News on the Disney Dining Plan front! Disney has increased the cost of the Quick Service, Standard, and Deluxe Disney Dining Plans for all rack rate bookings made on or after June 17, 2013.
I’ve called Disney reservations about four times trying to get exact costs, but I keep getting different answers. The only consistent info is that, yes, the prices are higher than they were earlier this year. So please note that your mileage may vary within a few cents of the pricing listed below.
We’ve also heard that Disney may do away with seasonal pricing, but all of the reservations agents I spoke to still quoted me seasonal prices (i.e. the plans will cost more during busier times at the parks).
Disney Dining Plan Prices
Here’s what you can expect for Dining Plan costs going forward. Remember that seasonal pricing may vary by a dollar or two.
Quick-Service Dining Plan
$39.64 per night ages 10 and up (no seasonal pricing)
$15.75 per night age 3 to 9 (no seasonal pricing)
(Increase from earlier 2013 pricing of $37.58 and $14.32)
Standard Dining Plan
$58.66 per night ages 10 and up (may be a dollar or so lower depending on season)
$18.88-$20 per night age 3 to 9 (depending on season)
(Increase from earlier 2013 pricing of $51.54 and $15.02 during standard seasons and $56.94 and $18.16 in peak seasons)
Deluxe Dining Plan
$102.94-$104 per night ages 10 and up (depending on season)
$28-$29.51 per night ages 3 to 9 (depending on season)
(Increase from earlier 2013 pricing of $99.97 and $26.84 during standard seasons and $102.27 and $28.91 in peak seasons)
How Much is Too Much for the Disney Dining Plan?
Other Disney World Vacation Package Updates
Along with recent Disney World ticket pricing increases, the 2013 Walt Disney Travel Company Vacation packages have been revised.
Magic Your Way Plus Quick Service Dining, Magic Your Way Plus Dining, and Magic Your Way Plus Deluxe Dining packages also saw price increases. Note that new bookings for 2013 promotional and discount offers, Magic Your Way Premium, and Magic Your Way Platinum packages will not be affected by the above changes. To see other updates to the 2013 Disney Dining Plan, click here.
For more information on Disney Dining plans, visit our Disney Dining Plan reference page!
Wondering whether the Disney Dining Plan is right for your family? Read an entire chapter about crunching the numbers and deciding whether or not to get the Disney Dining plan in our DFB Guide to Walt Disney World Dining e-Book — a 400-page guide to dining in Disney World that will help you save money and have your best Disney vacation ever! Use code Dad2013 today to get a $4 discount!
Do you get the Disney Dining Plan in Disney World? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
We’d like to thank Small World Vacations for the heads up!
Our handy (and portable!) ebook guides make sure you get the best deals and can plan a vacation of a lifetime.
Forty dollars for QS? Forget about it! We have enjoyed using it–and have gotten it free, saving about $300 each trip even with the non-discounted value room. But no way would I pay that much if I’m not getting it for “free,” especially since they took away the second snack. Back to buying the refillable mug and paying OOP. For $120/day for my family of three adults, I can save more by not using the dining plan, since excluding the mugs, we pay about $90/day for all food when we’re OOP.
unless all the restaurants are planning large price increases the dining plan is not worth it… unless part of the “free dining” promo…
AJ,
I am not surprised by this post. I am not going to WDW till next year and I am already budgeting for an increase. And by May 2014 it will increase yet again. I was going to use the Deluxe pland but now?
I am getting the ebook from DFB to see if I can save any OOP.
Thanks AJ
Sandra — I agree that the free dining plan is the best bet for real savings, even with non discounted rooms. Thanks for sharing the breakdown of how your family decides what to pay. It’s helpful for other readers to see!
Canadians — I probably wouldn’t put it past the restaurants to do price increases! That said, the plan keeps getting less and less viable with every price increase…
Wild Wes Willie — I’m hoping they don’t up the prices again for 2014, but you just never know. I wasn’t expecting a mid-year price increase here, but maybe that will be the norm from now on. Thanks for your support of Disney Food Blog.
totally rip off now, unless you do Character dining every single day. It used to be half the cost, included appetizer AND tip, now it costs more than tickets and boarding!!!!!
Thankfully there are now tons of great restaurants minutes from our DVC resorts (including the new Bonefish beside Animal Kingdom)
The Dining Plan used to be a deal back in 2006 – tax and tips were included. Granted, it was far too much food with the appetizer AND the dessert! We have not purchased the dining plan since then, and likely will not.
AJ,
Does the prices you have listed above include tax? So is the standard dining plan for 10+ $58.66 or $58.66+6.5%?
Thanks!
If I go again and get free dining that would be fine (I’d only get the QS as I’d be at AoA or Pop), otherwise I’ll pay out of pocket because I just don’t eat that much food. I’ve had the DDP 3 Xs and the DDP is def too much for me (and you have to worry about the time with your ADRs). I’d rather eat light and treat myself to one or two nice TS meals during the week.
I would love for someone to show me an example of how they get value from these dining plans. Every time I do the math I come up with these plans breaking even or if you really push it, coming out a couple dollars ahead for the day. I just can’t find examples of where they really save you money. You’d have to find the most expensive meals and order dessert and a drink with every one just to break even.
Not counting the free dining plans, does anyone here actually find value in the plans?
Going to WDW the week of Thanksgiving this year and have the DDP. Just went through the menus where we have reservations (which includes 4 buffets) and the QS restaurants where we’re likely to eat. Figured about $4 per snack. Added up what I will probably order and figure I will save about $40 (which includes the refillable mug) vs. paying for same food & drinks out of pocket. Not as good a deal as I would have thought. I guess with a family of 4 it’s not so bad.
Agent R — No tax is added onto the prices listed based on our research. 🙂
It’s a shame the prices are going up, not alot of people can afford the prices now, let alone all the increases including the tickets themselves. We have been extremely lucky the last 3 times we have gone happily qualified for the ‘free-dining”. I don’t think we could or would ever pay for these plans. You would definitely save so much money paying OOP. Love my Disney, it’s just not loving me back. :((
I shouldn’t be surprised except it was already difficult to get any value out of at least the Quick service plan. With the higher prices on both the multi day tickets at Disneyland and for just everything else at WDW I actually am feeling a bit anti now whereas before it was more of a ‘here take My money just give me my food/stuff/experience’.
Jeff,
From what I read – the people who pay for the dining plan (they’re not going during free dining) do it to have their meals prepaid. I believe it’s the “I won’t have the money to pay off the credit card when I get home, if I don’t prepay it” syndrome. I’m not saying they’re wrong – just that it isn’t saving them money, they’re just spending it before they go.
I think that paying as you go would be cheaper, just because you don’t have to have that dessert if you don’t want it or figure out what snacks you’re taking home because you didn’t use all your snack credits during the trip.
For us, we budget for everything – airfare, car, hotel, souveniers, food, tours, etc., ahead of the trip. We have the entire budget planned out, and pay for what we know ahead of time. Airfare, hotel, tours, etc. (So we’re doing the same thing as those buying the plan, but it’s our money until it’s spent.)
Then my husband & I each take a money clip & one has the souvenir money & one has the food budget. If we know we’re eating a few expensive places, then we just leave the money for those restaurants at home (along with the car rental money) & charge the meal. We get our points for using the credit card & once we’re home, just transfer the money onto the credit card. Sometimes we don’t even wait for the bill to come in – just do a phone payment directly from the bank account & whoopee…it’s paid for.
I would never want to buy the dining plan as we just don’t eat that much food & why fly the snacks home with us.
Forgot to add….don’t forget to check out Tables in Wonderland, when costing out meals. 20% discount on food including alcohol & can be used at most counter service resterants at the resorts.
Break even point would be depending on length of trip, but it’s good for an entire year, so if you are going more then once – it’s a really good deal.
I feel unless we are not going to give any more money to Disney, complaining will not solve anything. Disney increased the price of DDP as they do with park tickets b/c the market will bare it. It may cost more to eat, but my family will pay price increases b/c we live Disney. I do believe however that each increase is pricing guests out of Disney. Until Disney starts to feel that hit, the increase will continue. I’m just not sure at what point it may price my family out…
This does not apply for DVC members, called this morning and prices will remain the same as they were prior to June 17. However prices will go up on Jan 1 (as one would expect).
Janet – Thanks for that explanation. If people are buying the dining plan as a way to prepay for their meals then it makes sense. As mentioned by many of us, you still need to take advantage of every item available in the plan in order to not take a loss, but if folks are doing that then I’m glad it’s working for them.
I also prefer to use my credit card which gives me 2% cash back. I always eat more than enough food to probably have two dining plans for myself each day, but my problem is that I don’t order drinks during meals (other than water) and also would never have a need for the refillable mug. Because of that, I could never come out ahead with the dining plan, it would always cost me more. During my food crawl in April I had budgeted $200 a day for food between my wife and I. I had everything planned out on a spreadsheet and no matter how I reorganized things, I could never get any day’s total food prices to go higher than I would have paid for the dining plan. It just doesn’t work for me with the lack of drinks.
Next year I’m getting an annual pass, so that’ll help with food discounts.
We visit the world several times a year year and have for many years. Prices have gone up significantly since we began going in 1998. We have purchased the dining plan most of those trips because it was a value for us. Beginning this year that is no longer the case. Instead as passholders we purchased Tables in Wonderland for $75. You save 20% at most sit down restaurants and the counter service places at AK. It includes the purchase of alcohol. We ate at the same places we did with the dining plan but ended up saving an additional $150 above the cost of the TIW card. Since the card in good for a year we will save even more on future trips this year. Annual passes are the way to go if you plan on going more than 10 days in a 365 day period plus you can save on room rates and other things as well!
I ran my own analysis and like the posts above you either break even or save a dollar or two but then you have to stick religiously to the plan. If you can get Tables in Wonderland it is the best deal – saves money, eat what you want, and booze is included in discount at sit downs.
We go in January and there is usually a deal. But what I enjoy about the plan is not looking at prices when I’m ordering. We would never eat in all the restaurants we get to enjoy if we were putting down cash.
I always feel the plan is worth it if the wdw food is a major part of why you are visiting. And for us it is!
Will the price increase affect when buying through DVC, or just rack rates as listed above?
I could never make the dining plan work for us as we love appetizers and wine and never order dessert. I think there should be more flexibility eg. You could choose appetizer or dessert. We also like to eat off property a few times during our stay. This trip we have free Quick Service dining. This is great as the quick meals, snacks and beverages add up to a lot during a longer stay. We are happy to pay OOP for the table service and alcoholic beverages.
Does anybody know what the CM discount will be? Or what it’s been in the past? I had a CM book my room, so I’m hoping we can also get a discounted dining package. Thanks.
Just got back on Saturday from an 8 day trip. This was the first time in 6 trips that we used the Dining Plan. I wanted to see if it actually saves any money. We found it was too much food, my kids started asking at the end if they had to get desert. Even eating at 2 signature resturants we did not save much money. With tip coming OOP we probably actually paid more for the plan and tips then if we had just gone OOP. i know we would not have had desert with ever meal. next trip will be OOP.
We did the DDP last month and actually came out $175 ahead. ONLY because I planned for the more expensive lunches and dinners. We ate QS at Wolfgang Puck twice and Pepper Market once. We ate sit down meals at Sci-Fi (total bill $147) and everyone ordered the steak (it was very good). We ate at Tutto Italia (total bill $161) and everyone ordered at least a $28-$30 meal, desserts were $10-12 each! We also ate one character at Tusker House (total bill $103). My family eats a lot, I do not. It was way too much food for me. We did come out way ahead, but only because we USED the plan. With the increase I would never do it again. We are DVC and AP members, so free dining doesn’t work for us. We will pay OOP from now on.
We are avid Disney visitors (two or three times a year). They are totally outpricing themselves!!! Tickets have gone up, souvenires have gone up and now dining is going up!! I don’t like to say this but, maybe we need to find somewhere else to vacation. The economy is so bad you would think that Disney, of all places, would want to make it much more affordable to visit. I don’t know how families with 3 or 4 children will be able to afford to go there.
Disney, if you’re listening, please get a grip—- you are pricing yourselves out of business!!
My family and I have been using the DDP for many years now. Back when we first used it, we kept track of the OOP cost vs what we paid for the dining plan and have definitely come out ahead. It has been a few years since we have kept track and I will definitely be doing so this upcoming October when we go again. It will be interesting to see how it has changed through the years. I do have to say though that when I do visit and stay off property (my daughter’s marching band performs there every year) I miss the connivence of having my meals prepaid for, being able to eat at higher end restaurants and watching what my OOP cost is. I like the idea of having my meals already paid for so that is one less thing that i have to worry about and that I can pretty much choose whatever I want off the menu. WE also make sure that we take advantage of the higher cost 1TS restaurants so that we get the bang for our buck. I think if you plan it out very well it can work for you.
Was thinking of adding QS to my Aug visit but did the math! Would cost around $16 per meal! I factored in the mug and snacks to come up with this figure. I do not spend that much on a meal! Won’t be adding QS!!
Using the vacation planner – a rough breakdown of Meal Plan vs No Meal Plan was $980 difference on the total vacation price, or $160 a night for my family of 4 (kids adged 7 and 12). I am pretty certain that we could easily feed ourselves 1 TS and 1 CS meal a day and be way under that daily cost. I am sad to see the ‘deals’ at Disney fall by the wayside over the years, but this one really stings!
Jeff —
For us we’ve come out ahead on the Deluxe Dining Plan every trip. My husband loves to eat (and has a big appetite at that). For us, Disney is a trip where we can order whatever we want without looking at the price tag attached. We also enjoy the meals and the time together, planning out where we’re heading next. Keeping in mind that we are currently childless (hopefully for not much longer) and have the time and patience to enjoy Disney this way.
We usually stay anywhere from 8-10 days. We typically eat 2 sit-down meals each day, sometimes 3 (always Lunch and Dinner, sometimes breakfast). We make up for the extra meals by doing some 2 TS credit meals (typically Hoop Dee Doo and CRT).
As for the amount of food – if we were to order food here at home, the entree would come with a salad or soup, but no dessert. At Disney, we don’t get a soup or salad with our entree, that’s usually our “appetizer”. So in essence, all we’re adding is the dessert. My husband always drinks soda (Coke Zero for the win for him!), and I have always drank it as well. I have gone to a mostly water existence in terms of liquids, but still indulge in soda occasionally, and would while we were at Disney.
As for snacks – we use them at the Food and Wine festival – something we wouldn’t get to enjoy quite as much if we didn’t have extra snacks. We also use them to bring stuff back home (Mickey Mouse Rice Krispie Treats) to family and friends who enjoy them as well and don’t get to go with us to Disney.
All in all, the first trip we took, I’m going to estimate that we probably saved around $300-$400 with the dining plan, maybe more. The next two were probably a little less, but still in the $100-$300 range.
For some families it makes sense – for others it doesn’t. For us – it works. We get to enjoy the experiences we love, only having to be concerned about tips at the time of our trip (which I allocate beforehand – but that’s another post all in itself), it’s prepaid, and we don’t worry about the cost of our entrees.
The dining plan isn’t for everyone – but it is for us 🙂
Melissa W: Thank you for such an informative reply. I promise I’m not trying to say you’re wrong, or that it’s not possible to get value out of the dining plan. In fact, I really DO want to somehow make it work for me, I just can’t seem to get there on paper. According to this site, the current pricing for the Deluxe Dining Plan (my preferred plan because of how much I eat) is $102.94 – $104.00 depending on the season. Let’s call it $102 to make the math easier. That means I have to spend an average of $34 per meal, including 2 snacks throughout the day. Again, I don’t drink anything but water, so the mug has no value to me.
I’m curious to find out how you are able to find 7 days of dining that can offer this $102 per day value. I’m not about to ask you to do a bunch of research online to help me calculate all this, but if you’re so inclined to at least offer the places to eat, I’ll look up the meals and prices myself. I’ll then post the info here and we can discuss options. If it’s too much trouble, then please don’t go out of your way. I thought it might be interesting for us to go through this day by day and show myself, and others here how it can work to our advantage by getting the most value out of these plans. I actually enjoy math problems, especially when they help me save money, so I’m asking this of you as a fun task. Maybe we can gather some info to help us all plan our trips to really take advantage of these plans, and keep our wallets fuller.
Either way, thanks again for sharing your experience and informing me that these plans can work for some of you.
I just made a reservation for January 2014 (definitely non-peak) and they’re charging me $65 for the kids (9 and under) deluxe dining plan. That’s a double price increase from all the 2013 numbers I’ve seen. The guest services folks can only quote the total cost and divide it by day, they really seem lost at providing hard facts and figures on pricing. I thought I was getting a deal with a special offer for “adults eat at kids prices” but the kids prices of $65 a day is really high.
I don’t have to go do research because I’ve done most of it already – more than once. 🙂
I can break it down day by day if you want or I can just do one good example…It’s up to you. I’ll start with just a couple of examples.
Let’s start with Garden Grill for dinner. This is family style and includes a drink for $34.99/person + tax. So let’s say it’s $37 with tax for a nice round number.
Let’s use Rose and Crown Dining Room as the example here. For lunch my husband would typically order the Sea Scallops at $10.99 (taking the place of a salad or soup that he would normally receive with his entree here at home had we went out to lunch). His entree would be the Cottage Pie at $16.99. His Coke Zero would be $2.99. He loves Cheesecake for dessert and that would be $5.99. Again, we’re only adding the dessert because we would’ve ordered everything else here at home, and the prices would have been less, but then again, we’re at Disney where everything is priced higher than at home (and we expect that). So his total for Rose and Crown would be $36.96 + tax. Let’s round that off to $39.
My meal at Rose and Crown would have been Mary and the Lads (Shrimp Cocktail) for $9.99 as my starter/appetizer/salad/soup. My entree would have been Fish and Chips at $17.99. My Coke would have been $2.99. My Queens Cake would have been $6.49. My total at Rose and Crown would have been $37.46 + tax. Let’s round that to $40.
For breakfast, we typically do character meals, so lets use Chef Mickey’s. Chef Mickey’s is $30.99/person + tax. Let’s round that off to $33/person
So calculating based on the days we do breakfast on average, $109 without having any snacks or anything else.
Many of our snacks are used to bring items home for our family. My mom LOVES the Mickey Rice Krispie Treats. My dad LOVES the tie-dye cheesecake from POP. I LOVE to bring home Zebra Domes from AKL for myself and my friends at work. We also use them for Food and Wine options during F&W Festival (which is typically when we travel).
The days we don’t eat breakfast, we typically do two table service meals, like CRT or Hoop Dee Doo. We are hoping to try a couple of new Signature locations this next trip.
If you want to do the math using other restaurants – we enjoy going to ‘Ohana for both breakfast and dinner. Teppan Edo and Nine Dragons are musts for us as well. Boma Dinner buffet and 1900 Park Fare Breakfast are also musts. 50s Prime Time and Planet Hollywood are a couple of favorites as well. We typically choose to do Crystal Palace for breakfast or lunch. I know there are more, but those are just some examples. I pulled up my spreadsheet to see where we went last trip – then remembered that the spreadsheet was wrong before I left home! I had made reservation changes up until the morning we left. We’ve got new places in mind to try this next trip down – hopefully this fall being DVC members.
As for the refillable mug – my husband has been known to refill his mug several times a day. Previously we’ve been able to refill at resorts other than our own – and while I know that has changed or will be changing, it worked in our favor. He fills it up in the morning on our way to the bus stop. Once we get where we are going for breakfast, if it’s another resort, he’ll fill it up there. After that, we’re typically in the park for the day, but come back mid-afternoon – and we stop and he fills it up. We head back to the room, rest/freshen up, and then get ready to go back out, and he’s filling it up again before heading out. When we get back to the resort for the evening, he will fill at least one more time, if not twice before bedtime. I know, he drinks a TON of soda (probably too much – but at least it’s Coke Zero). I don’t drink nearly as much, especially being on water for the most part now, but as I said, while at Disney, I do indulge in what I eat and drink – mainly because I walk it off before the day is out. We also love the mugs as souvenirs. We don’t buy many things while we’re at Disney – mainly pins (we’re big pin traders) and vinylmations (we just got into trading these!). We will buy a few things to bring home to family and friends, but for the most part our mugs are our souvenirs.
I honestly took at good long look at the TiW option that will be available to use as DVC/Annual Passholders – and while it’s enticing, I just don’t think it’s worth it for us. I think the Deluxe Dining Plan is where it’s at for us – at least for the moment. That could change in the future, if eating habits change and/or we add children to the mix. We’ve traveled with friends who have kids – and you don’t have the flexibility we have to sit down and enjoy meals with little ones wanting to go play (and who can blame them? I want to go play too – just on my own time frame!).
Hopefully this gives you some insight as to how we travel and how we “do” Disney and how we use the Deluxe Dining Plan on our trips.
Let me know if you have more questions!
Wow Melissa, you are amazing! Thank you for such a long, detailed response. You certainly showed me how the dining plan can work for some people. As I said in my last post, I only drink water, so drink prices don’t apply to me. Even removing the one drink you said you would order at $3, you still beat the low end pricing of the dining plan by about $4. Plus, according to a few prices I looked up to verify, you were using the very low end numbers for your meal price calculations, giving you even more of an advantage and making you come out even better. So yes, you have shown me that it is very possible to come out ahead with the plan.
My ONLY issue after your fantastic report is that your numbers are based on a lot of higher priced meals. The first example where you priced everything out included two buffets (all you can eat), including breakfast. For me, and again, this is personal to me so it doesn’t make you any less right, if I do a pricier breakfast buffet and can eat all I want, I might fill up enough to be able to skip lunch. I would enjoy my two snacks to hold me over until dinner. There are so many “normal” breakfast options where most people could eat for about $15 or less, even myself, being the big eater I am, would probably only do the pricier breakfasts for a day or two during my week long stay.
As I type this, I’m looking through some of what I considered the cheaper options, like 50’s Prime Time Cafe, and I can see it’s easy to spend your $31 minimum to meet the dining plan prices (($102-$10 for two snacks)/3 meals per day). I realize dinner is very easy to hit $31 with your eyes closed, but lunch and especially breakfast can be difficult unless you’re really making an effort to hit the pricier restaurants that many folks probably consider a little more of a rarity. One example would be my Kouzzina breakfast on my last trip. My wife and I spent $47 combined for breakfast (including tip), and I ordered two breakfasts just for myself (http://www.pbase.com/jeffklee13/disney043013). The next day we went to Kona Cafe and together spent $33 including tip. Granted I ate a little light that morning since I was planning for a lot of food throughout the day, but we were still only half way to the dining plan numbers, and that’s WITH tip.
In the end I guess what I’m saying is that for you personally (and probably many others), you have proven that it’s not only possible, but can even be easy to hit the required pricing to come out ahead. For myself (and also probably many others), for the AVERAGE meal I’m probably not hitting $31, especially not for breakfast unless I’m hitting a buffet. In fact, if you could help me out here, can you show me an example of a non-buffet breakfast where you can spend more than $31 for your meal? I understand you don’t HAVE to hit that average dollar amount, but every dollar you’re short means it has to be averaged into lunch and dinner, and now you’re pressed to find pricier meals for those.
I said in a post above that on my last 4 day trip to Disney I averaged $200 a day in food for my wife and I ($100 per person). Price-wise I know it’s REAL easy to spend that much a day in food. Where my issue comes is, that money came from multiple meals/snacks throughout the day and as much as I tried to rearrange meals, I could never make it work with the dining plan. I would have no problem spending $150 or more a day on food for just myself, but I WOULD have trouble doing that with just three meals and two snacks, and that ultimately is where my biggest hardship comes from.
It sounds like you tend to aim for the pricier restaurants during your Disney trips, is that accurate? No judgement by the way, it’s a vacation and you’re supposed to spend more than you do at home, it’s the law. If I’m wrong and you also visit the average or cheaper places, can you still make it work with the dining plan? I find breakfast, and sometimes lunch the real killers with trying to spend enough to make it worth it.
I think you can save money on the Dining Plan if you do head over to the higher end restaurants and the pricier meals there. That was the beauty of it for my family of 6 last time we went there. We ate places we never would have eaten at if we had paid out of pocket and ordered meals we never would have ordered. I always say no to dessert for the kids because of price considerations. It was great to say yes to them everynight! And to not have to take the money out and see another couple of hundred dollars handed out every night was also nice. All in all, the Disney Dining Plan w/ one table service saved our family about $100 in cash but the pleasure in using it was not something I could put a monetary price on.
Just got back from Disney, for my family of 4 with 2 kids under 10, we were averaging around $45 per meal and around $12 for the snack, comes to around $102/day. I’m not sure what we paid for it, but the express plan above comes out to $110.78 for my family. One more way for the mouse to screw you unless you get a discount.
We just got back and did not take advantage of the dining plan. When I calculated what the QS costs would have been for our famy of 8 I was really glad we hadn’t done it. We spent $1,040 for a week and based on the prices above would have spent roughly$1,900 on a QS plan. The biggest reason not to use a plan is that all but 2 of our kids would be charged adult prices. When you aren’t on a plan no one cares if even the adults get kids meals which are by far cheaper and were plenty of food for all my kids plus me. Yes I only ate kids meals and felt that was enough food plus snacks daily. Kids meals were often healthier since I felt like many of the adult meals were just loaded with super high fat foods with barely any fruit or veggies. I had packed chocolate and granola bars which lasted us a few days and saved on snacks but I think we saved a lot by not using a dining plan
Hi everyone
We enjoyed our Disney experience so much in
2013 staying at P.O. Riverside with complimentary Quick Dining Plan that we rebooked almost immediately on return. As a family of 5 it was excellent value, as most of our meals were included at loads of locations.
Just viewed the 2014 Q.D.P. list of restaurants and what a disappointment!
Most of the Down Town restaurants have disappeared for Q.D.P. and the rest of the restaurants seem greatly reduced.
so after reading all of this i did some homework..we are two families 3 adults and 5 kids if you count the 2 year old..so i thought for lunch at the parks with a drink it would be 15 x 6 because the 4 smallest kids can split a meal and dinner is at least 20 x 6 a day so that comes out to 840 bucks not including snacks ! so buying the meal plan would be an extra 393.00 bucks..is that worth it..mind you thats the 1 sit down and i quick serve and 1 snack plus mugs for 7 people! idk what to do…was thinking about doing one room with the meal plan and one room without the meal plan? any ideas?
We are going to disney over Easter break this year. I got a quote for the dining plan and I priced out what we will spend on the restaurants we have booked and the qs that we will use. My numbers pretty came out as a wash and we have 13 qs left from my quote. So for us it is worth it. Not so much for saving money but for the convenience of having it.
This info is quite interesting. I’ve always wondered about the meal plan from a value point of view. We usually eat outside the park. We will carry in a Publix sub For lunch, some snacks and will get a ice cream inside. Dinner will almost always be outside the park as the offerings are various and of quality. I’m not one to go to WDW for a gastronomical experience… And from what I see an overpriced one. Quick service pizza, or hockey puck burgers in Magic Kingdom aren’t for me at any price.