Comparing Dining Plan to using Perks from Disney Visa

[MinMou]

Has anyone looked at how using the discount from the Disney Visa compares to using the dining plan?

I have been looking at DisTripPlanner.com to figure out whether there is a dining plan in our future. Since we plan to eat at one restaurant that costs two dinner credits, the tool suggested several meals to pay out of pocket. I was wondering if using the Disney Rewards Perks and charging some meals out of pocket would make the plan a good deal for the rest of the meals.

 

[supersnoop]

I doubt the Disney Visa discount would make the plan a better option. Rather, it would make the plan a worse choice.

It's only a 10% discount and only available at a few places. If you're eating at those restaurants, it will save you some money, but not enough to sway the dining plan value in a positive direction.

Here's a summary of dining discounts: http://allears.net/pl/disc_dining.pdf

 

[MinMou]

Thanks supersnoop. I guess I wasn't clear. I was wondering if using the Disney Visa would mean that we should do without the dining plan. And from your info, it looks like that's the case, at least right now. Of course, the plans could be different next year, Birnbaum could offer different coupons and the Visa perks could change. I'll just keep watching!

 

[kniquy]

If you are looking at saving some money you could look on the budget board for details on purchasing target GC on raise and then disney GC from target for a typical savings of 8-12%. You can then combine the gift cards to pay for the dining plan. This is what i am doing because we have close to 2 years to save for our trip so every month i purchase a few gift cards. Buying a few GC a little at a time is just a simple way of saving for the trip -whether it be dining plan, park tickets etc

 

[MinMou]

If you are looking at saving some money you could look on the budget board for details on purchasing target GC on raise and then disney GC from target for a typical savings of 8-12%. You can then combine the gift cards to pay for the dining plan. This is what i am doing because we have close to 2 years to save for our trip so every month i purchase a few gift cards. Buying a few GC a little at a time is just a simple way of saving for the trip -whether it be dining plan, park tickets etc

Already doing that, and it's a great way to make a very expensive vacation easier to achieve. I am just trying to get as much of a cushion as I can for souvenirs and all the things that I will forget to pack. There is always SOMETHING I leave at home.

Lately Raise has only been giving about 4% off, and Cardpool the same. It's still better than paying full price, but not as good as I did last year.