Dining Plan or no dining plan

[kkevcamsmom]

This has been my debate. So I found out the lowest and highest cost for the restaurants in each park, then found the average. From there I mutilplied the cost times 3 for the meals(one snack, counter and sit down) per day then that new number by 5 (the number in my family), new number again by 5 (days we are staying). Then found the average of the cost for meals at all 4 parks. I did not figure tips, which the dining plan adds in or snacks.

Here's the break down:

For a family of 5 for 5 days eating all meals in the park you would spend an estimated $ 1268.00. The dining plan adds an addtional $545.00 to your vacation cost. This saves you $723.00.

Even chaning it to only 2 meals a day in the parks you save $300.00

I say WOW! I am going for the dining plan!

Hope this helps someone else.

Lori

 

[gigi1313]

i've done the same math ('cept times 4 'cause there are only four of us) and have come to the same conclusion... but that's because even if we were paying for meals, we would eat the same way the dining plan is set up... for those that prefer counter service or snacks instead of sit-down meals, then the ddp may not be a good choice... our family's opinion is that the cost of the ddp tends to cover the cost of the TS meal and the CS and snack end up being "free!" and who doesn't like FREE?!

 

[tx2tn]

We just returned from WDW and YES the dining plan is worth it IF.........If you are a lover of food and intend to make food a part of the Disney experience. The are those out there (shudder) that could get by every day with just a little lettuce and a piece of white bread. If you are one of those people then I would not reccomend the DDP but if not, then it can be very much worth it!!

 

[Amrita]

We just got back from our trip and to me the ddp is a no brainer. We ate an awesome dinner every night. Our dinner bills were never lower than $100. for our family of 4. 3 times they were over $140. and we never paid a dime thanks to the dining plan. The dining plan cost us $100. a day and our value was well beyond that. Also, we never over ate. We took some snacks home too!

 

[bicker]

I think it is very useful to compare the Dining Plan not to what it would cost to buy all that food out-of-pocket, but rather compare it to what you would have paid for what you would have ordered if you weren't on the Dining Plan. That reduces my savings from about $550 down to about $150, but still represents a very significant cost savings.

 

[brivers222]

Yeah we went back to MGM after being on the DDP for 9 days and it was so depressing seeing $45 disappear from my wallet for average counter service meals.

DDP saved us $1428 versus OPP. I am comparing to what each DDP meal would of cost OPP because well for me I get sick of overpriced counter service meals down there so the TS meals are very welcome necessity and change. I went into sticker shock when I came home to find that the Big Mac Xtra value meal which was $7.49 down there is a mere $5.29 back at my McDonalds