Did we save on the DDP

[melissac]

My daughter did a project for school to see if we saved using the dining plan and the answer is yes. Below is where we ate and prices. We had 6 adults and 1 child.

Day 1
Lunch Sunshine Seasons Counter Service Cost 108.01
Supper Le Cellier’s at Epcot Cost 262.04
Snack Ice Cream at Epcot Cost 32.08

Total cost of meals 402.13

Day 2
Lunch MGM Counter Service Cost 98.77
Supper Olivia’s at OKW Cost 226.97
Snack Snacks at MGM Cost 31.98

Total cost of meals 357.72


Day 3
Lunch Yak and Yeti at AK Cost 182.15
Supper Wolfgang Puck at DTD Cost 168.75
Snack Snacks at AK Cost 34.79

Total cost of meals 385.69


Day 4
Lunch Sunshine Seasons Counter Service Cost 106.45
Supper Biegarten at Epcot Cost 235.83
Snack Snacks at Epcot Cost 32.53

Total cost of meals 374.81

Total amount paid for Disney Dinning Plan 1151.75



What meals would have cost 1520.35

As you can see the best counter service is Wolfgang Puck's and the food was excellant. The bacon wrapped meatloaf was excellant. At MGM the food was ok. We ate at different counter services by Tower of Terror. The worst meal we ate was Biegarten. We will never eat here again. Next to Raglen Road it is the worst meals we have had ever at Disney. All the other meals were very good.

I also looked at TIW card and because we don't drink it would not have saved us as much as the DDP.

I know some don't think the DDP is worth it but if you like table service meals it is the best way to go.

Just thought I'd post this so everyone could see what can be saved.

 

[havoc315]

I am just wondering what you used your snack credits for. Looks like you were averaging nearly $5 per snack, but I know of very few snacks over $4. Obviously, this wasn't the bulk of your savings, but I am curious.

And it is completely true, that the ddp will save money if you do very expensive TS and CS meals... Like $20 at WPE instead of $8 for breakfast at the resort. And $35 at Yak and Yeti versus $20 at Plaza restaurant.
If your TS meals average over 30, and your CS average over 15, you will get some value.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

I am just wondering what you used your snack credits for. Looks like you were averaging nearly $5 per snack, but I know of very few snacks over $4. Obviously, this wasn't the bulk of your savings, but I am curious.

If you take tax into consideration it's about $4.30/snack (pretax). I'm curious too as to what you chose.

 

[havoc315]

If you take tax into consideration it's about $4.30/snack (pretax). I'm curious too as to what you chose.

Good point. But outside of the Food & Wine festival, I thought snacks over $3.99 were pretty rare, with most covered snacks under 3.

 

[bumbershoot]

TIW wouldn't have worked for everything, because it doesn't work everywhere. But you could always figure out where it would have worked and do the math just to see.

My question is...if you were paying OOP would you have ordered as much as you guys did? Were there times when you would not have gotten a soda, wouldn't have had a dessert, would have preferred an appetizer as your entree instead of the entree you got, maybe shared an entree one night, etc etc. IF so, can you figure it out that way, to make really sure?

Want to make sure you have it perfect!

 

[melissac]

I am just wondering what you used your snack credits for. Looks like you were averaging nearly $5 per snack, but I know of very few snacks over $4. Obviously, this wasn't the bulk of your savings, but I am curious.

And it is completely true, that the ddp will save money if you do very expensive TS and CS meals... Like $20 at WPE instead of $8 for breakfast at the resort. And $35 at Yak and Yeti versus $20 at Plaza restaurant.
If your TS meals average over 30, and your CS average over 15, you will get some value.

Ice Cream at the Fountainview at Epcot. They were very generous and gave 2 of us hot fudge sundaes and 3 people double scoops in a waffle cone.
I did post one day wrong(cut and pasting doesn't always work how we like it) with snacks it was snacks at MK and we had funnel cakes(5) and ice cream floats(2) at Sleepy Hollow.

Remember there is 6.6% tax also. Anyway, those were the big snacks hope that helps

 

[melissac]

TIW wouldn't have worked for everything, because it doesn't work everywhere. But you could always figure out where it would have worked and do the math just to see.

My question is...if you were paying OOP would you have ordered as much as you guys did? Were there times when you would not have gotten a soda, wouldn't have had a dessert, would have preferred an appetizer as your entree instead of the entree you got, maybe shared an entree one night, etc etc. IF so, can you figure it out that way, to make really sure?

Want to make sure you have it perfect!

I can tell you that we are more dessert then appetizer people and I love trying all the differnent desserts and because it was only 4 days it was not to overwhelming for table service meals and with parents(60-65) they didn't want to go, go, go and liked the sit down meals. I think for a longer period of time it becomes to much food. By day four we were done eating that is for sure.

 

[melissac]

If you take tax into consideration it's about $4.30/snack (pretax). I'm curious too as to what you chose.

Now you got me thinking that my DD(14) goofed the numbers up on the snacks. I know that the meals are right because I doubled checked them and the 2 days at Epcot because those I wrote on the back of the reciepts myself and remember think that was a lot for ice cream but I will have to look at the other 2 days. Thanks for noticing that.

 

[Colleen27]

Good point. But outside of the Food & Wine festival, I thought snacks over $3.99 were pretty rare, with most covered snacks under 3.

I don't think that's true any more. The old $4 rule is pretty much history, with the prices of so many things going up but not dropping off the list of eligible snacks. The jalapeno cheese pretzel at AK was over $4 on our last trip, over a year ago. So was the sundae at Fountainview in Epcot, and even the Dole Whip float has broken the $4 mark now. Aside from drinks and fresh fruit I don't recall us getting many snacks under $3 - most pastries are right at or over the $3 mark, my lattes are $3-something, floats are close to $4, frozen Cokes are like $3.59 IIRC. Heck, even the Mickey bars are up to $3.50 now!

Before our last trip I had an average snack value of 2.50 in my dining plan evaluation spreadsheet. After the trip, I looked over our receipts and bumped it up to $3.50 because 50 or so of our 64 total snacks were over the $3 mark.

 

[handinpocket]

WDW is inflating the price of food so ridiculously that it is a no brainer to get the DDP.

 

[smidgy]

IF you were going to eat that much, THEN you will save money.

when we get the DDP, (sometimes free, sometimes not) we end up with a lot of unused snack credits. (often we "waste" them on a bottle of soda). many times we find ourselves forcing ourselves to eat a CS meal when we weren't hungry, or would have split one. and we definitely would not have gotten the dessert.

we can eat a lot cheaper Out of Pocket. but we do enjoy spluging sometimes, and getting the DDP. to enjoy the nice, sit-down dinners we wouldn't get otherwise.

but,it is a time restraint. having to plan around ADRs. even for the CS restaurants, you still have to plan time to eat them. like, if you just had a big, sit down lunch at coral reef a 1PM, how hungry are you going to be to have a big CS meal, at Epcot,(incl dessert) before it's time to find a spot for Illuminations?
your alternative is eating at the food court when you get back to the resort. now your choices are limited. if you get back in time, you can get a burger, or hot dog (at the value resorts), if not, you're stuck with the "Italian" station (cardboard pizza or chicken parmesan or chicken alfredo.)

we often find we are "forcing" ourselves to eat when we would prefer to have a cocktail and relax at night by the pool.

when we drive, we often have sandwiches in the room now and then. If you have studio, you have the microwave, and can "nuke" some beef stew, chili, etc etc.

we tend to alternate. after a DDP trip, the next trip we are DONE with being "slaves" to "eating".

then.. the NEXT trip.. we are kinda looking forward to the nice table service meals , and ordering whatever we want from the CS, and not "watching" the price.

but, if money is an object, I don't think you are really "saving". JMHO. unless you are big eaters. b ecause I really don't think most families would have ordered as much as what the meal "would have cost" .anyway. (a few times,at CS places, we have given away our desserts to a nearby table with kids)

Out of pocket.: we have EASILY split a funnel cake at Sleepy Hollow (MK) for breakfast. split a taco meal at El Perico (whatever it's called, whenever it's open) for lunch, .

it depends what you WOULD have eaten anyways.

 

[papamouse1]

...
And it is completely true, that the ddp will save money if you do very expensive TS and CS meals... Like $20 at WPE instead of $8 for breakfast at the resort. And $35 at Yak and Yeti versus $20 at Plaza restaurant.
If your TS meals average over 30, and your CS average over 15, you will get some value.

You do make a point that people who get the DDP need to be wise.. never use it for light breakfast (unless yo use snack creds for cinnamon rolls, etc),
but the rest of your compare is odd to me...

Are you saying you think this family did very expensive TS/CS meals? I think they actually picked a group of restaurants that give a very "average" set of numbers for comparison. Sunshine Seasons, Biergarten, Olivia's, Yak & Yeti for lunch... those are pretty avg compared to a lot of other places on site. The only remotey expensive TS was Le Cellier.
You mentioned the WPE as expensive, but on that day they used their CS for dinner and used their TS at Yak which means they didn't get the full value out of that TS spending it on a lunch menu. They also only spent $98 on lunch for day 2. Holy Cow! That is cetainly not a very expensive meal.

Also, I see your point about saving money on Yak & Yeti, but using Plaza as its replacement? Would you really leave the park you are in for the day (AK) and travel all the way to MK for lunch to save $15/person for lunch?
Seriously, I apologize if I sound like I am attacking or anything, that was not my intention... I really did just thought it sounded odd for comparison.

The truth is, you don't have to just pick "expensive" places for every meal to make DDP work. In fact looking at the Yak menu, they could have spent that much more than that amount if they had been trying to "maximize" their DDP and order the best (like some people do).

Also, just as an experiment, the last time we used DDP, I actually didn't include any dessert expenses in my numbers (some meals, we just didn't get one or we splite one), and I still saved some money using the DDP.

Bottom line is, the DDP can work, but still isn't for everybody, that's for sure.

 

[papamouse1]

Here goes the DDP debate again...

I totally get that you can eat for cheaper, and that some people get DDP , then let it dictate their trip as they try to suck every dime of value out of it.

But each time we have used it, we have LOVED it. We have never felt like we were "slaves to eating"... in fact the whole restaurant thing is a BIG part of our whole Disney Magic experience! We love trying new places every time... Place that make dining a big memory for us, Teppan Edo, Coral Reef, Flying Fish, Boma, etc..

We eat well, enjoy our meals, seldom overeat, and never leave with snacks left over. We own DVC, so we have the kitchen, but honestly we go to Disney to get away from "home life" and making sandwiches, microwaving dinners, just don't appeal to us. We have laready spent $$$ so we aren't cutting corners on meals... we wanna party for our meals! And the DDP for us is the best way to do it, and has saved us $$ each time.

But hey, that's just us. But just so you know, we don't dine "very expensive" every meal just to get value, we don't force down desserts, snacks to get our money's worth, but we do honestly plan well to include dining as part of our fun.

Doesn't work for everybody, but it does work.

 

[papamouse1]

I can tell you that we are more dessert then appetizer people and I love trying all the differnent desserts and because it was only 4 days it was not to overwhelming for table service meals and with parents(60-65) they didn't want to go, go, go and liked the sit down meals. I think for a longer period of time it becomes to much food. By day four we were done eating that is for sure.

We actually do that sort of thing even on our longer trips. I will actually book a split stay (a 3 night ressie and a 4 night ressie), then we only get the DDP for one of them. SInce the DDP doesn't run out until midnight the last day, we actually have the DDP for 4 nights when we payed for 3, so we stretch our meals out. We pay OOP for light stuff and use DDP for rest. Works really great! The last 3 days of our stay we are done with TS and just want simple meals!

Now you got me thinking that my DD(14) goofed the numbers up on the snacks. I know that the meals are right because I doubled checked them and the 2 days at Epcot because those I wrote on the back of the reciepts myself and remember think that was a lot for ice cream but I will have to look at the other 2 days. Thanks for noticing that.

You do realize that even if you take ALL the $$ you spent on snacks and deduct that from your total you still saved over $230

 

[havoc315]

Are you saying you think this family did very expensive TS/CS meals? I think they actually picked a group of restaurants that give a very "average" set of numbers for comparison. Sunshine Seasons, Biergarten, Olivia's, Yak & Yeti for lunch... those are pretty avg compared to a lot of other places on site. The only remotey expensive TS was Le Cellier.
You mentioned the WPE as expensive, but on that day they used their CS for dinner and used their TS at Yak which means they didn't get the full value out of that TS spending it on a lunch menu. They also only spent $98 on lunch for day 2. Holy Cow! That is cetainly not a very expensive meal.

For the most part, they did very expensive meals. Le Cellier is not just "remotely" expensive --- it is the most expensive 1 credit restaurant in Disney. Once it becomes 2 credits, their savings would have been much smaller. While I used Plaza restaurant as an example, there are many TS restaurants, in every park, where an adult will easily spend under $30. Yak & Yeti has the same prices for lunch and dinner, I believe. WPE is the most expensive CS at Disney, and Sunshine Seasons is above average in CS cost. They truly maximized their snack credits, including getting some items that are not supposed to qualify.

And of course, they chose to "follow" the ddp. That's absolutely the right of any party. Sounds like they were getting 3 desserts per day, including double scoop sundaes, etc. For many parties, realistically, even if money was irrelevant, they would share some desserts, or skip desserts altogether. They may share some entrees. Quite often, I may get an appetizer as my meal in the real world, or get soup and salad. This is prohibited on the ddp, but if it was allowed, it would be a real waste of value.

So I stand by my advice, that the ddp is a savings, if you intend to eat expensive TS and CS lunches and dinners. If you plan on a lot of the buffets, or the more expensive entrees, etc.

But.. For example, if you intend to order the salmon at Le Cellier, you would be wasting 2 credits. If you just wanted the Chicken Lo Mein at Yak and Yeti, you wouldn't be getting much value. If you want to skip some desserts, etc.

 

[melissac]

I really did not try to start a debate I was just showing how our family saved money on the dining plan. I will say that yes it is a lot of food but how we managed is that we ate early lunch 11-11:30 because we did not eat breakfast and then did not have supper until 7:30-9:00 with a snack around
2pm. Now, we had done the dining plan for 10 days once and how we did that is we did 3 signiture resturants. This allowed for some days sharing a CS or using snack credits. Also, DS(9) had limited childrens meals and did share off are plates.

 

[nebo]

We actually do that sort of thing even on our longer trips. I will actually book a split stay (a 3 night ressie and a 4 night ressie), then we only get the DDP for one of them. SInce the DDP doesn't run out until midnight the last day, we actually have the DDP for 4 nights when we payed for 3, so we stretch our meals out. We pay OOP for light stuff and use DDP for rest. Works really great! The last 3 days of our stay we are done with TS and just want simple meals!

we have done that often ourselves!!! we save our last TS credit to eat the night we check into the new resort. we have also ordered a CS meal "to go" at the new resort, put it in the fridge, and nuked it the next day, stretching the meal even further.

don't misunderstand my previous post. I love the DDP. I just don't think it necessarily saves money.

 

[smidgy]

you couldn't misunderstand my previous post, cause it was I, not hubby nebo who posted.

 

[papamouse1]

I really did not try to start a debate I was just showing how our family saved money on the dining plan. I will say that yes it is a lot of food but how we managed is that we ate early lunch 11-11:30 because we did not eat breakfast and then did not have supper until 7:30-9:00 with a snack around
2pm. Now, we had done the dining plan for 10 days once and how we did that is we did 3 signiture resturants. This allowed for some days sharing a CS or using snack credits. Also, DS(9) had limited childrens meals and did share off are plates.

No worries. This is just one of those hot topics that brings out the very intrenched opinions. Kinda like starting a thread on whether it is OK to take people out of school, or which cruise line is better

I appreciate your thread, and I thought it was very simple and informative. Thanks for sharing.
I think your thread shows that the DDP can still save money if you use it wisely... and you do NOT have to eat like a pig, or order the most expensive item just to save money. Just go where you want, enjoy what you want to eat. Truth is you may not save a ton, but you can save without too much effort.

 

[La2kw]

I think it depends on how you like to eat. I don't like to eat dessert at every meal. If I took off all the desserts would I save money? I don't like eating TS every day. If I eat CS instead of TS one day would I save money?

I have never spent as much on food at WDW as the DDP would cost me. I like TIW because I can order a salad and skip dessert. I can order two appetizers and no entree. I can eat how I want to, not how Disney wants me to, and still save money. I don't drink, and I still save more money with TIW than with the DDP.