What we spent..
Here is where I'll discuss what we spent, and what we could have done better! These are all menu prices from wdwinfo.com. I saved receipts, but looking them up online was easier. This does not include tax.
9/13:
Dinner @ Ohana: $72.- Used 2 TS credits.
9/14:
Breakfast @ Pepper Market: OOP $13.83 - Didn't want to use our QS credits just yet, so we paid for breakfast.
Lunch @ Wolfgang Puck Express - DTD: $40 - Used 2 QS credits. 2 pizzas, 2 soft drinks, 1 cookie, 1 key lime pie.
Snack @ Snack Cart: $5.75 - Used 1 snack credit. Mickey pretzel w/ cheese
Dinner @ McDonald's: OOP $16 - This is embarrassing, but we had every intention of using a QS here. That plan was foiled when my BF proposed @
MNSSHP!! We spent the evening celebrating in the park, then realized we were starving halfway back to the hotel, so we detoured.. what, doesn't every newly engaged couple eat McDonald's right away?!
9/15: We went to Tampa this day. We didn't plan to use any credits, just grab some breakfast on the road and dinner there, but we used our 2 QS credits from the night before.
Breakfast @ Pepper Market: $20.96 - Used 2 QS credits. Purchased 2 juices, breakfast sandwich meal, and biscuits and gravy meal.
9/16:
Breakfast @ CSR Grab n Go: OOP $4.99 - My fiance didn't want to use a snack credit, so he grabbed a cinnamon roll and paid $4.99 OOP.
Lunch @ Restaurantasaurus: $17.37 - Used 1 QS. My fiance had an 1/3 pound angus cheeseburger with fries, a large diet coke, and the worst concoction ever "cheesecake in a glass".
Lunch @ Yak & Yeti: $17.17 - Used 1 QS. I had sweet and sour chicken with rice, chocolate mousse, and a large diet coke.
Dinner @ Yachtsman: $131 - Used 4 TS credits. I had the 12 oz NY strip with white cheddar twice baked potato, and Diet Coke. He had the 18 oz Kansas City ribeye with white cheddar twice baked potato, and Diet Coke. For dessert we got the vanilla creme brulee and the chocolate peanut cake. Also got a side order of the truffle mac n cheese ($12, paid OOP for this. Not included in the $131!)
9/17:
Breakfast @ Sweet Spells - DHS. OOP $5.19 - We hunted for breakfast, my boyfriend chose a chocolate chip Mickey shaped cookie dipped in chocolate. It was $5.19, we thought it was a snack credit but it rung up and she had charged it to the room. Oops.
Lunch @ Pepper Market: $16.47 - Used 1 QS credit. We weren't too hungry, so we just shared a lunch. We had come back for a mid-day break. We had the taco meal (3 tacos with black beans and rice on the side), grabbed a bottle of water to share and a HUGE M&M cookie as our dessert, which we ended up just saving and munching on the next few days.
Dinner @ Via Napoli: $72 - Used 2 TS credits. I had the individual carciofi, with, yep, a diet coke, and Zeppole for dessert. He had the individual pepperoni pizza, with diet coke and the Coppa Ma Brutti Di Buoni for dessert.
Snack @ Hops & Barley: $5.75 - Used 1 snack credit for a pretzel w/ cheese later this night.
9/18:
Breakfast @ Crystal Palace: $53 - We used 2 TS credits.
Lunch @ Pecos Bill: $16 - Used 1 QS. We split a taco salad, carrot cake, and fountain drink.
Dinner @ Be Our Guest: $72 - We used 2 TS credits. I had the pork chop with macaroni au gratin and seasonal vegetables. He had the grilled NY strip with fries. Both had diet coke and Grey Stuff for dessert!
Snacks: $7.78 - Used 2 snack credits here. $3.99 for a large diet coke, and $3.79 for a Dole Whip.
9/19:
Breakfast @ Pepper Market: $23 - Used 2 QS credits. He had the ham and egg breakfast sandwich w/ hashbrowns, orange juice to drink. I had the Mexican eggs benedict burrito with water.
Lunch: Snacks around F&W! We snacked all around F&W today. We put cheaper things on our gift card and used snack credits for the more expensive items. We spent $38 on 7 F&W items by using snack credits.
Dinner @ Teppan Edo: $65.80 - Used 2 TS. We both had the chicken and steak meal ($29.95) with diet coke to drink. We were both too full for dessert.. a dining plan crime!! Dessert probably would have been another $15-20.
9/20:
Breakfast @ Pepper Market: $21.96 - Used 2 QS. We both had Mickey waffles and a drink. I think he had OJ, I had a Dasani.
Lunch @ Earl of Sandwich: $23 - Used 2 QS credits. He had the Earl Club, I had the Holiday Turkey. 2 soft drinks. 1 brownie and 1 cookie.
3 Remaining Snacks @ Goofy's Candy Kitchen: Our total was about $17 here. We got 2 bags of Kettle Corn as gifts for our moms, and 1 M&M krispy treat for us to share!
My conclusion:
We would have eaten differently if we hadn't been on the dining plan. We only ate at Pepper Market so often because we had so many credits! I feel as if that was because of our timing. Our arrival day, we only ate 1 meal. That left QS and snack credits for another day. Our Tampa day, we didn't have any meals on property (well, we had one, but hadn't planned to). Because of this, we kind of had to "make up" those meals elsewhere, hence why we went to the Yachtsman.
If we had paid OOP, we wouldn't have got dessert. Maybe once, and a few snacks here and there, but we wouldn't have got dessert. We probably would've ordered some groceries for breakfast, each had a QS entree for lunch, and had a TS for dinner.
Not being hungry - He is ALWAYS hungry. I usually can do 2 large-ish meals a day or 3 regular. Having dessert made me even more full, even if I did not always eat all of it. We ended up splitting a QS meal twice because we just weren't hungry enough for lunch.
Breakfast - I had not planned to use any QS meals for breakfast. Our breakfast meals ended up being about $10-11 each, which is about half of what a QS lunch or dinner costs including drink and dessert.
I feel as though if we would have been on-site all 7 days, that it would not have been "so much food". I tried to squeeze 7 days worth of credits into about 5 1/2 days, so we had a lot of credits left at the end.
If I total up all that we spent, our total PRE-TAX is $735.
By adding 7% tax to everything (not sure if this is standard or not).. I get $785.
The DDP for 7 nights for the two of us would have been $840.56.
Would I do the DDP again? Yes.
I would do it again if I had planned to be on site each day I was there.
Looking back, it's kind of silly that we planned a day away. It was not worth the hassle to drive there.
If I were going at a time when Free Dining was not offered and I had to pay for the DDP, I don't know if I would. I would have to really think about what our plans were and whether or not it would work for us that time. You can see that we ate SO much and still came in under what the DDP costs. With factoring in our other meals, we definitely ate more than we would have otherwise.
I kind of did not like having to "plan" my QS and breakfast out so much. TS I didn't mind, but we felt pressured towards the end that we had to finish off our credits.
Hopefully I explained this OK and that this is helpful to some!
