Is the dining Plan worth it ?

[nursejackie]

Never made sense for us. We just don’t eat that much.

We don't eat that much to make it worth while either. I (personal opinion) feel it would encourage me to eat more than I need or intend to, just so my credits don't go to waste.

 

[_19disnA]

Regular dining plan worked great for us. If you plan to eat at some of the character meals and like an adult beverage with dinner, then it usually makes financial sense. If you eat a lot of meals in your room and/or don't eat every meal at a Disney location, then it isn't the way to go. Just depends on your preferences and eating habits. Many older threads on this subject.

 

[Nancyg56]

We don't eat that much to make it worth while either. I (personal opinion) feel it would encourage me to eat more than I need or intend to, just so my credits don't go to waste.

I am not being critical, just observing that I must have the only
Family that eats three meals a day. We have the plan this December and I have one OOP planned in addition. I am trying to figure if we can stretch those CS credits between two of us a few times so I don't need to buy breakfast.

I have tow 13 YO girls with me, one who eats like a sumo wrestler and is like a gazelle, and the other, a tiny tidbit of a thing, who says she eats only a tad, but I see her plate get a tiny bit added but multiple times, LOL, so I am not at all sure they can share meals. I know we have snacks we can use for breakfast or in between if we share a lunch, but we still need to plan for 3 meals.

 

[Nancyg56]

Regular dining plan worked great for us. If you plan to eat at some of the character meals and like an adult beverage with dinner, then it usually makes financial sense. If you eat a lot of meals in your room and/or don't eat every meal at a Disney location, then it isn't the way to go. Just depends on your preferences and eating habits. Many older threads on this subject.

I agree. I think that it is always best to plan your meals knowing how your family likes to dine. Then look at the cost and compare it to the plans. If you are not booking meals, or like to graze, skip the plan. If your family likes a TS meal daily, stops for a lunch, enjoyed a beverage, and snacks daily, a plan wil generally make sense.

 

[Gayle C]

Sorry, but you have to do the math for YOUR family to make this determination. Decide where you WANT to eat and then go from there.

If you want to do just a quick estimate, the break down for ADULTS is: TS meal needs to "cost" around $44, QS meal $21 and each snack $5
If you enjoy an alcoholic beverage with all your meals, you should have no problem hitting those numbers.
If you have kids aged 3-9 in the mix, then the plan is even more in your favor.

 

[RealBlast3]

This is one of the most fiercely debated topics Disney-related!

The Disney Dining Plan is definitely not for everyone and that's fine. Many, many people, especially families with kids find they simply don't eat enough food to justify the costs so if that's the case, then fine, it's not worth it.

However, if you live for food and and eating in the restaurants is one of the major draws for you to visit Disney World, than like me, you might find you can't do without it. Also, if you happen to really love all the eateries at Disney and having been dining at the sit-dows now since 2005, I know I love them.

In my case, I usually do 3 sit-downs a day and I order multiple apps, drinks, entree and dessert whenever I can, so for me, it's really worth it. It also allows me to pay in advance which I really like to and know I am taken care of for my dining needs (other than the tip and a few extras). Also, very often when I order extra apps, because I have the deluxe dining plan or honestly I don't know why, but I usually don't have to pay for the extra apps somehow. It's a great perk that sometimes happen and they just tell me the computer didn't charge me, and oh well. LOL

Anyway, if you plan on mostly doing counter service and eating fast and on the go and have a shorter vacation, dining plans are probably not worth it for you. But if you plan on alot of sit-down meals and have big eaters in your party, than it would certainly be worth it, in my opinion.

 

[WolfePack811]

Since we are vegetarian it is basically impossible to make the math work. I also can’t eat that much three times a day when it’s hot out. We like having a small breakfast in our room so it doesn’t work for us.

 

[DisLiss]

You have to be careful using the online calculators. Most are not updated in terms of prices or alcohol and specialty drink inclusions. Quite frankly, if you add in the cocktail or glass of wine, the DDP will generally be a winner for a lot of families. Before you just calculated food, now you need to think about that beer or wine with meals, or a specialty beverage. For my family it makes a difference becuase we like a hard beverage at lunch and dinner, and my DGD likes fancy pants drinks. For others, it is a non issue, so all the more reason to break out the spreadsheet.

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.

 

[DisLiss]

Since we are vegetarian it is basically impossible to make the math work. I also can’t eat that much three times a day when it’s hot out. We like having a small breakfast in our room so it doesn’t work for us.

Yes to all of this. When it's hot, we eat less. And yes, sit down places have a/c, BUT, we have a kid who HATES sit down restaurants. So we get a/c, but we torment the poor kid while we're there. We can get a/c in some QS locations without making one of our party miserable, so we tend to grab tiny bits at QS places most of the time. We do tend to stick in a buffet at some point, because that's his one exception to his sit-down restaurant loathing.

And we don't eat dessert with every meal (or hardly any desserts at all, really); we don't drink many alcoholic beverages at all; and between the 4 of us we have 2 vegetarians, 1 vegan, and one fussy, fussy omnivore, who due to said fussiness often eats vegetarian items by default anyway, LOL!

 

[olwyngdh]

For my family the dining plan makes sense. Everything is paid for ahead of time so we don't have to think about budgeting at the time. Since it is paid for ahead of time, I can convince my husband to STOP and eat instead of one more thinging me. I can choose and eat whatever I want without considering the choice between a steak and a sweatshirt. the times we have gone without a dining plan has ended up with hangry people and tears--usually mine. Even if it doesn't save us money, it saves us sanity and that is worth every penny to me.

 

[DisneyRobin]

No i don’t think it is. Since the dining plan can be added on up to 3 days before your trip, i used to make all of our reservations and plans then look at the menus and estimate how much our meals would cost.

Sometimes when my estimate was close to the cost of the dining plan, we’d get it but it was never worth it in the end. I’d always worry about maximizing the value of the plan to make sure it was worth it (for ex. If i only wanted an appetizer and a salad, I’d feel like I had to order an entree...). We’d always have lots of extra snack credits at the end so I’d end up using them to get packaged junk food to bring home with us...

Not getting the plan makes the trip a lot more stress-free for me since we just order and buy what we want and it’s always less expensive that way.

 

[DisneyRobin]

We don't eat that much to make it worth while either. I (personal opinion) feel it would encourage me to eat more than I need or intend to, just so my credits don't go to waste.

Yes! And we don’t need dessert with every meal - which is included in the plan so we end up eating it.

 

[disneygirlsng]

I am not being critical, just observing that I must have the only
Family that eats three meals a day. We have the plan this December and I have one OOP planned in addition. I am trying to figure if we can stretch those CS credits between two of us a few times so I don't need to buy breakfast.

I have tow 13 YO girls with me, one who eats like a sumo wrestler and is like a gazelle, and the other, a tiny tidbit of a thing, who says she eats only a tad, but I see her plate get a tiny bit added but multiple times, LOL, so I am not at all sure they can share meals. I know we have snacks we can use for breakfast or in between if we share a lunch, but we still need to plan for 3 meals.

We definitely eat 3 meals a day, just not 3 Disney meals a day. For me and my family we find the portions to be huge at Disney. My last trip there were 3 of us. We generally liked to share an appetizer and then split 2 entrees and that was more than enough food. Don't usually get dessert, though sometimes we do. This is not at all conducive to the dining plan. On my solo trips, and also during the past few family trips, my mom and I often get kids meals, the difference in price would be huge for us.

 

[nursejackie]

I am not being critical, just observing that I must have the only
Family that eats three meals a day.

I should explain that we come from England for 17-18 days at a tme. If I ate Disney food for every meal during our holiday I would need two seats on the plane home

I know they have healthy options but it's not always our cup of tea. We stay at DVC villas so always have a kitchen to make light meals, then we go mad on Disney snacks. Each to their own of course.

 

[NYCgrrl]

The only worry I have about maximizing credits on the dining plan is beforehand not on site. I find if the majority of dinners are at signature restaurants I'm good and don't fuss with the snack credits since we don't eat many snacks. The snack credits do come in handy for bringing back trinkets for friends and family. Karamel Kuche works well for me since they pack nicely and have a wide variety of goods. I rarely eat the desserts offered at most Disney restaurants so don't even include the cost as long as an appetizer, entree, and beverage get me at or close to the breakeven point.

 

[KMarston]

I am not being critical, just observing that I must have the only
Family that eats three meals a day. We have the plan this December and I have one OOP planned in addition. I am trying to figure if we can stretch those CS credits between two of us a few times so I don't need to buy breakfast.

I have tow 13 YO girls with me, one who eats like a sumo wrestler and is like a gazelle, and the other, a tiny tidbit of a thing, who says she eats only a tad, but I see her plate get a tiny bit added but multiple times, LOL, so I am not at all sure they can share meals. I know we have snacks we can use for breakfast or in between if we share a lunch, but we still need to plan for 3 meals.

We did well on the regular dining plan when our kids were teens! They could eat an enormous meal and still want snacks, we definitely came out ahead. They’d eat their food and ours too! And that was before alcohol was included! Now that we’re older and we take a preschooler it doesn’t make sense even with the character meals!

DH and I had free dining this September so we weren’t so compelled to make the numbers work since it was free. He eats three meals a day even though I brought breakfast bars for him. We shared CS meals for breakfast and lunch and could actually add a snack (side) if we wanted. It was plenty of food for the two of us. Snack credits can make a quick breakfast as well. I think it works very well to split CS meals in order to share to make three meals per day.

 

[cedricandsophie]

For us we haven’t even considered the dining plan. We get TIW every year for the 14 day trips we make each March. We buy it at the beginning of March one year and it is good until the end of March the following year, so we get 28 days out of one annual card. And that doesn’t count any extra days we might go like before a cruise or around Christmas. We eat at signature restaurants most nights. And we always get a one bedroom and make breakfast in the room. And since we don’t go to the parks much, we usually share a lunch at the pool. But we like good dinners and usually get a bottle of wine. The 150 fee with the 20% discount on food and alcohol pays for itself quickly.

 

[marikujawa]

For us we haven’t even considered the dining plan. We get TIW every year for the 14 day trips we make each March. We buy it at the beginning of March one year and it is good until the end of March the following year, so we get 28 days out of one annual card. And that doesn’t count any extra days we might go like before a cruise or around Christmas. We eat at signature restaurants most nights. And we always get a one bedroom and make breakfast in the room. And since we don’t go to the parks much, we usually share a lunch at the pool. But we like good dinners and usually get a bottle of wine. The 150 fee with the 20% discount on food and alcohol pays for itself quickly.

If you buy it in March it should expire on April 30 of the following year. For example the card we bought October 2 2019 expires on November 30 2020. It’s always worked that way - at least as far back as I can recall - we are on our 8th card I think.

 

[Christine]

We definitely eat 3 meals a day, just not 3 Disney meals a day. For me and my family we find the portions to be huge at Disney. My last trip there were 3 of us. We generally liked to share an appetizer and then split 2 entrees and that was more than enough food. Don't usually get dessert, though sometimes we do. This is not at all conducive to the dining plan. On my solo trips, and also during the past few family trips, my mom and I often get kids meals, the difference in price would be huge for us.

We also eat 3 meals a day, but like you, not full meals. I always eat a breakfast of some sort but I found that about 99% of Disney breakfast items are terrible values on the dining plan so we would never use it for that (unless we happened to go to a character buffet breakfast).

 

[enchantingodin]

I have to crunch the number for each trip. Usually we don't get it. This time we are wanting to try a few more TS meals than we usually do, so we are getting it. You have to do the math to see if it
s worth it for YOU or not.