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

[xipetotec]

I don't usderstand why some people think they can "get their money's worth" with the DDP. They are comparing DDP cost with the Disney World restaurant menu prices. instead of spending (for example) $70 per person per day in Disney World, they spent $50 per person per day in Disney World with DDP. They think they saved $20, but at the end of the day, they still spent $50 for food per day each day of their vacation in Disney World. Who would eat $50 worth of food a day everyday and think it is good value? Really?
With Disney paring down the menus and cheapening quality of the food, the question should be: Does it worth it to spend $50 per day per person everyday of your entire trip? How much does it cost to have the same quality of food off property / or cook in your villa?

Well sure, but in our case, we like to just stay on property. And so it is relevant for us to just compare cost vs value like that.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

I don't usderstand why some people think they can "get their money's worth" with the DDP. They are comparing DDP cost with the Disney World restaurant menu prices. instead of spending (for example) $70 per person per day in Disney World, they spent $50 per person per day in Disney World with DDP. They think they saved $20, but at the end of the day, they still spent $50 for food per day each day of their vacation in Disney World. Who would eat $50 worth of food a day everyday and think it is good value? Really?
With Disney paring down the menus and cheapening quality of the food, the question should be: Does it worth it to spend $50 per day per person everyday of your entire trip? How much does it cost to have the same quality of food off property / or cook in your villa?

I enjoy the atmosphere and theme of the Disney restaurants. For us, our dinners are the highlight of the trip. It's a social event, often with wine or other adult beverages. It also is a way to see the other hotel resorts (and for the wife to browse their gift shops [although in recent years that has been a dud]).
Quite frankly, I don't need to travel to WDW to get the chain restaurants found on I-Drive.

Disney dumbing down the food because of the DDP is a whole 'nother thread...

One could make the same argument related to staying on property. If you don't value eating at the Disney restaurants, have car access and want to spend the time to access the off property options; that may be a good fit for some. We prefer eating out on vacation other than we'll do light in the room for breakfast and we enjoy the atmosphere of the Disney related restaurants even though we always have a car and don't mind using it. However, your point relates to one I've made many times, that there is savings and there is value. Savings is compared to what you would have spent, value is what you get as extra that you would not have gotten otherwise.

It doesn't happen every day, but I completely agree with you on this.

MG

 

[dansamy]

I don't really care if someone decides to get the plan and it costs them more, I do care that they have the info to make the decisions that are best in their situation.

And everyone needs to make their decision based on their eating habits. For us, we're staying in the parks for lunch and usually dinner as well. At the prices of park food, the F&W booth snacks and our own eating habits, the QSDP is a tad bit better of a deal for us than paying OOP. If I didn't have boys that would actually eat all of that food, it probably wouldn't be. It also helps that, while I don't need new mugs, I want new mugs because I like the new designs! Since they're included in the QSDP, I can account for their value when I run the numbers, since I'm going to buy them either with or without the plan. If I subtracted out the amount for the mugs and the F&W snacks I want to eat, I need to only spend ~$9-10 per CS credit to be even. Anything above that is savings. I plan to keep my receipts and see how I do this trip. I know my boys will pack away those $9 burgers with $3 drinks and $3 desserts. My DD and I usually bring the dessert back to the room and have it for a snack later (or one of the boys will beat us to it )!

 

[Dean]

It doesn't happen every day, but I completely agree with you on this.

MG

I'm glad to give you a chance to be on the right side once in a while.

And everyone needs to make their decision based on their eating habits. For us, we're staying in the parks for lunch and usually dinner as well. At the prices of park food, the F&W booth snacks and our own eating habits, the QSDP is a tad bit better of a deal for us than paying OOP. If I didn't have boys that would actually eat all of that food, it probably wouldn't be. It also helps that, while I don't need new mugs, I want new mugs because I like the new designs! Since they're included in the QSDP, I can account for their value when I run the numbers, since I'm going to buy them either with or without the plan. If I subtracted out the amount for the mugs and the F&W snacks I want to eat, I need to only spend ~$9-10 per CS credit to be even. Anything above that is savings. I plan to keep my receipts and see how I do this trip. I know my boys will pack away those $9 burgers with $3 drinks and $3 desserts. My DD and I usually bring the dessert back to the room and have it for a snack later (or one of the boys will beat us to it )!

Your choice of course, my opinion is that the risks of the DP (all versions) are too great to make them a reasonable choice for very limited savings.

 

[Disjunky]

im gonna try to post a thread later but i just was bored.
sat down adn wen rhrough my dining plan and worote down what i will eat. prices and meal, then i took the cost of everything. factored in an average cost ofwhat 2 snacks will cost.

after eating a character bfast daily, saving my lunch point for signature dinners every night, and ordering the most expensive things on every menu, i save $165 dollars for the week. if i order the cheapest stuff from the menu's, i still save 60 bucks for the week. I thought it may be more savings but hey, it saves to do it that way.

btw, tonight ill be factoring in counter service or non signature dinding. anyone wanna bet i still save money.

 

[edk35]

im gonna try to post a thread later but i just was bored.
sat down adn wen rhrough my dining plan and worote down what i will eat. prices and meal, then i took the cost of everything. factored in an average cost ofwhat 2 snacks will cost.

after eating a character bfast daily, saving my lunch point for signature dinners every night, and ordering the most expensive things on every menu, i save $165 dollars for the week. if i order the cheapest stuff from the menu's, i still save 60 bucks for the week. I thought it may be more savings but hey, it saves to do it that way.

btw, tonight ill be factoring in counter service or non signature dinding. anyone wanna bet i still save money.

Are you saying that you come out that much by NOT doing the plans??

 

[Disjunky]

Nope. thats on delux dinibg plan. 3 table service per day plus 2 snacks

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Nope. thats on delux dinibg plan. 3 table service per day plus 2 snacks

Does that include a weight loss surgery or gym membership after the stay

 

[quirty30]

We are TIW people, and have never used DDP. Seeing as though TIW covers booze, we save over $1000 a year using TIW.
Now, I realize we could use the DDP and the TIW for alcohol, but I absolutely HATE being, or feeling restricted in any way. The DDP is too structured for us.
MG

It's also a bit confusing when they have to break out the checks. Always confuses the heck out of me (especially after a day out in the sun at the parks and a couple of glasses of wine.)

Does that include a weight loss surgery or gym membership after the stay

LOL - I am not a small person by any stretch of the imagination. I have a healthy appetite. But I don't know how anyone can do DxDP for more than a couple of nights, and really get value out of it. We tried it once when we could segment, so we did no plan night 1, DxDP nights 2/3, and no plan night 4. Added a few meals out of pocket and we were set. If I ate like that every day, I'd weigh 500 lbs. Honestly, the regular DDP suits us for the most part, but I still think it encourages us to eat too much. It's why I love TiW and am so disappointed that we can't get it now since our AP's have expired.