Dining plan vs DVC Discount

So a few years ago on a trip we compared what we spent on Dining Plan, versus using the DVC Discount ... we saved a LOT more money by using DVC Discount. So the Dining Plan was a "one and done" for us (family of 4).

Prior dining plans you could be ahead. With the current plan, if you tried your hardest you might break even, but most likely be negative. We just use discounts. Frankly most restaurants at WDW sit down and quick serve, the quality is in the toilet compared to 2019.

Bring back Tables In Wonderland, that beats them all.

Our family has done the dining plan for each trip (sometimes free, sometimes not) but it's not so we save money. I will get spending fatigue regardless of knowing that the food has been budgeted (my wife knows me well) so she does the dining plan so that I don't have to grab the debit card each time and she loves to plan it out. I'm sure we could save some money with the dining discount but that 10% is probably worth the admission to not worry.

The dining plan can be a deal if you like your adult beverages! I booked it in January because we were with my daughter and her boyfriend and both like to try out the drinks. Prepaying for all that was very nice 😊

Normally, we just use DVC discount and order what we want. On the dining plan you almost feel like you need to order the most expensive dish to get your money’s worth 😆 I like chicken…but ok, let me get that filet mignon instead 😂 Not to mention I’m usually too full for dessert, but on the dining plan it’s included. Had a few meals with desserts “to go”. Our refrigerator in the villa was stacked with desserts most nights. 🤪

We do a split stay. 1 night and then 13 nights.

We get the dining plan just for the 1-night. We get the mugs for the entire 14 nights and 1 day of dining.

For the rest of the 13 nights we use our DVC discount.

This is how we have figured to maximize our money for Disney.

We use the mugs a lot over the full 14 nights.

We’re doing dining plan on our arrival night (we stay at all star because we get in late and move to DVC the next day). The plan feels like a bonus and makes the cups and first few eats feel (free), then discounts the rest of the trip.

Sometimes if we do a spilt stay, we'll get the dining plan for the first day and then we'll have the refillable mugs for the rest of the trip. We'll knock out some character meals at the beginning of the trip. then use the DVC discount for the rest of the time.

I would sit down, map out each day with what you intend to do for food, and then get a ballpark price for it with the DVC discount. This will help you see where you stand with regards to the dining plan.

The dining plan gets a ton of hate, and while I'm not an apologist for it, it can be beneficial in very specific situations.

• Typically, it's harder to save money on the quick service plan. it's more about convenience of being pre-paid.

• For the table service, you typically need to be doing character meals for the table meals. If you are, it helps close the gap quickly

• Typically, the best way to have it be a financial savings is to also be using the beverage included for alcoholic beverages

• The resort mugs inclusion needs to be factored into the value of the dining plan

• The fact that kids are free currently under the dining plan helps skew numbers in favor of the dining plan, assuming the above mentioned items are all still present.

All that being said, the dining plan doesn't really deserve the hate it gets. It is convenient, and if these pre-reqs line up with the trip your planning then it can actually save you some money. Personally, we don't really do the dining plan anymore, but might consider it for a split stay if we wanted to hit a couple character meals along the way, especially since it gets you the resort mugs as well. The best way to find out for you is to actually price it out. If you find that the savings of the dining plan aren't much better than DVC discount, you're probably better off just going discount route so you have greater freedom/flexibility.

Oh, for those dear, dead days when we got the Deluxe Dining Plan!

3 TS/QS credits per person per day

2 snack credits, same

refillable mug for each

Appetizer, entree, dessert at TS (rarely used credits at QS. Clearly not a good value at QS)

No alcohol back then, but we don’t drink so no big deal

For us, it was all about racking up the character meals. A FINE use of 1 TS for all but CRT, 2 TS.

We ate 3 TS daily because of “sit ‘n’ set.” We sit, someone sets food in front of us. Entirely worth it.

A good value? Nope. Our attitude, however, was, “We do NOT care. We are on Vay-Cay-SHUN.” For that, more than worth it and those 6 character meals in a one week stay…

I priced it out for our upcoming stay based on where we plan to eat. We have two kids, one who is still free under 3. Figured out that with the kids eat free option, the dining plan would only potentially become beneficial if both children were over 3 and going to benefit from it. One child didn’t do it. Should note that we don’t tend to drink alcohol so I wasn’t factoring in alcoholic beverages.

you really have to have the free kids dining thing and be eating at the right restaurants to make it work... it can be done, and isn't bad for shorter trips, but the longer the trip, the less we could make the math work...

That was our experience too. We've (2 adults) done the Table Service plan once and the Quick Service plan once. We made it work and came out ahead, but part of that was for the refillable cups, which we generally don't get or use. I felt that we just spent all of our time concentrating on where we were going to eat next. Now, we are definitely, not adverse to eating a lot - but the amount of food on the dining plan made us miserable. And yes, to "beat the system" we had to eat a lot of meat and a lot of buffets. The challenge was fun for a couple of tries, but it was just too much food and planning than I want to do anymore.

If you like the idea of prepaid, buy the amount of gift cards that you want at a discount and then use your DVC discount too.

I just tried out the dining plan for sort of the same reason. With 2 adults and 1 child, I think the math only worked in our favor because our son was free. When I did the numbers without our child being free, it would have only saved us about $50.

If you're eligible for it, the AP dining promo now is the best deal with up to 40% off some places. It worked for lunch at Biergarten, and I believe there are some other all-you-care-to-eat meals like Cape May Cafe, Hollywood & Vine, Garden Grill, Tusker House, and Whispering Canyon Cafe.

We considered the Quick Service Dining Plan (two Quick Service Meals) and realized that for it to be "worthwhile" we have to get an adult beverage every time and we decided that might not be the best thing.

I did once and wasn't a fan. Cost issues aside I found it to be an inconvenience just to try and figure out which restaurants accepted it and then going through the menus of the restaurants to run some numbers. I had an adult beverage at every meal, including a very strong margarita at Chef Mickeys on our 2nd to last morning. It was good actually and I’m not a huge margarita guy. We have a split stay coming up in July. I might revisit it for the first part and knock out the expensive restaurants first.

Another consideration for the dining plan that benefited our family: purchasing the Table Service plan to cover the cost of an Epcot seasonal festival dining package. We applied it at Biergarten to receive reserved seating for the Candlelight Processional last December. These meals are often higher than the typical table service cost would be absent the reserved seating benefit, and yet they still run just one dining credit. This made it worth it for our family. It also certainly helped that our kids ate free with the promotion running last year.

Another, less convenient, option that we've done in the past is to book a split stay and only purchase the dining plan for one "leg" of our stay. Because your dining credits are valid both check-in and check-out days, we were able to spread our meals over a slightly longer period while not incurring the cost for the entirety of our trip.

Oh, that's a great idea to apply the credit towards an EPCOT festival dining package!

Yes! I hadn’t consdered doing that before last year’s Festival of the Holidays, but it’s pretty easy to be “in the money” on the plan when you apply it to a dining package. We hope to do it again for our December trip this year.