DDP but which to pay OOP?

[Karpkg]

With CRT being 2 TS, which one below would be good to pay OOP? And if CRT is the best for OOP, I was thinking of Biergarten, Les Chefs de France or Tutto Italia for a TS lunch while at Epcot. Which would you choose and why? (better bang for buck or excellent food)

September 18th---Cinderella's Royal Table at 5:30pm
September 19th---Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater at 5:20pm
September 20th---Hollywood & Vine at 5:00pm
September 21st---Liberty Tree Tavern at 4:50pm
September 22nd--Donald's Safari Breakfast at Tusker House at 8:05am
September 23rd---Crystal Palace at 11:30am
September 24th---Le Cellier at 5:35pm

[Andrea73]

For my trip I have looked at the cost of the TS places and picked the least expensive for my OOP. For me, it's CP breakfast. Remember that CRT includes gratuity. For me it ended up being, $176.72 so in my mind since it's 2DDP any meal that was less than $88.36 including tax & tip would be better off OOP. If I was estimating my other meals to all cost more that $88.36 with tax/tip, I would pay CRT OOP.

It's easy to get a cost estimate for the buffets, for Sci-Fi, look at the menu and take a guess at what your family would order.

[Nadjalu]

Personally I think it is cheaper to pay OOP for a TS breakfast buffet than to pay for a dinner TS or CRT.
Breakfasts are usually the cheapest of any of the meals and if you have DDP or dining credits, paying OOP for it and saving the TS credit to be used later or on a 2 TS meal is what I think is the cheapest way to go.

[PictureJumpr]

If it was me, I'd plan on paying Sci-Fi oop.

Reason being, while the price for adult entree-drink combinations is going to be similar to what you'd pay for an adult at the character breakfast buffets, the kid's meals at sci-fi are $7.49 - less than a child's character breakfast buffet. Assuming you plan to order two mid-range adult entrees, two adult non-alcoholic beverages, two kid's meals, and maybe a dessert for the adults to share (dessert for kids comes with the meal), your total with tax is going to be somewhere in the range of $62-65 after taxes.

[disneybliss2]

Look on allears and pull up the current menus and prices. You'll be able to see which is the cheapest and plan accordingly. My guess would be Sci-Fi or Crystal Palace breakfast to be the cheapest so you'd want to pay for that one oop.

[StuckInKS]

I did the same thing as first PP and added up the cost of CRT/2 (for us it is $220/2 is $110) and it ended up still being one of our highest $$$ per credit meals. Definately worth 2TS for us, even though the general consensus is to pay OOP for it since it does cost 2TS. Le Celliar came in first at $115. Our cheapest will be Plaza, followed by Sci-Fi and CP breakfast. From your list I am guessing you cheapest will be Sci-Fi, but you may need to go through the menus and see what you will order.

[amshowers]

CP and Tusker house breakfast will cost about 64.00 each for the 4 of you including tax but not tip. I would look at menu prices for Sci-fi as it may be cheaper oop if you don't do milkshakes and desserts,but those are included in the ddp.

[MerissaAndMomLoveDis]

On our last trip I faced the same dilemma. We ate at many of the same restaurants you have chosen. After comparing costs of what we would likely order/be charged, I decided to pay out of pocket for Sci Fi and Chefs de France. However, we were there during a time when they added the extra $4surcharges for peak season to the buffets, so our buffets might have been more expensive than yours will cost. We did not eat at Crystal Palace, but I remember that Tusker House breakfast was the third cheapest meal in the breakdown. Hope that helps! :goodvibes

[bcuinohio]

Sci Fi is probably going to be your cheapest meal. They will let you order sandwiches at dinnertime. We got burgers and it was by far our cheapest TS meal. I paid OOP since HDDR was a double credit.

[Karpkg]

Wow, you guys are great! Your answers definitely allowed me to narrow down how to approach this; I automatically was assuming I would have to pay CRT OOP but now I'll crunch numbers on the menus prices 1st starting with CP and Tusker House breakfasts as well as Sci Fi. :thumbsup2

[IckyMickey]

Great choices!

When we went to Tusker House for breakfast the week of Thanksgiving the cost was $24.99 / adult and $13.99 / child. So your breakfast would be around $80.00 plus tip.

We paid OOP for lunch at Sci-Fi and it came to $60 for 3 adult meals (burgers and a reuben) and 1 kid's meal with no desserts except what was included in the kid's meals. If I were to make the decision, I'd pay Sci-Fi OOP!