Please help decide - meal plan or no meal plan

[Heather07438]

DDP can be a fun splurge and experience. If your food cost will hit around $450 regardless, it could be worth paying extra to really go all out & enjoy the (expensive) food at WDW with the ease of a MagicBand swipe, without worrying about prices and trying things you've always wanted

We like to use snack credits for a meal or two at the Epcot Fest food booths, that also helps spread your QS credits over that extra day. BoG breakfast or lunch makes great use of QS credit. Check these out:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...Eyv5zkUpywLcZJlalgIauzsyw/edit#gid=2071430880https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...Kb0XhCXRPN3aanBcFzrq3dSh_8/edit#gid=986492325
It's possible your choices out of pocket would come in significantly cheaper than $550. But if you think you'll come close to that, DDP can make sense if having a WDW food adventure excites you and don't mind planning a bit before the trip to make the most of the experience. You don't need to pre-think every meal but it's worth the time to have a few places mind. You can surpass $700 worth of food for the 2 of you on the 5 nite QS DDP.

 

[TheGecko]

Dining plan used to be a decent deal. Now it might be a break-even affair if you eat alot and need to have dessert at every meal.

When my family did it last we ended up throwing away alot of food and also have to use alot of the Snack credits at the end on candy.

I think it makes sense for people buying their vacation package through Disney on a payment plan so when you get there everything is taken care of, similar to a cruise or all inclusive.

 

[Heather07438]

Dining plan used to be a decent deal. Now it might be a break-even affair if you eat alot and need to have dessert at every meal.

When my family did it last we ended up throwing away alot of food and also have to use alot of the Snack credits at the end on candy.

I think it makes sense for people buying their vacation package through Disney on a payment plan so when you get there everything is taken care of, similar to a cruise or all inclusive.

They did change the QS DDP to where the meals no longer include dessert but you get 2 snacks per day instead of 1. I like saving up the snack credits to use at all the Epcot food booths.

You're right, it has become more of a 'break-even' affair. The way I see it though:
If I'm already spending near that cost anyway with my out-of-pocket budget, then DDP let's us be adventurous and get more for the food money that we'll spend regardless.

 

[luvsJack]

Yesterday on a Disney FB page, a lady did all the math for her upcoming trip with her family of four. She went over the menus and picked what they would order and did a spreadsheet showing what they would pay OOP each day compared to the plan. The plan was around $500 cheaper for them and that included an OOP meal at Chef Mickey's.

She did this because she kept being told that it was only worth it if you got the alcohol drinks which she knew they would not. It still came out cheaper for her to get the DDP.

Now, she was comparing the regular DDP with 1 TS and 1 CS but I would do the math on whichever one I was thinking of getting.

 

[lynlynch]

We are light eaters, and thus, do not buy the DDP. When they offer it "free" we factor in the things that you must pay full price for (the bundle that includes tickets) and for us, it is not worth the price. That said, the worst thing about the dining plan in my opinion, is the potential to be tethered to food reservations as well as Fast Pass times, and Extra Magic Hours, shows, and any other adventures you want to enjoy. Unfortunately, a Disney vacation is no longer spontaneous, but the DDP adds to the stress of an already rigid schedule, in my opinion.

 

[HairyChest]

I think its worth it if you split your stay.
I usually do the dining plan for a couple nights and get the snacks/meals that are expensive for that time.
Then the rest of my trip I eat what and where I want paying out of pocket, that turns out to be not expensive.
AND I get to use the refillable mug for the whole trip

 

[MinMou]

Try www.distripplanner.com It worked for us very well last trip.

The DDP only works for us if we stay moderate and it's free. The room discount is way less than how much it costs to feed us. Even paying rack rate and getting hoppers (which we always do) and upgrading to the TS DDP we would still be better off doing free DDP.

With that said we haven't done the DDP since 2011. We've either done agency exclusive deals or rented DVC points since then. With the exclusive deal we couldn't purchase the DDP. And I don't think it's worth paying OOP for the plan when we rent DVC.

I actually like paying for our meals OOP. We order what we want, eat when we want and don't worry about leaving behind credits, etc.

The last two trips I totaled up what we spent paying OOP (with tips) and it was about the cost of the DDP would've have been BUT we ate at more TS places, had alcohol when we wanted (before alcohol was included), ate at lounges, did apps for dinner, ate at places not covered by DDP. If we would have done the DDP it would have cost us more because we did a lot of things not covered under the plan so we would have had to pay OOP for those things on top of paying for the DDP and then add in tips.

I was so glad I found that website when we had our last trip. I figured out where we would dine each day, added in each meal to the site, and it did the numbers for us. I also had a result that I could show my husband so he could see that we would pay extra with a dining plan.
Part of it is that the dining plan covers desserts and no appetizers, and we prefer the opposite.

I will be using the site again for our next trip, in case we get have to choose between free dining and a reduced room rate. It was great for helping me estimate how much we would spend on food, so that would be a good guide to have.

 

[cjbcam]

We love the dining plan. We have gone 4 times with it and I chose not to get it the last time we went and I regretted it. I felt like we tried way more things on it and said no to my kids a lot when we didn’t have it.
For us we love it because we loved trying a bunch of snacks and meals we wouldn’t normally try. I also felt a lot less stressed when we had it. For any extra credits we get candy for my kids to give out to their friends.

 

[cheryllarsen]

Depends on what mood you're in!

 

[cheryllarsen]

We do dining plan if we feel like splurging. Otherwise, we take food in.

 

[twinmom0019]

Following