Dining Calculatort

[saksn4]

Just wondering how accurate is the dining plan calculator that most people talk about on these threads. I added prices for meals for my family using menus found on another website, and added prices using dining calculator. Difference was quite a bit. Just curious about others experiences with dining calculator.
Thanks!

 

[Hopefully]

Just wondering how accurate is the dining plan calculator that most people talk about on these threads. I added prices for meals for my family using menus found on another website, and added prices using dining calculator. Difference was quite a bit. Just curious about others experiences with dining calculator.
Thanks!

I have found it to be generally inaccurate and do not advise to use it. It uses average prices only. You are better off to peruse the menus and price what you might actually order

 

[supersnoop]

It's useful to get a general idea. Nothing beats looking up the menus and calculating it for yourself, but many people don't seem to be capable of undertaking that task.

 

[wulfgeat]

I did calculations looking at the menus, knowing what we would order. We are doing the DDP for the first time in a few weeks. The cost was going to be about the same with the discounts, and it is worth it to not look at the price on the menu when ordering. I can not bring myself to order the more expensive items when paying OOP.

 

[Ratzo]

There are many to choose from. Back in 2013, I used this one: http://seeyareelsoon.wixsite.com/seeyareelsoon/calculator-download

It was last updated in 2015, so I don't know if the prices are still accurate, but unless the dining packages became a way better deal since then, it still should be a useful tool to answer if you'll save money or not. It's EXTREMELY detailed and provides the net benefit/loss of OOP vs. all the available dining plans. It also allows you to use higher priced items as a basis rather than using an average of low and high menu items. This is important because the dining plans only make sense if avoid inexpensive entrees and appetizers. They even have videos explaining how to use it. If you download it and it won't open, you need to add ".xlsx" to the end of the filename.

 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

I did it myself, and then did an online one (distripplanner) just for fun (yes, I have no life outside of Disney )

Some of the restaurant totals were WAY off from what I had estimated.

Despite some huge discrepencies, based on what I put in, with a 14 day trip, distripplanner said I would save $610 on the DDP, while my personal calculator, where I used what I thought we would order, it said we would save $606.

So, I would say that chances are, it will even out eventually, and give you a good estimate (if your trip is long enough, whatever that may mean).

 

[PolyRob]

I always thought the dining plan was too good to be true.

I found the calculators do a great job of estimating what the cost could hypothetically be, but as others mentioned, the best way is to set up a spreadsheet and pick out each meal for each person. The calculators will not take into consideration if you are ordering steaks at Sci-Fi and Mama Melrose or vegetarian dishes at Narcoossee's and California Grill. The calculators also do not factor in whether you really need a dessert with every single meal or if you would actually separately purchase the amount of snack credits allotted.

If your travel party consists of multiple children doing multiple character experiences and you truly love dessert and snacks, I can see it working out with a savings. My travel party includes all adults who eat 90% TS meals and do not need desserts with every meal. I allot $5 per person, per day for snacks (which we never end up purchasing this many) and $19.15 for a mug each since we do use them and always find I save so much more without the plan in my calculation since I am not purchasing unnecessary food and not tipping on higher meal prices that I would probably order just to feel my credit was maximized.