Would you get the dining plan for this itinerary?

[samantha3590]

Trying to decide if I should get the REGULAR dining plan for this trip. We’re staying 6 nights and we are 2 adults in our late 20s who like eating and drinking! I have a lot of signature restaurants planned but generally we split an appetizer, entree, dessert at every meal and don’t get our own so my thought is at signature restaurants we would be using 2 credits and not 4 since we are splitting. Our planned restaurants are:
Cali Grill dinner
Crystal Palace breakfast
Via Napoli dinner
Narcoossees dinner
Jiko dinner
Wine bar George dinner
Kona breakfast
Chefs de France dinner
We would be getting either quick service breakfast/lunch or a snack breakfast lunch most days

 

[Pumbaa_]

It’s really a math exercise. I have no idea what you would order at each lication

Via Napoli does not allow sharing on any dining plans, so plan on 2 credits here or oop

 

[sharonabe]

Trying to decide if I should get the REGULAR dining plan for this trip. We’re staying 6 nights and we are 2 adults in our late 20s who like eating and drinking! I have a lot of signature restaurants planned but generally we split an appetizer, entree, dessert at every meal and don’t get our own so my thought is at signature restaurants we would be using 2 credits and not 4 since we are splitting. Our planned restaurants are:
Cali Grill dinner
Crystal Palace breakfast
Via Napoli dinner
Narcoossees dinner
Jiko dinner
Wine bar George dinner
Kona breakfast
Chefs de France dinner
We would be getting either quick service breakfast/lunch or a snack breakfast lunch most days

You're still over your credits. You need 6 just for your signature restaurants and you'll each need to use a credit at Crystal Palace and Via Napoli. That leaves Wine Bar George, Kona, and Chefs de France. Personally, I'd probably pay OOP at Kona and use 1 credit at George and Chefs.

You do NOT get apps with the regular DDP, so you'll pay OOP for those too. And since you're only using one credit at the majority of your meals, any other alcoholic beverages will be OOP as well. As Pumbaa said, you're going to have to do the math to see if this is better than just paying OOP. To break even with the DDP, you need to "spend" about $43 per TS credit and $20 per QS credit.

 

[Pumbaa_]

Side question, have you shared meals at Disney before? The portions aren’t huge and I don’t know that one 3 course meal is enough for 2 adults. Ymmv

 

[Nancyg56]

I was just going to suggest you look at portion sizes just as @Pumbaa_ suggested. The signature dining portions are not large.

 

[rwdavis2]

The dining plan is not designed to save you money and, IMHO, requires one to eat in a way they may not normally want to. Skip it.

 

[Pumbaa_]

I have to disagree. The dining plan can save money. You just have to determine if your personal dining habits work w the plan.

 

[Nancyg56]

The dining plan is not designed to save you money and, IMHO, requires one to eat in a way they may not normally want to. Skip it.

We have no idea how the OP usually dines while on vacation, It is a math exercise for her. The DDP works well for my family, but I would not conclude it works well for everyone based on my family preferences.

 

[cedricandsophie]

We don’t do the dining plan but do get Tables in wonderland. You are eating at a lot of signature restaurants and you like alcohol. Are you dvc or Florida resident? With the TIW you get 20% off food and alcohol at most signature restaurants and many lounges. Might make more sense if you qualify. Otherwise I’d just do out of pocket and maybe get two appetizers and share an entree and dessert. But we are not big eaters, we always eat breakfast in the room and share a sandwich at lunch,