Buying Disney dining plan

[vowels]

We have bought the dining plan.
We are doing character meals, Fantasmic and Rivers of Light(I hope) and it works out a little cheaper for two adults and three children 13, 9 and 6.
I found I needed to list where we wanted to eat, then get the calculator out to check the total costs against the dining plan.

Have a wonderful holiday

[Guest]

Originally Posted by vowels

We have bought the dining plan.
We are doing character meals, Fantasmic and Rivers of Light(I hope) and it works out a little cheaper for two adults and three children 13, 9 and 6.
I found I needed to list where we wanted to eat, then get the calculator out to check the total costs against the dining plan.

Have a wonderful holiday

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I'm currently working out if it's worth it for us, I'm struggling with a 9 year old being counted as an adult. Did you add the dining plan to an existing booking?

I've already booked ADRs and I'm wondering if they will be valid if I added a dining plan or if they'd be cancelled and I'd have to re-book? Has anyone had any experience of this?

I've booked AKL with Kenwood Travel and have emailed them to ask if it's possible to add dining.

[mossyflossy]

Your 9 year old will be a child, not an adult. And any ADRs made will still be valid whether you add a dining plan or not.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by mossyflossy

Your 9 year old will be a child, not an adult. And any ADRs made will still be valid whether you add a dining plan or not.

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Sorry, I meant 10 year old! Great to hear the ADRs won't have to be cancelled. Now to see if Kenwood can actually add it to our booking.

Thanks Mossy

[mossyflossy]

They should be able to add it if you bought your tickets with them too. There was a "break even" point years ago of 5 TS meals, but if you look at it from a persective of pre-payment and aren't too worried about "savings" it can be worthwhile regardless.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by mossyflossy

They should be able to add it if you bought your tickets with them too. There was a "break even" point years ago of 5 TS meals, but if you look at it from a persective of pre-payment and aren't too worried about "savings" it can be worthwhile regardless.

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That's great news! Thanks for your advice, much appreciated.

[Guest]

Confirmation from Kenwood that they can add the DDP for £1,959...that's 3 adults and 1 child. Seems like it could work for us.

And you were right Mossy, the ADRs are not lost by adding the plan.

[teerts]

We have just added DDP to our booking at the end of August, it cost £1300 for 3A for 11 nights, we have booked our ADRs inc. Crystal Palace, Tiffins & Tusker House, we paid around $90 in October for our breakfasts and the RoL package is $65 each; when we were trying to decide I looked at the menus and it looks like I will save around £150.

Now we have paid up front I don't need to worry about how much a meal is going to cost or how much we have spent on food, we just need to remember to use the snack credits and QS credits as we were too careful last time and had loads left over.

[Shooby doo]

In it's original form all the plans were designed to save money- 10% for QSDP & 15%-20% on DDP but the DDP in particular included tips, at £50 you are approx. $64 so crunch the numbers:
2 snacks = $10
CS meal =$15
Refill mug = $1.50
Leaving you somewhere around $38 for a main course, dessert & a drink but this is just to "break even". It becomes good value for buffets (Dinner not breakfast) but can you stand 14 of those ? Also when you break it down a 2xTS Signature meal is costing the equivalent of $80.
As a DVC member I can add dining without tickets but it doesn't matter how many times I try to make it work it's just not cheaper than OOP. Now free is a whole different ballgame but even there they try to muddy the waters with "look how much you coulda won ..." but generally it is saving just not at the numbers they quote you.
SD

[DisneyDaffodil]

We went without dining plan at Easter 2016 staying at AoA resort. There were 3 of us, 2 adults and a 15 year old. We ate everything we wanted, plus 2 character breakfasts and a ts restaurant and BOG guest lunch. I estimate we spent under $1000 in 11 nights on food, drink and snacks so I do not think buying the meal plan is worth it.
We are going next year and staying in POFQ so we get the free qsdp which we did pay to upgrade to ddp so we can enjoy the ts meals. I feel the upgrade price is worth it but I would never pay for a dining plan, I think its cheaper to pay as you go