Disney W/O Dining Plan

Has anyone ever done Disney without the dining plan? Did you feel you spent more by having to purchase meals, versus have the dining option?

With the spring promotion going on now, I looked into changing our resort. Original reservation was for the Wilderness Lodge w/club level access & no dining plan (club level offers finger type foods for breakfast/lunch/dinner in a private lounge). All booked using a UOC. Our favorite hotel was not available with the UOC.

Under the spring promotion, we can stay at our favorite hotel, standard room & no dining plan for $430 cheaper. By adding just the QS plan for both DH & I, it brings the total back up to the original amount we were paying.

I'm contemplating forgoing the dining plan and just paying out of pocket for food this trip. I recently had bariatric surgery and can only eat 3-4oz at a time. DH checked with guest services, and I would be able to order from the children's menu if I chose to. So for me, it's not worth it. DH is a big eater, which is why we've always had the TS option, so I can see him getting more out of it than I.

Disney W/O Dining Plan

i think this totally depends on where and how you plan on eating. We have young kids so we do a lot of sit downs (they need the break) and character meals. We have done it with and without the plan and we spent more more without the plan. But like I said we do at least one if not 2 sit down meals a day

Disney W/O Dining Plan

We never get the dining plan. Of course if it was offered free we'd take it but we never purchase it. We do at least 2 sit downs a day and we pay less by doing out of pocket. We are not huge eaters and I found that the meal plans gave us way to much food and alot was wasted. The best way to figure out if it is worth it to you is to pick a sample day, choose your restaurants and add up what you think you'd be eating. Compare out of pocket to the daily cost of the meal plan. For some people the plan is totally worth it and they save money, others not so much.

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We never do the dining plan, and we go to Disney A LOT. We don't eat appetizers or dessert with our meals. We eat a lot of counter service (they have many great choices). We often split meals, or skip a meal and just have snacks, etc. I don't like to schedule a bunch of meals in advance either.

Disney has increased the prices over the years so dramatically, so that you feel like you HAVE to do the dining plan. $150 for a family of 4 to eat a buffet is insane. It didn't used to be that way. BUT, I think they like you to feel like you got such a "great" deal since you were on the dining plan. I'm not buying into their marketing crap, even though we love Disney.

Message edited 12/29/2015 11:24:34 AM.

Re: Disney W/O Dining Plan

So glad to hear others opt out of the plan. We're foodies, but foodies on a budget, and if we can save a buck without it effecting our time, then I'm all for it. I've been looking into doing an amazon pantry order and having it shipped to the hotel, that way we can have plenty of snack/drink options to grab on the way to the parks.

Thank you for your input

Disney W/O Dining Plan

We've never done the dining plan and have been to Disney many times. We like sit down meals, but aren't big appetizer/dessert eaters. We plan a couple of meals ahead of time, but do a lot of reservations last minute. And we don't do a lot of character meals or buffets- maybe one per trip. Now if there was a drinking plan, on the other hand, I would be all over it!!

Re: Disney W/O Dining Plan

Re: Disney W/O Dining Plan

We never do the meal plan. I don't see the benefit.

Re: Disney W/O Dining Plan

We never do the dining plan...we just don't eat the way you need to on the plan for it to save you money. I would only consider it if it was free when I was going and wasn't going to cost me a tremendous amount of money.

Re: Disney W/O Dining Plan

We have been to Disney 5x and have never gotten the dining plan. We are not big eaters. We eat breakfast on the go and do mostly quick service meals. We usually do one character breakfast and one sit down dinner per trip. We get 1-2 snacks per day but we will share 1 item. We don't get an item for each person. For us, we would lose money on the plan. Of course we would take it if it were free. Otherwise, we prefer to pay out of pocket for each meal and snack.

Disney W/O Dining Plan

we have never done the meal plan either. Every time we go, we see people leaving and trying to use up their snack credits and stuffing them in back packs. I don't usually eat that much. It just always seems like a waste to have to bring all those credits home

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We have done both. For our last trip I pre planned. I knew what restaurants we would be going to and looked at menus and figured out how much we would be spending vs. how much for meal plan. Overall it was similar slightly less.

Re: Disney W/O Dining Plan

We never get the dining plan. My kids eat like birds and usually just share most meals and still have leftovers. For us it doesnt make sense right now. In the future when theyre older and eat more then i will be getting the plan for sure.

Message edited 12/30/2015 1:33:22 PM.

Re: Disney W/O Dining Plan

We don't really eat alot during the day -
We are 'sit down to dinner out' people - so for us, the dining plan is a waste.

We did Garden Grocer (Disney equiv. of Peapad) for PB/J, Bread, milk, juice breakfast items for the kids, yogurt, snacks, etc and saved a TON of money on food.
We ate dinner out, an occasional lunch or ice cream - but that was really it.

Re: Disney W/O Dining Plan

Re: Disney W/O Dining Plan

We have done both, but stopped using the plan with kids. The QS plan is not worth it at all. The dining plan can be worth it for some. To be worth it you have to want to do 1TS a day, or two a day if you skip a day. You need to eat at the most expensive places and order items like steak or seafood. You have to have dessert at all meals and not want apps. It doesn't sound like that fits you. We found most times we were skipping some of our TS meals since we weren't on the plan we didn't feel we HAD to go to them. We like salads rather than desserts or no apps just an entree. If you have doubts I recommend looking at mousesavers.com for a breakdown, then allearsnet has all the menus and approximate prices. While some come out ahead, most will only break even or lose money on it. You lose a lot of flexibility with it. It was great when it was just DH and I. We would plan on a nice meal. Would order seafood or steak and went to the more expensive places that were 1TS credit. But with kids who don't want to do a lot of sit downs it no longer works for us. Maybe in the future, but not now.

Re: Disney W/O Dining Plan