2012 dining plan...I don't think so!

[supersuperwendy]

I just checked the prices on the member site. I guess TiW it shall be again for 2012. $51.54 ...yeah right! that's $1803.90 for my family for our stay next June. NOWAY could my kids eat $51 worth of food in one day!

 

[Doug7856]

I just checked the prices on the member site. I guess TiW it shall be again for 2012. $51.54 ...yeah right! that's $1803.90 for my family for our stay next June. NOWAY could my kids eat $51 worth of food in one day!

My son turns 10 during our December trip. We have to beg him to eat and Disney want to charge us $51.54 for the dining plan...Not gonna happen! TIW for us too (and I guess no buffet meals -- we're going to miss O'hana).

 

[supersuperwendy]

We have 4 kids... this year the older three are all over age 10

At least we have another 8 years until the baby pays adult price!

 

[twinklebug]

I just checked the prices on the member site. I guess TiW it shall be again for 2012. $51.54 ...yeah right! that's $1803.90 for my family for our stay next June. NOWAY could my kids eat $51 worth of food in one day!

Don't fret, for us DDP never seemed to be such a great deal from the start. Unless your family tends to order the most expensive items on the menus and they can stomach all the food in one sitting, you'll probably find a $10-$30 savings per person per day by going a la carte/'cash' per person over the DDP.

I just did a spreadsheet comparison with the places we plan on eating, prices for what the kids and I would choose (including drinks, tip and tax) adding on the occasional mickey bar, smoothie etc and was amazed to see we'll save $500 or more over DDP even before the TIW card for just the 3 of us.

 

[suemom2kay]

We just got back from 10 days and used the TiW card. DDP (regular not deluxe) would have cost ~1500 for our family of 3. I bought $1500 worth of Disney Gift cards. Even with including tip and the occasional cocktail on the cards, we had about $500 left over by the end of our trip and believe me we had many enjoyable meals and NO ONE went hungry. We felt we ate plenty, sometimes ordered dessert, sometimes didn't. Sometimes shared an entree or ordered an appetizer. I ordered an appetizer for 2 (that I ate all by myself LOL) at the Wave and it was DE-LI-CIOUS! Would not have been able to do that on the DDP. Unfortunatley, the DDP is no longer much of a savings but the TiW is worth the money IMHO. I really enjoyed the freedom of ordering what we want and not having to look for those purple symbols!

 

[quirty30]

Our AP's just expired and I'm not renewing. We've really been cutting down on park time our last few visits, so we're going to 10 day non-expiring water parks and more tickets when we visit in December (cost defrayed slightly by the 2 days tickets we got earlier this month on a free dining trip.)

I have 2 kids, 10 and 13. They did very well on the free dining ordering off the adult menus. But more often than not, DS13 would prefer a hamburger over anything else on the menu. When you're paying over $50 a day for him to eat, well, let's just say I can't see it being a good value. And no more TiW for us without an AP. Since mugs will be included on DDP in 2012, maybe we can make it up in soda - lol. I really don't need my kids drinking unlimited soda, even if we are at the resorts more!

I think we will just forego the DDP next year.

 

[Sandisw]

I just checked the prices on the member site. I guess TiW it shall be again for 2012. $51.54 ...yeah right! that's $1803.90 for my family for our stay next June. NOWAY could my kids eat $51 worth of food in one day!

The more the price get raised, the harder it is to see value in using the DDP, especially now that the whole segmenting ability has been discontinued.

There certainly are some options in restaurants that could make it a contender, but for those with TIW cards, I just can't see it being of any value.

We bought TIW last summer and used it for the days we did not have the dining plan. Because our group was so big, the cost of it was paid--so, everything we save in February and next August is icing on the cake, and like you, just can't justify doing the whole dining plan.

 

[TLPL]

I don't think the dining plan worth it for us, we usually eat breakfast in our villa, and we don't eat dessert with every meal, we perfer to drink water, and my DH doesn't even eat meat. Paying cash and eating at places that we can get discount is the better way to go (at least to us).

 

[Dean]

I just checked the prices on the member site. I guess TiW it shall be again for 2012. $51.54 ...yeah right! that's $1803.90 for my family for our stay next June. NOWAY could my kids eat $51 worth of food in one day!

Obviously you know the specifics of your trips and habits but it is possible for the adults to use the credits and pay OOP for the kids meals or sides. Certainly every change for the negative moves a certain number of people from the plus to the minus column for the various DP options.

My son turns 10 during our December trip. We have to beg him to eat and Disney want to charge us $51.54 for the dining plan...Not gonna happen! TIW for us too (and I guess no buffet meals -- we're going to miss O'hana).

My understanding was that Disney considered them the same age for the entire trip they were at day 1. So if one turns 10 during the trip, it should be the child's price as I understand it.

 

[Doug7856]

My understanding was that Disney considered them the same age for the entire trip they were at day 1. So if one turns 10 during the trip, it should be the child's price as I understand it.

Good to know!

 

[artesian]

All the PP nailed what I've said for years. I just don't see the value in the DDP. You get way more than you can normally eat and with the quality imo of the food going down it's never on my radar anymore. We stick to the plan of doing a meal in the park a day and the other is either off site or back at our room

 

[DebbieB]

Last time I bought the dining plan was in 2006 when I took my then 12 year old niece. I had a character meal scheduled everyday and it seemed worth it (especially when tips were included). Only problem is she ate like a bird and I regretted it. She mostly ate mac & cheese & chicken fingers. Should have just done 1 or 2 character meals for the experience and not do the dining plan.

 

[peabody58]

Please stop telling everyone how great the TIW card is. Disney has trolls on these boards and at this rate, they will figure out how to ruin one of the best things out there. So xsnay on the TIW!

 

[sandieb]

While I love WDW and my DVC membership, the whole food thing is getting pretty depressing. The food choices have narrowed, the quality is sometimes lacking, and the price of DDP and out of pocket have really risen. Our last trip was for 10 days, and we ate dinner off site several times because we were tired of paying such high prices. We usually ate lunches in the parks and it was around $50 for 2 adults and 3 children. Our dinner at Cape May Buffet was $175 dollars. Disney is pricing itself out of the average person's ability to pay no matter what the plan!

 

[Doug7856]

While I love WDW and my DVC membership, the whole food thing is getting pretty depressing. The food choices have narrowed, the quality is sometimes lacking, and the price of DDP and out of pocket have really risen. Our last trip was for 10 days, and we ate dinner off site several times because we were tired of paying such high prices. We usually ate lunches in the parks and it was around $50 for 2 adults and 3 children. Our dinner at Cape May Buffet was $175 dollars. Disney is pricing itself out of the average person's ability to pay no matter what the plan!

I agree! Since we are DVC, we're eating in our villa a lot more. I bought a week's worth of groceries for our last visit that were just a bit more than out total check for one meal at O'hana.

 

[edk35]

I tell you I agree that Disney's food is getting very expensive. Recently I looked at the prices for some of the buffets and sit down restaurants on the ALL EARS website and it is getting ridiculous. We have never done the dining plan except the quick service once when we did a split stay and it was for only 2 nights and it was ONLY for our 3 kids who were in the connecting room. We just wanted to try it for them. I think the price per day NOW is just too high in my opinion. We have never been the type to do a sit down every day for dinner. Plus we do like to do the occasional lunch sit down and then of course I would feel like I was not getting my money's worth if I was on the DDP.

We had Annual Passes once and got the TIW card and I think that is the better deal.

I heard the DDP was really worth it when you could get the appetizer and the tip was included.

 

[momof3poohlovers]

We have actually decided not to use the DDP this trip for the first time in many years. The first reason is we have a DD in college who will only be with us for 3 of 8 nights and there is no way we will be able to use all of her extra credits. We were going to just get the dining plan for 4 of the nights but they won't let you segment anymore. My fault for waiting so long to add the DDP.

The other reason is my DS is 13 and due to surgery on his stomach, it is smaller than normal. He eats very little so to pay $47 a day is a waste of money. We are going to be doing a few of our favorite Disney restaurants but are renting a car this trip and are going to try some off-site restaurant.

I feel as though Disney has finally priced me out of eating on-site for the most part. Unless there are some DVC discounts in the future which I don't see happening, I think I see a lot of eating off-site in our future.

 

[quirty30]

I just wish they would make TiW available to DVC members. Now that we're not renewing our AP's, our only discounts are minimal.

 

[jupers]

Jumping in on this...I've always been a fan of the dining plan because we do lots of character meals and sit downs. However, I have 2 trips planned...1 is just mom and I so I'm going to try buying the gift cards and see how it works out, the other trip my inlaws really want the pay ahead benefit so we'll do it since my kids are under 10 and we'll want mugs too. But I'm curious to see. The first year we got the DDP tip and apps were included!

 

[edk35]

I just wish they would make TiW available to DVC members. Now that we're not renewing our AP's, our only discounts are minimal.

I do too!!!