Paying OOP... Need advice

You don't really say what your food preferences are and if you are looking for quantity or quality, so this is a bit of a shot in the dark.

Starlight Rays in MK is great as you get a decent meal that can easily be split for a really good price. Family style is also a great way to go (like Liberty Tree Tavern, Boma, etc) Try to hit a late lunch rather than dinner as the prices tend to be cheaper for some places. Epcot has AMAZING QS places that are really tasty and not expensive too.

These are just fav's of ours that always feel like good deal for dollars for us. For TS, I would recommend Raglan Road(DTD), Boma (AKL) (a little more expensive) and 50s Diner(DHS). For QS, I would go with Starlight Rays(MK), Tangerine Café (Epcot), and Earl of Sandwiches(DTD).

Good Luck!

We always go OOP. That, in itself, is getting the biggest bang for your buck because you're completely in charge of what you eat. You can share plates if portions are too big, you can get an appetizer and not an entree, you can all get entrees and desserts. It doesn't matter. That's why we do it. We spend a lot less on food than with the DDP, especially with the Tables in Wonderland discount card (available to AP holders and FL residents). The main thing is just to eat the way you want to rather than the way you have to with the DDP.

We are not big eaters, so we have never used the dining plan because the cost would be more than if we paid OOP for the amount of food we would normally order. We usually don't get apps or desserts unless we are not eating an entrée. We eat breakfast in our room bagels, donuts, poptarts..... one table service each day...and one quick service. I know that people say table service lunch is cheaper than table service dinner, but I just don't see that anymore (haven't for a long time). The only way I see a price difference is if it's a totally different menu and most have the same menu for dinner and lunch. There are exceptions but you are getting two different menus for lunch and dinner. We recently ate lunch at Tony's and they had sandwiches and pizza for lunch, so yes it was cheaper than dinner, but the dinner selections were actually meals instead of sandwiches.

I think eating at Disney has been complicated for some time now. What I do is to look at where we are going to eat, the menu for the actual meal, the number of days we are eating in the park and go from there. Some years I have purchased the TIW card and has saved us money, but you have to be careful. I factor in the cost of the card, figure out if our restaurants take the card, and the discount for each restaurant. I have to be sure to at least break even before buying the card.

IMO if everyone in your party usually eats what is including in the dinning plan at each meal, then the plan is a savings........if it is more food than everyone eats then you are paying for food you wouldn't be normally and you are wasting money.

Even snacks....unless it is ice cream (and that's something we rarely get at Disney) we share...we never buy indivisual snacks for everyone. I always read how people in the dining plan have so many snack credits left that they are getting multiple snacks on the last day just to use up the credits. To me that is just wasted money.

We've done it both ways and have found out it's cheaper for us to pay as we go. We're not big dessert eaters and we always ended up bringing a bunch of snacks back with us. We like the food courts at Port Orleans. It seems unless you're starving, a lot of the meals are big enough to share. We also like the Liberty Tree and the Trails End. A lot of the counter serve places offer full meals beside the usual hamburger, chicken strip fare. An added benefit is not being tied to a dinner reservation, it's much more spontaneous!

I keep going back and forth about whether or not we are adding on the dining plan for our upcoming trip. I've used the Dining Plan in the past, but I haven't tracked our purchases closely so I don't know if we ended up spending more than we would have OOP.

I used a site that lets you put in your restaurants and estimates your expenses OOP vs DP and it's various iterations, it looks like it would be about 50 more for us to do the DP based on the average bills at those restaurants. If I try to price it out with slightly pricier items, it looks like we save about 50. Plus we definitely don't need desert twice a day, and often my husband would just as soon share my desert vs order one of his own.

I think as I write this, I'm leaning more towards paying OOP this trip and just keeping close track of our dining expenses and comparing it to what I would have paid for the dining plan.

snowflakegirl;2462477 wrote:

I think as I write this, I'm leaning more towards paying OOP this trip and just keeping close track of our dining expenses and comparing it to what I would have paid for the dining plan.

That's a good way to really see if the DP works for your family. It doesn't for ours, but other families say it does for theirs.

We eat one main meal,one light meal and a snack. No matter where we eat it seems to be cheaper paying as we go. And we eat signature dining a lot.

The best value, with the best food, if you don't want a buffet or signature dining - Flametree at AK, Captain Hook's at Poly, Trails End at FW, Columbia Harbour House at MK, Earl of Sandwich at DTD. I would be happy at any of these places- food choices and food is soooo good. And sometimes we snack our way around Epcot, with a choice from each country. That doesn't always end up cheap but a real treat!

What I use to pay for everything is a Disney gift card. I get mine at Target with my Red Card. It gives you 5% off the purchase. I just got $250 in gift cards and only paid $237.50. Saving me $12.50.

You have some good suggestions on where to eat. Just a thought on how to pay for it.

We typically pay out of pocket. We don't necessarily make a plan ahead of time as to what we're going to eat. We often make dining reservations - particularly for those hard to reserve restaurants. Once at the restaurant, however, we order what we please - less if we are not too hungry; more, if we want to add in an appetizer and/or dessert.

When I tracked our dining against the dining plan, I found that I came out ahead financially.

Disney4us2;2462514 wrote: What I use to pay for everything is a Disney gift card. I get mine at Target with my Red Card. It gives you 5% off the purchase. I just got $250 in gift cards and only paid $237.50. Saving me $12.50.

You have some good suggestions on where to eat. Just a thought on how to pay for it.

What a great idea! :mickey:

faline;2462522 wrote: We typically pay out of pocket. We don't necessarily make a plan ahead of time as to what we're going to eat. We often make dining reservations - particularly for those hard to reserve restaurants. Once at the restaurant, however, we order what we please - less if we are not too hungry; more, if we want to add in an appetizer and/or dessert.

When I tracked our dining against the dining plan, I found that I came out ahead financially.

This is how we do it too.

Ideas To Save money eating OOP, eat TS at either breakfast or lunch. Both are cheaper than dinner.

If you can, bring snacks from outside the parks. We usually bring a back pack with chips, cookies and granola bars.

If you are really trying to save the $$$ order water everywhere you go. Disney gives it to you for free.

I have actually never had the dining plan and was thinking of using it next time I go. It never dawned on me to do a comparison! I think I will do that before I go. But if they offer a free Dining plan, I will take it!

One thought (that hasn't been posted on here yet) is to see if you qualify for the Tables in Wonderland card. That will give you discounts at TS restaurants. Basically, it covers the tip. But hey! That's a lot of money!