WDW Dining Plans

[Nancy K]

We’ve been getting the Quick Service Plan, but last trip we booked 3 meals(Crystal Palace breakfast, Tusker lunch and SciFi dinner) and had about 12 snacks left and I believe 3 meals. So I’m thinking we might need to do something else. We do like having basically everything paid for up front. We are 2 adults and sometimes we share something if we weren’t really hungry. What are your thoughts on the Disney Dining Plans? We were also thinking maybe just getting one Quick Service Plan and just paying for the rest? thank you

 

[jbwolffiv]

My feeling has always been the only thing the Dining Plan is good for is the "convenience" of it being paid for. Usually it is not a value for the cost and you need to be diligent in order to get the value out of it and break even. An option is to buy Disney gift cards before traveling and use those for your meals. That way it can be paid up front.

My 2 cents.

 

[RedOctober25]

I concur with John. Some friends used to get the dining plan for every trip because it was prepaid. But then they felt like they had to order the most expensive items on the menu (even if it wasn’t truly what they wanted) just to make it worth it. So they now do the gift card route. My father used to do the dining plan on his trips because he would get the “free Dining” offer. He then found out he could eat for about half the price of the meal plan per meal price if he paid cash... and that the room discount was more cost effective for him (since you paid full rack rate if you got free Dining).


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[Bethany]

I did the math for our past two trips and ordering what we wanted (not trying to max value) we basically broke even (that was for the regular 1 QS 1 TS plan). This time I like it even better with two snacks instead of dessert with QS as that was the one time I felt like we were wasting money on things we wouldn't normally buy.

It's totally a mental thing with me: I don't exactly know how to describe it but I just know if I had gift cards (unless they ever make some that can only be spent on food) I would feel like I needed to eat as inexpensively as possible. Even though I KNOW that it's the same amount of money...it's like the Dining plan forces me to enjoy the overpriced character meals and $5 snacks...which I want to do but am pretty sure I'd have a harder time if I was constantly handing over money that could be going towards something else.

BUT- that was just me answering your "what are your thoughts..." question. In your case, it sounds like the plan is a waste of money

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[Nancy K]

My feeling has always been the only thing the Dining Plan is good for is the "convenience" of it being paid for. Usually it is not a value for the cost and you need to be diligent in order to get the value out of it and break even. An option is to buy Disney gift cards before traveling and use those for your meals. That way it can be paid up front.

My 2 cents.

I did the math for our past two trips and ordering what we wanted (not trying to max value) we basically broke even (that was for the regular 1 QS 1 TS plan). This time I like it even better with two snacks instead of dessert with QS as that was the one time I felt like we were wasting money on things we wouldn't normally buy.

It's totally a mental thing with me: I don't exactly know how to describe it but I just know if I had gift cards (unless they ever make some that can only be spent on food) I would feel like I needed to eat as inexpensively as possible. Even though I KNOW that it's the same amount of money...it's like the Dining plan forces me to enjoy the overpriced character meals and $5 snacks...which I want to do but am pretty sure I'd have a harder time if I was constantly handing over money that could be going towards something else.

BUT- that was just me answering your "what are your thoughts..." question. In your case, it sounds like the plan is a waste of money

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We were just talking about the peace of mind with the QSDP and having gift cards for the same amount. Next trip I don’t think we’re going to do a dining plan. One thing with the dining plan we just order something and I’m afraid we’ll be looking at the prices when we don’t have the plan, even though we’ll probably order what we would anyway. I don’t know if this makes sense, I think it’s just a mental thing too.
Next month we’re going to Universal Studios Orlando and have the Quick/Counter Plan with refillable mug, but it’s one Counter/one snack a date per person. But included in our package is two breakfasts(Leaky Cauldron and Three Broomsticks). So we’ll be paying for a meal OOP a day. We’ll see how this works, as far as what we’re ordering, looking at the menu prices. We’ve never been to Universal Studios, unlike Disney, we know the places we like, etc.

Unless something changes, I believe next Disney trip we’ll OOP, by buying gift cards. Plus I’m going to OOP for Pixelmania.