clanmcculloch
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2009
- Messages
- 5,652
We just got back a couple days ago. This was our first trip where we didn't use a dining plan and had to buy all of our meals (we've stayed Club Level without a dining plan but that's not an accurate representation of fully buying our food). I just figured out our total food costs and compared to what it would have cost us for the DDP and DxDDP as well as how many credits we would have used. Here's the end result. Tips are not included in these numbers since they would have been identical regardless.
$1,162.07 OOP actual cost
$1,599.68 Basic DDP based on 4 Disney Adults for 8 nights during value season
$2,527.68 DxDDP based on 4 Disney Adults for 8 nights during value season
My OOP includes what would have been 39 TS credits, 12 CS credits, 14 snack credits, $113.83 from Garden Grocer and $19.68 in items not eligible for any dining plan.
With the basic DDP I would have had 32 TS credits, 32 CS credits and 32 snack credits.
With the DxDDP I would have had 96 meal credits and 64 snack credits.
We ordered exactly what we wanted every meal, in some cases the most expensive menu items. We often were too full for dessert though the kids did order them maybe half the time at TS meals and every time at CS meals. I think DH and I only ordered desserts a couple times. We did order drinks like milk shakes and floats where available. We did order some kind of drink at most meals though there were a few where we really just wanted water so no drink. We rarely wanted appetizers. A few meals DD11 preferred kids meals and ordered these but most of the time we all ordered regular meals. We did not split any meals. We do typically prefer TS lunches and late breakfasts over dinners but did a couple dinners. 15 of the TS credits were at fixed price restaurants. We had originally planned for an additional 12 TS credits (1 signature meal plus Beaches & Cream) but cancelled since we were too full. We also planned for a few more more CS meals but ended up just eating snacks in our room because we just wanted to relax in our room and weren't hungry enough for meals.
I'm not trying to tell anybody whether they should or should not use a dining plan. I'm just sharing our cold hard numbers. Clearly in our case we can do much better paying OOP, though if we were staying at a value or moderate resort during a free dining promotion I'd be hard pressed to find a room discount that comes close to $1,162.07 ($145.26/night) so I'd definitely consider modifying our dining to eat the prescribed number of meals and feel very comfortable just saying no to options we don't want.
ETA:
The OOP was the cost after the TiW discount was applied plus the tax. I didn't include the TiW card purchase price though it would have made sense to do so. I bought the card on a different trip so I didn't think of including it here. That would bring the OOP up to $1237.07.
OOP without the discount would have been $1546.33 if my calculations are correct. That comes pretty close to the price of the basic DDP but this includes more TS meals than the DDP and less CS meals and snacks. OOP still makes more sense for us even without TiW unless it's the free dining promotion and we want to stay value or moderate. Of course once our TiW card expires, I may find that it makes sense for us to buy 1 AP so we can buy TiW. I saved $384.26 with our TiW card this trip alone. If I include the cost of the card then the savings is still $309.26. The cost to upgrade one ticket from a MYW to an AP is less than that so even if we'll only take 1 trip, I definitely want to look at our dining plans for that trip to see if it's worth upgrading just for TiW. Good thing I enjoy Mickey Math.
$1,162.07 OOP actual cost
$1,599.68 Basic DDP based on 4 Disney Adults for 8 nights during value season
$2,527.68 DxDDP based on 4 Disney Adults for 8 nights during value season
My OOP includes what would have been 39 TS credits, 12 CS credits, 14 snack credits, $113.83 from Garden Grocer and $19.68 in items not eligible for any dining plan.
With the basic DDP I would have had 32 TS credits, 32 CS credits and 32 snack credits.
With the DxDDP I would have had 96 meal credits and 64 snack credits.
We ordered exactly what we wanted every meal, in some cases the most expensive menu items. We often were too full for dessert though the kids did order them maybe half the time at TS meals and every time at CS meals. I think DH and I only ordered desserts a couple times. We did order drinks like milk shakes and floats where available. We did order some kind of drink at most meals though there were a few where we really just wanted water so no drink. We rarely wanted appetizers. A few meals DD11 preferred kids meals and ordered these but most of the time we all ordered regular meals. We did not split any meals. We do typically prefer TS lunches and late breakfasts over dinners but did a couple dinners. 15 of the TS credits were at fixed price restaurants. We had originally planned for an additional 12 TS credits (1 signature meal plus Beaches & Cream) but cancelled since we were too full. We also planned for a few more more CS meals but ended up just eating snacks in our room because we just wanted to relax in our room and weren't hungry enough for meals.
I'm not trying to tell anybody whether they should or should not use a dining plan. I'm just sharing our cold hard numbers. Clearly in our case we can do much better paying OOP, though if we were staying at a value or moderate resort during a free dining promotion I'd be hard pressed to find a room discount that comes close to $1,162.07 ($145.26/night) so I'd definitely consider modifying our dining to eat the prescribed number of meals and feel very comfortable just saying no to options we don't want.
ETA:
The OOP was the cost after the TiW discount was applied plus the tax. I didn't include the TiW card purchase price though it would have made sense to do so. I bought the card on a different trip so I didn't think of including it here. That would bring the OOP up to $1237.07.
OOP without the discount would have been $1546.33 if my calculations are correct. That comes pretty close to the price of the basic DDP but this includes more TS meals than the DDP and less CS meals and snacks. OOP still makes more sense for us even without TiW unless it's the free dining promotion and we want to stay value or moderate. Of course once our TiW card expires, I may find that it makes sense for us to buy 1 AP so we can buy TiW. I saved $384.26 with our TiW card this trip alone. If I include the cost of the card then the savings is still $309.26. The cost to upgrade one ticket from a MYW to an AP is less than that so even if we'll only take 1 trip, I definitely want to look at our dining plans for that trip to see if it's worth upgrading just for TiW. Good thing I enjoy Mickey Math.
