Disney meal plan - help with budget

[WelshMoth]

I'm off to Disney after lots of saving. We're room only at the moment and trying to calculate whether to opt in with a meal plan or go it alone.

We've been priced £2200 for 4 of us for 10 days. That includes breakfast (quick service), 2 snacks each, refill drinks and a restaurant a day. So that works out a budget of £220 a day for us all.

Does anyone here have Disney experience of eating in their restaurants? What would you do?

We've asked for the full dining price instead of the quick dining price because sitting down to eat will be a welcomed rest from all the walking around.

Grateful for any input from anyone.

Hello! We went last year on the same plan as you. We felt it was A LOT and not necessarily needed and we ended up with millions of spare snacks (which we converted to stuff we got for free as presents for people at home). It’s ok to think about quick service meals as they do have places to sit. Also most of the proper sit down meals end up being more expensive because of compulsory tipping AND need to be booked in advance. I would consider a lesser meal deal if money is tight.

I think it depends on if you're a foodie. We are, and our kids will eat most things, so we find the table service dining plan a highlight of our holiday - we eat epic meals (although watch out, you'll still have to pay for tips and if you're getting the equivalent of a $300 meal that adds up) and save a fortune. Also, table service gets you character meals included - we took our kids to three or four of those, which for a family of five were a good $150 a time.

Thanks both.

What I'm unsure of is whether you can only get quick service on the quick service plan.

I'm not too bothered about sitting down every night (and the tipping thing is going to really add up if we sit at table service every night) so perhaps the other plan would suit us.

If we opt for the quick service dining plan, can vouchers be used for the occasional sit down meal?

You have to take into account that the table service meals will mean you have to pay an 18% service charge that isn’t included in the dining plan.
We’ve done with dining plan and without, we got the free dining deal last year and it was great, there is loads of food, we too ended up with lots of left over snacks. Quick service meals and generous so we often shared portions and I think had a couple of those left over too. We had some fantastic meals, dinner at California Grill and getting to see the fireworks from the balcony there was amazing, not something we’d ever have paid out of pocket for (it was 2 table service credits). However without the dining plan we ate much less, felt less compelled to get value, only did a couple of table service meals and definitely spent less than the dining plan cost.

IMO the dining plan won’t save you money but will allow you to have a great experience. For us it was a one off, very indulgent trip. Without it food seemed very expensive across the parks.

I recommend a forum called The Dibb - there is nothing they don’t know about Disney there and there are lots of rip reports too.

You can’t get table service on the QS plan.

We don't use the dining plan when we go - prefer to DIY a lot of our own food. Partly to save money but also partly because it's a lot quicker/easier.

We get a big food shop delivered to the hotel at the start of each stay - the hotel will hold for you at reception until you ring to say you're back in your room and they can bring it over. We order lots of bagels, cream cheese, sandwich stuff, cereal, milk, fruit etc. Have breakfast in our room/make and take with us if it's a very early start for the EMH. Saves a lot of time walking over to the food court especially at larger hotels like Coronado Springs/Caribbean Beach where it can be a bit of a trek.

We tend to get up early and then had back to the hotel around 12 - 1 as it's so hot. Often have lunch in the room and a nap/swim then head back in around 5pm. Then we'll have dinner in the parks later.

For us it's more the convenience than anything else - nothing worse than having to queue for ages in the heat if you're starving - and it just fits more easily into our day. We would find it stressful to be tied into loads of restaurant reservations.

We don’t do a meal plan for the following reasons:
Adults can order Kid’s meals at Disney Restaurants. The portions are a decent size – with a main course and one or two sides AND a drink. The kid’s meals are usually eight dollars or less at quick-service restaurants.
There are some meals options that can be split between 2 people. Pecos Bill & Cosmic Ray’s both have condiments bars to bulk up your portions, making the meal even larger for two people.
If you have your heart set on eating at a table service restaurant, it is less expensive to eat there for lunch. Or, for another option, stop in for an afternoon dessert and a cup of coffee.
After a long day at the parks, just order a pizza, wait for it to be delivered, and share it with the family for a relatively cheap dinner. Family sized pizzas usually run about $17.99 plus tax and tip.
Most of the menu item prices at quick service restaurants usually include the prices of sides like fries, salad, baked beans, etc. But by skipping the sides and getting an entree only, especially if you don’t want them, you can save anywhere from $1-$2.50 on your meal. So just remember, if your meal comes with a side you don’t like, be sure to ask for your meal without the side, and you’ll save upwards of $2. Don’t order what you don’t want to eat!
Most buffets at Disney World are pretty expensive. However, there are a couple that are actually quite affordable – Liberty Tree Tavern at Magic Kingdom and Trail’s End Restaurant at Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground. And the best part about this is that for under $30 ($25 for Trail’s End) you get everything included in your bill. From dessert and drink to all you can eat main courses, it truly is the best bang for your buck, especially if you’re looking for a table service restaurant.

Do it.
It was lovely to have lunch and a restaurant meal everyday (and the snack credits did us breakfast and all drinks/ snacks in park with 6 left over at the end. Loved that we didn't have to worry about what we had or money. You get an alcoholic drink with dinner which was nice.

You still have to pay the top though.

We could not eat enough to use up our allowance, far too much food. Plus the food is fucking awful, so I really would not waste 1000s on it.

Although ours was only £450 for two of us so much cheaper than yours

Snack credits can be used for drinks round the park btw - that's what we mostly spent them on

Can you only get alcoholic drinks (wine with dinner) with the restaurant meal?

Also, I assumed you couldn't do a supermarket order to a hotel? Also, where would you keep stuff? The fridge looks tiny!

Also, am I right in thinking that whatever plan you're on, you get allocated 'credits' which you use towards your food? Sonic I were to skip on one quick service meal, then I could use them towards a
Sit down table meal?

#confused

Also, can you do pizza delivery to Disney hotel rooms? We're staying in the Caribbean.

Register on DIBB & read through the info on there & the food/dining forum. It will answer all questions.

We upgraded from quick service to table because we'd have spent the upgrade cost on 2/3 character meals so it made sense to upgrade to table service every day. We did Cinderella royal table which was amazing food & setting but would never have paid for.

The $200 gift card covered all table service tips with money left over for souvenirs.

Depending on when you are going a lot of people have booked their ADRs (advanced dining reservations) 6 months ago, or 180 days before their holiday. So you might not be able to rock up and get a table at a time you want. This is for the sit down places.

We have been several times and always had dining plan but there is no way I would ever pay for it. We always get it for free.

Just pay out of pocket, that way all restaurants are open to you, if you want a dessert get it etc. Portions are big so sharing is fine.

Quick service varies from a cheap meal to some incredible meals such as Flame Tree BBQ in Animal Kingdom (pulled pork, quarter chicken and ribs as 1 meal) and some amazing places at Disney Springs like Wolfgang Puck Express.

Have a wander over to TheDibb and look at the dining trip reports or look on YouTube.

If you pay for the dining plan many people then try to work out whether they are getting value for money and it can cloud your judgement about where you eat and what you order. So pay out of pocket, and any sit down venue (table service) will charge a tip. It adds up over the course of the holiday. We just wanted to eat when we were hungry, hence quick service.

We loved having that plan. You can use the sit-down credits for many of the character meals. It was a great way to get character interaction for dc while sitting in a relaxed air conditioned environment. It’s also surprisingly flexible on the quick-service side. Many of the restaurants will let you swap a snack for a dessert so you can grab something like a bag of crisps or a hummus cup to take with you. You can also use the snack credits in some shops and stock up on branded snacks for souvenirs.

I don’t know if it saved us money or not. It made the trip easy and enjoyable and that was our goal.

You can use table service credits for quick service but not the other way round.

You can get grocery deliveries to the hotel, again you can find out who/how on DIBB.

Some of the quick service resort restaurants do a massive pizza for 2 credits but not sure about a delivery like Pizza Hut etc

Nquartz $200 gift card?

Don't use quick service for breakfast, use it for lunch or dinner. Use a snack for breakfast, such as croissant. You can save credits but can't use 2 quick service for table meal.

Yes you should get a %200 gift card when you book the Disney hotel & tickets together.

Who did you book with?

Depends on how you like to eat, there's cheaper options, buy snacks from the supermarket, go offsite etc but if exclusively eating at Disney it adds up. It's years since we did Florida and it wasn't overly expensive compared to similar themed restaurants then, current prices are on their website I was told. Paris which we recently went to has the advantage of a massive standard priced McDonald's in the village area and decent supermarket in walking distance (plus excellent public transport into Paris). If you have a rental car it makes a big difference as you can go just outside the Disney property in Florida where there loads of options

The dibb is a great forum for Disney advice

Last time I went wth DD we had the quick service plan. It was tons of food and we had trouble using all the credits up. You will not need to spend another cent on food. As others have mentioned if you get the table service plan the tips will really add up. Definitely go on the DIBB. There are menus for all the quick service restaurants - Disney is not all burgers and chicken nuggets. I think I only had one burger in the 2 weeks I was there.

The quick service plan only includes quick service and snack credits they cannot be used for table service meals.

If you book during free dining offer there is often a free gift card too but sounds like your DH didn’t book the offer.