Thought Process When Choosing Your Dining Plan?

We're doing the DxDP for the 3rd time on this upcoming trip. We are 1 adult, 1 child. My factors to my decision:

1) We like to eat 3 meals a day, and usually 2 or 3 of those are TS.
2) My son is still under 10, so he's a Disney child on the meal plan so a good value
3) We do a lot of character meals, about 7 - 8 during our trip and those are a good value, especially the child.
4) We like Disney dining and consider it a big part of our touring plan and view the restaurants like attractions themselves. I find the deluxe plan encourages us to try new restaurants and new food (especially with an appetizer included as well).
 
My DD17 and DS13 are eagerly anticipating our December Disney vacation! Like so many others, I'm knee deep in the planning process and loving (nearly) every minute of it. We had originally planned on the DDP, but I'm second-guessing that and thinking we should switch to the DxDP.

My questions: What was your thought process in deciding which dining plan to go with? What sorts of factors determined which plan you ultimately went with? Simply put, how did you decide? Has anyone done one version of the dining plan and wished they had done the other? I'm hoping that hearing about others' rationale will trigger something that resonates with me and I can stop vacillating. Thanks for any input!


We chose the DxDDP.

Prepaying relieves me of the stress of worrying about how expensive each meal is. We *want* to eat at nice places and order whatever we want but the fact is that if we pay OOP as we go, that won't happen. I'll skimp. I'll order the least expensive thing on the menu at TS, I'll cut back on the character dining and I'll opt for counter service because it's cheaper than the table service place I actually want. I'll fuss about DS wanting to order a $30 plate of crab legs and multiple snacks a day. I'll skip the amazing dessert that I really want to try. I'll be so focused on what the food costs that I won't enjoy it as much and dining is a big part of how we vacation- including being our method of imposing periodic breaks. Less TS means fewer breaks means more stress for the autistic and anxiety members of our family.

I crunched the numbers. Over 10 days the DxDDP was projected to save us a small amount (and I think we saved more because those are averages and my guys eat on the high end of menus) of money. It saved me a HUGE amount of stress and fuss. We will probably skip it for our next trip because we're going for Food and Wine, but other than that I think it will be our indulgence for most trips. We enjoy it.
 
@GillianP1301 Thanks for sharing the factors you consider in making your DxDP choice. I've done some ADR switching around and I need to run my numbers through again with the changes that have been made--it may well be that DxDP is the route we go. I share your view about the dining experiences being an attraction in and of themselves! We are looking forward to that aspect a much as we are Space Mountain, hugging Mickey, IllumiNations, etc. :)

@Baklava I think that having less stress is priceless! Truly cannot put a price tag on the value of that. Less stress and less fuss is extremely appealing and an enormous factor in my mind. Thanks for sharing how you came to choose DxDP. So helpful! :)
 
Yep... this is it for me
Prepaying relieves me of the stress of worrying about how expensive each meal is.

Being on vacation can be stressful as it is and the last thing I want to be worried about is how much we're spending on food instead of enjoying the time with my family in the park.
 


Yep... this is it for me


Being on vacation can be stressful as it is and the last thing I want to be worried about is how much we're spending on food instead of enjoying the time with my family in the park.

For us it's exactly the opposite. I would be stressing over whether I was getting my money's worth if we paid for a dining plan. Thankfully, I peruse the menus often and know none of the plans work for our family's style of eating.
 
@Talby If you decide to go OOP, I too like to have the trip pre-paid. You can always purchase gift cards in advance, and use those cards to pay off your magic band balance. I like to do that every few days or so. You can buy those gcs from Target or Sam's Club to save another 5%, which in your case would be about $130+, so not too shabby!
 
We never have done the dining plan before because we do not do that many table service places with my younger son. Next trip it is just me and my older son. I decided to get the deluxe plan. I want to try a few signature places and am not really interested in counter service this trip. I keep reading about signature places not being a "good value". It is a good value to me because I will have it all prepaid and I'm going to eat where I want, what I want, and not look at the prices. It is worth it to me this time. I'm not looking to Maximize anything, just enjoy myself. Most days are using a snack credit for breakfast, having an early ts lunch, then having a late ts signature dinner.

Putting the money all on a gift card wouldn't work for me. It is still money that I have not spent yet, and I'd end up cheaping out what I order to save money.
 


My DD17 and DS13 are eagerly anticipating our December Disney vacation! Like so many others, I'm knee deep in the planning process and loving (nearly) every minute of it. We had originally planned on the DDP, but I'm second-guessing that and thinking we should switch to the DxDP.

My questions: What was your thought process in deciding which dining plan to go with? What sorts of factors determined which plan you ultimately went with? Simply put, how did you decide? Has anyone done one version of the dining plan and wished they had done the other? I'm hoping that hearing about others' rationale will trigger something that resonates with me and I can stop vacillating. Thanks for any input!

For us I look at what our plans are, celebrations, relaxation, how long, who's going, and anything special to see or hard ticket events and at Christmas there is a lot to see and enjoy. So for our upcoming family trip in January we will be celebrating my DGS 1 trip and 2nd birthday. So we are going with the DDXDP, Character meals and TS will be part of the experience, and with a 2 year old stepping away from the excitement. Also DD and DSIL will be having a date night Signature meal. So for us this trip will work.

With the ages for you children the DDXDP might be the way to go, this way you aren't worried about the total bill and everything is covered. Have a signature meal or two might be nice to dress up a bit and enjoy dinner together, and character meals are so much fun. On a side note when my kids where this age they could eat like crazy...You had to watch your fingers around them...

When planning you might be able to have one last character meal before heading home, use up you snack credits or any leftovers credits for snacks to take home to keep the magic going a while longer.. Have wonderful trip.
 
@Talby If you decide to go OOP, I too like to have the trip pre-paid. You can always purchase gift cards in advance, and use those cards to pay off your magic band balance. I like to do that every few days or so. You can buy those gcs from Target or Sam's Club to save another 5%, which in your case would be about $130+, so not too shabby!

Excellent option @FreeDiningFanatic! It all adds up so anything to off-set that is awesome. I love this idea. :)
 
We never have done the dining plan before because we do not do that many table service places with my younger son. Next trip it is just me and my older son. I decided to get the deluxe plan. I want to try a few signature places and am not really interested in counter service this trip. I keep reading about signature places not being a "good value". It is a good value to me because I will have it all prepaid and I'm going to eat where I want, what I want, and not look at the prices. It is worth it to me this time. I'm not looking to Maximize anything, just enjoy myself. Most days are using a snack credit for breakfast, having an early ts lunch, then having a late ts signature dinner.

Putting the money all on a gift card wouldn't work for me. It is still money that I have not spent yet, and I'd end up cheaping out what I order to save money.

I can certainly see how the members in one's traveling party play a large role in determining the plan. Most of our days are 2 TS but I can't see us also getting a QS every day in addition, which is the only reason I question if ANY plan is right for us! lol
 
For us I look at what our plans are, celebrations, relaxation, how long, who's going, and anything special to see or hard ticket events and at Christmas there is a lot to see and enjoy. So for our upcoming family trip in January we will be celebrating my DGS 1 trip and 2nd birthday. So we are going with the DDXDP, Character meals and TS will be part of the experience, and with a 2 year old stepping away from the excitement. Also DD and DSIL will be having a date night Signature meal. So for us this trip will work.

With the ages for you children the DDXDP might be the way to go, this way you aren't worried about the total bill and everything is covered. Have a signature meal or two might be nice to dress up a bit and enjoy dinner together, and character meals are so much fun. On a side note when my kids where this age they could eat like crazy...You had to watch your fingers around them...

When planning you might be able to have one last character meal before heading home, use up you snack credits or any leftovers credits for snacks to take home to keep the magic going a while longer.. Have wonderful trip.

Haha...isn't that the truth?! They both are extremely active and have hollow legs, so absolutely something to keep in mind. My kids were nearly 2 and 4-1/2 on their first trip. What magical ages those young years are to enjoy a trip! Enjoy making those first trip memories with your DGD. Thanks so much for your sound advice. :)
 
Yep... this is it for me


Being on vacation can be stressful as it is and the last thing I want to be worried about is how much we're spending on food instead of enjoying the time with my family in the park.

That's a very valid point @StlJoe. The more I can take care of before hand, the better! Also valid is what @sharona says here:

For us it's exactly the opposite. I would be stressing over whether I was getting my money's worth if we paid for a dining plan. Thankfully, I peruse the menus often and know none of the plans work for our family's style of eating.

When I'm crunching my numbers, I find myself ADDING things I don't think we'd really eat (appetizers/so many desserts) because I want to feel I am getting my money's worth with a plan.

There's a very simple solution to all this. Disney needs to create a 2 TS meal per day plan, with 4 QS to use per trip, with 1 snack per person per day and about 4 desserts per person per trip. They can call it The Talby! :rotfl2:
 
We chose the DxDDP.

Prepaying relieves me of the stress of worrying about how expensive each meal is. We *want* to eat at nice places and order whatever we want but the fact is that if we pay OOP as we go, that won't happen. I'll skimp. I'll order the least expensive thing on the menu at TS, I'll cut back on the character dining and I'll opt for counter service because it's cheaper than the table service place I actually want. I'll fuss about DS wanting to order a $30 plate of crab legs and multiple snacks a day. I'll skip the amazing dessert that I really want to try. I'll be so focused on what the food costs that I won't enjoy it as much and dining is a big part of how we vacation- including being our method of imposing periodic breaks. Less TS means fewer breaks means more stress for the autistic and anxiety members of our family.

I crunched the numbers. Over 10 days the DxDDP was projected to save us a small amount (and I think we saved more because those are averages and my guys eat on the high end of menus) of money. It saved me a HUGE amount of stress and fuss. We will probably skip it for our next trip because we're going for Food and Wine, but other than that I think it will be our indulgence for most trips. We enjoy it.

DH and I love Food & Wine!! You might want to think about the regular dinning plan (DDP), as you will most likely head to some of the other parks and will needed to eat along the way and still will need that down time, to cut down on the stress.
 
DH and I love Food & Wine!! You might want to think about the regular dinning plan (DDP), as you will most likely head to some of the other parks and will needed to eat along the way and still will need that down time, to cut down on the stress.

We don't do a lot of QS. We talked about possibly keeping the DxDDP and using the TS credits for signatures, but I think we're not going to use a plan at all for that trip because the way we want to eat for that event just doesn't fit the plans.
 
We us the DxDP. We do a Character Meal everyday. We like to have our TS meals as our breaks instead of going back to the resort. We also try to fit in a few shows and signatures every trip. We like that everything is paid up front, minus the tips and alcohol of course, and try not to worry about if we are getting our money's worth. We are not rich, but we look at the dining plan as part of the vacation cost. In fact DW is very 'frugal' and if we didn't do the plan she would just order a salad or whatever was the cheapest on the menu instead of what sounds good at the moment. As far as the amount of food, it is a lot, but again as we take the approach that it is a sunk cost, we eat what we want and not necessarily everything on our plates. I also find doing the character meals keeps DD5, soon to be 6, from 'needing' to get in line for every character we see in the parks. We still visit some, but she doesn't ask for all of them because we knock out 4 or 5 a day at a meal.
 
We us the DxDP. We do a Character Meal everyday. We like to have our TS meals as our breaks instead of going back to the resort. We also try to fit in a few shows and signatures every trip. We like that everything is paid up front, minus the tips and alcohol of course, and try not to worry about if we are getting our money's worth. We are not rich, but we look at the dining plan as part of the vacation cost. In fact DW is very 'frugal' and if we didn't do the plan she would just order a salad or whatever was the cheapest on the menu instead of what sounds good at the moment. As far as the amount of food, it is a lot, but again as we take the approach that it is a sunk cost, we eat what we want and not necessarily everything on our plates. I also find doing the character meals keeps DD5, soon to be 6, from 'needing' to get in line for every character we see in the parks. We still visit some, but she doesn't ask for all of them because we knock out 4 or 5 a day at a meal.

I hear you about the menu thing. I am actually not cheap with myself on vacation but last time I went I came back and had a $1500 bill (for food and incidentals). It was fine and planned for and I had the money to pay it but it hurt. a lot. I don't know, it kind of took the edge off the good feelings of the vacation when I had to deal with it a month later, like - sad the vacation is over and now I have this big bill. The memory of that would have me questioning expenses as I go even though I am pretty good estimator... it just created a lot of anxiety. This time doing the DxDDP and I won't get that little stutter in my heart when the kiddo wants to order the steak instead of the mac and cheese or wonder if I should get the $39 signature entree instead of the $49 one. I'm doing a few days oop but mostly the plan and the oop stuff is AYCTE anyway so it's a planned cost. The DxDDP was paid off with 6 months to go and my expenses are saved up and I have been buying disney gift cards as I go... But honestly if my last few non DxDDP (on a split stay) meals were not fixed price there would be a voice in my head saying "do you REALLY need xxx?" even though it is on the gift cards it still feels like less of a sunk cost to me. I told the kiddo, order steak as much as you want! lol
 
We're doing the DxDP for the 3rd time on this upcoming trip. We are 1 adult, 1 child. My factors to my decision:

1) We like to eat 3 meals a day, and usually 2 or 3 of those are TS.
2) My son is still under 10, so he's a Disney child on the meal plan so a good value
3) We do a lot of character meals, about 7 - 8 during our trip and those are a good value, especially the child.
4) We like Disney dining and consider it a big part of our touring plan and view the restaurants like attractions themselves. I find the deluxe plan encourages us to try new restaurants and new food (especially with an appetizer included as well).

Agree with this too, although 2 meals and a snack is sufficient for us the DxDDP still lends itself to that kind of a schedule (with lots of signatures and planning full days on both ends)... but definitely agree with 2-4! The character meals rule and my kiddo LOVES them. I love being able to say yes yes yes.
 
@ALL

It is evident that that the Disney dining experience is definitely not a one-size-fits all! I know that's stating the obvious. Everyone brings up such valid points for what they have chosen for their family. Looks like a couple of essential factors to keep in mind are: 1) One's own family's eating style (how often and where are huge for deciding on a plan). 2) The psychology involved with having things paid for ahead of time (or not) and how that will effect how one orders (perhaps not ordering an appetizer or a lower priced entree if not on a plan, etc.). Lots of other things to think about as well, but those seem to stand out as I read the responses.

Still hoping Disney decides to do The Talby version. :) We're pretty solid on 2 TS most days but likely not a whole lot of food above and beyond that, for the most part. There will be snacks scattered throughout for sure! There will be an appetizer here or there, and some desserts for sure. Really glad there are options and everyone can choose what best suits their needs/wants. Thanks to everyone for giving me great input to mull over. :)
 

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