Does the dining plan save you money?

[Danman]

I can't imagine it would save us money the way we eat. We stayed many times with the free dining offers and we always had way too much food. In reality we never order desserts and my wife and daughter always order the less expensive "safe" meals as they are not adventurous eaters by any stretch. I also order what I want and not order something expensive to get the most value. As far as convenience goes, it doesn't make a difference to me either way.

Dan

 

[Evermore]

We're taking our first trip to WDW this June. My wife and I have never been, and we're going for our twin girls' 5th birthday. To say we're excited is an understatement. We'll be doing several expensive meals more so for the experience then the food, and it's looking like the Deluxe Dining Plan is the way to go. We're doing two beach days in Tampa before heading to WDW (Copper Creek) for 3 nights. Deluxe plan comes out to $937. We picked the ADRs we want and went through menus and picked out what we would order if we there right now, including apps, desserts, and booze. Total price for all of our meals and snacks comes out to $1,260, so we're "saving" $322 with the plan, of which $128 is apps and desserts (which we likely wouldn't order otherwise). This is also only using 32 of our 36 TS credit, so that "savings" goes up whether we add a CS meal or manage to fit in another TS meal. Seems like the value is there for us, but I'm constantly recalculating and double checking things because $937 for food for 3 nights/4 days still seems insane to me...

Here's a quick breakdown, with the estimated total costs. We're only doing two meals a day with at least 6 hours between them in case the kiddos need to nap. My wife and I both drink with meals on vacations so these include one drink for each of us:

1. Friday - Cinderella's Royal Table ($285) 8 TS
2. Saturday - Tony's Town Square Parade VIP Package ($136.00, +$25 if booze is included) 4 TS
3. Saturday - Be Our Guest Dinner ($165) 4 TS
4. Sunday - California Grill Brunch ($290) 8 TS
5. Sunday - Whispering Canyon Dinner ($179) 4 TS
6. Monday - Ohana's Breakfast ($132) 4 TS
7. 24 Snacks avg. $3 each ($72)

It's probably a combination of having 2 adults, 2 kids, and such a short trip, packed full of pretty expensive meals, but it seems like a no brainer to go with the plan.

 

[Colleen27]

It's probably a combination of having 2 adults, 2 kids, and such a short trip, packed full of pretty expensive meals, but it seems like a no brainer to go with the plan.

If you're inclined to use all the credits, the DxDDP really is a no-brainer. Unlike the other plans, where it comes down not only to a willingness to eat the meals that the plan covers but also where you eat those meals and what you order, the DxDDP is priced so that just using all or most of the plan credits will provide some savings.

These are the numbers from my planning spreadsheet for our upcoming trip. This is for about the least advantageous party make-up possible - five adults, only one an actual adult old enough to benefit from the alcohol inclusion.

• California Grill bunch (10TS) $400
• Raglan Road (5TS) $234
• Cape May breakfast (2TS) $73
• Spice Road Table (3TS) $161
• Rose & Crown (2TS) $81
• 50s Prime Time (5TS) $206
• Yachtsman (10TS) $403
• Be Our Guest breakfast (5QS) $130
• Narcoosees (10TS) $408
• Yak & Yeti (5TS) $216
• Ohana (5TS) $225
• Flying Fish (10TS) $359
• Mugs (5) $95
• Snacks (50 @ $4) $200

After tax, that comes out to almost $3400 and we have 3 credits (total, not per person) unplanned. The DxDDP for our party is $2906.

Now, of course we could eat more cheaply than that. We could have a lot more QS and fewer signature dinners, share apps and desserts, and pack snacks and a soda to have in the room instead of buying our snacks and mugs from Disney. But for a trip where we *want* to hit all of our family favorites and have a lot of nice meals, it offers a fair bit of savings.