Is the disney dining plan a good deal??

[kburford]

I'm going to disney world from 6/18-6/26 and have been researching disney dining v. pay on my own. It was insanely difficult to even find the prices for disney dining. but there was an example for a 6 day vacation so i kind of wen off that. I would do the dining option with 1 QS, 1 TS, & a snack each day. so i think that is around $45/day under disney dining?? and i figured if i paid myself it's be around $35-40/day. We are doing cinderella's royal table dinner which is like $43 on my own or 2 TS credits.

So skipping to the end, I came up with disney dining being $15 more.(that's a loose number since i couldn't actually find out how much the dining plan was...and ya, i could call disney-but i'd much rather ask the true disney fan/vacationer rather than deal with the phone! ) I don't really know much about it except what i've studies from their website. But why would I want to get the dining plan if there's really isn't much of a deal? (ya, if i pay myself i'm not including drink and dessert that disney dining gives...but my family doesn't usually get dessert). If you've used the dining plan, can you give me and tips & advice...am i completely missing something, was it worth it, etc??? that was a lot, and probably confusing but THANKS!

[yoyoflamingo]

I have never used the Dining Plan, because I usually feel it's too much food to be forced to eat with dessert and all.

However, I just wanted to mention that if this week is the week you're going, a lot of the table service restaurants might already have no reservations, so I'm not sure if that helps your decision, but just thought I would mention it.

[Thomas998]

It really depends on your situation as to whether its a good deal... you didn't mention who was going... In general it isn't a bad deal if it is only going to be adults, if kids are involved it becomes more of a problem and is less likely to be a good deal. Often kids don't want what is on the kid menu and an adult item split between two kids is often enough but isn't an option if both are on the kid plan.... not to mention there is something very wrong in paying the prices for kids either ala carte or through a dining plan if you are only getting mac and cheese or chicken nuggets (I know they need a mark up but come on, the prices they charge are unreal).

Also, when you say you are doing Cinderella's Royal Table, I hope you mean for lunch or dinner... if you are going for the breakfast it is grossly over rated and exceedingly over priced.... again I'm not sure if you are talking kids to see the princess or what, but there are other problems with this one if you have kids (they charge for a meal and photo for all kids in a party yet only give you one photo for free, if you want one for any other child in your party those are extra money, its a better deal if you have two kids to have mom and dad take each child by themselves in two parties of two). You can also get more Cinderella face time and better food for less money in the 1900 park faire character meal in the grand floridian, one which my daughter much prefer over the castle meal.

[Barbaraann]

The Disney Dining Plan costs, I believe $39.99 for adults, and $10.99 for children. I am really not familiar with the limited menu options for the children, or what the cut off age is for that.

I have done the Dining Plan once, and that is when the tip was included. I would say a person should tip the wait staff at least 18 to 20 percent of what the meal would cost if they were paying the normal prices and not using the plan.

My opinion is that Disney is trying to get as much of our money as they can before we even leave our homes, and set out on vacation.

The Dining Plan does have some positive points. Having a nice sit down meal on each day of your vacation is actually a nice thing. It lets you get out of the sun, and rest, and recharge for the rest of your day. Or if your daily table service meal is a breakfast, it gets your day off to a nice start. Of course, making reservations doesn't always go smoothly, and you have to decide 90 days ahead of time where you want to eat. You can do it closer to your arrival, of course, but you take the chance of not getting to eat where you want. The most money saved is the money saved for the table service meal. Some buffets are in the neighborhood of $30 per person. In restaurants where you order from a menu, you could spend a lot more than $40 per person, depending on what you order.

Counter Service restaurants are more plentiful, and if you were paying out of pocket, they probably average about $10, per person per meal.

So basically you need to decide how you want to eat on vacation. Do you like having as much paid for as you can before you leave home? Or perhaps you don't eat a lot, and only look for food when you are hungry?

I have done the plan, and not done the plan. My next vacation will be a spontaneous one, and I am busy checking out menus for all the great Counter Service places that I have yet to eat at. My past vacations have allowed me to eat at many of the Table Service, and/or Character Restaurants.

Have fun planning.

[mechurchlady]

Basically it is convenience and how you plan to dine in the parks. If you are planning on eating steak dinners and the better restaurants then you would save money. In the old days you could go to the hotels and get a whole box of donuts which meant one credit for 6 donuts for example. All the credits go on one family so that a family that shares meals can extend their credits a long way.

Look at the menus online and see what you will be eating and make a sample itinerary. Figure how much you will spend for them table service and snacks.

Convenience is another factor. You already have your meals paid for which some people love as it is one less thing to watch while in parks as to budgeting.

[kburford]

ah i haven't been on in a couple of days but thank you! but it's my family (my mom & dad, me(21) and my sister(16)). so no kids...but definitely kids at heart . and i found a website where they keep updating just about every menu at WDW down to the ice cream stands and i have looked at ALL of them haha. so i had made out lists of where i would want to go. and i figured the $10 counter service & $20-25 table service. there is no way my dad would spend up to $40 & we don't need that much food so $30 buffets are not very enticing. but most TS had $20/25 meals when i was researching. but we are splurging for the dinner at cinderella's bc my sister loves cinderella and we want to eat in the castle since we dont get to do that at disneyland! but i still haven't found a good enough reason to do it, so we will not be doing it.

thanks so much for your help & advice!! if you have any other wonderful tips for our trip that would be great...we haven't been to disney world for like 10 years! but we have premium APs so we do go to disneyland a lot and are familiar with disney.

OH YEAH...my sister loves getting mickey mouse pancakes at the river belle terrace at disneyland and i couldn't find any menus at disney world with mickey mouse pancakes..just waffles ..not that there seems to be very many breakfast choices anyways. but please let me know if there is somewhere that has mickey mouse pancakes. we are staying at port orleans riverside so i don't think we would go to some other resort just for the pancakes, but let me know!!

[mikelieman]

I think they switched over to the Mickey Mouse Mini Waffles. I suspect it takes less training to prepare than the pancakes.