To Disney Meal Plan or Not?

trinculo54

Earning My Ears
Joined
Apr 16, 2009
My Wife and 2 kids (3 and 4) and I are staying at the Boardwalk Villas and are weighing the idea of the meal pan or not.... with the kitchen I can see us doing some meals at the hotel but my wife and I do like sit down dinners... My wife and I got the plan many years ago and we liked the idea that you can pool meals and do a really nice out. Our kids are also picky eaters but will always eat a grilled cheese and or chicken fingers.

Anyone have any thoughts either way?

thanks!
 
If you’re looking to save money it really comes down to a math exercise. Figure out where you want to eat and what you think you’d order and then compare that to the cost of the plan. It can be a good deal if you’re looking to do a lot of character meals, but generally it doesn’t save money for most people.

On the other hand, some people like the plan for the all inclusive feel and being able to pay all the food costs up front. Then there are other factors like whether or not you would normally order alcohol, etc.

There’s really no right or wrong answer, it comes down to personal preference and how your family likes to dine.
 
Just in case you weren't aware of the changes to the meal plan, adult and child credits are split up now so you can only buy adult meals with adult credits and child meals with child credits. So if you and your wife did a nicer table service restaurant, you would potentially have an abundance of kid's credits go unused. That said, we do the meal plan everytime. We do so because we like to do character meals and they are expensive and price fixe. We can almost break even on the daily cost with one character meal. The snacks, quick service meal, and mugs are a bonus.
 
Just in case you weren't aware of the changes to the meal plan, adult and child credits are split up now so you can only buy adult meals with adult credits and child meals with child credits. So if you and your wife did a nicer table service restaurant, you would potentially have an abundance of kid's credits go unused. That said, we do the meal plan everytime. We do so because we like to do character meals and they are expensive and price fixe. We can almost break even on the daily cost with one character meal. The snacks, quick service meal, and mugs are a bonus.
That's good to know... I think last time we "borrowed" our kids credits :-)

we do A LOT of the character meal so maybe that is the way to go. Maybe a good way to keep the wife on budget lol
 
I literally had to sit down, make a spread sheet, and go through every single menu. For my family, it's surprisingly cheaper to pay for everything out of pocket even with alcohol, my "must try" snack list, etc. Next trip it could be completely different and it be cheaper to get the meal plan, so I'll have to sit down and price every single thing out again. So no one can really tell you what's best, but it's worthwhile to spend a few hours thinking it through in details so you can move on without hesitation. On the bright side, I'm no longer panicking at the thought of paying for our expensive meals out of pocket. lol.
 
For us, a big factor was alcohol and desserts. We don't drink much alcohol and didn't enjoy the included dessert at the end of the meals because it was too much food, so we think we would have saved money not being on the plan. We did enjoy the feel of it being all inclusive but I did not like feeling like I had to keep tabs on how many snack credits we had to use and having credits left over at the end. We personally won't get it again.
 
I made a spreadsheet and figured out where we wanted to eat and what we would most likely order, added a few snacks each day and it came out cheaper for us to pay OOP and not do the dining plan. However, we did not plan on doing multiple character meals and we don't like doing a ton of TS because we'd rather spend the time on the rides as opposed to sitting down for a longer meal. Each family is different; you just need to figure out what is best for you.
 


I'm debating if we should get one when we go next year. With a picky child and another under 2, and a wife who doesn't drink alcohol I'm unsure if it's worth the expense.
 
I agree with sitting down and figuring out where you would eat and what you would probably order. We are a family of 5 with 2 of our kids now counting as "adults" and it's cheaper for us to just pay out of pocket. We have never liked character buffets, ordering dessert after a gigantic meal just feels like too much food for us, we aren't big alcohol drinkers, or even sodas for that matter, and it's so much easier for us to just go to whatever restaurant we want and not have to think about what counts as a snack, an entree, etc. The last time we had the dining plan (years ago) we had so many snack credits left over that we did what people typically do- fill up on junk at the resort that counted as a snack credit and it just feels like an excessive amount to spend on a rice Krispy treat, etc. We ALWAYS spend less and are less stressed not on the plan. We just buy a ton of Disney gift cards in advance and it becomes a pre-paid vacation, but we actually buy what we want.
 
When we had hungry teens the DDP worked well for us. That was before alcohol was included. We eat more table service that QS and not many snacks. We do a lot of character meals with our DGS who we take each year. Last year I was going to order the DxDP because we tend to like apps though we don’t need one per person. I couldn’t pull the trigger and decided to budget the $1500 it would have cost us. We were barely at $1000 and that included bottles of wine, umbrella drinks each evening at the resort and souvenirs. In September we had free dining and even though it was free we/I stressed about finding the best value. Not using the plan is actually more liberating at this point for us. Hasn’t always been that way but we sometimes prefer split and app and get salads, at TS meals. It really depends on how your family eats
 
Four out of four trips last year paying out of pocket was cheaper. Only get the meal plan if you truly want the most expensive stuff on every menu and you plan on using every last credit because that’s the only way the price makes sense. You can pay out of pocket and get a $30 entree instead while the required meal plan price covers a lot more than that... and if you don’t spend it you lose it.
 
We chose to use it for our upcoming trip, but we loaded up on Character meals / meals that include preferred show seating (FOF at Tony's, F! at Hollywood and Vine, Chef Mickey's, ROL at Tusker). Those meals are pretty pricey if paying cash, but great uses of 1 credit (IMO) on the DP. Once you also factor in alcohol, we should be able to come out ahead.
 
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I've run the numbers and the only time I get the dining plan is when I'm traveling with a young child(ren) and going heavy on the character meals. It comes out more of a wash than saving money, but I like that our meals are paid for ahead of time.
 
I think we’re going with the deluxe plan... wait here me out..
It’s my wife’s birthday when we’re going so we’ll be hitting the high end. Also my 4 year old daughter does not like the rides too much... dumbo, teacups, etc... she hated Peter-pan and Winnie the Pooh, Smallworld... I think it’s the dark... she also doesn’t like fast rides... teacups is it.
Anyway; we do a lot of character dining.. royal table, 1900 park, crystal palace, chef Mickey, etc... I used one of the online calculators and scheduling stuff out it really looks like it will save us quite a bit.
 
The math works out if you are doing a lot of character meals because even with picky eaters it's a set price no matter what they consume. We did H&V, Storybook Dining at AP, and Crystal Palace, along with Liberty Tree Tavern and Whispering Canyon, which were AYCTE meals. We had Free Dining last trip (no RO discount offered for our dates so we weren't giving up a different offer) We used up every credit and back in December, you could still use a kid's QS credit for an adult meal so I got my vegetarian 8 year-old awesome plant-based options from the adult menus. That said, I don't know if I want to eat the way you have to eat to get the best value out of the DDP. The AYCTE meals, in particular, felt wasteful, because they just bring you out a big platter no matter how much you will consume. By the time they brought out the famous toffee pudding at Liberty Tree, I felt like I was force feeding myself like a goose. Storybook is the only one of those meals I would care to repeat, I think I'm done with the buffets and AYCTE.
 
Right now I have the following booked:
Royal Table
Trattoria - Breakfast... it's close to our hotel (BWV)
Garden grill
Akershus
Chef Mickey - Breakfast
Hoopdie
Sci-Fi Cafe

Still looking to book Yacht Club, Ohana, and probably Brown Derby or Hollywood and Vine
Really hoping that we can book the new Space Restaurant when we're at Epcot
 
Money wise, if you do character meals with your sit down credits, you come out a head slightly.

If you see value in pre-paying for food for a more stress-free vacation, then it's worth it (this is me).
 

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