Thought Process When Choosing Your Dining Plan?

Talby

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jul 16, 2016
My DD17 and DS13 children and I are eagerly anticipating our December Disney vacation! Like so many others, I'm knee deep in the planning process and loving (nearly) every minute of it. We had originally planned on the DDP, but I'm second-guessing that and thinking we should switch to the DxDP.

My questions: What was your thought process in deciding which dining plan to go with? What sorts of factors determined which plan you ultimately went with? Simply put, how did you decide? Has anyone done one version of the dining plan and wished they had done the other? I'm hoping that hearing about others' rationale will trigger something that resonates with me and I can stop vacillating. Thanks for any input!
 
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This is sort of a hot topic on the boards, you are going to get people who love it and people telling you you are crazy no matter what you do. I no longer do any of them because I'm just not a heavy eater and there are some days I prefer to just grab something light. The deluxe plan is a lot of food. I would say to run some numbers and think about your personal style of eating. Do you and family always eat 3 sit down full meals a day or do you tend to eat a light breakfast and maybe a sandwich for lunch then a sit down supper? Do you eat dessert every single time you eat a sit down meal? Do you snack between meals? Do you order an appetizer each when you go out to eat? All this should be taken in consideration. There is no right or wrong answer, it's just really up to your style of eating.
 
We went back and forth forever and landed on the deluxe. We started with free dining though so that is a part of the decision. We started by choosing places we had to go to. When we did that we saw that we would be paying oop for several meals. We cost compared the meals we would pay oop to the cost of upgrading to deluxe. It was still better to pay oop by $100 or so. But then I learned about other experiences like the CG brunch which opened up a whole new world of signature dining. So by upgrading we got everything we originally wanted, plus several signature dinners and of course the brunch for the difference of $100. And by upgrading we also got an appetizer at meals and another snack.
Yes it is a lot of food, and I am worried about spending so much time in ADRs, but it was cost effective for us. This is a special trip for me and my mom and we looked at it as a once in a lifetime holiday experience with all the shows and signature restaurants. Just beware, making all your ADRs when the schedule for wdw is not final yet is frustrating.
 
What are your must do restaurants? Do you already have your ADRs? Once that is in place, take a look at menus to see what everyone might order and do the math. Remember, you have all Disney adults. If you do DxDDP, that means x number of apps, x number of entrees, x number of desserts. That's a lot of food, but some people love it. Is this how you WANT to eat while on vacation?
 


This depends so much on what your priorities are for your vacation. We have been going to Disney every 12 to 18 months for the past 6 years. For us, dining is an important part of the overall experience, and many days we do not feel the need to spend more than about a half day at a park. We also like both signature dining and the dinner shows, so for us, the deluxe plan works. We realize that we will spend at least a few hours each day at meals.
 
I have a few reasons
1. I like to know my meals are paid for and I can order what I want.
2. We have a few ADRs that require 2 credits.
3. We had the DDP last time and loved it I am not much for some quick service so this time we went with the DxDDP.
But as some people will say run the numbers use the dining calculator that is what helped us to decide to get the deluxe plan.
 
I started by really thinking about where we wanted to eat and making a list of ADRs and QS places we wanted to try. Once I calculated that out we were only 1 TS credit over what we'd get on the DDP. It didn't make sense to upgrade for only one credit. So my reasons for sticking with the DDP

1. Don't need that many TS credits for where we want to eat
2. More time in the parks if we eat a QS location daily, plus we wanted to try out Columbia Harbor house, enjoy Flametree etc.
3. We don't normally eat 3 large meals a day. We eat one large meal, one medium meal and a smaller meal.
4. We can save money by eating breakfast in the room most of the days and use that money for other things we wanted to do like the Halloween Party
5. We are going during September, from what I hear it's really hot and people do tend to eat less if it's crazy hot out. Didn't want to waste money.
6. If we end up needing more food, we'll pay out of pocket for more snacks or an extra QS meal or whatever.
7. I ended up getting Free Dining and that sealed the deal. LOL

Good Luck deciding!
 


we were happy with the regular dining plan (1 QS 1 TS, 1 Snack) and we ended up with credits left over and got to bring home yummy disney snacks
 
This was my thought process:
1) Boy, character meals were the highlight of our trip in 2014 and kiddo wants to do more, I should look into the DDP
2) wow, with a 1:1 adult to kid ratio it is a great value
3) wow, my list of TS restaurants is quite long, let me narrow it down
4) figure out a schedule, put everything into a spreadsheet, crunch the numbers. see in fact it is a good deal
5) add a few more TS and special 2TS things because I want to do them so badly. Plan to pay OOP. Add OOP cost to DDP cost and come up with DxDDP cost
6) lightbulb! I don't care much for QS (they are very very very hard as the single mom of a kid on the spectrum who already has a hard time with lines and ADHD to stand still while bored and then have to balance trays, watch kid, find table - this process can take as long as a TS can sometimes. Let's switch to DxDDP
7) still have to cross a few things I'd like to do off of my list of dining but it is a lot closer to ideal for me replacing QS with TS

I didn't pay for it until I had my ADRs and once I did I paid. We are doing 2TS a day, most of the time a character breakfast and an earlyish dinner (many 2TS like CP package or signatures). A couple of days a very early (11ish) lunch. because it is such a good value for the kid, even valuing snacks at $4 a piece on average I'm paying $578 for about $850 worth of food so that's a decent savings for me. we are doing lots of buffet/aycte meals (mostly breakfast but a couple of dinners) - at least once a day - so that helps with the "have to order an appetizer" thing at many meals. Also the value of a TS credit on DxDDP is a bit lower than on regular DDP so it is easier to break even with things like breakfasts. Overall it fit how I wanted my trip to be.
 
@ALL I'm appreciating the input tremendously! Definitely not a one-size-fits all sort of thing, is it?! :)

@Lisa F Would you be up for sharing your specific plans? It's obvious how well thought out your decision was and I'd love to see what you and your son are doing (I do know a bit from other threads!). If not, that's totally okay. No pressure, and I value your input regardless. It appears the kid:adult ratio significantly adds to the value of the Deluxe.
 
@ALL I'm appreciating the input tremendously! Definitely not a one-size-fits all sort of thing, is it?! :)

@Lisa F Would you be up for sharing your specific plans? It's obvious how well thought out your decision was and I'd love to see what you and your son are doing (I do know a bit from other threads!). If not, that's totally okay. No pressure, and I value your input regardless. It appears the kid:adult ratio significantly adds to the value of the Deluxe.
it's a great deal for kids especially at character meals which are nearly the cost of the regular DDP just for the one meal. I will share them later, I don't have time right now - if you feel like it and want to read back in the first week of december thread I've already shared there - once just dining then once dining + FP+ plans. I think you can probably search somehow too. I will post it again later if you can't find it because it helps me think about it and fine tune it a bit as I'm doing that :)
 
it's a great deal for kids especially at character meals which are nearly the cost of the regular DDP just for the one meal. I will share them later, I don't have time right now - if you feel like it and want to read back in the first week of december thread I've already shared there - once just dining then once dining + FP+ plans. I think you can probably search somehow too. I will post it again later if you can't find it because it helps me think about it and fine tune it a bit as I'm doing that :)

Haha--"fine tune a bit". I'm laughing because I feel like the queen of "fine tuning"! lol But I do know what you mean about it being helpful.

More than happy to take a peek in that December thread. I adore reading everyone's plans and I haven't been able to read the entirety of that thread anyway. I know there are all sorts of fabulous plans in there. Will let you know if I don't find it! :thanks:
 
But your kids are not Disney kids. Your kids will be adults on any DDP, and will have to pay the adult price.

Yes, I did realize that. :) I just didn't realize until @Lisa F mentioned it just HOW big of a difference that adult to child ratio makes. Definitely something to factor into the decision making process for sure--thank you! :)
 
Yes, I did realize that. :) I just didn't realize until @Lisa F mentioned it just HOW big of a difference that adult to child ratio makes. Definitely something to factor into the decision making process for sure--thank you! :)
it's not a huge difference if you are not going to character meals. Kid meals are cheap at disney both at TS and QS, except for character meals. On the regular DDP it can be a huge savings too if you use the kid QS meals as adult meals and go to a lot of character meals for your TS.

I am not advocating eating a certain way to use the plan but in this case, the plan works for me for what I wanted to do but might not have indulged in without the good deal of the plan giving me a nudge. I have a spreadsheet. I wonder how it would look if I took out all of the kid costs and just ran it on myself. I suspect less savings even proportionally. If it's not a savings, you can still keep your plans - just pay OOP and that gives you more flexibility at the non aycte restaurants!
 
I agree with the character meal thing. For me, it's me, DH and DS2 (free) so I'm paying for 2 adults. We are doing a split stay 3 nights at AKL and 6 nights at CR.

Since we are doing a lot of character meals, I priced out how much would I be paying for OOP as those are set prices. (I used the sticky on buffet prices) Then, I added any TS i wanted to do and figured how much we would be spending for it if we ordered what we wanted. I initially had 3 nights on DxDP and now I ended up going with 6 nights on DxDP instead of 3 nights. I calculated a savings of around 100-150, which is not much but it is still a savings. I just added the dining plan on the 2nd part of my stay recently. If you have your ADRs already and are pretty set on those ADRs, I would add it up on a spreadsheet and make note of things you and your party would most likely order.

Another thing I would consider is the time. I know it normally does not take much time to eat but there's travel time as well. I would look at what touring style you would do and how dining would fit in. (I did it the other way around and am rethinking some choices because of this). :)
 
We do the DDP.

For us, the Deluxe plan would be too much time out of the parks, in a restaurant.

We really love that one meal a day-- it gives us time to just BE as a family.

But the Deluxe would be wasted on us.
 
So I ran some numbers. Here's what I entered into the Disney Dining Calculator.

12/2: Coral Reef Dinner (not sure if we would have 2 meals on arrival day yet)

12/3: Kona Cafe, Pecos Bills, BOG

12/4: Boma Breakfast, Flame Tree, Average QS Dinner

12/5: Average QS Breakfast, Earl of Sandwich, CRT

12/6: The Wave, T-REX, Boathouse

12/7: Cape May, F! Hollwood &Vine Package (lunch), Average QS dinner

12/8: Average QS Breakfast, San Angel Inn, Teppan Edo

12/9: No Restaurant (African Trek 8a.m and meal is provided), Tusker House, Yak and Yeti

12/10: Crystal Palace, Average QS Lunch, Spirit of Aloha Level 1

12/11: Average QS breakfast

Any guesses on how much for 3 adults? Scroll down to see :)








********************************
NO PLAN: 2731.12

DDP: 2801.64 PLUS 979.46 OOP

DxDP: 3392.77
*********************************
*I did add 2 desserts per table per meal (can't imagine we'll all have dessert at 2 meals every day, but wanted to kind of look at it from a DxDP point of view)
*Didn't include any appetizers because realistically I do not think we would eat them with this amount of food.
*I did include 1 snack per person per day because...well, because! lol
*I also added 3 refillable mugs
*All numbers above include tax and tip

I'm not sure we would eat this much every single day, but I wanted to see what 3 meals per day looked like to err on the high side of things for budget purposes. Pretty sure there will be several days where it would be 1QS, 1TS and snacks, but other days that are 2TS and 1QS or just snacks. We're an in-between-plans kind of family!
Looks like it makes the most sense for us to pay OOP for this particular trip. I really wanted a plan to work because I love the thought of just having our magic bands scanned. I will probably still pre-pay by putting it all on some sort of pre-paid card. I want it all paid for before we travel. Thanks so much to everyone for helping me think this through. Everyone is always so wonderfully helpful! :flower1:
 
We are a DxDP family...we enjoy the rest time away from the parks in restaurants, and my kids would mutiny if they didn't get three full meals a day. I think I will have a fairly significant savings at the end of my upcoming 10-day trip...I plan to save all receipts and do a comparison as part of my trip report!
 
I think that is one of the best pros to the DxDP--having that rest/break time. Your trip is right around the corner--Yay! Hope it's fabulous! :)
 

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