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Whether or not the DDP is a value is the age old question, everyone has a different opinion. Personally, I think it is break even at best (again, for my use) so I never buy it. We did get it free last fall, and yes it was kind of nice not having to worry about forking over $ for food. So it really depends, I think the real value seems to be when you intend to do character meals and buffets which cost more.
As for the 4 year old, yes, you would have to get him one but child's is less.
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Seeing your choices, I'm thinking you're probably going to spend less without the plan. But I would have to do the math to be sure.
If you typically get a quick service, a table service, and a snack per day, plus dessert with meals, then the plan might work out for you. But if your style is more to graze and not eat full meals, or you prefer to skip dessert, definitely not a good choice. Breakfasts and lunches are generally less expensive, and you have a few of those. So I'm thinking the DP is not a good deal for you. But if you like to pay in advance and not worry about it and if you think you'll get value out of it... maybe. Like previous poster said, everyone has a different opinion.
Sherri
Next: Aulani Celebration 10/2018 (50th)
Past Stays: Contemporary, GF, Poly, BC, POP, POR, Dolphin, AKL Kidani, BLT
1990 August Honeymoon- GF
Delighted Disney Return Guest since 1981, DVC (BLT) since 2014
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Yes, you would need to get the dining plan for your 4 year old.
Granted, we are a family of 2; not 4 - but a few years ago, when we had "free dining", I did my own personal comparison. I figured out what the room would have cost had I just booked the room without the dining plan. I kept track of what the meals would have cost us had we needed to pay out of pocket instead of chalking them up to "free dining". In the end, I concluded that I would have made out better financially - eating exactly what I wanted and where I wanted - without using the dining plan. Others report they have had different results.
So, you would really need to be the one to do the math to figure out if it would be worthwhile for your family. Given your list of restaurants, I suspect it might not be.
Linda aka: Faline
INTERCOT Staff: Vacation Planning,Trip Reports and Disney Camping
[email protected]
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Originally Posted by SBETigg
Seeing your choices, I'm thinking you're probably going to spend less without the plan. But I would have to do the math to be sure.
Ditto!
We get the dining plan every time but we make it worth it. We book the more expensive sit downs. And while I won't order the most pricey menu item, I love being able to get a seafood or something really awesome for the same price as a sandwich. We also use our snack credits for more pricey things as well. If you know how to work it, it can be a great plan
DVC MEMBER since 2009
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SSR- Apr. 2018 BC- May. 2018
BC- Aug. 2018 BLT Dec. 2018
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I bet 9 out of 10 people would be better off using whatever room only discounts and paying out of pocket for everything else than getting the dining plan.
Disney wouldn't have the dining plan if it wasn't a sizable revenue stream. Consideing all the process behind it, and it's still so heavily promoted, it's probably the money tree for the parks.
Packages have never been a value going way back.
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Destiney, you probably need to do the math. This is what I have done every Disney trip that we thought we might want the Dining Plan.
Like you, we pretty much know where we want to eat, and on what day. We like our sit down meals. So I look at the menus, figuring about what folks will get. I know my niece is going for beef, DH is going for pork, my sister might choose fish here or lamb there and I generally go for the fish. It's easy enough to get an estimate of what we'd spend.
I have also saved receipts to double check.
In recent years we got the Dining Plan in 2008, 2010 and 2012 but not in 2013. And probably won't the next trip. We were doing slightly better with the Dining Plan but there were a couple of things that edged us away from the plan.
One is desserts. Most of the time we're ok with the dessert but in a couple of restaurants we'd rather have an appetizer, and that's OOP. Recently, Disney has allowed a salad instead of a dessert for the counter service option and this is nice.
Another, and maybe bigger problem, was the lack of real food on the kids' menus. The kid in our group, even as a toddler, would rather not eat chicken nuggets or any kind of sandwich. She would eat Italian, Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, and especially seafood.
And a third problem is if someone gets sick. This happened in 2010 and 2012. For the first time we were leaving Disney with unused credits.
One benefit to the plan was snacks. We would not normally get a snack in a park. We found that with the plan, we would get more snacks, sometimes only water. We were less dehydrated and maybe less cranky too.
Another benefit is at some of the counter service places that offer combo meals that are one credit on the dining plan. DH, the kid and I can share one of these, with a side order (sometimes obtained with a snack credit) and have counter service vouchers left over (see below for trip home).
I want to mention one thing about the plan and that is while you're allowed one table service, one counter service and one snack per day per person, you do not have to use them that way. If you're two adults at Disney for 7 days, you'll have 14 table service credits, which you could use for 3 signature dining meals.
We drive to Disney usually, and have stocked up on snacks at the end of our trip, for the car ride, along with some counter service sandwiches. Every few days I'd stop in at the front desk and ask for a printout of our Dining Plan to keep track.
As DisneyRox says, if the plan didn't make Disney money, they wouldn't still be offering it. Doesn't make it inherently bad, just makes it your job to figure out if/how it works for you.
Jan
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No
Do NOT buy the dining plan.
If you are planning a WDW stay during a period when the DDP is 'free' if you pay full room rack rate and but park tickets then you should get it and enjoy it.
BUT
The DDP is only a savings if you REALLY want a fountain drink and the most expensive entree and a dessert at every meal. (Ai, how many times have we carried a cookie away from a CS meal)? If not, Pay As You Go. Also PAYG means you can purchase an appetizer and skip dessert... or buy just an entree and save money... PAYG means more flexibility.
DDP fans if you've never found youself the last day or two of a WDW vacation saying, "I still have 1 TS and 2 CS and 6 snack credits I need to use." then you bought the right thing.
Finally, money is the best currency. With DDP, good luck at places where a cast member explains (probably for the 87th time today) "for 1 snack credit you can get 1 of this or 2 of that but none of this or this." There's no treat in Mickey's World that an Amex card or hard currency can't buy.
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To get or not to get is always the big question and the members here are very polarized as you can plainly see. The real question you have to ask yourself is will it be a value to you.
I use it cause its earmarked into my budget i don't have to worry about having enough money for the week (especially if i get into a restaurant last minute). I never have to worry about what to eat because i can choose what i want. where as if i went OOP i might choose the less expensive option to maximize my merchandise budget.
What i would recommend is not look at the most expensive options at the restaurants that you planing on visiting but looking at what you want to eat. Getting an idea of how much it would cost to go OOP.
Also look at when you are going If going during food and wine fest those snack credits can be put to better use there. Ive heard more people spend far more money then they ever wanted to because they just were not paying attention to their cash or credit card.
The choice is up to you in reality and how you want to budget it in. I know in my experience ive gone deluxe dinning plan each time. And each time my choices went to where it would have cost me more then if i went OOP or based on the price of the plan.
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2016 ??
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Our family of 5, with one of 3 kids deemed "adult" it works out great for us when free.
We stay at POR, a moderate. Usual RO discount for this resort would be about 20%, so even at $200 a night on the high end, that is only $40 a night savings or $400 for our 10 night package. Free dining saves us over $1700, even if I factor in that we would spend a lot less per day, and back out tips, our savings would still be $1000. In this situation, for us, its a great bargain.
There are so many variables that it is impossible to state emphatically whether its a good deal or not, that criteria has to be applied to each individual.
After having the free dining on our last two trips, while I certainly liked the savings, I got little pleasure in having to map out our entire stay 6 months in advance, just so that we could get good dining reservations.
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Originally Posted by The Hitchhiking Ghost
Our family of 5, with one of 3 kids deemed "adult" it works out great for us when free.
We stay at POR, a moderate. Usual RO discount for this resort would be about 20%, so even at $200 a night on the high end, that is only $40 a night savings or $400 for our 10 night package. Free dining saves us over $1700, even if I factor in that we would spend a lot less per day, and back out tips, our savings would still be $1000. In this situation, for us, its a great bargain.
Yes, this exactly. It depends on a lot of factors. It *can* be a great savings.
Honestly, we usually get it. We are a family of five, but four of us are "adults" on the DDP. And our youngest is about to turn ten, so in the future there will be five of us "adults". We'll double-check the math at that point.
One time we went without it, paying out of pocket, but we still followed our usual routine of eating at a TS restaurant every day. Yes, we did go off-site once or twice (which we never do when we have the DDP). We found that we spent more money on meals than the DDP would have cost us. So, for us, it is a good deal.
I would also point out that you do not have to do a TS meal *every* day. You could certainly save up and book a couple of signature restaurants that require two credits, such as California Grill or Le Cellier, and then do something different on the days you no longer have credits for a TS meal. We've done that in the past for our character meals.
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One more thing to consider, do you want adult drinks with dinner? You pay out of pocket for adult drinks and apps. Because this is how we eat sometimes making a meal of apps. I have looked into TIW and for us it would be better you get 20% off the entire meal including Adult drinks. In other words it covers the tip. But if you do a meal with apps and adult drinks that can be quite a savings. The only draw back is the card costs $100, more if you don't have an AP or DVC member so once again you have to do the math.
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Next trip in Jan 2017 I hope!
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Originally Posted by azcavalier
Yes, this exactly. It depends on a lot of factors. It *can* be a great savings.
Honestly, we usually get it. We are a family of five, but four of us are "adults" on the DDP. And our youngest is about to turn ten, so in the future there will be five of us "adults". We'll double-check the math at that point.
One time we went without it, paying out of pocket, but we still followed our usual routine of eating at a TS restaurant every day. Yes, we did go off-site once or twice (which we never do when we have the DDP). We found that we spent more money on meals than the DDP would have cost us. So, for us, it is a good deal.
I would also point out that you do not have to do a TS meal *every* day. You could certainly save up and book a couple of signature restaurants that require two credits, such as California Grill or Le Cellier, and then do something different on the days you no longer have credits for a TS meal. We've done that in the past for our character meals.
If you are a larger family, of 4 or 5, with at least two or more being adults, and you stay at a moderate level resort, its hard to imagine that any room only discount would be a better bargain than free dining. I've crunched the numbers so many times and so many ways, but the end result is the same, "free" dining is the better deal and it's hard to walk away from when offered.
If that same family is staying at a Deluxe resort, then its a whole new ball game, but at the moderate level its much easier for the free dining to be a better deal.
Living in Minnesota, generally any flight we take gets us into MCO late afternoon. So by the time we take ME to the resort, get checked in, its often early evening. Instead of using a TS entitlement that first night we always just eat at the resort food court, which gives us the extra TS to do a signature restaurant or CP package. We usually try to do this twice. More than likely, without the DDP we wouldn't try signature restaurants, just not in our budget.
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Using the free dining promotion, when offered, can be a good choice. For instance, we are going during Christmas week this year. There are no room discounts offered during the time we will be traveling. But if we check in by December 23, we can take advantage of the free dining promotion. It costs us nothing additional over a room/ticket package for the same time period to get the free dining offer. So that's a no-brainer for us or anyone else.
But whether to use the free dining offer vs. room discounts (when available) and then buying food OOP is an entirely different question than whether purchasing the dining plan will save you $$. We tried it both ways, for us, it always costs us less $$ for food when we paid OOP than purchasing the dining plan, and that was back when apps and tips were included in the plan. Buying the DDP is less of a value now.
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