longer vacations so plans will be $$$. We did TIW and we usually were slightly ahead, but now it's 150 bucks, so totally not worth it on a shorter trip.

This time we're doing DDP with DC. I think we'll just even out or slightly ahead, depending on how much time we want to spend in restaurants. We're using the snacks credit for Flower&G booths so that should cover a lot of lunches. We're also doing Aloha Luau on the plan, otherwise we wouldn't do character meals. We're also on a much shorter trip (4 nights) so dining plan is more manageable. I just can't imagine doing the plan for anything longer given how I eat.

Worth it? 90% of the time, no. That's why Disney wants you to get it. But, if you're diligent, and plan, and your dining pattern fits the plan, you can come out way ahead. I can see people doing a 4-5 nights plan, and eat CA Grill's steak or Paddlefish's lobster alone and save $$.

 

[Darcy03231]

For me, it depends on the trip. If I'm going with a young child and we're going heavy on the character meals, I buy it. If it's me and my mom, we pay OOP.

I really don't think it saves much, if any money, but I like the convenience of it when we're doing a lot of TS meals.

 

[ericbansemer]

I also don't think it really saves you any money even if you book a lot of character meal, maybe you can about break even. But we like it because it takes the added stress out of having to budget the cost of all of your meals while you are on vacation.

 

[cariann77]

We've never come out ahead with the dining plan but I do enjoy having it paid for in advance. I'm with you on this one - if you've paid for hotels and tickets and already arranged that everyone cover their own meals/extras - then stick with that.

 

[Just People]

Oh, man. I remember the glory days back in the summer of 2005 with free dining. Being able to get whatever you wanted off the menu, and tip included! That was worth it, even at out of pocket. Now its just for “convinience” if being limited by Disney is something you find convinient.

 

[momof2gr8kids]

Since Disney allows you to share DP credits now, what about adding the dining plan to one of the rooms and use those credits to pay for the most expensive meals? It might be worth it to add the deluxe DP to one and share those credits amongst all of you. Just more Disney math to figure out if it's worth it or not.