2015 Real life example OOP vs DDP

[MikeandReneePlus5]

In 2013 I tracked everything and came out $503 ahead by not using the DDP.

Here are my 2015 results:

Meal plan cost 7 Disney adults, 7 nights, $64.04 = $2,971
Tips on meals we ate = $404
Alcohol at meals we ate = $215
Meals in excess of the 49 credits = $435
Snacks and Counter Service in excess of the 49 credits (each) = $320

Total if on DDP = $4,345

Total Actual Spend on TS meals = $2,772
Total Actual Spend on CS and Snacks = $1,153

Total Actual Spend = $3,925

Savings by forgoing meal plan = $420.

The $420 is conservative because there are definitely items within the actual spend that would not have qualified as DDP covered expenses but I just assumed the whole meal would have been covered by credits.

We ate at:

BOG - 7 assumed credits
Akershus Breakfast - 7
Tokyo Dining - 7
Boma - 7
Whisp. Canyon Bfast - assumed OOP
Cali Grill - 14
Spice road - 7
Rebel Hangar - assumed OOP, not on DDP
Via Napoli - assumed OOP

Counter service was a lot of Roaring Forks, various Epcot kiosks, Sleepy Hollow, Columbia Harbor House, Casey's, Starring Rolls and a few others I am forgetting.

All of this is food for thought (see what I did there? ). As most know, there is no definitive right answer. Sometimes it works for you, sometimes it doesn't.

We enjoyed not having to think about it at all. We ate whatever we wanted, whenever wanted. Sometimes we got apps, sometimes not, sometimes we shared, sometimes not, sometimes we got dessert, sometimes not, etc etc.

Best of luck if you are making the decision on whether or not to get the DDP, either way I hope you save $.

 

[Mikie]

Thanks for the analysis. I like the number-crunching. My family came out ahead on the dining plan, but calculating is pretty subjective. When I price out what we actually ate at menu prices compared to what our DDP cost was (plus tips, alcohol and a few extra items oop) we saved $429 for 3 Disney adults and 2 kids.

BUT we did eat at different places and maybe order different things than we would have otherwise. We aren't at the extreme where some people say they eat "totally different" on the DDP and we did LIKE everything we did for meals; if not on it, I wouldn't feel the extreme pressure some people describe to nickel-and-dime myself either. Off the DDP, I would eat far fewer character buffets and probably discover some great other dining choices!

It would be interesting to see if I could really, really put on blinders to those painful checks at the end of the meal and totally eat however I wanted, splurges and all, and compare those totals to DDP.

 

[PRomano]

I was getting the dining plan for my next trip but finally decided against it. I hope to keep all my receipts to figure out if I made the right choice. We do not eat dessert with every meal, really hardly ever. I know if we had the plan I would feel we would need to get our money worth! Also, I just can't see my 10 year old eating that much food every day.

 

[PRomano]

Thank you for your post!!

 

[jtowntoflorida]

This is really cool! I think I'm going to go back and crunch the numbers for our December '14 trip and see how we came out.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

OK, here's what I came up (not tracked as closely as you, OP):

DDP Spend (2A, 2C, 7 nights, 2014 pricing): $1085.86
Tips if we would have used DDP (assumed 20% of all TS spend, except CRT since tip is included): $93.03
Total if on DDP: $1178.59

Actual spend:
TS: $714.45
CS + Snack: $534.82
Total: $1149.27

Our TS meals were CRT, Chef Mickey's, Sci Fi, Tusker House, H&V, Biergarten, and BOG. Counter service were a few Roaring Fork, and then Pinocchio Village Haus, Contempo Café, Columbia Harbor House, Pizza Planet, and Tortuga Tavern.

We did purchase TIW, so there is another $100 there. If you want to include the full price of that in this trip, you that would up our actual spend to $1249. However, we're taking three trips on that TIW card, so it will be more accurate to look at our total spend after all three trips are complete. But this just goes to show that in a case where the DDP supposedly "makes sense" (two kids, several character meals, including CRT and CM), it's really a break even proposition. For us, the out of pocket spend included only two mugs...my kids don't drink soda, and one only drinks milk and water, so the mugs are a waste for them. Also, in looking at our snacks, we only spent $56 on snacks, so at $4/snack, we likely only "spent" an equivalent of 14 snack credits, which means we would have had a whopping 14 credits left at the end of our trip!

Thanks, OP for posting this. Going through the exercise made me affirm that forgoing the DDP really makes sense for us. We're leaving for Disney Thursday, so I'll update with those numbers when we get home.

 

[jeepwreck]

I did a break down for our last trip too. 2 adults and this was in 2014 and we were on the deluxe dining plan and we made it work great for us and it would have cost us more to pay then to be on the DDP

 

[MikeandReneePlus5]

OK, here's what I came up (not tracked as closely as you, OP):

DDP Spend (2A, 2C, 7 nights, 2014 pricing): $1085.86
Tips if we would have used DDP (assumed 20% of all TS spend, except CRT since tip is included): $93.03
Total if on DDP: $1178.59

Actual spend:
TS: $714.45
CS + Snack: $534.82
Total: $1149.27

Our TS meals were CRT, Chef Mickey's, Sci Fi, Tusker House, H&V, Biergarten, and BOG. Counter service were a few Roaring Fork, and then Pinocchio Village Haus, Contempo Café, Columbia Harbor House, Pizza Planet, and Tortuga Tavern.

We did purchase TIW, so there is another $100 there. If you want to include the full price of that in this trip, you that would up our actual spend to $1249. However, we're taking three trips on that TIW card, so it will be more accurate to look at our total spend after all three trips are complete. But this just goes to show that in a case where the DDP supposedly "makes sense" (two kids, several character meals, including CRT and CM), it's really a break even proposition. For us, the out of pocket spend included only two mugs...my kids don't drink soda, and one only drinks milk and water, so the mugs are a waste for them. Also, in looking at our snacks, we only spent $56 on snacks, so at $4/snack, we likely only "spent" an equivalent of 14 snack credits, which means we would have had a whopping 14 credits left at the end of our trip!

Thanks, OP for posting this. Going through the exercise made me affirm that forgoing the DDP really makes sense for us. We're leaving for Disney Thursday, so I'll update with those numbers when we get home.

Please do update...and enjoy your trip!

 

[MikeandReneePlus5]

It would be interesting to see if I could really, really put on blinders to those painful checks at the end of the meal and totally eat however I wanted, splurges and all, and compare those totals to DDP.

lol...yeah it can feel a little scary at first. Swiping the Magic Band to pay makes it easier and since we are a party of 7 the tip is always built in so there isn't much to do when the bill comes!

 

[Mikie]

lol...yeah it can feel a little scary at first. Swiping the Magic Band to pay makes it easier and since we are a party of 7 the tip is always built in so there isn't much to do when the bill comes!

That's a good point - my immediate family is 5, but we almost always add my sister when we do Disney, so 6 people means automatic tip and little time examining the check to do any calculations. And the MB does (as Disney intended) make it easier to pay without looking at the price tag.

Jtowntoflorida: that sure is an interesting result for a supposed "model family" for the DDP! I think there may be a small additional swing if I understood your calculations correctly because you added 20% to everything under DDP, but you wouldn't have tipped on CS meals or snacks. . . Even so, it would still be nearly break even with the slight tip toward the saving side. I don't know your kids' ages or appetites, but another savings for me was because my kids are close to Disney "adult", so they polish off their kid meal and come looking to finish mine, or add a dessert using a snack credit, or get a between meal snack that I don't need. We also can't get TIW and do use mugs for every person. . . It definitely goes to show that really no one is a "gimme" to get the DDP and you've really got to either be willing to crunch the numbers, or willing to risk not coming out ahead when you buy it anyway.

 

[Seattle]

Ooo, that's me in a nutshell -- I am *totally* "willing to risk not coming out ahead when you buy it anyway." My next WDW trip is 2 adults only, which If I understand the 4,000 pages of debate I've read, is the worst-case scenario for the DDP. And we're taking it anyway.

 

[eeyore45]

Ooo, that's me in a nutshell -- I am *totally* "willing to risk not coming out ahead when you buy it anyway." My next WDW trip is 2 adults only, which If I understand the 4,000 pages of debate I've read, is the worst-case scenario for the DDP. And we're taking it anyway.

ok, that made me laugh!

I have read at least 3,000 of those debates, and decided we're better not buying the plan.

Now reading 3,000 reviews of food and all the ddp posts, I am now 2nd guessing and have pulled out paper, calculator and have to crunch numbers again! I like the ease of the DDP, and we have a 17 year dd, and she does like a snack!

 

[Eandbmom]

Last year I didn't keep the CS or snack receipts but we spent $1631 on TS and the cost of the DDP was $1364 for us. So we definitely saved woth the DDP!

 

[sarahrdh]

We saved a whopping $62 on the DDP in May. Hey, savings is savings.... that includes the extra money we spent out of pocket on breakfast items and extra snacks bc my kids are vultures for snacks. That being said, we probably aren't going to use it next time, bc we ended up with a lot of extra food, we could've shared several meals (again, my kids love to snack but are hit or miss with meals....in disney they were very MISS! Even more than I would've thought...maybe it was the heat plus exhaustion....). Also thew new rules weren't in effect so we couldn't swap out CS meals for snacks. (Though I've heard ppl have at the end of their trip...I didn't want to risk being told no.)

The only thing bad about NOT having it, will be paying ahead for certain meals... I guess either way, you're paying ahead. We DID love the convenience, of having it paid ahead, bc I stress about money even when I don't need to (it's a sickness lol never had much growing up, it stays with you!) no matter what, and I would be one to say no on the spot to the $32 buffet,or I'd be counting my cash left at the table. The last thing I want to do on vacation is feel stressed! That being said, maybe next time I will guesstimate prices from the online menus and determine from there. I think most of our TS meals ended up being around $120 for 2ad/2ch/1inf....but there are other places we want to try too,plus my infant will count as a CHILD next time....and he never eats anything!

I learned it's def true that it's wonderful for some families, not so wonderful for others, and some of us fall in the middle! I'm absolutely glad we tried it! No regrets!