The numbers are in! Was the dining plan worth it? The answer is...

[PDXmouse]

So we recently wrapped up a 9 night trip to Disney with the dining plan. DH, myself, DD 11 (a Disney “adult”), and DS9. I thought someone may want to know how our experience penciled out.

To make this easy I excluded tips and tax.

I calculate we paid $2270 for the standard dining plan.

At first it was fun... almost like a game to see what we could milk out of the trip. But as time went on I did feel a little more limited. We really struggled to use up all our credits. We were trying extra hard to find excuses to eat and snack toward the end. (Mmmmm, Beaches and Cream Chocolate malts as a snack credit...). Even so, we had 13 CS credits and 6 snack credits left at the end. We ended up cashing them out in the YC marketplace.

We tried to be smart with where we ate, we splurged on more expensive dishes and had lots of expensive cocktails. We did character meals, had breakfast at BOG twice, picked TS service locations with higher end menus (but not signature.). Even trying so hard, our total food/drink spending (before tax and tip) was $2228.

The total of the snacks we cashed out was $224. The refillable mugs would’ve been another $75.96.

So mathematically, we didn’t “lose” any money. ($2228+224+76 > $2270). However, we ate at a lot of places and ordered a lot of drinks and desserts that we would *not* have had if we weren’t on the DDP. Also, trying to max our credits led to higher amounts that we tipped at TS locations... by quite a bit. And we headed out with THREE full bags of snacks (candy, jerky, crackers, and cupcakes) we never would have bought otherwise.

Do I regret it? No. Would I do it again? Not unless we had two rooms and could share credits with the other room. It’s just way too much food for our family. That said, we’re now at universal and are NOT on a dining plan, and a part of me misses the freedom that comes from “pre paid” credits and the luxury of not only ordering the most expensive items, but also feeling like I’m getting a “deal” on the $40 lobster or $15 cocktail.

I think if you have even a vague shot at making the numbers work you need to do lots of character meals, order expensive menu items (like steak or shellfish), and/or have a desire to have alcohol with most (or all) of your meals. If you prefer pasta and salads, don’t drink alcohol, and don’t do buffets, I don’t see how it would pencil out.

But for those who don’t care about the math and like the freedom of eating whatever whenever it does lend a carefree element to the trip. However, you could probably get the same result buy pre-buying Disney GC’s and using them to pay as you go. Just my two cents.

 

[mcm574]

I think if you have even a vague shot at making the numbers work you need to do lots of character meals, order expensive menu items (like steak or shellfish), and/or have a desire to have alcohol with most (or all) of your meals. If you prefer pasta and salads, don’t drink alcohol, and don’t do buffets, I don’t see how it would pencil out.

Aha, you're validating one of my assumptions! - my husband loves steak and likes to splurge on it; and because he doesn't eat shellfish, I frequently like to order that when we're out, since I'd never eat it at home. Also, we always enjoy trying new cocktails.

But for those who don’t care about the math and like the freedom of eating whatever whenever it does lend a carefree element to the trip. However, you could probably get the same result buy pre-buying Disney GC’s and using them to pay as you go. Just my two cents.

I've seen that argument made many times... but I can't help but assume that if I went that route, we still wouldn't indulge in steak, shellfish, and cocktails, because we'd still be constantly doing the math, knowing that any money left on those prepaid GCs could go to souvenirs, or even to paying down the remaining hotel bill. I'd be intrigued to hear if anyone else has this issue!

Either way, thanks for sharing - food for thought! (HA! No pun intended!)

 

[Colleen27]

Great analysis. I think you really captured how DDP value is about more than straightforward math.

Just a quick note on your numbers: The DDP covers tax, so you should use post-tax amounts for an apples-to-apples comparison.

 

[Colleen27]

I've seen that argument made many times... but I can't help but assume that if I went that route, we still wouldn't indulge in steak, shellfish, and cocktails, because we'd still be constantly doing the math, knowing that any money left on those prepaid GCs could go to souvenirs, or even to paying down the remaining hotel bill. I'd be intrigued to hear if anyone else has this issue!

Either way, thanks for sharing - food for thought! (HA! No pun intended!)

I do. A budget is a budget, no matter how I'm paying, so when we've done the gift card not-a-dining-plan method I was keeping just as close tabs on our spending as if I was paying cash. And since I don't necessarily want money tied up on a Disney gift card between trips, I tend not to estimate out dining costs as generously if I'm putting it on a GC.

There have been trips where it worked out really well, especially when I had an AP and TiW, but it does change the way I think about menu prices/ordering.

 

[chris benton]

I'd say you "lost" 224 dollars if you spent it on stuff you normally would not have bought - even tho, in reality, yes, you didn't leave any credits on the table, I get it. Also, you dined at places, and ordered cocktails you say you normally would not have - was that bad or good? You mentioned it in a way that sounds like it may have been not the greatest for you? I don't know - just asking. That's a possible drawback - did you kind of feel "restricted" to make the most of it?

I am not pro or con the dining plan. I think if it works for people, then it works. It's pretty simple to make sure it will work before you buy it. It just has to fit with your family's eating style. The amount of food either works well, OR, you have to figure out where to split / share if the amount is going to be more than you can indulge in, and then possibly do some 2 credit meals, or figure out how to use remaining credits wisely if there are any.

My family just doesn't eat nearly that much (we're not skinny mini people, either, which is part of it. We really have to watch what we eat.) The worth of the refillable mug worth would be lost on us. I actually wish I could make the plan work for us, but it doesn't. We order exactly what we want, when we want it, and we're more sushi, steak and seafood than hot dogs and burgers, trust me.

One of my assumptions is that ppl are not fully aware of how big some of the meals can be. I'm guessing Walt makes a bunch of free money from ppl leaving with credits left over, even after they have been stuffing themselves silly trying to keep up with the quantity of food.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

Great post, thanks for the info. I have the exact same family dynamic as you and I've been contemplating whether or not DDP will still work for our now family not that my DS11 is a Disney "adult". Great to read a first hand account.

 

[PDXmouse]

Great post, thanks for the info. I have the exact same family dynamic as you and I've been contemplating whether or not DDP will still work for our now family not that my DS11 is a Disney "adult". Great to read a first hand account.

I found that our family could often comfortably share 3 (or even two!) meals. That’s where we really started to lose value. Either we were wasting tons of food or ordering (and eating) things we didn’t need.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

So we recently wrapped up a 9 night trip to Disney with the dining plan. DH, myself, DD 11 (a Disney “adult”), and DS9. I thought someone may want to know how our experience penciled out.

To make this easy I excluded tips and tax.

I calculate we paid $2270 for the standard dining plan.

At first it was fun... almost like a game to see what we could milk out of the trip. But as time went on I did feel a little more limited. We really struggled to use up all our credits. We were trying extra hard to find excuses to eat and snack toward the end. (Mmmmm, Beaches and Cream Chocolate malts as a snack credit...). Even so, we had 13 CS credits and 6 snack credits left at the end. We ended up cashing them out in the YC marketplace.

We tried to be smart with where we ate, we splurged on more expensive dishes and had lots of expensive cocktails. We did character meals, had breakfast at BOG twice, picked TS service locations with higher end menus (but not signature.). Even trying so hard, our total food/drink spending (before tax and tip) was $2228.

The total of the snacks we cashed out was $224. The refillable mugs would’ve been another $75.96.

So mathematically, we didn’t “lose” any money. ($2228+224+76 > $2270). However, we ate at a lot of places and ordered a lot of drinks and desserts that we would *not* have had if we weren’t on the DDP. Also, trying to max our credits led to higher amounts that we tipped at TS locations... by quite a bit. And we headed out with THREE full bags of snacks (candy, jerky, crackers, and cupcakes) we never would have bought otherwise.

Do I regret it? No. Would I do it again? Not unless we had two rooms and could share credits with the other room. It’s just way too much food for our family. That said, we’re now at universal and are NOT on a dining plan, and a part of me misses the freedom that comes from “pre paid” credits and the luxury of not only ordering the most expensive items, but also feeling like I’m getting a “deal” on the $40 lobster or $15 cocktail.

I think if you have even a vague shot at making the numbers work you need to do lots of character meals, order expensive menu items (like steak or shellfish), and/or have a desire to have alcohol with most (or all) of your meals. If you prefer pasta and salads, don’t drink alcohol, and don’t do buffets, I don’t see how it would pencil out.

But for those who don’t care about the math and like the freedom of eating whatever whenever it does lend a carefree element to the trip. However, you could probably get the same result buy pre-buying Disney GC’s and using them to pay as you go. Just my two cents.

Couple of questions/comments:

~Your $2,228 isn't really accurate. It doesn't include tax nor tip per your comments. In order to truly figure out money-wise if it was worth you would would need to include the tax and the tip. You said you found yourself eating at a lot of places and ordering a lot of drinks and desserts that you wouldn't have if you weren't on the Dining Plan...well that directly figures into how much money you spent on your meal which directly influences how much tax you were charged and using an average person that would directly influence how much money you spent on tips. That would also directly impact your statement of "So mathematically, we didn’t “lose” any money."

~Would you have bought the refillable mugs had you not been on the DDP?

 

[ajwolfe]

We've crunched the numbers a couple times - mainly because of our kids aging up to be "adults" on the plan. We always either come out ahead or at least break even - granted we may drink a few sodas we may not have if not on the plan, etc but no on had to stress about the money of it.

For us, it ultimately comes down to enjoying the freedom of knowing it's paid for and letting the kids order whatever they want. If we used gift cards to pay for the food I would still budget just like it was cash, so that wouldn't work for us.

 

[PDXmouse]

Couple of questions/comments:

~Your $2,228 isn't really accurate. It doesn't include tax nor tip per your comments. In order to truly figure out money-wise if it was worth you would would need to include the tax and the tip. You said you found yourself eating at a lot of places and ordering a lot of drinks and desserts that you wouldn't have if you weren't on the Dining Plan...well that directly figures into how much money you spent on your meal which directly influences how much tax you were charged and using an average person that would directly influence how much money you spent on tips. That would also directly impact your statement of "So mathematically, we didn’t “lose” any money."

~Would you have bought the refillable mugs had you not been on the DDP?

I do recognize my analysis wasn’t exact because of all these reasons. Although there were drinks and desserts we wouldn’t have otherwise ordered, we DID enjoy them. The refillable mugs were a waste. DS is the only one who used his with and regularity. The snacks we cashed out at the YC marketplace will be used. Lots of beef jerky (which my son loves but is expensive so I don’t usually buy it) along with pretzels, candy, etc.

So we definitely would have spent less had we not been on the dining plan. However, I don’t exactly feel like we *wasted* money either.

That said, we worked hard to wring the full value out of the DDP. Someone who wasn’t paying as close of attention could easily end up paying more that they would have out of pocket.

 

[chris benton]

So PDXmouse -
I fully appreciate your accounting / openness on this issue. In getting a little more granular about the money -
Those snacks from the YC marketplace - are they special in some way? Are they the same things you can get anywhere? If so, was there also a WDW markup?
Example: random beef jerky size/brand would cost you 2.00 at your local grocery store, but a YC Mkt, the same one costs 3.00?
Do you have a concrete example on prices?

(I'm such a cheapskate, sorry.)
But, one of my favorite quotes is, "Millionaires don't stay millionaires if they spend all of their money."

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I do recognize my analysis wasn’t exact because of all these reasons. Although there were drinks and desserts we wouldn’t have otherwise ordered, we DID enjoy them. The refillable mugs were a waste. DS is the only one who used his with and regularity. The snacks we cashed out at the YC marketplace will be used. Lots of beef jerky (which my son loves but is expensive so I don’t usually buy it) along with pretzels, candy, etc.

So we definitely would have spent less had we not been on the dining plan. However, I don’t exactly feel like we *wasted* money either.

That said, we worked hard to wring the full value out of the DDP. Someone who wasn’t paying as close of attention could easily end up paying more that they would have out of pocket.

Right I'm just saying in order to fully compare you need to break down all the numbers; as is the numbers you gave weren't fully accurate was all I was saying. Compare exactly what you would have bought including tax and tip with what you ended up buying with tax and tip. Most times when people post these types of threads they are helpful (and yours is don't get me wrong) but they don't usually or haven't usually done all the math (which is a lot of work). Did you calculate for each meal the exact cost of each menu item of what you would have ordered? and then compared it to what you did order? Then you would add on the tax and tip to get a cost analysis of what your OOP cost would have been without the Dining Plan and what it would have been with the Dining Plan.

I wasn't commenting in regards to your feelings on the value of the dining plan (as I totally think there are reasons why purchasing the Dining Plan works) but I was commenting about the money aspect of the Dining Plan as you commented on that too.

I can understand the refillable mugs being a waste but I was asking for clarification if you would have bought them OOP if you didn't have the Dining Plan. You included the total cost of the mugs in your initial comparison. Would you have bought all those snacks that totaled the $224? As you included that in your initial comparison too. If the answer is no then just using your numbers you provided you lost $42 ($2,270-2,228). You lost even more money since you advised you ordered more of what you would have if you were paying OOP. However, you said "So mathematically, we didn’t “lose” any money. ($2228+224+76 > $2270)." which doesn't actually add up to being correct.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

Thanks OP for this description. I think the point is, in your case, the dining plan cost more than you would have spent if you just went OOP, but deciding whether it's worth it or not can be a different question.

 

[GenGen22]

I think its definitely a good idea to map out the cost of what you would pay vs. The cost of the dining plan to see if it's worth your while as every family is different. We really like the TS restaurants that WDW has to offer so, I usually pick some restaurants I haven't been to before and price out what we would typically eat on allears.net and if the cost of the meals exceeds or comes close to the cost of the dining plan I purchase it. I've only been twice and both times I've had the dining plan. I don't figure out tips, tax or snack credit costs because my cost usually comes pretty close or exceeds the cost. So for me its a good deal. I do agree that 2 snacks a day seems to be a lot and we do end up cashing them in at the end of the trip but the cost of the meals still makes it worth it for us. And I don't usually do signature restaurants as it doesn't make financial sense for me.

 

[PDXmouse]

So PDXmouse -
I fully appreciate your accounting / openness on this issue. In getting a little more granular about the money -
Those snacks from the YC marketplace - are they special in some way? Are they the same things you can get anywhere? If so, was there also a WDW markup?
Example: random beef jerky size/brand would cost you 2.00 at your local grocery store, but a YC Mkt, the same one costs 3.00?
Do you have a concrete example on prices?

(I'm such a cheapskate, sorry.)
But, one of my favorite quotes is, "Millionaires don't stay millionaires if they spend all of their money."

The YC snacks definitely had a markup (doesn’t everything at Disney?) but will still give us value. For example, the jerkey was almost $7 but would’ve still cost at least $5 at a normal grocery store.

I get what you all are saying... that I need to compare what I *would have* spent vs what I did spend. That’s hard though because the dessert I ordered, that I wouldn’t have otherwise ordered without the DDP, was still delicious. So I did receive value from it. That’s why I said I think the DDP did cost us more but I don’t regret it either.

 

[nat8199]

The YC snacks definitely had a markup (doesn’t everything at Disney?) but will still give us value. For example, the jerkey was almost $7 but would’ve still cost at least $5 at a normal grocery store.

I get what you all are saying... that I need to compare what I *would have* spent vs what I did spend. That’s hard though because the dessert I ordered, that I wouldn’t have otherwise ordered without the DDP, was still delicious. So I did receive value from it. That’s why I said I think the DDP did cost us more but I don’t regret it either.

Beef jerky as a snack credit is genius. Both DD and I love it, and that would make an excellent snack for the plane ride back. We are staying at YC, so I will definitely buy some!!

 

[rinnythepooh]

We did a split stay in January. 3 days and 3 days. We took DDP for first part of trip. Since you have till midnight of the day you check out to use the credits, we spread it out to 4 days. It worked really great. Although I dont recommend doing a split stay just for the dining plan, I do think that if you find yourself in a split stay vacation to consider the dining plan for the first portion of the trip.

 

[mamamelody2]

Thanks for taking the time to share your experience!

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

Thanks for the detail on the plan- we only did the DDP once back in 2014 and we know we didn't come out ahead. I will say not having to "pay" while in WDW is a convenience, just using the MB is so so easy. Nothing to think about other than how to eat to maximize your plan. But for us, we just don't eat enough to justify it and we ended up with 8 credits at the end we needed to use up so we bought all sorts of nonsense. We are that family that learned the hard way that we can only do one ADR meal per day max and we share meals. We eat plenty in between meals (but we usually bring in our own food). DH and I are too budget conscious to spend on the plan ever again but it took some trial and error to learn that. I tend to think very few people really come out ahead with the DDP.

 

[persimmondeb]

We came out ahead on our December trip, but we only had two days of dining plan to use up, and we're all actual adults (not Disney adults). And my DS could eat the world. We had originally intended to get the DxDP, but we didn't want to be tied to that many reservations or that much in tips. We did have some snack credits left on the last night (we had been saving them for Epcot and then got stuck on a ride and didn't have time to use them), which we spent on a Mickey Krispie I brought home for my sister and some chocolate covered fruit DS ate for breakfast the next morning. It's definitely possibly to break even or better, but it helps if you're big eaters.