Disneyworld in December - dining plan or not?

pamcakes82

Pamcakes82
Joined
Apr 20, 2016
My husband and I are going to DW in December and are debating on whether or not to do the dining plan. When we went to DL, we paid for everything with gift cards and we are not big eaters so we do not think we will get our money's worth. Do people feel like they are gorging themselves to do a dining plan? Also, I don't want to miss out on valuable ride/attraction time. Thoughts appreciated!
 
Only if it's free, LOL! You can definitely eat cheaper without it. When we go during the summer we like to stay in a deluxe with a room discount and I save up gift cards all year to use for dining. This year, we need to do a more budget trip, so we're staying at CBR with Free dining. It's a much bigger savings for us than a room discount.

I like to do one TS a day, but don't really feel like it's gorging.
 
Wife and I went on our first trip back in 2010 and had the quick service dining plan then. I *think* it had an extra snack with it then versus now but I may be wrong. Anyway, we never went hungry, had several snack credits to use at the end, and felt it a pretty decent value then so decided to add it again for our 4-day trip end of this month. Looking deeper into it recently, I see where it's definitely not a steal of a price but pretty fair.

Is it possible to spend LESS without the plan? Absolutely. But for what little extra it may possibly cost us, for us that small price difference is worth not worrying about it at all. If on a fairly tight budget, go without the plan and stick to whatever your budget may be for each day. If you're willing to (possibly) spend a small amount more to not be concerned with it, or you're interested in the higher plans for frequent table service meals, get a meal plan.
 
My husband and I are going to DW in December and are debating on whether or not to do the dining plan. When we went to DL, we paid for everything with gift cards and we are not big eaters so we do not think we will get our money's worth. Do people feel like they are gorging themselves to do a dining plan? Also, I don't want to miss out on valuable ride/attraction time. Thoughts appreciated!
I would use this site to help make your decision: http://www.distripplanner.com
 


My husband and I are going to DW in December and are debating on whether or not to do the dining plan. When we went to DL, we paid for everything with gift cards and we are not big eaters so we do not think we will get our money's worth. Do people feel like they are gorging themselves to do a dining plan? Also, I don't want to miss out on valuable ride/attraction time. Thoughts appreciated!
You'll get as many opinions as you get replies on this, probably, but I'll offer mine too. My folks and I were on the quick service dining plan over Easter. We aren't big eaters either, especially my 70+ year old parents, even though my dad loves to cook and eat good food. i usually love to eat, but found I had less of an appetite while actually there doing stuff than I had while sitting on my butt in front of the laptop reading about all the good stuff to eat!
In the end, unless it was free, we wouldn't do the Dining Plan in any form.
I say go without it. Save up cash or gift cards for a few nice meals, and wing it otherwise. You'll save money and won't feel like you're always having to "get your money's worth" from the pre-purchased plan.
 
I used to LOVE getting the dining plan because we would use our table service credits for character meals, saving some time from waiting in lines to meet them. However, on our trip last November for the Wine and Dine Half Marathon Weekend, we were really trying to cut costs so we decided not to get the dining plan and just pay OOP for meals with gift cards. We had the best trip!!! It was so much nicer not having to be at certain places to eat at certain times etc. We found that we would get snacks when we were hungry (Mickey bar, Mickey pretzel) and eat at counter services when we were hungry. Turns out that it was so hot that week that we didn't feel like eating very much so we saved tons!
We are going again this December with my family and we are paying OOP again because my mom and sister-in-law are twigs and don't eat very much so it's not really worth it for them to get the dining plan.
 
I say go without it. Save up cash or gift cards for a few nice meals, and wing it otherwise. You'll save money and won't feel like you're always having to "get your money's worth" from the pre-purchased plan.
You really just have to sit down and make an honest assessment of how the money works out for you and your family.

I started by making a list of where we would like to eat (3 kids, so we generally do 1 TS buffet/family style meal a day). When I added up the cost of the dining plan and the cost of what it would be out of pocket, we saved over $400 using the dining plan. It really is impossible to say whether people will save money or not unless they sit down and run the numbers.
 


You really just have to sit down and make an honest assessment of how the money works out for you and your family.

I started by making a list of where we would like to eat (3 kids, so we generally do 1 TS buffet/family style meal a day). When I added up the cost of the dining plan and the cost of what it would be out of pocket, we saved over $400 using the dining plan. It really is impossible to say whether people will save money or not unless they sit down and run the numbers.
Right. If she had said she, her husband, and her three kids were going, I would have had a completely different reply. But she said it was her and her husband and they're not big eaters, so...I just advised based on that.
I'm sure larger families, especially with numerous character meals, save on the plan.
 
You would most likely end up paying less out of pocket than you would pay Disney for the dining plan. ;) We have done a cost analysis for the last 10 years and out of pocket is always the least expensive, regardless of who is going on that particular trip.
 

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