dining plan comparison...

[meeshkamooshka]

how has the dining plan changed since last year (s) I thought I saw someone saying they are not as good and to even take the "room only" discount instead of the dining...

 

[Cafeen]

For 2011 to 2012, they dropped a snack for QSDP and added the mug for DDP. Beyond that, other than price increases for DDP and DxDDP (QSDP did not increase in price), there were no changes.

Between 2012 and 2013, there does not yet appear to be any entitlement changes other than some clarification and wording (e.g. the "appetizer" line for kids 3-9 has been removed, as it never really was an appetizer). Prices across the board did go up though, and quite a bit for DxDDP! (~$85 - ~$99 per night during normal season).

As far as the room only vs. free dining, it's all up to how you use the dining plan that you'd get. If you can save more money on the free dining plan than you could with the room discount, then the dining is better. The math for this is a bit tricky though, but basically...

• Add up stuff you'd be getting if you're paying OOP for everything, add taxes and tips (if applicable)
• Add up the stuff you'd be getting if you're paying with the DDP, add tips, subtract covered stuff, add tax for the remaining, and add the room discount as the cost of the plan.

That's the basics of it, whichever scenario gives you the best experience to money ratio is the one you want to pick.