There always seems to be a great debate on the various Disney websites about whether or not the dining plan is \u201cworth it\u201d and since there are three levels of dining plans now, it seems harder than ever to decide if the dining plan makes sense for your family.\u00a0 Many of the arguments against the dining plan in general tend to center around the fact that it \u201cisn\u2019t as good of a deal as it used to be.\u201d\u00a0 I have to agree with that argument.\u00a0 It used to be that with the basic dining plan (one table service, one counter service, one snack per person per night) an appetizer and the tip were included in the cost of the plan and that made it an awesome deal.\u00a0 But I think Disney was losing money on that deal and let\u2019s face it, Disney is a business and they aren\u2019t out to give us a deal so great that they lose money, so a little revamping took place and a couple of years ago, boom, no more appetizer or tip included in the cost and this is where a lot of people denounced the dining plan.\u00a0 Not me, however, I still like it.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Well for one thing it gives my vacation a more all-inclusive feel to it.\u00a0 When I make the final payment 45 days before we leave, I know that the major expense of the trip is taken care of.\u00a0 The room, the park tickets, and the meals (for the most part) are paid for.\u00a0 I will still have to tip and that is fine with me because I know that the waiter (or waitress) is going to get what they should.\u00a0 I tip fairly (generally 18%) and according to service and I don\u2019t have to wonder if they are getting 15 or 18 or 20%, I know because I am leaving it.\u00a0 The appetizer argument seems valid enough to me.\u00a0 \u201cThe appetizer used to be included\u201d and \u201cwhy can\u2019t I get an appetizer instead of dessert?\u201d\u00a0 My best guess it that the appetizer is no longer included because it is more expensive than dessert.\u00a0 Again, Disney doesn\u2019t want to offer the choice of dessert or appetizer because that would be more expensive for them.\u00a0 They offer a piece of cake or a scoop of ice cream rather than crab cakes or calamari.\u00a0 Disney pulls in a little extra money by having you pay for the appetizer that you want with dinner\u2026<\/p>\n
The other major reason why I use the dining plan is that I don\u2019t stress at meal time.\u00a0 We walk up (or sit down) look at the menu and order what we want rather than what is cheapest.\u00a0 I would end up eating a lot more cheeseburgers during my trip if I had to pay out of pocket at each meal.\u00a0 That\u2019s just me, I can\u2019t ignore the numbers in front of me and it would ruin my day to know that I just plunked down $40.00+ for a fast food meal.\u00a0 I like that it\u2019s already paid for, it\u2019s less stress for me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Another argument I hear is that the kid\u2019s choices aren\u2019t great.\u00a0 No, they are horrible!\u00a0 I really don\u2019t understand why there can\u2019t be a choice for kids that match the restaurant in addition to the old standby kid favorites.\u00a0 For example at Yak and Yeti counter service the kids meal options are a cheeseburger or chicken bites.\u00a0 Why can\u2019t there be an Asian inspired option as well?\u00a0 An adult meal in a kid sized portion would be so nice.\u00a0 \u00a0At table service locations with menus the choices are very inconsistent so I tend to go for the buffet or family style locations so that my kids have a few more \u201cadult\u201d options.\u00a0 My kids will eat salmon (aka \u201cpink fish\u201d in our house) until they can\u2019t move.\u00a0 This would never be an option on a menu for them, but at a buffet it is fair game.\u00a0 Problem solved!\u00a0 This isn\u2019t to say that we don\u2019t eat anywhere with a menu, we just spread those nights out so that the kids have more variety.<\/p>\n
The final common argument against the dining plan is that it \u201cties you down\u201d to a particular time that you have to eat.\u00a0 Well, sure, but then if you want a table service meal at the hot spots like Chef Mickey\u2019s, Akershus, \u2018Ohana, etc. you are going to HAVE to plan that. \u00a0I know that we are going to want to eat dinner every day (we\u2019re crazy like that!) and I also want to know that we are going to have one nice sit down meal a day. \u00a0Having the basic dining plan makes it easy to pick the pricier table service locations that I may otherwise avoid because of the sticker shock effect.\u00a0 We also prefer to have a dinner as opposed to breakfast.\u00a0 Dinner is hands down a better value \u201ccredit wise\u201d than breakfast is.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The other meal plan options, in my opinion, are for \u201cother people.\u201d\u00a0 The Deluxe Dining plan is three meals and 2 snacks per person, per night of your stay.\u00a0 You can use the credits at counter service or table service locations but to get the best value, you really need to eat three table service meals a day.\u00a0 That\u2019s a lot of food and a lot of sitting at restaurants.\u00a0 This may be a fun option for adults, but kids will probably revolt after the first day.\u00a0 The other newer option is the Quick Service dining plan which is two counter service credits and two snack credits per person per night.\u00a0 It is only for counter service locations, no table service locations are included.\u00a0 In my opinion it is good for people who want the all-inclusive, all ready paid for feel or for families who will be sending older children off on their own (who are responsible enough to not eat up all your credits!).\u00a0 Considering the cost, I think you would really have to plan out each meal to come out ahead and save a significant amount of money over paying out of pocket.\u00a0 The cost just seems a bit high for what you get in my opinion.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So if after reading all this, you still think the dining plan is not for you, great, but now you know my side\u2026 and I\u2019m sticking to it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There always seems to be a great debate on the various Disney websites about whether or not the dining plan is \u201cworth it\u201d and since there are three levels of dining plans now, it seems harder than ever to decide if the dining plan makes sense for your family.\u00a0 Many of the arguments against the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-walt-disney-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1802"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85828,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1802\/revisions\/85828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}