Just to be clear, you don’t actually put money on your MB - you just use it to charge purchases to your room.
Oh. That’s no good. I guess I’ll stick to the cash-in-hand method then! 
Once you add the DP, can you decide not to do it later? We got the regular DP for an up-coming November trip, but I am thinking at this point we will lose money and am thinking of cancelling it. Can I still do that?
Yes, I just recently removed it from my package as we decided to do 3 signature restaurants this trip, negating any use for the plan. I was able to do it online and didn’t have to call as for other package changes.
Still on the fence. How much notice must I give Disney to ADD the regular dining plan to my package? Our trip begins in 10 days…
If your leaving in 10 days I would not get it. Save yourself the trouble and keep your receipts so you can calculate them up for next time.
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This will help!
Are they accurate/up to date?
I think they are a little behind, captain’s grill is still there and I do not think they are including alcohol? To me, they are under estimating.
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We saved a ton of money with our party that had 2 reservations. One ressie got the deluxe dining plan (2 adults, 1 child) & the other got no plan. We used the credits for the entire party on our most expensive meals. It was also a great bargain because a child on the deluxe plan gets adult meals, but the plan costs a little over half of an adult. It was a great deal for us, especially with character meals.
We looked at adding it to our trip last month, but it was nearly $2,000 for the 6 of us (everyone is over 10).
So I pre-planned the “meal budget” and put everything on Disney GC’s. I budgeted $1500 for food & souvenirs for me and my 3 kids (2 teenagers and 1 pre-teen…I did not pay for my parents’ meals)
We did buy groceries (the perks of having a cabin!), and spent $140. (that included the cases of water and powerade we bought). Souvenirs…well we also hit the character warehouse and I bought the kids t-shirts & ear hats, a Disney Pirate dress for me, and presents for people at home for just under $100. No one asked for a thing the rest of the trip!
IN the parks and all the dining/snacks/popcorn/ice cream we bought (and I bought all the popcorn and ice cream), I spent right around $625. for 7 days, 6 nights. The DDP would have been about $1350. And I know we would have had tons of credits. My kids are not used to the humidity…and they loved the food booths, and one night they wanted bread. I bought them bread and jam from France in Epcot. Making sure everyone was hydrated was the most important!!!
Honestly I may change my tune after our May trip (just DH and I)…I have a lot of dining reservations. But I still have GC’s from last month, and a pile of disney rewards from all the trips!
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You can get the cost of the dining plan from Disney’s website. The rest is based on averages. It’s not perfect, but it’s sometning. And in most cases should show the Disney dining plan is not a cost benefit to the consumer.
I understand how the calculator works but I do not think it is currently counting the $16-19 a day that would be offset if you get a drink with every meal. I am not sure though since I put in for one person eating at Tangierine Cafe and Homecoming and it was over $90 for 1 day.
I just did the same thing as you do we could compare notes. $47 for chef art smiths for only a drink and an entree must include an adult beverage even though it isn’t specifically listed? I just realized you can click the arrow and see the breakdown.
So, our family of 7 (DH and I, 3 kids (10, 9 and 4) and my parents) purchased the DDP mostly out of convenience. It also because we all love to eat. I’ve attached a screen of my dining plan breakdown (that a lovely forum member provided the link to earlier in this thread) and was pleasantly surprised that we actually might “save money” (although, not totally convinced be cause we are not a soda drinking family so the cost of the refillable mugs is questionable for us). We will likely share a bunch of QS meals for lunch, so we may have additional credits for shareable bounty platters for QS breakfast. Once again, the savings are not substantial, but we are meat eaters and love steak and seafood, so we will most likely always be ordering the most expensive dishes at TS meals.
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From what I can gather, for you the DDP will make sense if all the adults get an adult beverage at each of these meals and the kids get a more expensive drink like a shake or something…
Random thoughts in no particular order:
Start getting more granular with which things you’ll be able to share at the QS. You’re thinking about it right. I hear so many stories about folks not understanding how much food they are getting into, and being stuffed silly with credits leftover (lost money.)
It’s not for everyone, and it’s not designed for Walt to LOSE money, but if it works in your favor, then run with it. If you don’t drink soda, be careful with the costs there. Really start researching those qs meals, some of them are massive. Walking in the heat, and going on rides, and having snacks…those meals can just be huge. Good Luck!
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I totally agree with you. I heard Flame tree bbq at AK is great for sharing,and I hope to get some good value out of the snack credits (like dole whip on top of pineapple upside down cake-yum)!!!
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We did our calculations based on current pricing, detailing out each place we’d likely eat, what we’d eat, including snacks and mugs, drinks, etc. We didn’t leave out anything, including tax and tip.
For us, using the DP would cost us a couple hundred dollars more. The DDP would cost several hundred dollars more. And that doesn’t include tip, which isn’t included in the DP/DDP.
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I’d say that the FULL SLAB meal at Flame Tree would be good for three ppl to share, and not be stuffed silly. Not sure if that is an option. I ordered it, and obviously got a half slab. I took it back to the side window, and the lady gave me another half slab without even really questioning anything, plus 4 paper fastpasses. It’s almost as if she was expecting it.
The Fajita Platter at Pecos Bill’s is easily enough for two ppl, but you really have to like salt.