I recently went to WDW. As Table service restaurants keep getting higher and higher in price mainly because of add characters to each venue, I have strarted to look into meal plans. Firguring about $200 a day for the two of us, ($120 table service dinner, lunch about $40, Snacks like soda ), is it worth buying a meal plan. Now because I am a AP holder I buy room only resort reservations. Though you can now get a meal plan especilly Quick service plan, not table service, it is not so with a standard room only reservation. You must change the room only reservation to a package plan listed with no tickets. Say what! Yes, this way you loss any AP resort discounts you my have like the previous 35% spring Discount for POP. Disney sure has a way around savings. So in my case after saving about $1287 spring discount on POP I would be a idiot to chance to a no ticket package deal. Now I was going to look to see the price of a table service plan, but unless I change to a said package I can’t even get the price for the plan to see if I would have saved money over pay as you go. Like I said with haveing to change my room only to a no ticket package makes it unreasonable to change so once again Disney is carving away at the value of your AP.
So if you ask Disney to change your room-only booking to a ticketless package you lose the AP discount?
Did a CM tell you that? If not, I’d call. And actually even if they did maybe call the AP helpline to check.
Paging @OBNurseNH for a TA perspective. Do you know if that’s true?
This should definitely not happen. Though you may need to call to get this done
I’m not an AP holder but it didn’t sound right to me either.
And I always thought you had to call too.
It’s been several years since I ran the math, but purchasing any meal plan has never saved money. It saved money only when offered “free” as part of a package AND the value of the meals was greater than the lost discount.
It can save money.
If you do character meals it’s worth checking the sums.
We went on a multi split stay. On one 3-night weekend, the combination of meals we had already booked came to more than the cost of the DDP. The other days it didn’t.
And now that alcohol is included even for QS meals, the sums may change.
Whilst true it won’t always save money, it isn’t true to say it never saves money for some.
On The Main Street Dish Becky of TouringPlans fame discussed this at length. She did feel that it is rare, but possible, to save money. But the vast majority of the “benefit” should be viewed from a convenience standpoint and not with a goal of cost savings.
Rare, but possible. And the conversation did include exactly what you said - couple of kids and a bunch of character meals will help to tip the scales
We didn’t have “Disney kids”. But over the 3 days we had BOG breakfast (QS), O’hana breakfast, Chef Mickey, Hollywood & Vine and a couple of other “ordinary” TS.
So mostly fixed price 1 credit meals.
The following weekend when we did HDDR and others, it didn’t work to save money.
I realize this topic is discussed somewhat regularly…but…I have found that FOR US, the meal plans have never come even CLOSE to being worth it. By a long shot. And, as I’ve said before, Disney doesn’t offer something where they don’t think they won’t benefit ON AVERAGE. It is like a casino. You CAN come away a winner, but on average, the casino always makes out!
The question becomes a matter of whether it is worth paying for the “experience” of not having to worry about “paying” for your food. The answer to that one is always personal. Again, for us, it is actually WORSE to use the meal plan, because you are now tied to certain types of meals, and playing “games” to determine when it makes sense to use a snack credit, etc. When I pay out of pocket, I can eat whatever I want whenever I want. So, again FOR US, I can find no value in the meal plan. I pre-pay for our trip meals anyhow, in a sense, by having paid for meals with gift cards and rewards cards. In the end, more convenient and costs us less. Win win for us.
YMMV
I liked the ease of use back before Covid, but it came with 2 snacks and we used the deluxe DP which was an appetizer, entree, and dessert, along with alcohol.
However, the new ones offer less, and my dietary restrictions are much greater. I don’t think it’s worth it to us anymore. If I can get an AP discount on TS, and use discounted gift cards, I think I’m better off.
I actually Googled Meal plans and with the information I obtained this is what was stated. You most have a package of some type in order to get a table service meal plan. It was explained that Room only Meal plans could only be done if converted to a package plan with no ticket option. Once converted you are no longer eligible for a room only AP spring discount.
That is the only way to get it done. Accordingly, you must convert using a Disney Rep. No online conversion.
Yes, I agree, and in the past it has never been worth it for I and my wife. I am still not sure if it is as I have no meal plan numbers. With most restaurant now have character interaction, the prices have jumped way up. Two restaurants I know of, don’t honor a AP discount. France and Tapan Edo.
agreed
From a convenience stand point one would think that is the case, but look farther. You can attach a credit card for charge on your account and this allows you to use your magic band for payment just like a meal plan would. You get a bill for these charges at the end of your stay or rather a credit card charge statement.
Yes, I know what you mean and I agree. It is also easy to buy prepaid gift card and save a couple of bucks at Sam’s club. I use the gift cards to pay most of the bill and charge the rest to Discover card which allows me to include the tip. Keeps us from having to carry tip money.
That could be from AI or PlanDisney or any other source, and could be wrong.
In one aspect it’s 100% incorrect, since any DVC reservation can have a dining plan added.
The ticketless package part is right. The rest might be, or might not be. The only way to know for sure is to call and ask. That is also the only way to convert a room-only to a ticketless package. But that is just terminology, it doesn’t change the reservation number.
When we were a young family we had very little extra money. Which meant we had to pay attention to every penny. And I never wanted to do that on vacation. I wanted to completely forget real life. So while it probably wasn’t the very least expensive way to do it, we bought the meal plan. Because then everything was paid for before we even got there. And that helped us to enjoy things more.
That’s the convenience I’m talking about. You don’t have to agree.
Absolutely this.
I do agree as we did the same for many years. Back then the plans at least seemed to be worth it. Now a day you need to have that Don’t care about the cost attitude because the cost is way more than most people can afford at a young age