Is the dining Plan worth it ?

[RealBlast3]

We don't do the dining plan nor do we stay on site. I just wanted to comment on what we witnessed last week while traveling with a large group who did stay on site and did get the dining plan. Two families in particular were desperately trying to use up their snack credits the night before we left for home. One bought a TON of rice krispy treats and candy in Goofy's in Disney Springs, and the other bought a bunch of lobster rolls for everyone to share in the American pavilion at Food and Wine. They were both disappointed in the waste and trying hard to "make it work out" before losing those extra credits.

Ok, here's the thing, the dining plan, especially the Deluxe Dining plan can be quite overwhelming and intimidating to utilize properly so you can maximize it's potential and feel you are getting everything you want out of it.

I will admit it took me a few tries to not "waste" credits, both meals and snack ones, and I, too, a few times, was like this family, scrambling on my last night where ever I was just acquiring snacks I didn't really want so as not to waste them.

But now, after some practice, I operate the Dining Plan like a well-oiled machine and I run it, and not the other way around. Bottom line is it is alot of food and you have to want all that food and all those meals and snacks and make peace with that and how you want to go about it.

What I do now on the Deluxe plan is I make it my business to use at least 2 snacks a day and to use them properly. What do I mean? I mean, by getting snacks I know I want to consume. In some cases, my "snack" is a beverage like a bottle of water for I know I need a few of those a day and I can use my snack credit even in my resort gift shop to stock up on water bottles for my fridge in my hotel room and I do do a little of that and it saves me out of pocket money.

The other thing I pay attention to is all the really, really delicious gourmet snacks they have throughout Disney World that are actually quite expensive to buy out of pocket, so I make sure I am constantly walking up to the various quick-services everywhere and checking out their menus so I will treat myself to a genuinely great snack or 2 on some of my days, so that I will use them. And for me, that will mostly be all those amazing snacks which are practically meals you can get at Epcot at World Showcase from the bakeries in France, Germany, and Norway and everywhere else.

Alot of people don't realize how many amazing gourmet foods there are on the Dining Snack plan. People tend to think it's just the typical stuff like Mickey pretzels and ice cream bars and popcorn and cotton candy and the like, and other bargain basement candy and junk food you can get anywhere. But all around you, if you just look, and remember to incorporate it into your vacationing style, are amazing snacks that can help you get the most bang for your buck from the dining plan.

 

[Farro]

We never wasted snack credits. We went during Food/Wine all the time, used those credits up real quick!

 

[NYCgrrl]

Another use for snack credits is breakfast at the hotel's food court/QS eatery. You can put together a nice Continental style breakfast there and the cashier CM will generally ask you what type of credits you want to use.

 

[Jen95]

We love the dining plan.. but I go to eat! Lol. My dd 11 and I are foodies and I love to cook. I also have celiac disease so DW is my place to go for a week and feel safe and pampered by eating out a lot.. and not having to cook every day like I do at home is so nice. Needless to say.. by the end of the week I'm done with eating out for the rest of the year and wanting my good, healthy, normal meals again..lol. I also make certain to get a variety of restaurants so we're not stuck with steak every night. Basically like everyone else says.. it's a very personal decision that only you can make. I also get waters and fruit for the hotel room each day.

 

[tguz]

And that's fine if that's the way you normally eat and what you would normally spend money on. For these people, they did not normally eat that way and really didn't understand the ins and outs of the plan or how to work it to their advantage. So they were frustrated with all the left over credits and trying to find a way to use them up so they didn't lose them.
The Star Wars tin sounds cool. I don't remember seeing that in Goofy's.

I would probably be frustrated if we had a ton left over because I would have realized we didn't get to sample some great snacks in the parks. People need to know how to use them so they don't lose them or end up with a bunch of last minute things they don't want or buying other people snacks. The kids do like snacks for the long ride home so that's good. I got the Star Wars tin at the gift shop at our resort I have a Millennium Falcon and a Tie Fighter tin. LOL

 

[MickeyMouse3!]

We did the standard and deluxe dining packages in the past as a family and just the two of us. We sat down one day while planning a trip and looked at the menus for places we wanted to eat at. Out of pocket saved us so much money compared to a dining plan. The nice thing about a dining plan is you pay for it ahead of time so you don't think about the cost, except for the gratuities which are not included in most meals. I would vote no for any meal plan for us.

 

[Moliphino]

For us, no. We did our first trip in years without the DDP (we usually go for Free Dining promotions) and it was so freeing.

 

[Nancyg56]

I actually totally agree, but in previous threads when I mentioned writing out your group's meals for the stay to figure it out, I was met with comments about how that was way more work than necessary since there are online calculators now. So I've begun mentioning both.

When I calculate for us, I do it by hand, and I include exactly what I think we'd get at each place...the DP included items like entree, drink, and/or dessert, but also things I know we'd probably want even though they are not included in the DDP, such as sides or appetizers.

When I've done our own mock-ups I've always invested the time to get as close to possible to what would actually happen, even calling the kids over to tell me what they would like at each place. And for *us*, the dining plan is absolutely not worth it at all. We're not interested in paying more for the plan because we don't personally see it as a convenience or budgeting tool, even though I know others do view it that way. We view it as something that makes our trip cost more unnecessarily, and we're not interested in that.

I know, folks used to swear by the online calculators. I never found them to be accurate for my family.

If someone really wants to have a fairly accurate comparison of projected OOP costs to DDP cost they really need to pull out the pencil and add the meals up.

 

[Lumpy1106]

It's a no for us, and it took me multiple trips to convince my wife. She loves the pre-paid convenience of it. If you absolutely must have appetizers, desert and an alcoholic drink every day then I can see it penciling out. If you research the many threads dedicated to this you'll see the people who regularly do the dining plan also go to great lengths to make sure they are taking full advantage. We almost never have any of those things though so at best it would be a secondary bargain. You are better off budgeting for however many special meals you will be having and getting gift cards to cover it in advance.

 

[Miffy]

There are about 2.5 billion threads on the DIS about this very topic, OP, so you could read those in your spare time as well!

The answer is: it depends on you, your party, your eating habits, what you're planning, and several other factors.

For me, the dining plan has never ever been even close to worth it. We never get the refillable mugs since we'd have no use for them. We eat 2 meals a day, not 3, and often share.

But we do eat at TS restaurants, so it's not like we're just having pb&j from the room all the time. Yet every time I've compared my actual expenses with the cost of the dining plan, I've come out way ahead. Last December, I kept all the food receipts. Our expenses were way way way less than the dining plan.

The only individual day that my sister and I spent anything close to what the plan would've cost us was the day we ate at Tusker House, which is an expensive TS restaurant. Even that day we didn't spend as much as we would've on the dining plan.

So, for 2019--I just looked--the regular dining plan is $75.49 per person. My sister and I often spend less than that between us on any given day at WDW. For example: breakfast at the Mara could be maybe $15, sometimes less, since we often don't get a lot. The last lunch we had at Rose & Crown at Epcot cost $50, including the tip. We didn't eat anything else that day. $65 for the day for 2 adults who had 1 TS meal. Not $150.

It's really easy to figure it out quickly. You don't need to get a calculator. Just look at what the meals you know you're going to be eating would cost and figure it out from there. If you are planning on a lot of buffets and/or character meals, then perhaps the dining plan would work for you.

Only you can figure it out.

If I were you, though, I'd ignore one of the pro-dining-plan arguments I often see: that it's convenient. Why would I ignore this? Because the only convenience it offers is that your meals--assuming you have enough credits, want to order things that are on the dining plan, and don't have anything additional or off-plan--are paid for in advance. Although the tip is not. To me, that's not a strong argument. If I want to make sure it'll all be taken care of, I put the money aside so I'll have it to pay the bill with.

But, to me, the dining plan seems restrictive, not convenient. How many credits do we have left? Will this be this kind of credit or that? I can't have an appetizer instead of a main course? And, at the end of the trip: Would we have come out ahead without it?

Without the dining plan, we eat what we want, where we want, when we want. If we don't want to spend the $ on something particular, we don't get it. To me, that seems quite convenient. And I don't have to keep track of dining credits, etc.

 

[chippydale33]

We're getting the regular dining plan for our honeymoon, simply because we want to order whatever we want and have that extra luxury. DH and I don't eat extravagantly (both price and amount wise), but on our honeymoon we would like to be able to order the best entrees on the menu each night with a glass of wine. We aren't 'saving money' by using the dining plan, but we are 'beating' the dining plan per our calculations, and adding luxury versus worrying about what costs what. That's what we personally care about this trip.

Like a previous poster said, we've strategically planned out most of our snacks to help us pay for small breakfasts and specialty coffees. I wouldn't personally just "wing" the snacks most days just because I hate being stuck in the hotel gift shop the morning of my flight worried about what to grab to use up my snacks.

 

[KenHutch]

In my families case Yes it is but we are a party of 8 and usually have the deluxe plan. With the exceptions of Santuli Canteen we have pretty much abandoned CS places to eat. I got started liking the deluxe because the girls have 2 maternal relatives (who go with us) who when looking at the menus automatically order the most expensive thing on the menu because they are not paying. Signature places are already expensive but the girls love dressing up and going to them.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

This is such a loaded question, and dependent on so many factors. You will see die hards on Both sides of this. My answer is, it can be, if your family eats the way it is designed to work.

For us DDP works. We enjoy ourselves on vacation and eat things we normally would not. We like a sit down meal every evening, and like a cocktail before dinner and dessert after. We will use snack credits for breakfasts and typically get and afternoon snack in. We like the convenience of not having to worry about how much something costs. I have run calculations on multiple trips and we are usually with $100 of the DDP price, sometimes over, sometimes under. It makes a trip much less stressful on me because if we don't have the plan i will be counting every penny spent on dining.

For people who don't eat like us, it is sometimes difficult to make DDP a good value.

 

[tguz]

I would suggest that you put the "it is convenient" or the "it isn't convenient" views out of your mind, at first. It ALL depends on how your family eats. If your family likes to get appetizers as a meal, then maybe it wouldn't be convenient for you. If you like getting something fairly quick, then it may be convenient for you. If you like to sit down and be waited on, there is a plan that may be right for you. Take both into into consideration but to disregard a whole point of view (as others have suggested) may not be the best advice as that point of view may be what is best for you and your family.

 

[Nancyg56]

I would suggest that you put the "it is convenient" or the "it isn't convenient" views out of your mind, at first. It ALL depends on how your family eats. If your family likes to get appetizers as a meal, then maybe it wouldn't be convenient for you. If you like getting something fairly quick, then it may be convenient for you. If you like to sit down and be waited on, there is a plan that may be right for you. Take both into into consideration but to disregard a whole point of view (as others have suggested) may not be the best advice as that point of view may be what is best for you and your family.

Appetizers are only included in the DxDDP snd nog on the other two.

 

[tguz]

Appetizers are only included in the DxDDP snd nog on the other two.

That’s why I said if you like appetizers as a meal it may not be convenient for you. You may not be able to eat that way on a dining plan.

 

[stinkpickle]

Dining plans have only worked for us when they were free.

 

[TammyLynn33]

We got it last time and it worked for us . I liked not having to think about what I was spending .. it was paid
This trip (August ) we are doing a longer trip and a couple days off site and I worry about the heat affecting appetites .
I’m leaning no for this one

 

[KMarston]

We got it last time and it worked for us . I liked not having to think about what I was spending .. it was paid
This trip (August ) we are doing a longer trip and a couple days off site and I worry about the heat affecting appetites .
I’m leaning no for this one

We were there the second week of September with free dining, adults only and excited for food and wine. The heat absolutely affected our appetites and we live in a similar climate too. I was pretty surprised.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

We were there the second week of September with free dining, adults only and excited for food and wine. The heat absolutely affected our appetites and we live in a similar climate too. I was pretty surprised.

This is one reason we don't go in the heat. We live in basically the same climate and I say "I can sweat at home for free". We aren't interested in being out in it all day and certainly don't want a big meal. We typically go Nov or Feb. This year we are pushing it to March for spring break, but that is my limit. We did a June trip one time becuase we REALLY wanted to see Star Wars weekends. It was great but never again!