Is the dining Plan worth it ?

no its not worth it. imho, its only worth it if someone gets free dining and its the only discount available. the one and only time we did the dining plan we were treated differently by the cms. it seemed to annoy then the moment we told them we were on the dining plan. we did not get free dining but paid for it. most people who purchase it are paying a premium for there meals but often have restricted menus. disney offers the dining plan in order to keep their restaurants full but it is in no way a discount program. you can usually eat more TS meals when paying out if pocket the only advantage i see in it is that it is a good budgeting tool for a family to know the total cost of their vacation before they go not including tips and parking and souvenirs.
 
no its not worth it, imho, its worth it only if its free and its the only discount someone can find or someone wants to know how much they are going to spend for meals and prepaying helps them budget and plan. the dining plan helps disney fill their restaurants and estimate their sales but guests are paying a premium for it. its generally cheaper to pay out of picket when you consider the restrictions of TS versus QS and restricted menus. enhancements in menus are not-included. and tips are not included in the dining plan. i like disney restaurants but i do not like the dining plan.. also the one time we purchased the plan it seemed to annoy the CMs even though we always tip 20 percent.
 
the one and only time we did the dining plan we were treated differently by the cms. it seemed to annoy then the moment we told them we were on the dining plan.

I felt that same way in 2013. It was like I was a second class citizen with some sort of welfare card. I remember being so totally embarrassed being shown what I could order off the menu at Sanaa. The server was tactful, but I was so embarrassed. We had purchased the Deluxe Dining Plan that was super expensive with 3 Table Service meals per day and two snacks, if I recall. Every time we sat down to order a meal, we were told what we could and could not order and it seemed like a huge hassle to complete the transaction when paying. I don't think that's the case anymore, but your post did bring back some not so magical memories.
 
Trying to figure out for our Christmas trip, I don’t want to spend most time eating we always done it in the past, my kids are picky and QS are so much easier with 4 kids
 


I am tempted every trip, but it never ends up being worth it in the end for our family. We plan a decent amount of TS breakfasts which aren’t cost effective on the plan. Now with alcohol included plus two snacks, it is even less tempting. If I got the plan, I would feel pressured to eat things I normally wouldn’t order.
 
no its not worth it, imho, its worth it only if its free and its the only discount someone can find or someone wants to know how much they are going to spend for meals and prepaying helps them budget and plan. the dining plan helps disney fill their restaurants and estimate their sales but guests are paying a premium for it. its generally cheaper to pay out of picket when you consider the restrictions of TS versus QS and restricted menus. enhancements in menus are not-included. and tips are not included in the dining plan. i like disney restaurants but i do not like the dining plan.. also the one time we purchased the plan it seemed to annoy the CMs even though we always tip 20 percent.
We have done DDP and no DDP multiple times over a decade and have never felt we were treated differently by wait staff.
 


I felt that same way in 2013. It was like I was a second class citizen with some sort of welfare card. I remember being so totally embarrassed being shown what I could order off the menu at Sanaa. The server was tactful, but I was so embarrassed. We had purchased the Deluxe Dining Plan that was super expensive with 3 Table Service meals per day and two snacks, if I recall. Every time we sat down to order a meal, we were told what we could and could not order and it seemed like a huge hassle to complete the transaction when paying. I don't think that's the case anymore, but your post did bring back some not so magical memories.
Your experiene at Sanaa isn't typical. We eat at Sanaa at least once every trip, and we have done DDP at Sanaa multiple times and never been limited as to what we could order.
 
Definitely look at the menus to see what you would eat and compare prices. Add up those prices and if they are more than the dining plan, then I say go for it! I usually do the dining plan as we're all adults and usually eat steaks and such which can rack up in price regardless of Disney or not. My parents and I are doing the dining plan this trip. My kids and I on previous trips have used the dining plan and it was free dining. I like the plan because it gives me a chance to try new foods that I probably wouldn't try if I was on a budget for meals.

Just my 2 cents
 
Definitely look at the menus to see what you would eat and compare prices. Add up those prices and if they are more than the dining plan, then I say go for it! I usually do the dining plan as we're all adults and usually eat steaks and such which can rack up in price regardless of Disney or not. My parents and I are doing the dining plan this trip. My kids and I on previous trips have used the dining plan and it was free dining. I like the plan because it gives me a chance to try new foods that I probably wouldn't try if I was on a budget for meals.

Just my 2 cents
This is us too. DD is 16 and an adventurous eater, always has been. When she was younger and we got free dining we aged her up to an adult plan a lot of the time. It let her try a lot of things she wouldn't get on the kids menus. She got really tired of chicken nuggets and PBJ when we were getting steak, scallops, and curries.
 
It just depends as theres many ways to look at it.

The price (assuming you are paying out of pocket for the dining plan) is pretty high. If you want to "beat the house" in terms of menu prices, you will want to go for the higheset price entrée only (usually the steak) or it won't work out in your favor. Or take advantage of the character meals buffets which are like $60+ for an adult- these can give you good value on the plan. If you just want a $15-20 entrée, you are shorting yourself. This became an issue for me, as I felt compelled to order the steak at places where I might have rather maybe ate the chicken or a sandwich or something.

But others, regardless of this, like the plan, because it means their food (outside of tipping) is mostly paid for up front. This can give a comfort factor if you don't want to worry about expenses as much during the trip. I truly do get this, but also keep in mind you are still paying out of pocket for tips, any pre meal soups/salads/appetizers if you like to order those since the plan doesn't cover them, and for any alcoholic beverages.

In my opinion though, I truly believe for most people- if you simply just bring your credit card on the trip and just charge everything you normally care to eat during the trip- you will see the amount spent will be less than the dining plan cost, or at worst, about the same (but I truly think most will see savings). The reason being- You probably will not normally eat all the plan affords you. If you are like us, we eat a quick breakfast in our room to get to the parks as quick as possible. Following this, we don't need a full lunch with dessert followed by a big dinner with desert. We really don't need a dessert at all after lunches or dinners, since there is likely some form of snack had in the park during the day. On the plan, we just found ourselves absolutely gorged with food we were not necessarily hungry for (and we can be pretty big pigs too). We often made it to our "big dinners" not all that hungry and by the time it came to order dessert again, it was like "are you kidding, lol". . Again, at the meal, I might actually prefer to choose a cheaper entrée and not the steak. I might not even want a table service meal every day of the trip.

So, for me, I don't pay for the dining plan. If I can get it free as part of a promotion, I'll certainly take it, but I strongly believe paying for it rarely works in your favor.
 
I just ran our numbers for our upcoming trip, and not accounting for quick service desserts at all except BOG (that is the only place we would actually buy them OOP) and before accounting for any snacks, we are saving $35 by going DDP vs out of pocket. If I figure 2 snacks per person per day at $3 per snack( that is low end) we save right at $200. I didn't factor in mugs because thats not something we would buy OOP, but that's another $50. The alcoholic beverages are what push it over the edge for us this time. We enjoy a beer with lunch and a cocktail with dinner, and DD likes her specialty drink. That is on average $30 per meal.
 
Your experiene at Sanaa isn't typical. We eat at Sanaa at least once every trip, and we have done DDP at Sanaa multiple times and never been limited as to what we could order.
I agree. We ate there other years on the dining plan and had no limitations. It was just that 2013 trip, which was our very first trip to WDW.
 
Every time this gets asked, the answer is always the same. Regular dining plan can be worth it if it matches the way you typically eat, you plan to eat at some of the character meals and remember adult beverages are included.

We had the regular dining plan for our trip earlier this year and thought it worked out great.
 
I just ran our numbers for our upcoming trip, and not accounting for quick service desserts at all except BOG (that is the only place we would actually buy them OOP) and before accounting for any snacks, we are saving $35 by going DDP vs out of pocket. If I figure 2 snacks per person per day at $3 per snack( that is low end) we save right at $200. I didn't factor in mugs because thats not something we would buy OOP, but that's another $50. The alcoholic beverages are what push it over the edge for us this time. We enjoy a beer with lunch and a cocktail with dinner, and DD likes her specialty drink. That is on average $30 per meal.

Can you clarify what you mean by "not accounting for quick service desserts"?
 
We have done DDP and no DDP multiple times over a decade and have never felt we were treated differently by wait staff.


We have done so as well, and never had any server treat us like we were a second class citizen. The servers are very helpful in assisting diners because many have questions, but they never acted like we were anything other than guests.
 
Can you clarify what you mean by "not accounting for quick service desserts"?
I didn’t include any quick service desserts in my calculations on what we would actually spend, except the cupcakes at BOG because we wouldn’t purchase those going OOP, for someone who would, it would add more savings.
 
I didn’t include any quick service desserts in my calculations on what we would actually spend, except the cupcakes at BOG because we wouldn’t purchase those going OOP, for someone who would, it would add more savings.

But the standard dining plan does not include dessert on the QS credits. I'm sorry, I feel like I'm being incredibly dense. :o
 
The dining plan only saved us money by getting it for one night this past year. Other than getting the mug with that one nights stay and being able to use it throughout our trip, that was the main reason for me buying it for just one night. And we did use our credits wisely in regards to price and such.
 

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