Which dining plan would be best????

[Kerry Middleton]

So we are travelling to WDW in October and trying to figure out what dining plan (if any) would be right for us. As I know that everyone in your room has to be on the same plan so we have 6 adults (3 of which are big eaters) and 4 children (aged 8 (also a big eater) - 6 - 3 and 2).
We are wanting to do some character dining experiences probably for breakfast or dinner. My questions are...

- with the Disney dining plan is it possible to "save" enough credits to use for a 2credit signature or character dining experience

- if the ddp includes 1qs and 1ts what do people use for the other meal each day? My kids are not ones to skip breakfast and spend a lot of time telling me how hungry they are at home but might be different once we are busy having fun in the park.

- as my children are still quite young and the adults are not really "thrill seekers" so the food experiences will be as important to us as riding the rides would be to others.

- the deluxe plan seems a lot more expensive than the normal plan. If you don't use every credit do you instantly loose money on it?

- I read a suggestion from another forum that you can charge a dis ey gift card with the amount you would have paid for the deluxe plan and then use that to pay for the food you eat. Then at the end you can see if you would have lost money and any leftover can be used for other purchases perhaps at the gift shops. My concern is that what happens if we go over the amount we have allocated I will be annoyed that we could have saved money

- I know that a lot of people crunch all the numbers and make spreadsheets and the such, but we are travelling from Australia and so with the exchange rate as well as having no experience in the parks, with the food options or with my kids etc I feel like I don't even know where to start.

I have flipped back and forth with the options and still can't seem to decide on one so any other options will be helpful (if not more confusing and completely overwhelming )

 

[sharonabe]

As I know that everyone in your room has to be on the same plan so we have 6 adults (3 of which are big eaters) and 4 children (aged 8 (also a big eater) - 6 - 3 and 2).

Where are you staying? Do you have multiple rooms? If you have multiple rooms, there is a way the DxDDP might be a good fit for you, but need to know that first and who is staying in what room, if possible.

 

[bigbabyblues]

As for the other meal of the day on the regular ddp, we usually split 2 CS meals between the 4 of us when we used the ddp--it was enough food for all of us, so it worked out. However, we were familiar with the choices and knew it would work. If we didn't want to share that day, we either had breakfast in our room with stuff we brought from home, used snack credits for pastries, or paid cash for whatever we wanted. We always had credits leftover, and the ddp didn't work well for us.

Unfortunately, number crunching for yourself is the best way to decide if the ddp works for your family. Be aware, the ddp isn't designed to save you money, it is more of a convenience. The 2-yo won't be on the plan and you won't get credits for him/her.

 

[rwdavis2]

As was said you have to run the numbers yourself. Keep in mind none of the dining plans are designed to save you money although it is possible. I would find it to be too much work so we just pay out of pocket. Some people call it a convenience but I don't get that either. If you are using magic bands and have room charging privileges then a plan or out of pocket are "paid" the same way. With the MB.

 

[Nancyg56]

Look at the meals you want to book, and run your numbers. The 2 YO will not be charged at character meals that are buffet or AYCTE, however if you want to order a meal at a TS restaurant, you need to pay.

Personally, with kids I think the regular plan can be a great value. If you are planning character meals, you will save money. The Counter service meals are not divided into adult vs child, so you can conceivably split an adult meal between tow of the children. I know that as adults, we tended to do so. There are two snacks per day per individual on the plan, and depending on how you all eat, there are snack options that fill in for breakfast.

There is no way for anyone to tell you if the plan is a good choice until you decide where you want to eat, but after that, we can provide some feedback.

 

[sponica]

These are the questions you need to ask yourself:

For the deluxe dining plan: do you eat an appetizer, entree, and dessert at every lunch and dinner?
For the regular dining plan: do you eat an entree and dessert at every lunch or dinner?

Are you comfortable paying out of pocket for some meals to pool the credits to eat at 2 credit signatures or character meals?

I think touring plans has a basic calculator that will say if the dining plan is a good fit. But you really need to run look at menus, guess what you'd eat or drink and do the math.

 

[hllb]

For my family of 5, we will come out ahead with the regular dining plan by $200 or $300. We are only doing one 2 credit meal. For that meal, we will use 4 adult credits to pay for me and my husband’s meals and pay oop for the kids (all will order off kids menu or a lower cost appetizer). The only reason we’ll come out ahead is because of some select alcoholic drinks and specialty drinks. We are bringing some stuff for breakfast in the room but snack credits can be used for a muffin, pastry, etc.

All in all, we’ll spend another $350 or so in tips and additional food, over the cost of the dining plan.

 

[Haley R]

We have 3 adults and one 9 yo with us and the standard dining plan works for us. After doing the math, we will be saving money by using the dining plan because we are doing a lot of character meals. For breakfast we usually bring a giant box of granola bars and then sometimes use a snack credit for a pastry or banana. If you plan your snack credits and meal choices, you can easily come out ahead.

 

[GillianP1301]

Looking at menus and running numbers is the definitive way to know which plan is best for you.

Based on what you've said about being a 3 meal a family day and looking to be able to do some 2 credit dining would lead me to think deluxe plan could work for you. Couple that with the fact that you have 3 kids under 10 (the 2 year old will be free) with one of them being a good eater makes deluxe even more attractive because your credits are pooled on the deluxe plan so you could in theory pay OOP for the 2 pickier eaters for a kids meal and use their credits to put towards your 2 credit meals. Doing that, I would fully expect you should come out ahead on the deluxe dining.

As a point of comparison, my DS and I have done deluxe dining our last 3 trips (he's been under 10 for all of those) and he eats mostly off of the adult menu, so he more than gets his money worth. And before the holier than though Dining Plan critics chime in, yes I'm aware that there is no guarantee that a child can order off of the adult menu on the deluxe plan, my experience (and those of many others on these boards) have been that it's possible almost all the time and will continue to be as long as they pool the credits.