Dining plan...worth it??

I like the convenience. Usually we about break even, even though we don't usually do desserts or soft drinks. However, this year I'm heading down with my newly minted 21yo dd. Another newly minted 21yo is joining us for the first part of the trip, then my 26yo niece is coming for the second part because she never got to do drinks around the world like her friends did when she turned 21. I'm sure those alcohol credits will put us into the 'saved money' category this trip! :cool1:

I thought the alcohol credits were only able to be used at meals? As in, they can't be saved to "drink around the world" like say, snack credits can be saved. In this incorrect?
 
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Also, be careful using the on line calculators, while they are decent estimates, they aren't really going to give you hard numbers. You just tell them the name of the restaurants, the cost of meals at those restaurants can range pretty far and they use a medium cost.
 
We went on a 8 day/7 night trip last summer and I went to Sam's club and purchased $2000 in gift cards (4 x $500 cards at $487 each) and used these. By the end of the trip we still had about $200 left to use on souvenirs. If we would have done the DDP, we would have spent way more (2 adults and 2 disney adults) and in summer, our appetites were not that great due to the heat. We even had pizza 2 nights for dinner at the food court at Pop and it was some of the best pizza we have had on property. It is very hard to break even let alone save money using DDP. The delux plan does allow a better opportunity to at least break even, but you better be ready to eat a lot of meals !
 


It's going to be worth it for us on this trip - I booked one room with the free summer meal dining, upgraded it to the regular dining plan, and we're splitting 2 people's credits between 4 of us. 8 of the TS credits are going on buffets (Boma for dinner, and H&V Fantasmic package), we've got BoG breakfast reservations (though that'll probably be a max of 3QS credits because I'm not a breakfast person).

I have spreadsheets to prove it. Much to my mother's horror when I tried to show her the math... ;)
 
So, we went to WDW 7 yeas ago and were fortunate enough get the dining plan for free, and I absolutely loved the convenience of it. Has anyone ever done the math for the plan vs paying for each meal out of pocket while on vacation? Does the dining plan save you money, or is it just more for convenience? And which plan offers the best bang for the buck?
It neither saves money nor is convenient. You'll pay less for the same food out of pocket. And you won't have to tally dining credits in your head. And yes, you can still pay via Magic Band.
 


If the goal is to save money, I would say no. We just did an 11 night Disney trip and we did NOT use the dining plan. We ate at every TS restaurant we wanted, a counter service or 2 every day, lots of snacks and ice cream, slushes, adult drinks. And we still spent less than we would have if we paid for the dining plan.

I've done the math on it multiple ways and for us it is never a money saver, no matter the length of trip.

If you want the convenience and you want to drink specialty drinks at every meal, it might work for you. Or you might come home with 15 boxes of overpriced cookies and rice Krispy treats. We've had the dining plan when it was free and it is A LOT of food. So I think you lose value if there is no much food that you can't even eat it.

Adding too, that there are foods that we'll order from the menu that are NOT dining plan eligible (not many, but there are some) and by paying out of pocket, we just order whatever we want vs having to think about what's an entree or snack or what is allowed--- like my kids wanted to share Mickey Pants Ice Cream. Not on the dining plan.
 
It's going to be worth it for us on this trip - I booked one room with the free summer meal dining, upgraded it to the regular dining plan, and we're splitting 2 people's credits between 4 of us. 8 of the TS credits are going on buffets (Boma for dinner, and H&V Fantasmic package), we've got BoG breakfast reservations (though that'll probably be a max of 3QS credits because I'm not a breakfast person).

I have spreadsheets to prove it. Much to my mother's horror when I tried to show her the math... ;)

I'm curious how this works. It was my understanding that each person in the room had to be on the dining plan...
 
I did a split stay and used the dining plan for part 1, then did not use the dining plan for the remaining 5 days.
Used 1 credit for dinner, the other credit for lunch the next day(paid for breakfast OOP, not a good use of a credit). Used both snacks on day 2. The big benefit is I had use of the refillable mug throughout the stay, not just the first night.

Total OOP would have been $69 for the food/refillable mug. It was a decent benefit for me alone.

When we go as a group and stay DVC, we budget $35 per person per day for food. That may seem low but we usually have $30-50 left on each gift card at the end of the stay. Breakfast is normally in room(unless we want Mickey Waffles), meals are QS, pizza, etc. We do grab lunch meat for a quick sandwich. If we are at OKW a meal at Olivia's lasts for 2 meals for us.

With the increased pricing over the years, the dining plan is less of a money saver for us. I can see the convenience factor though.
 
I’d double check if credits can be transferred to those not on the DDP and if the restaurant allows it too.

From everything that I've read - I did research extensively before pulling the trigger - it shouldn't be a problem. We're not splitting up to eat, we'll always have someone on the plan with us and they just put it all on their MagicBand. My understanding is that Via Napoli is the only place we'd have trouble sharing credits if we were trying to share meals too, but chances are high we're not eating there and if we did, we'd just do a pizza OoP.

They have 2 rooms booked, one with DP and one without. The credits can then be used by all 4 people.

Yeah, this is the first time ever we've done two rooms on property, so it's the first opportunity for us to try it out. It would definitely be too much food if we all had to have all the credits per person.

This is also going to be a solely on property vacation for us too - usually we'll take a day or two away, and eat off site or head over to Universal. But this is my cousin's first (and to be brutally honest, probably only) trip to WDW, so we'll be doing things a little different (could never see us dropping $60 pp for H&V Fantasmic OoP)

Ah. Found the spreadsheet. It was an extra $573.33 to add the dining plan for 2 people for 5 days with the summer meal special. Boma, H&V Fantasmic for four apiece & a couple of beers looks to be about $450 before tax, so as long as we don't do anything dumb with the QS/snack/2 remaining TS, we should come out okay! :)
 
I’d double check if credits can be transferred to those not on the DDP and if the restaurant allows it too.
It's not actually transferring the credits. The people staying in the room with the DP can use their credits to pay for whoever they want. So as long as one of those people is present at the meal, not a problem at all.
 
I'll toss in my two cents to also say that it's usually only beneficial if you're doing a character or a high price table service meal a day. If you're a hot dog and hamburger kind of family, it's not worth it.

Like others have said, all the Disney menus are online so you can easily see what the costs may look like. If you're close then I say get it. It allows more freedom in my opinion.
 
I have found it hard to justify the regular dining plan, especially when the kids became Disney "adults". However, the Deluxe dining plan with one group in one room and one in another worked to our benefit last Thanksgiving and I am employing it again this Thanksgiving.
DW and myself 8 day Dx Dining plan, college kids join us in their own room midweek, join us at meals, I "buy" everyone's meals with the dining credits. Thanksgiving week is one of those weeks where it is the highest tiered price for the restaurants as well, so DxDP vs. OOP works for my situation.
 
I thought the alcohol credits were only able to be used at meals? As in, they can't be saved to "drink around the world" like say, snack credits can be saved. In this incorrect?

Unfortunately, that will be the expensive portion of my trip.... :drinking1

It neither saves money nor is convenient. You'll pay less for the same food out of pocket. And you won't have to tally dining credits in your head. And yes, you can still pay via Magic Band.

Yeah, I did the quick and dirty math. It looks like we would almost break even with the alcoholic beverages, but that would only be if we used all the snack credits. I call it 'convenient' because I'm rather frugal by nature. So if I go to a restaurant and I see a $35 entree that I'd love and a $21 one that I'd be perfectly happy with, I'd go with the lower cost. So maybe I should have said 'carefree.'

Then there's the fact that using the DDP at least guaranteed I'd get a nice table service meal daily on vacation. When dd was home, she preferred carryout at home to going to a restaurant to dine. Then there is the prepaid factor. I had my Disney Visa dollars to pay tips, so I had very little charges to pay for after the trip.

Oh well, that said, and the likelihood of my food budget going way more towards alcohol and small plates and appetizers, I think I may forgo the DDP. Probably buy some gift cards for my room charges.
 
My sister (DVC member) is a big appetizer and a cocktail type of person for dinner too. It never makes sense for her to do the DDP.
 
As previously stated...its subjective and depends on your family.

My Mom and I go for F&W and save money with DDP. The first 2 years we had dinner at California Grill and that meal alone cost half of what we paid for the dining plan. We use almost all our snacks and most of the QS credits at the F&W booths. Depending on our TS meals, the 'value' of the snack credit is usually less than the item were using it on at the F&W booth. Now with being able to get alcohol with QS and TS meals makes it even more worth it for us. The increase in the DDP price is only half of what I would pay OOP for an alcoholic beverage.

You just have to do the math. Decide what QS and TS places your family will eat at, what everyone will likely order, and add up what your meals will cost, then compare that to the price of what the DP will cost you and make your decision based on that. It works for some and doesn't for others. My personal experience is I save money and I like the 'all-inclusive' feel of it. I get discounted GCs at BJs for tipping and it works out for us.
 
Seeing WDW decided to change the quick service dining plan we will not be purchasing it. For years Disney had two table service plans one without alcohol and the other with. We don't drink alcohol and don't care to drink a milkshake ever time plus we have a family member that can not drink milk. So Disney we will be saving money thanks to your money hungry dining plan.

Not sure what you're referencing about alcohol coming with the dining plan -- but that didn't start until very recently. Not sure if that was something they did way back when, but at least in 2016 and 2017, alcohol was not included in any of the dining plans. 2018 was when they started the included alcoholic drink.
 

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