pros and cons of dining plan

[boyd2284]

im wondering if getting a dining plan is just too much money. i have a 3 year old that only ever wants chicken nuggets and mac n cheese. i could just pack those for the trip and fend for myself eating. i really only eat a small breakfast and something for dinner. I GUESS IM CONVINCING MYSELF ITS NOT WORTH IT LOL

 

[Christine]

im wondering if getting a dining plan is just too much money. i have a 3 year old that only ever wants chicken nuggets and mac n cheese. i could just pack those for the trip and fend for myself eating. i really only eat a small breakfast and something for dinner. I GUESS IM CONVINCING MYSELF ITS NOT WORTH IT LOL

If you are not an eater, it's not worth it. There are some calculators posted around where you can input the various meals you would eat and if you come out breaking even, losing, or winning. The key to "winning" is to make sure you do one table service restaurant per day and get the more expensive snacks. The QS plan might work for you but, again, you should crunch the numbers.

 

[goofyintoronto]

If you have to pay for the dining plan, and if youre not a big eater, then no ITS NOT WORTH IT. I cant stress that enough. In your situation, i wouldnt get it.

Me, I will only get the dining plan if its FREE (part of the free dining promotion). Otherwise, forget it. I normally get the room discount promo cause free dining isnt usually offered when i go. I dont really benefit from room discounts that much as i always stay at a value resort AND its usually either me plus one, or just me solo. But thats usually the only discount during my trip, so i take it.

 

[2manypets]

Pros: You can order anything on the menu without thinking or dreading the price

Cons: Expensive

 

[sharonabe]

im wondering if getting a dining plan is just too much money. i have a 3 year old that only ever wants chicken nuggets and mac n cheese. i could just pack those for the trip and fend for myself eating. i really only eat a small breakfast and something for dinner. I GUESS IM CONVINCING MYSELF ITS NOT WORTH IT LOL

If you're planning on taking your 3 yr old to more than one character buffet, then it will probably be cheaper to get the plan.

Decide where you WANT to eat and then do the math for the plans.

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

Pros: You can order anything on the menu without thinking or dreading the price

Cons: Expensive

Not really anything. CS and TS both, some items aren't available on any DP. CS no longer includes desserts. And TS no longer includes appetizers unless you're on the Deluxe plan. So you still have to budget for items that aren't included if you want them.

 

[gharter]

We used it only once when we got it "free". Would never pay for it.
For us, it didn't always have the restaurants where we want to eat. Too much food. I don't need/want a dessert with lunch and dinner every meal and 2 snacks (when we did it). We ended up giving away QS meals.
The best answer is plan your meals and see what they will cost and compare to the DDP. Figure in any extra costs - dessert/appetizers if not included, extra drinks, etc.
Depending on your habits, it may or may not save you money.
Some people like it because they have prepaid almost all of their dining costs and don't have to worry about budgeting for it.

 

[MudQueen22]

We figured up our credit card bill from our recent trip. We spent $1200 at Disney restaurants (QS & TS), which included 4 character meals. That included tips.
It would have cost us $2000 for the meal plan, and we would still have needed to tip.

We did eat at our camper a few times, but not as much as we had originally planned.

 

[Hopefully]

We always save a bit - not a lot, but something.

 

[DISNEY1975]

I would say for a 3 year old, even at a reduced price for a child, it would not be worth it. My 3 year olds couldnt eat a full meal, most of the time sharing with me. I wouldnt think it would be worth it for anyone under 7/8 who could eat full meal.

With that said, I have 3 kids. When my boys were teens (oldest 2), we started getting the deluxe plan. I like signature dining, the boys loved buffets (they couldnt care less about the characters, just liked the food!). We did buffet breakfast, signature dinner/dinner shows every day. Well worth it.

Now Im just used to having good food, not worrying at all about cost or splitting credits, or selecting only X amount of TS etc.. I go where I want, when I want and eat anything I want without an enormous bill to come home to. So worth it for me to have everything prepaid. I know if we went to dinner one night and paid $400 - $500 on meal, I would be as frugal as possible the following days until that shock wore off! Now...I dont care

 

[thepicklebee]

I did the dining plan way back in 2005 and I thought it was great. I am pretty sure it included appetizers then AND included gratuities. Now - not at all. I don't eat dessert and you're still adding another 20% out of pocket to TS meals at what I already think is a high cost for what we typically eat. Like other's have stated, unless you are eating a lot of buffet character dining meals, it's likely not worth it for you.

 

[nkereina]

Agreeing with PPs. In my opinion:

Pros:

• Allows you to pre-pay for your food so you can budget that cost into your trip expenses
• One less cost to worry about on your trip
• You feel free to order whatever you want on the menu without concern for price
• Gives you an "all inclusive" style of vacation

Cons:

• The vast majority of people will lose money or break even purchasing the dining plan
• It can be a lot of food for people, particularly if you don't eat dessert.
• The cost of the dining plan is structured in such a way that you are paying for each element that the dining plan includes (i.e. drink, dessert). If you like ordering apps as a meal, sharing, drink water, don't eat dessert - it doesn't make financial sense. You'd still be paying for items you don't consume. And if you decide to order it anyway (because its included) and just pick at it or don't eat/drink it at all, you're still paying 20% gratuity on the total bill. So that $10 dessert you took one bite of is factored into the cost.

 

[Sara_H]

I have often contemplated this. I have created spreadsheets with what my family would realistically order, threw in snacks and drinks throughout the week and it always comes out that the dining plan is much more expensive than paying out of pocket. Honestly, we don't typically care about food and don't want to spend a ton of time at a sit down meal everyday. We'd rather spend our time riding the rides. We do tend to throw in a few sit down meals just for a change but even then paying out of pocket for it all still comes out cheaper. For us, the dining plan isn't worth it. I do know there are several people that like it strictly because it is paid before the trip and they can eat whatever without worrying about paying. Everybody has their own opinion.

 

[kiford]

It isn't just what and where you eat, it's how you eat. Do you have appetizers, do you want to have nothing but appetizers (I sometimes do this instead of an entree because I find the entrees too large), do you eat dessert, do you eat lots of snacks, would you use the refillable mug? We do not eat the way that the dining plan expects you to eat so it's simply not worth it for us. Although we have been occasionally eating items that would now qualify as a snack credit, something we didn't historically do, we wouldn't use the mug, probably still wouldn't use all the snack credits, and still generally prefer 1-2 TS meals per day, usually have an appetizer and no dessert and, as mentioned, I often have multiple appetizers and share one or more with DH. I can't see it ever working for us - you'll have to do the same kind of thought exercise and determine if it even meets your needs before calculating costs. If it doesn't meet with the way you typically would eat, it probably won't be cost-effective.

 

[nkereina]

t isn't just what and where you eat, it's how you eat. Do you have appetizers, do you want to have nothing but appetizers (I sometimes do this instead of an entree because I find the entrees too large), do you eat dessert, do you eat lots of snacks, would you use the refillable mug? We do not eat the way that the dining plan expects you to eat so it's simply not worth it for us.

Yes, all of this. I touched on it in my post above, but to drive it home, the dining plan is priced in such a way that you ARE paying for those things. So if you won't eat/drink certain entitlements on the plan, it does not make financial sense.

 

[GovieMom]

My family of four adults used to always get the dining plan. Several years ago it was a good deal, as it included appetizers and gratuity. But when the cost of the basic dining plan got to where it is now, I knew I couldn't justify getting it anymore. I paid OOP on our last trip and saved all the receipts. We all ordered what we wanted, just like we would have if on the dining plan, and still ended up paying $470 less than the cost of the dining plan. That right there says it all.

Not to mention, the dining plan always made me feel like we had to order the most expensive items, to get our money's worth. And also eat at the more expensive, bang-for-your-buck types of places. Paying OOP was such a relief!

 

[leebee]

We've done "Free" Dining a couple of times as it was a good deal at that point, but in the past 5 years the DDP just hasn't made sense for us. We usually eat breakfast in our rooms, something for lunch in the parks, and do a sit-down restaurant for dinner, but we don't usually get sodas, don't usually have dessert, don't usually have 2 snacks each per day. On our last 3 trips I saved ALL our food receipts, and every time we saved about $350 paying OOP instead of using the dining plan (and that included one adult beverage at all dinners and a couple of lunches). We just don't eat the way the dining plan is designed.

If you like the pre-paid concept of the dining plan but aren't sure that you want to spend that kind of money, figure out approximately what you might spend and buy a few Disney gift cards in advance. Use those to pay for the food you really DO eat, and if after a couple of days you think you have too much money on the cards, use it for souvenirs, or save it for purchases at the Disney Store. At least you won't be wasting your money on food you won't be eating.

 

[DIS_MERI]

Expensive character meals or buffets are usually the determining factor for me. My family loves Cape May dinner and Akershus breakfast. We do shorter stays, though, and often splits stays, so we will load the expensive meals on dining plan days and recover afterwards

 

[DisneyHardin]

It sounds like your traveling party is just you and a little one? If that is the case, I probably wouldn't get it especially if you aren't big eaters. The only way you might come out ahead is if you are planning a lot of character meals - the kids dining plan is a deal when you load up on character meals.

DH and I don't have any kids and we have found we really like the dining plan and even do the Deluxe sometimes, but we are big eaters who like steak, deserts, cocktails, etc, so the plan works for us. If I hadn't pre-paid the cost, I would never "allow" myself to order those things at the high Disney prices, but when it is just part of my "package", it somehow justifies the money.

 

[SillySallySews]

I would say that at home my husband and I are moderate eaters and our kids definitely eat like birds. At Disney they are absolutely ravenous! And not just for junk food and snacks, they are legit hungry all day. I think it’s all the walking.

We’ve only done one trip without the dining plan and finding out what we paid for every meal was not an enjoyable experience lol. On the plus side, seeing how much everything cost definitely helped reassure us that for our family the dining plan is absolutely worth it. If you pretty much know where you’ll be eating you can use one of the online calculators to help you figure out if it’s financially worth it or not. We don’t order the most expensive thing on the menu or seek out the most expensive snacks, we just eat what we are hungry for and enjoy the convenience of having it paid for already.