Disney-Orlando-Dining Plan or No Dining plan?

Cost - if you are staying at Disney and plan on eating all your meals at Disney, you will most likely find that the dining plan will save you money. UNLESS you plan to eat as cheap as possible, meaning counter-service restaurants only. In that case, you can probably do better than the dining plan. If you are not staying at Disney and plan to eat some meals off-property, you can pretty much always do better off-site. So it would not be worth it.

Worst con of the dining plan is you have to plan SO MUCH. If you are planning to eat any sit-down meals, you must get reservations months in advance. So your schedule is really set. We tend to be float along and do what you feel like doing when you get up that morning people. So the dining plan really restricts us. I would rather skip the fancy meals, which eat into my park ride time anyway, and be able to do what I want and not have to follow a schedule. But the big pro is that you can eat at a lot of fancy sit-down places that you might not otherwise afford.

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The two biggest things to consider with the Dining Plan is

1) Will each member in your party eat all/most of what they are served?

2) Do you plan to do a lot of sit-down restaurants?

The Dining Plan, when purchased, is required for every person in your party. That means that you can not split plates amongst kids, or even adults, and I have always found that Disney serves pretty decent sized portions.

Also, the Dining Plan requires reservations in most situations which means you need to plan way ahead of time on what park you will be at and then keep an eye on your watch all day long so as not to miss your reservation. Dining reservations can be made 6 months in advance and character meals and popular restaurants fill up quickly.

I would suggest looking at http://allears.net/menu/menus.htm. This site lists all of the Disney restaurants, their menus and their prices. You will be able to look them over and make a mock-up of your dining plans. Compare that to the cost of the Dining Plan and you will have an idea of what is more cost-efficient.

One other thing - try and pack things from home or if you are driving then run to Wal-Mart/Publix for some basic groceries. All Disney resorts have a fridge available (Value there is a charge, Moderate and Deluxe fridge is included). Eating breakfast in your room and carrying snacks and drinks in with you can make a huge difference. Another option is gardengrocer.com for grocery delivery.

The dining plan was well worth it for us. We were at Disney in September and took advantage or the free plan. We were on the plan that included on counter service and one sit down. Most of our sit down meals were charter dining (Crystal Palace, Chef Mickey's, Cinderellas Royal Table (which was 2 table service credits) ... These restaurants are fairly pricey if doing them out of pocket. The meal plan made them very accessible and downright affordable considering most, were buffets. On the days where we had buffet lunch, brunch, or breakfast, the remaining counter service meal we still had for the day often went unused. Don't forget also, all the meals include the main, a drink, and a dessert. And the sit down meals often included an appetizer as well. We went to Mama Melrose's at MGM for lunch on our plan and we had more food than we knew what to do with. Disney dining plan works. Use it.

I've done two different dining plans:

The basic with 1 counter meal, 1 sit down meal, and 1 snack per day - and -

The deluxe with 3 sit down meals and 2 snacks per day

Both of them worked perfectly for their particular vacations. The basic was used during a trip with my cousin on the cheap. We typically used the snack to get a bagel for breakfast and it worked well for us. We did not buy ANY other food and we were not hungry, but we did not have any meal credits left over at the end.

The deluxe was used on a trip with my friend, her husband and their child. We chose the rides for the seven-year-old and the meals for the adults! We ate in restaurants that we typically would not. We also did a couple of dinner shows (which used two credits per person). At the end we did have a few credits left. While this is not a great trade monetarily, it worked for us: Disney allowed us to trade one sit down meal credit for two snacks and two beverages. This gave them ALL the snacks/bottled water they needed for the drive back to Indiana (in the snow, which made it take 3 days instead of 2).

So, in summation, would I do them again? Yes... my, oh my, Yes. If you spent a ton of time investigating and ate only at the most expensive retaurants you could really "eat more than you paid for," but I don't think a lot of people do that. As for myself, I like it best for the convenience. I can pre-pay for all my meals and then don't have to worry about that at all... which is a big stress reducer for me.

Unless you're a conniseur, or taking a Disney vacation specifically for the food, you probably don't need the deluxe plan - all those sit down meals cut into park time. However, I, personally, will never take another Disney vacation without some sort of dining plan. It just makes things too darn convenient.

I've got to tell you, it bugs me when I speak to guests and during the conversation I ask if they took advantage of one of the dining plans, and the answer is "no, we can't eat that much food"! Then I ask if they have any dining reservations, and more often than not they'll say..."yes, we booked Ohana, Boma, Chef Mickey's, etc." You WILL SAVE MONEY using one of the plans.

Disney keeps raising dinner prices and pushes the dining plan so people will make reservations, the restaurants can control inventory, cut waste, and save money.

The dining plan doesn't have to be about how much you eat. It also has to do with where, and what you eat, and the disney experience. When I have family in town, we normally will grab a muffin or something like that (using the snack) on the way to the parks, go to one of the food courts for lunch, then hit a table service for dinner. The dining plan costs what? $40? Depending on when you are going, the buffet dinners cost between $33-$38 themselves! I'm going to Le Cellier in Epcot for lunch Monday. My lunch without drinks will be $41. With the dining plan, I'll use my table service for that, then it's quick serv @ wolfgang puck express for dinner. If you would rather "do" more than eat, you can use 2 table service each and go to the hoop dee do review dinner show, or the spirit of aloha at the poly.

I say one of the plans, because WDW also has a Quick Service dining plan, too. It includes 2 quick serv meals, 2 snacks, plus the refillable drink mug that you get at your resort. If you think quick serv = burger and fries, think again. How about a ribeye or tuna steak dinner at Coronado Springs Pepper Market, a gourmet personal pizza at Wolfgang Puck Express, or a 1/2 chicken dinner or seared tuna salad at sunshine seasons food court at epcot?

Here's where you get details on the dining plans http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/benefits/...

Here's where you can get the menus to make up your mind http://allears.net/menu/menus.htm

Lilli gave you a great answer. I'd just like to add to that. We've done the Disney Dining Plan twice. The first time we stayed at a value resort. Our daughter was around your children's ages, & didn't eat that much, so a lot of food went to waste. The second time we were DVC members, so we were staying at a resort with a kitchen. Whatever she couldn't eat, we could take with us. It was fun to try, & we ate at some fancy places. I'd say that it all depends on your appetites. We may try it again next time. What my husband does, is he compares what we would spend with or without it, & it looks like you've done that too. For your family, right now, I would say it's probably best to make reservations at a couple of character meals like: the Crystal Palace (Magic Kingdom) & Chef Mickey's (Contemporary) & eat at some less expensive places & take snacks for the rest of the time. The Rainforest Cafe is a lot of fun too. Have a great time!

Dining plan can be a great deal if you can plan out your park visits to be in the proper place for your reservations (you need reservations like a year in advance for sit down dining), if you are big eaters, if you know when you will be hungry in advance.

We usually eat a light breakfast before we go to the parks, share walk up meals to avoid overeating, and leave room for the delicious and unique snacks at WDW. Often we share the snacks, they are usually large enough for two. The walk up restaurant meals are also easily large enough for two and we don't waste food that way or gain weight.

Check out the travel forum for Orlando at tripadvisor.com, a free site to join, for many great discussions on this topic. Personally, we don't like running across the park to try and hit a reservation time for a meal we really may not be hungry enough for at that moment.

The parks are huge and often it takes a long time to walk from one side to the other. We just enjoy the park and when we feel hungry, stop at a restaurant nearby and enjoy.

I have never used the dining plan at disney. This tool maybe helpful in your decision.

http://www.intercot.com/infocentral/dining/diningp...

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