NEW! 2018 WDW Dining Plan

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  • June 20, 2017 at 9:06 am #34098

    Chelle
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    I often get asked questions about the value of the dining plan. Honestly, it depends on your family and where you eat. It could be a great value if you choose to eat at the right places! This year, they’ve introduced alcohol beverages as part of your meal! Of course, this comes with a price increase.

    In 2017, the standard dining plan was about $67 for adults and $24 for children. (Quick Service from $47 / $20 to $53 / $22 and Deluxe from $104 / $38 to $117 / $40) These prices have increased about 12% to $76 and $26. The only difference is now you can have a specialty beverage with your meal. You can read more about 2018 packages and dining here:

    2018 Walt Disney World® Resort Vacation Packages Now Available

    So, what are YOUR thought on the dining plan. Yay or Nay? :smirk:

    June 20, 2017 at 9:16 am #34103

    piglet54
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    We have only purchased the Deluxe plan because we like to have appetizers and they aren’t included in the basic plan. We liked it when we used it and we saved money. We have Tables in Wonderland (discount on alcohol) and also now many restaurants and quick-service places give us a 20% discount for being Annual Passholders. We are doing a “room-only” reservation at POR in August and did not elect to add the dining plan this time when staying on property. Not sure that we would do it again, now that we aren’t eating desserts and bread…. :'(

    June 20, 2017 at 9:35 am #34109

    Chelle
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    piglet54 wrote:

    We have only purchased the Deluxe plan because we like to have appetizers and they aren’t included in the basic plan. We liked it when we used it and we saved money. We have Tables in Wonderland (discount on alcohol) and also now many restaurants and quick-service places give us a 20% discount for being Annual Passholders. We are doing a “room-only” reservation at POR in August and did not elect to add the dining plan this time when staying on property. Not sure that we would do it again, now that we aren’t eating desserts and bread…. :'(

    We are AP holders as well and we have been TIW holders as well. We found that with these memberships, 99% of the time it was a better deal than the dining plan.

    June 20, 2017 at 9:51 am #34114

    RocketEAR99
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    Nay. More food than we need for the price tag. That’s been the case for some time now. We’re AP Holders, DVC Members, and when it suits our plans, TiW members, so we just order what we want and nothing more and ultimately spend far less than we ever would on a Dining Plan.

    EDIT: And it’s nice to be able to order food more freely, not feeling obligated to get a soda or a dessert, but being able to get a specialty drink or an appetizer and still getting a discount on it. :up:

    June 20, 2017 at 10:00 am #34120

    Breesmommy5
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    I like it because we eat at the character dinners and I would rather use the dining plan than pay, it’s easier for us that way and not actually see how much the dinners cost, if that makes sense. We did use too many points st one dinner and had to pay and I was shocked at how much it was

    June 20, 2017 at 10:00 am #34121

    Chelle
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    RocketEAR99 wrote:

    Nay. More food than we need for the price tag. That’s been the case for some time now. We’re AP Holders, DVC Members, and when it suits our plans, TiW members, so we just order what we want and nothing more and ultimately spend far less than we ever would on a Dining Plan.

    EDIT: And it’s nice to be able to order food more freely, not feeling obligated to get a soda or a dessert, but being able to get a specialty drink or an appetizer and still getting a discount on it. :up:

    I agree!

    June 20, 2017 at 10:02 am #34124

    Chelle
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    Breesmommy5 wrote:

    I like it because we eat at the character dinners and I would rather use the dining plan than pay, it’s easier for us that way

    I am probably one of the fewer TAs who tries to talk clients OUT of the dining plan! LOL

    However, in the case of character dining or dining packages such as Fantasmic, it can definitely make sense to do the dining plan, especially if you aren’t a TIW member. :up:

    June 20, 2017 at 10:04 am #34127

    SEJ101
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    I have had no interest in dining plans ever. Cast Member child life has somewhat spoiled me :cool:

    June 20, 2017 at 10:14 am #34135

    jamiedawn27
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    Hubby and I had the dining plan once years ago…it was just too much food. I like to eat when I am hungry not feel forced to order extra stuff i don’t want. Plus although they do disclose it, many forget tip is NOT included in the dining plan. I feel like cast members give out a huge sigh of relief when they ask if you are on the dining plan and you say “no”.

    June 20, 2017 at 10:29 am #34145

    Chelle
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    jamiedawn27 wrote:

    Hubby and I had the dining plan once years ago…it was just too much food. I like to eat when I am hungry not feel forced to order extra stuff i don’t want. Plus although they do disclose it, many forget tip is NOT included in the dining plan. I feel like cast members give out a huge sigh of relief when they ask if you are on the dining plan and you say “no”.

    A long time ago, tip WAS included! I think people forget that it isn’t because it is prepaid.

    June 20, 2017 at 10:31 am #34146

    dngnb8
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    For Frequent Park Visits, I can see how the other membership discounts are better deals. But what about those of us who visit once like every 5 years?

    Maybe what could be helpful is a map by park of the places to eat if you take the plan. I liked the plan that was 1 table, 1 counter, 2 snack. So how about a list by park of what places to go to make the plan of value?

    MK
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    June 20, 2017 at 10:33 am #34147

    kcboston
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    I’ve run the numbers on the dining plan before almost every trip, I spend a decent amount of time looking at different scenarios in excel for what we have planned.

    (side note: one of my Disney pet peeves is the amount of people that refer to it as a dinning plan).

    The numbers never seem to work out for us, for a variety of reasons. We like to snack and share a lot of items, we like to have alcoholic beverages (which wasn’t included previously), and my daughter doesn’t really eat enough to justify her daily cost. And for me, it would become more of a game, where every meal I’d look at under the lens of “getting the best value” instead of ordering what I want to eat. Many times I like to have the inexpensive sandwich, or an appetizer and a salad. I can see the need for adding alcohol to the dining plan, because I know a lot of people that like to have a beer or a glass of wine with dinner, but I think that might alienate a number of people that don’t drink.

    June 20, 2017 at 10:47 am #34152

    Nascfan
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    Nay for us. Quick Service (which is what we would get, the TS is WAY too much food!) is $47? No way do we eat $47 worth of food a day, each! A lot of times we’ll get a combo meal and an extra sandwich, splitting the fries or side. One pop between the two of us, or more often than not, free cups of water, especially if it’s hot. Sometimes we’ll get the kids meals too, that leaving room for snacks.

    June 20, 2017 at 11:22 am #34155

    Gator
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    That’s just WAY too much money for the standard plan. And I do alcohol – never have. So adding money to the plan for something I’ll never get anyway makes no sense at all. Guess I’ll be skipping the DDP from now on. :down:

    June 20, 2017 at 11:24 am #34156

    kellyda3
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    Nay for us as well. We just don’t eat that much food on a regular basis, and the last time we did do the Dining Plan (my parents did “Free” Dining), we had a ton of snack credits left to blow. With small children, we only eat a few Table Service meals each trip, and wouldn’t want to feel obligated to sit down for a TS meal every day. In addition, we often order one or two meals for the four of us and share. We also bring our own Breakfast. Almost every mealtime, we just don’t spend enough to justify the Dining Plan. Add in being DVC members (and also usually AP holders), and it simply doesn’t add up for us.

    I will give the Dining Plan one thing. If you feel guilty about racking up the bill while you are on vacation, it helps set your mind at ease simply because you’ve already paid for the bulk of your food costs.

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