Reply to How far in advance can you book a Disney vacation?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The meal plan has never made sense for my family because our normal eating patterns don't match what it provides. To "come out ahead," you need to either be having a lot of fixed-price meals with kids or always be ordering the most expensive entree, making use of the included beverage, having dessert with your meal, etc. And you'll have to do a lot of keeping track of how best to maximize your credits. I drink water at meals, so no use for the included paid beverage. I usually prefer to have my dessert later, from a different source, rather than being limited to what's offered where I'm having my meal. I don't eat meat and I'm not a huge eater, so I am usually happier with one of the less expensive entrees, or with two appetizers, than with the most expensive entree options. And if we're talking about the Deluxe plan or higher, it's SO MUCH FOOD. I can't imagine having multiple sit-down meals per day for every day of my trip. And don't forget, you still need to tip (for table service meals) - you're not actually done with meal expenses after paying for the meal plan.
I order what I want, when I want, and spend zero time tracking credits or strategizing how I'm allowed to spend them. As a result I would skip the meal plan even if that cost me money, but when I've bothered with the comparison skipping the meal plan has always *saved* me money. So I'm definitely not going to spend more just to add complication to my trip.[/quote]

+1.  I always keep track of what we spend on food and it always comes out a little less than the dining plan.  There are two big exceptions to this, though -- one is that, just earlier this year, they changed the dining plan.  It is now somewhat better than it was, so it may change that calculation.  Two is that sometimes they run specials on the dining plan.  One year, we decided to take the free dining plan instead of the 25% off room rate.  I did the math and we definitely saved a lot more by taking the free dining plan versus 25% off one room.
One other thing to think about, if you want to splurge on the room, is whether you want to stay club level.  If you are staying someplace near the parks, you get a ton of free food with club level.  One time we stayed club level because I got a good deal on the room, and we barely spent anything on food.  We ate a big free breakfast, would have something at the parks for lunch, someone usually went back to hotel for a rest and would pick up some snacks for the afternoon, and then we got free dinner, dessert and drinks again at the hotel.  (It's not technically free dinner, but it is heavy appetizers, including things like fruit trays, chicken fingers, meatballs, vegetable trays, cheese, etc., so it was basically all we wanted for dinner.)  [/quote]

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