LIVE blog - The Dining Plan: How's It Going?

Good afternoon from sunny (and HOT!) Orlando!

If you remember, back when I was talking about this vacation and Free Dining, I said I would report back and let you know how the Dining plan worked out.  Meaning, in terms of dollars and cents, would you save money by choosing the Dining plan?

Of course, the Dining package was Free (I booked a Free Dining room and ticket package) but for the sake of reporting, let's assume I paid the $60.64 per adult, per day rate for the regular Dining plan. As a reminder, this gives you, for each night of your stay, one snack, one counter service meal and one table service meal.  You also get a refillable mug to use at your resort for coffee, soda and tea. So, in total, I would have paid $242.56 for the dining plan.

Also, I am ordering what I would have ordered regardless of whether I had the Dining plan or not. Meaning - if I want to order the pasta or the steak or the salad, etc, I will - vs looking at the menu and saying "This pasta costs $15 and this steak costs $30 so I am going to get the steak." This is not a wrong way to do the Dining Plan, by any means - in fact, it gets the most bang for your buck - but since I am comparing apples to apples, I wanted to order what I would have, had I paid out of pocket.

I am also committed to not spending any additional money on food, above and beyond the Dining plan. I will report on this as well, and let you know how it works out.  I know it can be done, with a little creativity, and so I'm anxious to try out my "strategy".

So that I don't have a monster-huge post when I get home, I am going to check in every day and give you the lowdown on Dining from the previous day.  I'll let you know what I ordered and how the total for the day compared to the $60.64 per day price of the Dining plan.  I'll also keep you posted on how many snack, counter and table service credits I've used, and how many I have remaining. At the conclusion of the trip, I'll give a grand total and we'll have a final discussion.

Since tips for your servers are not included in the Dining plan, I am not going to report what I spent on those, as I would be paying them regardless of having the Dining plan or not.

I will report on Tuesday what credits I have used so far, and what the dollar value of those items were compared to the Dining Plan.

In the meantime, have a wonderful afternoon and I'll see ya back here tomorrow!