Dining plan worth the value?!?!?!?!

"I have a simple batch of questions I ask to determine if the plan will save you money, or just be more convenient...

1) Are you trying to get at least 1-2 Character Meals a day out of your trip?
2) Do you have at least ONE child guest that will want to eat off the adult menu? And do you have an adult guest that may want to order from the kids' menu?
3) Do you have party members who will just not survive without massive quantities of food?

The #1 question is really the most important one. Near as I can tell, Disney's restaurants/credits and the Dining Plan system are supposed to work in conjunction to provide Guests with more themed experiences. If you don't care about Character Meals, and you order breakfast food for your hotel room and you eat Snacks and Quick Service only, yeah please do not try to "save money" by using the Dining Plan. If you're eating appetizer-sized portions at Table Service, and you cannot or do not want to bag up the rest in take-away boxes and nibble on it for the next three hours, don't do Dining Plan. Assuredly, if the situation for your family LOOKS complicated in conjunction with the Dining Plan, really, don't get it! Just manage yourself on giftcards or the room account, or OOP."
We are a family of 5 (2 adults and 3 kids). question number 1 above is the most important. Our kids love the character meals. on our 7 night trip coming up, I have run the numbers and we are going to come out $400 ahead by using the dining plan (and that is without including any alcohol). We enjoy not paying OOP as well, but if the savings were in the other direction by more than $100, we would not do the plan.
Each character meal, lunch or dinner mostly, will pay the majority of the kids portion of the dining plan, so the more Disney kids, the more the plan makes sense...
To each his/her own in the end.
 
We’ve been doing the Quick Service Meal Plan and really don’t think it’s worth it for us. We’re 2 adults. Last month we had 18 snacks and 3 meals left. We did 3 OOP meals. We just don’t snack a lot. Couple times we split a meal. We don’t mind eating burgers, pizza, etc. We’re planning on going next February and not going to do a DDP. We do the piece of mind of everything being paid for. We’re going to Universal Studios Orlando in May and got a Quick Service Plan there, but it’s one QS and one snack PP PD.
 
I love snacks
I probably love them more than meals
I adore hAving 2 a day; at least!
I have been known to consume more...
 
I find the plan is worth the money for a couple of reasons, one you mentioned peace of mind and the second cost. I pay for all of my daughters extended family on these trips ( a total of 8 including us), there are relatives in this group who think they have to order the most expensive items on the menu. They claim its because its the only way to justify the expense. And while BoG is going to 2 credits there are so many superior places to eat that are 1 credit. And as I have stated before if I had 2 credits to spend I am running to either Morimoto's or my favorite restaurant in Disney Jiko's
 


BOG is only $55 fixed price for adults and I don't think that is worth 2 credits.

If you have kids under 10 and want to do lots of fixed price and character meals then it may be worth it. Not sure otherwise, it may depend on what kind of intrinsic value you and your party get out of just the fact that almost everything is prepaid.
 
Just want to point out that it's not just character meals that are 2 table credits. Also dinner shows and signature restaurants.
As it relates to the forthcoming BOG dinner menu change...no one has eaten there yet so it's hard to know if the prix fixe menu is worth it or not.
 
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I have done the dining plan, and it was worth the value, it's when it was free. But to pay out of pocket is it really worth the value? I know for some it is worth it because the peace of mind of having their meals and snacks already paid for, but with the new price increases and the amount of places that are now charging two credits a meal. Is it really worth it for the options that are there from all the buffetts, because lets face it, that is the only way you come close to really making it worth your money.

example, just averages. A buffett is an average of 45 on off season, and then a quick service is around 12 on average. Then you have your two snack credits at an average of 6 a piece, because if its less hen that

So that is around 69 and then you get to pay tax on top of that. So does that sound like a sound value. But you pay 75.49.

I only ask because they just updated BOG and that was a VERY popular dinner for the food plan, but they just upped it to two credits. This is why I ask.
No, for most guests the dining plan is not a value.
 


Character meals are not 2 table credits.

The only one that is 2 credits is Cinderella's Royal Table. BOG (which will turn to 2 credits for dinner in July) isn't considered a character meal (one character is available for photos and does not visit tables), nor is Mickey's Backyard Barbecue (it's a dinner show).
 
Don’t forget the gratuity isn’t included and is automatically added to DDP and will be calculated on the cash value of your order. DDP isn’t designed to save money, is about the convenience of having all paid off beforehand.
As another poster mentioned, there is nothing automatic about the tip while on the dining plan. There are no special calculations done, nothing billed to your room.

Just as for those paying with cash, the receipt will show suggested tip amounts. The dining plan participant is then welcome to leave their tip. That tip can be paid for with cash, gift card, credit card or charged to the room, just like those without the dining plan.

Again, there is nothing automatic about the tip due to being on the dining plan.

(There are places where the tip is included, and this works with the dining plan or any other prepaid option.)
 
It is all relative for each individual family. For some its not a great deal, for others, it makes vacation more enjoyable. We would never eat the same way at home as we do at WDW. I also know my husband and son, that if we were paying OOP for each meal they both would be fixated on the price of each item. Some meals we get great value on, others not so much, what it offers my family is the ability to pay once and only pay tips for each meal. We have done the math and it may be cheaper to go OOP. but no where near enjoyable.
 
It is all relative for each individual family. For some its not a great deal, for others, it makes vacation more enjoyable. We would never eat the same way at home as we do at WDW. I also know my husband and son, that if we were paying OOP for each meal they both would be fixated on the price of each item. Some meals we get great value on, others not so much, what it offers my family is the ability to pay once and only pay tips for each meal. We have done the math and it may be cheaper to go OOP. but no where near enjoyable.

We don’t have a problem eating burgers and sandwiches compared to fancier meals. I do like that everything is paid for except tips. Our next trip will be in February and the reservations haven’t opened up yet for 2019, so we will have to decide. Last trip we left with 36 snacks(we had 3 meals left that got converted into snacks). But we also booked 3 reservations(Crystal Palace, SciFi and Tusker House) I totally agree about some meals are great values and others not. I afraid too with paying OOP, that we’ll be fixated on the prices too

We’re going to Universal Studios Orlando in May and have a meal plan, only 1 Quick Service and 1 Snack a day Per Person. And 2 breakfasts are included in our promotion, so we’ll have to pay out of pocket for some meals. We’ll see how this goes ;).
 
I've come out ahead on the DDP on my last 2 trips when I compare what I paid for the plan with what I ate. BUT, I know that if I were paying OOP, I'd eat differently. I would skip things I wanted to try or make less expensive selections (both off the menu and in terms of where I made ADRs). And I'd never get dessert (too bad because I LOVE dessert). For my next trip, I may not come out ahead on the DDP based on what I order, but if I don't have it, I know I will think about the cost of every single thing I want and pass on some.
 
I've come out ahead on the DDP on my last 2 trips when I compare what I paid for the plan with what I ate. BUT, I know that if I were paying OOP, I'd eat differently. I would skip things I wanted to try or make less expensive selections (both off the menu and in terms of where I made ADRs). And I'd never get dessert (too bad because I LOVE dessert). For my next trip, I may not come out ahead on the DDP based on what I order, but if I don't have it, I know I will think about the cost of every single thing I want and pass on some.

What DDP do you get? I’ve only had the Quick Service but the next one up is one sit down and one quick serve and I believe one snack(or 2?).
 
I have done the dining plan, and it was worth the value, it's when it was free. But to pay out of pocket is it really worth the value? I know for some it is worth it because the peace of mind of having their meals and snacks already paid for, but with the new price increases and the amount of places that are now charging two credits a meal. Is it really worth it for the options that are there from all the buffetts, because lets face it, that is the only way you come close to really making it worth your money.

example, just averages. A buffett is an average of 45 on off season, and then a quick service is around 12 on average. Then you have your two snack credits at an average of 6 a piece, because if its less hen that

So that is around 69 and then you get to pay tax on top of that. So does that sound like a sound value. But you pay 75.49.

I only ask because they just updated BOG and that was a VERY popular dinner for the food plan, but they just upped it to two credits. This is why I ask.
It’s worth it for us. We tend to order the more expensive items especially at the table service restaurants. We always come out ahead by doing the dining plan.

The most money we ever spent on food was the first vacation at WDW. We totally went over our food budget and basically ran out of money. We had to use credit cards to be able to eat for the last two days of vacation. That never happened again once we were on the ddp.
 
I've done DDP and I've done OOP, and usually I come out ahead on OOP BUT... now you get an adult beverage with your meals if you want one. That will definitely save me some money!! Actually, I just ran the numbers for DDP and OOP, based on what I think we'd order OOP, and the total is about the same: $906 for the DDP and $892 OOP (for two adults, 6 nights), and I didn't include the cost of refillable mugs or tips in my calculations.. I think we'll end up with "leftover" credits on the DDP, but I don't think we'd spend less money OOP, so... Can't decide what to do!!
 
This last trip was the first trip we’ve gone on since I want to say 2007ish where we didn’t have the DDP. It finally crossed the line for us from a money saver to just a prepaid plan at best.

We still ate at TS that would maximize our credit value almost every day (those are the ones we like), we didn’t hold back at QS restaurants or on snacks, we had a child under 9, and we still came out ahead without it. I think the difference maker for us is now the alcohol and the snacks. We rarely have alcohol, and didnt care to buy enough snacks to keep up with 2 per person per day. Next trip I’m hoping to cut out a few of the buffets/character meals if there’s not too much push back from the rest of our crew.

Speaking of people who may or may not be seeing financial value in the DDP, there was a woman in front of me in line at the caramel bakery in Germany using 17 snack credits to take home with them so they didn’t go to waste lol.
 
Speaking of people who may or may not be seeing financial value in the DDP, there was a woman in front of me in line at the caramel bakery in Germany using 17 snack credits to take home with them so they didn’t go to waste lol.

Was that me? We usually roll in there on our last day to use up snack credits. :teeth: That's why I only do DDP when it's free, it's way more food than I even really want to eat.
 

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