10day pass vs AP - DDE vs meal plan

[newholidayx2]

which is more cost efficient?
we're staying 5nights at pop, 3nights at wl before our 6night BCV stay
now im thinking of the 10day exp non-hopping pass - if 1 of us gets an ap and the other a 10day exp non-hopper it would cut down on whats avail for the ap holder but id use that ap for the dining card (and maybe another trip within the yr)
thinking we'd be spending at least $35/day on food - i realize we'd only get the meal plan for those first 8nights - (1) ap would cover disc for both of us - what covers more places to eat? the ap or the dining plan?

what would you do?

 

[CapeCodFam]

This is explained fairly well in this Mouseplanet article:

http://www.mouseplanet.com/mike/ms050204.htm


I think one would get a better deal with the meal plan. But, that is not availabale on a DVC stay. If you can do better than break-even on the DDE card for the DVC stay, you may want to get it too.

 

[CarolMN]

I would choose the DDE.

Let's assume there are 2 of you and you each spend $35/day on food. That's $70/day for 14 days or $980 on food. If you always ate at one of the restaurants that accept DDE, you would save 20% of that - $196. If you subtract the cost of the card ($50 for AP holders), that is a savings of $146.

As already mentioned, you cannot get the Dining plan for your stay at BCV if you are staying on points. You could if you book BCV as part of a package for cash through WDWTC / CRO. (FWIW, there may be a problem getting the Dining Plan at more than the first resort of a multi-resort trip. It is only available with a package (room plus ticket), so I don't know if your plan to get the 10 day MYW would work with more than one resort - you might have to buy at least a 1 day ticket at each resort to get the dining plan. There is /might be an issue with overlapping days for the dining plan, too).

Anyway, assuming you could get the dining plan for your entire stay, you would spend $980. So the question becomes - would you or could you (or would you want to) eat enough food on the daily plan to make up for the $146 you could save with the DDE card? Actually, you'd still be spending $146 more than with the DDE card, but if you are really big eaters, at least you could say you got a lot more food for the extra $146 you spent.

Again, for me the dining card wins - I don't have to eat a whole bunch at one meal (entree, non-alcoholic drink, appetizer and dessert) to "get my money's worth". The DDE also includes alcoholic drinks and is good at all the EPCOT WS table restaruants. The MYW dining plan doesn't cover very many WS restaurants and requires 2 options for some of those it does.(LeCellier) .

If you do take another trip before the DDE expires, you can continue to use it and save more. And I don't think you can get the Dining plan for all of your days, so you' d be paying for food for at least the last 6 nights.

JMHO. YMMV.

Best wishes -