Can anyone tell me if the Disney dining plan is worth the money and do you have to pay for tips.

You do have to pay for tips yourself. Tips used to be included when the plan first started, but the policy was recently changed.

As far as whether or not the plan is worth the money -- well, you'll get a 50/50 split among most people.

However, for families that like to eat and dine in different restaurants, then yes, it is worth it.

I think there are different "levels" of the dining plan, so you have to see which appeals most to you.

They changed the plan for 2008 and now you do have to pay for tips.

The basic plan covers (per day) a snack, counter service meal and a table service meal. The table service meal covers a non alcoholic drink, entree and dessert. It doesn't include an appetizer anymore.

I think the best way to figure if it is worth it is to look at the restaurant menus, figure what you would order and see how the out of pocket cost compares to the daily rate of having the plan.

If you have members of your family that are light eaters, it may not be worth it since everyone in your party must have the plan and not just some of you.

You probably also should consider what your "touring style" is at the parks. If you don't want to take a couple hours each day to sit down in a restaurant to eat, then the plan probably isn't a great idea.

Go to www.disboards.com and read the forum on the dining plan - probably answers every question you can think of.

We went to Disneyworld last fall when they were doing a promotion where the Disney Dining Plan was free. So, is it worth it? It certainly was for me!

But, I think it will depend. If you are staying on property (as I see you are from your other post) and don't have a car, you are likely to eat on property, too. In that case, it is likely very worth it. Wait until you see the prices at the restaurants!

We used our snack credits for breakfast most days (used the snack for a bagel at the Kona coffee bar in the Polynesian and sprung for the coffee ourselves). Then we used the counter service meal for lunch in the park. We used the waitress service meal for dinner at a nicer restaurant in either Epcot or one of the hotels. I think we only ended up paying for 1 or 2 meals ourselves for the entire week. In addition to tips, you have to pay for alcohol (although there is no alcohol in the Magic Kingdom -- so if you're dining there, that won't be an issue).

HTH.

Most often you do have to pay the 'tipping' - however a disney dining plan doesn't work for our family because a few of us eat light, so it's not worth it on our end. I know on some disney web sites there are chat boards you might want to look into asking the question there? Big disney fan on those boards.
http://www.disney-vacation-hotels.com/