Dining Plan Calculator Question

[heywagners]

For me it works because I've got 3 kids and 3 adults with a character meal planned each day. Oy.

Same here, except 2 adults. Character meals are pricy!!

 

[21stamps]

When I used the calculator 2 years ago, it said that I'd break even on DxDDP versus paying OOP. I then looked closely, and played around a bit with it. It's using an "average price" for various eating styles at any given restaurant. The problem I found with it was that my eating style at a signature is app, entree, dessert, drink. But for lunch, I'd often skip the app, or eat a token amount of it, in order to save room for dessert (and later, dinner at the signature). I almost never used the plan for breakfast.

When I compared what we actually ordered the previous year, using current pricing, against the calculator, I came out with a $100-200 advantage paying OOP. So, 2 years ago, we went OOP. The result was a $500 savings over DxDDP. We still ate at the same signature restaurants, the same table service, and had the same things to eat. The extra savings was because we didn't "use up" the 36 snack credits at the end of the trip, just because we had them.

Since then, we've been eating OOP.

I think I'm sure now that I will just do OOP this trip!

For me it works because I've got 3 kids and 3 adults with a character meal planned each day. Oy.

Every table service except for WC is a character meal for us, which makes me question the value of the DXDDP even more. We wont be doing deserts and apps at most-majority are buffets or family style- same thing last time on the DDP.

Like I said, I didn't save receipts and actually do a comparison between what the plan covered and what I would have spent out of pocket. But the more I look into the options, I just don't see where even a break even point would be- more like ending up with a lot of unused credits.

Again though, I don't regret purchasing the DDP on our last trip- only regret the mistakes I made while utilizing it.

 

[loves to dive]

This is just my opinion, I wouldn't use that calculator. It really just averages and in no way can tell how much you might or might not spend if you were paying out of pocket. If you really want to know if you are saving money, I would go to the current menus and, be honest about what you would really eat from that menu, then add up the cost. You are not always going to want the most expensive thing on the menu, some days you might want to eat lighter, some days heavier. While there is no way to know what you are really going to want on a given day, you are going to come out better adding up the actual costs. Then do your comparison. For some, it isn't about money, it's about the comfort factor of knowing that the meals are paid in advance and they just don't have to worry about it, other's feel even if they saved money, having to be so structured in their eating isn't worth it. Only you are going to be able to know if it works for you. Also, for anyone who thinks they are getting "free" dining, you are not. You are paying rack rate for a room that you may or may not have paid rack rate for, often it is a type of room you may not have wanted otherwise, say preferred. Again, you would need to look at the room only discount then add the dining plan or out of pocket to see if you really were saving money. I've found, and this is only for me and mine and the way we eat, the dining plan does not save us money, we tend to save more with the room only rate. Part of that is because I shop room discounts and usually when WDW is offering a discount, Orbitz will be offering that same discount with either a 15% or 20% discount on top of that. We don't eat the way the dining plan dictates. There are days we just want to snack all day with no sit down meals, when I say snack I don't mean a mickey bar or popcorn, I mean usually some small something around the world showcase. There are days when we are eating at table service that I want an appetizer, a salad and we will share a dessert. I don't drink anything but adult beverages and water, no soft drinks or iced tea, although I do drink coffee but since I stay at moderate and deluxe resorts, that is free in the room. There are days when we just want all qs meals and when we do that, I tend to eat a child's meal. Not because I'm trying to save money but because I'm just not a big eater. I'm pretty sure even if the DP came out less for us we wouldn't use it, for those reasons alone. We also rarely if never used the snack credits when we did get the dining plan, we don't snack between meals, again just not big eaters. We don't nor have we done character meals and rarely do buffets (the only exception to that is breakfast at the dolphin), I'm not a big fan of the buffet since I'm not a big eater they are just a waste and the food never seems really fresh to me. It's a pain in rear to do all the prep work and comparisons but it is the only way to truthfully know what is right for your family.

 

[21stamps]

This is just my opinion, I wouldn't use that calculator. It really just averages and in no way can tell how much you might or might not spend if you were paying out of pocket. If you really want to know if you are saving money, I would go to the current menus and, be honest about what you would really eat from that menu, then add up the cost. You are not always going to want the most expensive thing on the menu, some days you might want to eat lighter, some days heavier. While there is no way to know what you are really going to want on a given day, you are going to come out better adding up the actual costs. Then do your comparison. For some, it isn't about money, it's about the comfort factor of knowing that the meals are paid in advance and they just don't have to worry about it, other's feel even if they saved money, having to be so structured in their eating isn't worth it. Only you are going to be able to know if it works for you. Also, for anyone who thinks they are getting "free" dining, you are not. You are paying rack rate for a room that you may or may not have paid rack rate for, often it is a type of room you may not have wanted otherwise, say preferred. Again, you would need to look at the room only discount then add the dining plan or out of pocket to see if you really were saving money. I've found, and this is only for me and mine and the way we eat, the dining plan does not save us money, we tend to save more with the room only rate. Part of that is because I shop room discounts and usually when WDW is offering a discount, Orbitz will be offering that same discount with either a 15% or 20% discount on top of that. We don't eat the way the dining plan dictates. There are days we just want to snack all day with no sit down meals, when I say snack I don't mean a mickey bar or popcorn, I mean usually some small something around the world showcase. There are days when we are eating at table service that I want an appetizer, a salad and we will share a dessert. I don't drink anything but adult beverages and water, no soft drinks or iced tea, although I do drink coffee but since I stay at moderate and deluxe resorts, that is free in the room. There are days when we just want all qs meals and when we do that, I tend to eat a child's meal. Not because I'm trying to save money but because I'm just not a big eater. I'm pretty sure even if the DP came out less for us we wouldn't use it, for those reasons alone. We also rarely if never used the snack credits when we did get the dining plan, we don't snack between meals, again just not big eaters. We don't nor have we done character meals and rarely do buffets (the only exception to that is breakfast at the dolphin), I'm not a big fan of the buffet since I'm not a big eater they are just a waste and the food never seems really fresh to me. It's a pain in rear to do all the prep work and comparisons but it is the only way to truthfully know what is right for your family.

I'm unwilling to do that much research and was hoping someone here could give me an easy answer lol.

The "prepaid" is nice, the best aspect of the plan really. But given how "general" the calculator is, I don't think it's accurate in my specific case. It's still a great tool though!

As far as a room only discount- also for me that is a far better deal than free dining. Taking the RO last time and paying for the DDP saved me several hundred dollars. But it does depend on the amount of people in your room, as well as room type.