Dining plan or not at Disney

Your choice so just do what you like:).

Want to save time over money? Choose a meal plan. As a frmr food and beverage intern for a major hotel chain, I can say with little calculation that Disney's food plans enriches it's bottom line by offering safe choices for the harried, the not quite sure, and those with deep pockets. It's a sales market so honestly decide on your priorities.

Concerned about what and how your family eats in general? Make your own snacks and sandwiches, store them in an insulated bag, and bring them with you. Want to step away from the all you can drink soda pop world? Provide each child with a water bottle, attached to their wrist or yours. Since ice is free, the occasional juice pack wont get too warm.

HTH.

Out of pocket!

Yes! Do the dining plan!

Yes on dining plan. Worth avoiding the carrying bags all over the parks.

***** JUST A LITTLE TIP ******

We never buy water in the parks . . . just go to any place that sells fountain soda and ask for a CUP of ice water.... They are not allowed to say NO, or charge you. . . some will give you small 10oz -12oz cups, some larger..

we did not believe that either , until we tried it, been doing it that way ever since

As an annual pass holder to Disney I agree with the others on this post. If you plan your meals right you can come out cheaper by paying out of pocket. Take snacks and your own water. You are allowed to take a person cooler in to the parks. We always fill it up and then put ice over the top of everything and with a well insulated cooler the ice usually last about 3/4 of the day. Long enough to get us to thru the day.

If you like to eat, then go for it. However, be sure to keep track of the snacks you are getting. Very often, people will fill up at the meals, and not be hungry for snacks. Then they end up with a bunch of snacks left over at the end. We were at Trails End (the restaurant at Fort Wilderness) a couple of weeks ago and there was a woman there standing by the register buying takeout meals for people in order to use the meals on her dining plan she didn't use. So, it is really up to the user. If you track it and make sure you eat a lot, well worth it. If you think you'll get sick of eating and have a bunch of unused credits on your plan, then skip it.

My wife recently retired from Disney and we stay at Fort Wilderness about 9 times a year and have never used the meal plan. However, we have friends and relatives that have; and they've enjoyed going to the restaurants and ordering without thinking of menu prices; another more intangible benefit.

Back again ....

Here is a real world example from our last trip this past Thanksgiving ( free dining offer)

4 adults x $67.33 per day for the dining plan table service x 8 nights would have cost us $2154.56.

Our tab after we added up all of our receipts was a little under $2100. This was almost a break even, and in reality we rarely would have ordered desserts or snacks or if we did we could've easily split them, I typically always have water with my meals even at home, etc. This is why I say it rarely pays for it self

Dan

Another thought, is to go during a period of free dining and stay at one of the participating resorts. This is what we have done over Thanksgiving week for the last seven or eight years I realize this may not work with your schedule. I know I would love to camp again at Fort wilderness myself but when I do the math it is cheaper for me to stay at a moderate resort and get the free tableservice dining then to stay at For wilderness and buying a dining plan. Or you could stay at one of the value resorts and then you would get all quick service meals also. Plus you won't have to pull your unit down there and it could be a more relaxing trip that way too.

Thinking outside the box a little bit on this one.

Dan

We've been to FW many times and never purchased a dining plan. We bring a suitcase full of dry food and then get groceries delivered to the Fort. We either rent an RV or a cabin, and either way we were able to have groceries delivered ahead of time so we arrive to a full fridge.

We cook breakfast and dinner and pack lunch. Our kids are little so we get an early start to the parks and are generally back around 6 PM.

As an adult I will admit I get tired of PB&J and granola bars for lunch every day, but the dining plan pricing makes me cringe. Not that we can't afford it, but these trips are expensive enough without getting gouged on food. And frankly when we've met friends for quick service or even sit-down meals I've been underwhelmed for the most part.

I never understood staying at the Fort and then going in on the dining plan.

We do try to go to Trail's End for breakfast once per trip.