Cool Dining Plan Calculator Tool

[Marionnette]

I saw this posted on the TPAS board. Since we discuss whether the dining plan is worth the price so often on this forum, I thought I would share it here.

http://seeyareelsoon.wix.com/seeyareelsoon#!calculator-download/c16yz

I downloaded it to my computer and it opened in Excel. Some people on the TPAS board are saying that it doesn't work on MACs.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3050182

You enter some basic information (#nights, #adults, #children, etc) and then enter the restaurants that you will be eating in for each meal during your stay. The tool estimates what your OOP cost would be, including tax and tip, and gives you those totals as well as what the dining plans would cost you. It even calculates any meals that wouldn't be covered by the dining plans or if you will have leftover credits. There's a tab for evaluating free dining vs. a room discount. And it ranks your restaurant choices from most expensive to least expensive so that you can choose which restaurants to pay for OOP if you happen to exceed your allotted dining credits.

I used it to get a rough idea of what it would cost me for the trip that I have planned for next fall. Just as I suspected, the dining plans are not a money-saver for us. We would do better by paying OOP, although not by a lot (about $75). But with the TiW card, we would save closer to $250. So, that makes my decision a lot easier.

 

[delilah]

This was very interesting. We usually have been doing the Regular Dining Plan, with 1TS, 1CS, 1 snack a day. Comparing out of pocket with TIW with the dining plan, I came out within $20 for any of the options. Out of pocket was least expensive, but, I am one of those who thinks it is worth the extra money for the convenience of having prepaid for the meals, and for being able to give my son the freedom to get his own meals without the worry of what he is charging to the room.

The most expensive was TIW, so, we won't be doing that one.