Disney Dining plan - worth it?

Question:

A coworker is heading to Disney World in a little over a week, and has been talking non-stop about how much fun they're going to have.
I'm also planning a trip, and when they found that out, they strongly urged me to go with one of the Disney Meal Plans. They seem kind of pricey, so I was just planning on paying as I go... what is the better bang for my buck?



Answer:

In my experience, the Disney meal plans are not worth the money spent on them; however, each person is different, and there are instances when opting for the meal plan is a better deal than not. It depends a lot on how much and often you like to eat. If you are going to Disney with a plan to hit all the parks (including water parks), ride all the rides 3 times over, and make it to all the shows, then you probably won’t have the time spend at least one meal/day at a sit-down restaurant. But if your approach to Disney is much more laidback, and you enjoy your sit-down meals as a break from the craziness of the parks, then it’s worth looking into the dining plan.

To be sure if you will save money, you need to be able to plan ahead a little bit. First figure out how many meals you plan to eat out. For instance, when I go, I bring my own breakfast items and do not typically eat out for breakfast. Then you should make a list of restaurants you want to visit, especially making sure you include all the sit-down restaurants (quick service restaurants don’t require reservations and cost less $$ so we can average the expected price you will pay, without knowing which quick service eatery you’ll choose). Then go to www.allears.net and check out their AMAZING menu list, which will give you a good idea of how much you can expect to spend at each restaurant. For quick service, I assume I’ll spend $15/adult and $10/child. You can add more or less to that average, depending on what you typically buy (we get water and skip dessert).

Tally your est. meal expenses. Then check the prices of the Disney meal plans and see which total is higher. It’s that simple! Of course, it does require a good amount of pre-planning on your part, but if you want to save money, this is how you do it.

I do want to caution you – if you decide to go with the meal plan, make sure to use all your dining credits. The leftover credits are lost at the end of the trip and the dining plan becomes less and less a deal especially if you have to skip a meal or two and you don’t use those allotted credits elsewhere. Part of the reason I’ve never chosen to use the dining plan (besides the fact we don’t eat breakfast out) is that I don’t like to feel like my meal time is competing with my park time. I would prefer to spend more time touring than eating.