Dining Calculation=Headache! I can't decide....

[NoraG]

I have been calculating for days and I still cannot come up with any good way to make this work. We (4 adults, 2 Disney adults, and 1 child) will be going in Jan (5 nights, 6 days), so I understand I am working off of 2011 prices. I can't decide if we should pay OOP for dining or do the DDP or split DDP and DXDDP as we'll be switching resorts. Here's my current plan, providing I can get these ADRs when my window opens up.

Theme Park Hours have not been released, so the days I mark for each park are simply guesses. We can split our BLT/BCV stay any way, so if anyone has any good ideas, we could use them! Perhaps DXDDP and OOP would even work.....Oh, I don't know anymore.

Sunday
Breakfast: on the road, not part of the calculations
Lunch: Sanaa. This will probably we a late lunch, but while it's still light out to see the animals.
Dinner: counter service. We're checking into BLT, so we'll probably just want something quick and then we'll unpack.

Monday-MK
Breakfast: in room
Lunch: CRT
Dinner: CS

Tuesday-MK
Breakfast: in room
Lunch: Kona
Dinner: CS
checking out of BLT, into BCV

Wednesday-MK in morning/Epcot evening
Breakfast: in room
Lunch: CS
Dinner: Via Napoli

Thursday-Epcot
Breakfast: Cape May Cafe
Lunch: CS
Dinner: CS

Friday-Epcot
Breakfast: in room
Lunch: CS
Dinner: we may or may not get to this, but CS if we do.

This still seems like a lot of CS. When your family goes, what percentage TS do you do?

 

[vicki_c]

We usually only do 1 TS meal a day, rarely we might have 2 on one day. We might do something in the room - danish, Pop-Tarts, or cereal most days, then have an early lunch or a very late brunch, then not eat again until dinner.

We never purchase the dining plan though - just not our style.

You only have 6 TS credits listed there though - 4 for your first 2 nights (so deluxe might make sense if the pricing worked out, but one is Kona and that's not very expensive) and 2 for your next 3 nights, so even DDP would be overkill for that part.

 

[smiths02]

With mostly lunch and breakfast TS and the rest CS and only 1 child to balance out 6 Disney adults..I'm wondering if you might not come out ahead OOP altogether


Otherwise...it might work just to have the DDP the entire time...you are spending 6 TS credits over 5 nights and 7-8 CS (which, if you share CS, might be doable)

 

[sharonabe]

How does your family like to eat when on vacation? Does everyone want a dessert with every meal or do you like to share one or two among all of you? Would you like to order appetizers with your meal or AS your meal? Do you get sodas/coffee/tea with every meal or drink water? Do you want the freedom to order ANYTHING without regard to price or will you feel like you need to order the more expensive entrees in order to get the value of your plan? What kind of eaters are your two Disney adults? Would they prefer ordering off the child's menu?

Right now you have 6 TS credits in your plan. With the DDP, you will only have 5 TS, so one will have to be OOP. If you go with DxDDP, you need 5-6 more TS meals to make it worth it. For CS meals, if you only get the entree and a drink, the cost is around $10/meal, but again, you can share some of the larger combo meals.

Sorry to add to your headache, but you really are the only one who can decide what is right for your family.

 

[whacked]

If it's free dining, don't stress about it.

If you're thinking about paying for the plan and you're in doubt, or if the savings looks marginal, don't get the dining plan.

You have more flexibility without the plan. If your plans change at the last moment, it won't matter where you end up eating. You can dine without regard for what's allowed under the plan. You won't be stressed if you miss an ADR because you're having too much fun doing something else.

If you think you'll get significant savings on things you would order anyway, then get the dining plan.

 

[Meetmeinmontauk]

I calculated everything from my recent trip & discovered that we would have spent almost $100 more OOP if we had not purchased the dining plan. However, over half of that $100 was all on dessert. We would never order dessert with lunch & only did so because of the dining plan. Also, a lot of places gave us plenty of food that we could have just split. I don't think that we'll be getting the DDP next time. I'd love to possibly go during Free Dining, but I'll have to wait & see about that.