Dining Plan or No Dining Plan? About This Page:

[sfjsmith]

I want to get sme opinions on touring with and without the dining plan. I have used the dining plan for my last 3 visits and all 3 times it seems to take up a lot of our time. This summer we are going back and were thinking about doing the quick service dining plan. We are thinking that maybe it would be easier and cheaper to just pat oop for meals. The value doesn't seem to be there anymore. Can a family of 4 eat in the parks quick service meals for a week for under 900.00 dollars? Let me know what you think..

[HiddenMickey]

Some of the counter service meals are a real deal on the QS plan, most are not and what you'll probably find is that you'll break about even. The hard part is deciding whether they fit your needs or not. If you like dessert with each meal and drink sodas or tea with meals, you'll probably find it works for you. If you prefer to drink water with meals and don't think you'd want dessert with lunch, then it may not be for you because paying as you go will save you money if that is more your eating style. If you'd prefer not to think about paying at each meal, then maybe try it this time and see what you think.

It's been a couple years since we used QS dining, but I really liked it (and of course it didn't cost quite as much then). We found real 'bargains' at places like Tangerine Cafe, Wolfgang Pucks, Cosmic Rays, and Sunshine Seasons.

[pinkandpink]

This is the first year that I have not used the dining plan on a Disney trip. I felt out of my comfort zone deciding which restaurants to pick because we were going to pay OOP. I just couldn't justify that much money on food per day. Especially for my daughter-- who often eats part of our meals (we get another plate) and she wouldn't have that option on the dining plan. $120 dollars for a 3 year old to eat seemed very steep to me.

I think that Disney has done a great job making us WANT the dining plan and I have had to talk myself out of getting it or adding it on several times.

[jlhill4444]

I think you could easily eat for a week on $900, it is all about making good choices in your food purchase. If you are wanting to budget you should plan on the counter services you will eat at, and look at their menus. Find out if how you would eat would add up to less than the 900 or not. If you think it would then I would say skip the counter service. If you think you would spend more for meals and snacks, I would get the QS dining plan. Remember to add in the cost for the snacks you might want.

We usually only do the deluxe plan or no plan at all. If we are eating the way we want to eat, we will do deluxe, if we are eating on a budget we find that eating out of pocket is much less expensive for us.

[Kynna]

When both of my kids were in the child price range it was a great deal. Now that one has crossed that line the Dining Plan is considered a luxury for our family. We love having it because we never look at the menu and feel guilty for ordering an expensive item. I like to just swallow one big pill up front and be done with it rather than lots of little bitter ones each time we sit down to eat.

We also need at least one sit down meal a day. Not so much for the food but for the forced rest. If we have a reservation at a restaurant our kids are excited about going to there isn't the "please just one more ride" getting in the way of me getting off my feet for an hour. When they are old enough to go on a ride while I plant myself on a bench I may feel differently.

[nurse_mom]

This will be our last year with the dining plan. Our oldest turns 10 next year, and the cost is insane, for as little as she eats. We have already made up our minds. Disney wants you to have the dining plan. But really it breaks even in the end.

[JoanneS]

It depends on how much your family eats, truthfully. I would check out the menus at the places you would like to eat and get an average cost.

For me, the dining plan doesn't work. It's much, too much, food. But if after looking at your potential OOP costs, the dining plan is about the same or less money, then go for it.

[rella]

A friend of mine who always gets the DDP is trying a "new approach" this next trip to WDW. Every week she buys a $50 disney gift card for dining purposes. DDP (basic) would be $51 - $53 a day depending on what season. This way she is "paid in advance" and can decide whether she wants an appitizer or dessert.....and says she doesn't have to worry about unused snack credits....she'll just "shop" if anything is left on her gift cards.

[stardust190]

We've done both the regular and the QS dinging plan. We had paid for the regular and had the free QS. After doing both neither is for us. The regular dinging plan was too much time at sit down meals. We like going to a few restaurants while on vacation, but we'd rather do stuff than sit for meals all the time. The QS dining plan wasn't really what we wanted either. We like some table service and with QS you get no TS and I felt that when we ate at a table service we wasted a QS credit. It was free so it wasn't that big of a deal.

Both plans were WAY too much food. We do not eat dessert with every meal, but on the dining plan we feel like we have to. Plus I think a lot of times while on vacation I would prefer to snack through out the day. I think I would prefer to share some kind of substantial meal and then get some fun snacks. Maybe eating nothing but caramel apples, dole whips and cream cheese pretzels isn't a good idea every day, but I can sure survive for a week's vacation on that stuff.

So with my tendency to snack and not wanting a TS every day I think paying OOP for food will be a better deal for us. You could always just save the money on a gift card or something so that you have your food budget taken care of.

[lazanya]

Originally Posted by JoanneS

It depends on how much your family eats, truthfully. I would check out the menus at the places you would like to eat and get an average cost.

For me, the dining plan doesn't work. It's much, too much, food. But if after looking at your potential OOP costs, the dining plan is about the same or less money, then go for it.

[mfirst]

We really liked the QS, but when we went, our two youngest were under the age of 3 so "free". Ahead of time, we knew that we would need to get several meals where the boys could split. I planned our credits ahead of time, filling in with 2 TS meals OOP. We'd originally planned on the BP this trip, but things have shifted so we're paying OOP. That said, I'm taking the money we would have spent on the DP and puchasing Disney Gift Cards (Scrip program at my son's school gets a % from each card). This should give us a bit more freedom to order what we want (sometimes it's easier to order 1 adult meal and split it between the three kids).

[Ashli]

Originally Posted by stardust190

Both plans were WAY too much food. We do not eat dessert with every meal, but on the dining plan we feel like we have to. Plus I think a lot of times while on vacation I would prefer to snack through out the day. I think I would prefer to share some kind of substantial meal and then get some fun snacks. Maybe eating nothing but caramel apples, dole whips and cream cheese pretzels isn't a good idea every day, but I can sure survive for a week's vacation on that stuff.

This perfectly sums up why we've done the DP once, and probably won't ever do it again.

[renbugs]

As you see a lot of different opinion's on the subject, reason why I the boards. I have to say for me and my family QS is the way we go . For us we like to be able to walk up to the counter and order.. We don't like all the time it takes for a sit down/table meal although there are a couple we do which we pay out of pocket for. I couldn't imagine everyday taking the time for the sit down. We also like having everything paid before we go. We don't even eat enough to pay that cost over paying QS. We always have plenty of food and actually split meals on the QS plan. I think maybe if your wondering if it will work for you try it out one time. If it doesn't work than you don't have to do it that way again, who know's you might like it. deciding

[WDWJAMBA]

Originally Posted by rella

A friend of mine who always gets the DDP is trying a "new approach" this next trip to WDW. Every week she buys a $50 disney gift card for dining purposes. DDP (basic) would be $51 - $53 a day depending on what season. This way she is "paid in advance" and can decide whether she wants an appitizer or dessert.....and says she doesn't have to worry about unused snack credits....she'll just "shop" if anything is left on her gift cards.

I really like that idea if I could manage to keep track of the cards.

We have never done the DDP. : We usually share and forgo heavy meals at times when it's quite hot. We opt instead for lighter fare. It just hasn't panned out for us to use it, so we don't. (We don't get appetizers, entree and dessert either. It's usually one or the other with apps and dessert, or none at all. It just kind of depends.)

[lovewdw3]

Most of our trips to Disney I payed OOP. One year we did get the DDP for free. It was way too much food for us 3. Plus having a scheduled meal every night got boring. A lot of time is spent sitting down for dinners, but I am glad we did try it.

This trip my eating has changed alot. There is no way I would be able to eat all those meals on the DDP. Besides I never get to enjoy the snacks but this trip I will add them in accordingly. I rarely have dessert after dinner, usually I want something sweet at night before I go to bed. (unless my dinner was filling). I am not too good with eating a QS either. Okay for lunch but not a healthy way to go for dinner.

Just my 2 cents-