How Much Can You Really Spend With Free Dining?

[lifeasahampster]

I hope this question has not been asked, but I am trying to figure out if it is worth it at all.

Can those of you that have done the dining plan help me out and tell me how much you spent in food that were on the dining plan and using it to the fullest extent?

What resturants did you eat at?

What did you order?

Are the waiters okay with this whole dining plan?

I know it is not a great thing to ask, but I am curious about the dollar value. Thanks so much!

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

I know 4 just off the top of my head where you can run over $60 on one credit between appetizer, drink, desert, and entree and another poster reported a 5th where you could. if you ordered the expensive things on their menu.
Spoodles
Le Cellier
Maya Grill
Coral Reef
Cap'n Jacks

 

[Letsbgoofy]

My DS (16) and I spent close to or over $100 at LeCellier, Maya Grill and Kona Cafe last August. My DH and I planned to pay for the DP this August, but ended up getting it free!!

We didn't order the most expensive items on the menu, but did always have appetisers and desert. This year I think I will skip some of the appetisers and deserts - I was always way too full last year. Since it's free, I won't feel like I'm wasting my money.

The waiters were always happy to help us order and make choices - they get tipped on what you spend.

 

[bicker]

I hope this question has not been asked, but I am trying to figure out if it is worth it at all.

However, "How much can you spend....?" doesn't really address your question about whether it is "worth it" or not. What you really want to ask yourself is (1) What would you order at each restaurant? and (2) How much would it cost if you ordered those things?

I did an analysis based on folks ordering a typical appetizer, entree and dessert, at each restaurant, and of course the dining plan was worth a great deal of money that way: About $64 per person per night. However, if we were paying OOP, we would probably have ordered a lot less. I redid the analysis using the other extreme: ordering no appetizers and no desserts. Using that assumption, the dining plan was worth about $41 per person per night (or slightly more than it costs when paying for it).

Your estimate may be different (because you may choose different menu items than I did). You may want to do the estimation yourself, if you've got the time.

So the challenge for you is to figure out how much free dining is "costing" you, by comparing how much you're being quoted for your package with free dining and how much you could get the same accommodations at the same time of year with the best discount available to you. Compare than to the $41-$65 per person per night figure, above, and you'll have your answer.

 

[Lewisc]

Basically if you have one TS meal/day you'll at least break even, even with your extreme example.

The only time the plan doesn't make sense, IMHO, is if purchasing dining will cause you to forgo a deep room discount (AP,CM or FL resident) or if you're not planning on having very many TS meals. That would apply to guests who are planning on spending a significant part of their stay offsite or to guests who prefer counter service meals.

I redid the analysis using the other extreme: ordering no appetizers and no desserts. Using that assumption, the dining plan was worth about $41 per person per night (or slightly more than it costs when paying for it).

 

[wdwobsessed]

My family really likes the DDP and we paid for it in December. We came out way ahead of what we paid for the plan even with paying full price for it and we tended to order the way we normally would. A few times we took dessert back to the room and it made a great midnight snack!

The biggest pull for me was just not having to worry about how much money we were spending at meals. I like having everything prepaid.

The plan is very reasonable as far as price goes IMHO if you would go to a TS once a day anyway. For those happy with counterserve it is not as attractive. Dining is a big part of our WDW experience so it works for us.

WDWO

 

[mousebit]

My family really likes the DDP and we paid for it in December. We came out way ahead of what we paid for the plan even with paying full price for it and we tended to order the way we normally would. A few times we took dessert back to the room and it made a great midnight snack!

The biggest pull for me was just not having to worry about how much money we were spending at meals. I like having everything prepaid.

The plan is very reasonable as far as price goes IMHO if you would go to a TS once a day anyway. For those happy with counterserve it is not as attractive. Dining is a big part of our WDW experience so it works for us.

WDWO

I agree with you that one of the biggest benefits of the DDP is the convenience of having everything prepaid--including tips.

 

[formernyer]

The only time the plan doesn't make sense, IMHO, is if purchasing dining will cause you to forgo a deep room discount (AP,CM or FL resident) or if you're not planning on having very many TS meals.

Yes, you really need to make sure that the free dining is worth it for you based on your other discounts. You won't run into this problem if you are staying at Value hotels, or even the Moderates. Some of the Deluxe rooms are so expensive that you save more than $38/day on the room with the AAA discount.

Lewis forgot one HUGE instance when the DDP might not be worth it...families with preteens who still eat like children. As much of a value as I think the meal plan is, I will not be purchasing it again after the free dining promotion unless they come up with either another free offer or a better price for the pre-teens.

Last month I purchased the DDP for $60/day for three of us (myself, DD9, and DS8) right before their birthdays (they are one year plus one day apart). Now my daughter is 10. That means that she would now cost $37.99/day. At $10.99/day it was a bargain...but not at $37.99!!! My logic on the "is it worth it?" question is this: Right now I would probably still purchase the plan (two adults/one child). We could order two adult meals and my kids could split one of them. We'd have leftover credits to apply to breakfasts/uncovered meals and I wouldn't hesitate to use the conserved credits to purchase two adult meals again (go ahead and flame me, ethics police). For that reason, I would not hestitate to purchase the plan right now with DD10 and DS9. After next March, it's a completely different story.

Next March I'll have DD11 and DS10. There is no way in heck I can justify spending $114 a day on meals for myself and two kids. Sure we'd eat more than $114/day on the plan, but we could eat a LOT cheaper than that if didn't splurge on fancy TS meals and snacks all the time.

Honestly, I probably won't travel to Disney again unless there's another free dining promotion. I think once you experience the DDP it would be hard to go back, yet I could never justify paying $38/day each for two pre-teens.

 

[Lewisc]

The dining plan still works if you're planning on eating in buffet restaurants, all you care to eat, dinner shows and package like the FDP or CP. You can either pay the adult price out of pocket or the adult price on the plan.

People who pay adult pricing but don't eat much also have the same problem paying out of pocket.

DME and MYW Dining are eliminating my desire to look at offsite properties.

Lewis forgot one HUGE instance when the DDP might not be worth it...families with preteens who still eat like children. As much of a value as I think the meal plan is, I will not be purchasing it again after the free dining promotion unless they come up with either another free offer or a better price for the pre-teens.

 

[formernyer]

The dining plan still works if you're planning on eating in buffet restaurants, all you care to eat, dinner shows and package like the FDP or CP. You can either pay the adult price out of pocket or the adult price on the plan.

I never said it didn't "work." In fact, my exact quote was, "There is no way in heck I can justify spending $114 a day on meals for myself and two kids. Sure we'd eat more than $114/day on the plan, but we could eat a LOT cheaper than that if didn't splurge on fancy TS meals and snacks all the time."

In a strictly dollar and cents analysis, the DDP can work even at $38/day for the pre-teens. However, (and this is a big however) most people who travel to Disney would not dine at an on-site TS restaurant every day, and even if they did, they would most likely be ordering kid's meals for their 10 and 11 year-olds.

For many people who frequent this board the $37.99/day for pre-teens is well worth it, but for the general population I don't think it is. The demographics of the DISboard veterans seems to be somewhat outside of the norm. Many of the people who post here seem to be very affluent...much more so than you would find if you took a random sample of Disney guests. Many of the people who post on this board would be booking ADRs at fancy TS restaurants even if they had to pay OOP. Keep in mind that most of the guests at Disney probably never log into this site, but they are all welcome to purchase the DDP. For the general population (middle and lower middle class families who are lucky to make one trip to disney EVER), $38/day for a child is WAY too much money!

 

[MemoryMakers2669]

For our December trip last year, I sat down and spent a LOT of time making up a list of where we wanted to eat each day. I went through the menus and wrote down each thing we all four would order. I left our appetizers and desserts for most of them...since we wouldn't normally order them. I wrote down all prices, etc. I added it all up, subtracted the DDE discount and came up with about $800 food budget for our 8 days there.

The Dining Plan cost us $720! It was simply a no brainer to get it. After we got back I added up all the meals we ate and the total was just a little over $1600!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We used the DP to the fullest, eating at......

LeCellier
Whispering Canyon
Kona Cafe
Teppanyakki
Chef Mickeys
Sci Fi
50s Prime Time
Jiko

 

[MemoryMakers2669]

Wanted to add, that we do eat at a Table Service each day. We didn't in the beginning, but we have really started to like that break and the better food.

 

[Magical JenK]

Last year my DH & I had the free dining & I kept track of how much each of our meals/snacks cost...basically to see how much we would have spent!! Granted, you get a LOT of food on the plan & we normally wouldn't have had as many snacks or appetizers or desserts as we did on the plan, but because we could...we did! Our total was over $700 for 8 days.

For our TS we ate at:
Liberty Tree Tavern
Momma Melrose
Hollywood & Vine
Tony's Town Square
Narcoosee's
Wolfgang Puck Cafe
Le Cellier

We really enjoyed the plan & were planning on paying for it this September when we went again because based on last year's numbers, paying for it would still save us over $100...but pixie dust hit us & now we are on the free dining again!!

Enjoy your trip!
Jen

 

[thelionqueen]

The simplest way to figure it for our family was easy. We definitely would eat at least 1 TS per day and 1 snack per day. No brainer, dining plan, just based on this alone is worth it. Our average TS for 2A & 2C was around $100.00, our snacks were about $15.00. When we ate @ CS (Flame tree BBQ receipt right here) our total was $47.58. Based on this simple general calculation, 1TS, 1snack and 1CS for us would be $160.00 per day. Our dining plan was $90 per day. Now, if we took a higher end TS that total could easily go as high as $200.00 per day.

We do character meals and a TS every night, not even counting the CS. Granted, we will do a CS probably every other day (sometimes 2X per day) so adding that in as well it was definitely worth it.

We usually do order an appetizer and dessert and share, but with the dining plan, we could try more and not worry about not liking something. I do not like to waste food, so we still order very close to what we would have ordered without the plan, but it just makes it so much nicer.

BTW, you must figure tax & tip into any equation, as this made a huge difference for us when we figured. See if it works for you, but remember, a lot of the convenience and the prepaid factor make it appealing as well Good luck!

 

[Hopefully]

I too did a lengthy analysis prior to purchasing the Dining Plan last October. I polled DH and DS (adult) about where they would like to eat. I then looked at the restaurant menus and priced what each of us would likely order. We would normally order at least an appetizer at a restaurant, and DH often gets a dessert too. I added the cost of what we were likely to order (NOT the most expensive things on the menu) and it came out to be more than the $35/person we were paying in October, most days, on just the TS meal alone. Once I added in probable CS and Snacks it came to more each day.
We chose the plan and I kept our receipts.
We saved over $450 over the cost of the plan, for us.
We too would likely choose a TS meal every evening. Eating in the restaurants of WS is part of the enjoyment of our WDW trips.

 

[bicker]

Some of the Deluxe rooms are so expensive that you save more than $38/day on the room with the AAA discount.

To be clear, it would need to save you more than $38/day per person for it to better-off without the dining plan.

 

[formernyer]

To be clear, it would need to save you more than $38/day per person for it to better-off without the dining plan.

Thanks for updating for me. I knew that, but I certainly wasn't clear in the post.

 

[BuzzAndWoodyBoy]

I think a lot of the value also depends on your personality. I am a bargain hunter deluxe and it just irks me to spend $3 or more on an icecream - I can get a whole box of the same icecreams for less than that. On the dining plan, I have already paid for the ice cream, so now I'll get it. Heck, each of my kids can have one. Never, ever would I do that without the plan. $25 for 2 CS meals - man would I be annoyed. The dining plan, I don't have to think about. So even if I spent exactly the same amount with and without the plan, my husband and I agree it's just better to have it and then there is no arguing or commenting on the cost of things.

Last year on free dining for 7 nights our total for food would have been around $1200, if we had bought the plan, it would have cost $630. Granted we ate more than we normally would have but I can honestly say we would have spent more than the $630. We used 8 credits for breakfast buffets - so we certainly didn't use the plan to it's full potential.

 

[formernyer]

I think a lot of the value also depends on your personality. I am a bargain hunter deluxe and it just irks me to spend $3 or more on an icecream - I can get a whole box of the same icecreams for less than that. On the dining plan, I have already paid for the ice cream, so now I'll get it. Heck, each of my kids can have one. Never, ever would I do that without the plan. $25 for 2 CS meals - man would I be annoyed. The dining plan, I don't have to think about. So even if I spent exactly the same amount with and without the plan, my husband and I agree it's just better to have it and then there is no arguing or commenting on the cost of things.

Will you marry me?

Seriously, I could have written this myself. It's exactly how I feel.

 

[BuzzAndWoodyBoy]

Will you marry me?

Seriously, I could have written this myself. It's exactly how I feel.

Wow, my first internet proposal