Dining plan cost OUTRAGEOUS for 2012

[arthuruscg]

Now, the wife will tell you that I LOVE desert, but after finnishing my plate of food, there is no way i could finnish off my icecream or cake. 1 to 2 hrs after dinner, then I start wanting that cake again.

We looked at our usual eating habbits and decided that the DDP doesn't make sence for us. We typicaly like to spread our eating out to reduce the blood suger drop between meals. So stuffing ourselves at 1 sitting doesn't work for us.

At the parks we typicaly do a big breakfest at the hotel (7am), pack snacks from home to tide us over for a late lunch at a TS (2pmish to get out of the heat), get a yummy snack (icecream, funnel cake), and have a late dinner at a CS (8pm, entre only).

We usualy only drink water, and lots of it. I do have coffee in the morning, so every day with the QS DP each person would be throwing away the $ for 1 dessert + 1 drink.

Humm, my MIL is Diabetic and eats smaller and more frequent meals, maybe a Diabetic style DDP would work for us.

 

[nkereina]

Would you consider it to be "worth it" going on a free dining plan and then just paying for the deluxe upgrade??

Because now you can pretty much eat anything your heart desires, at any restaurant you want, and only pay for the upgrade price...

In this case, I would think it would be cheaper to pay OOP for anything you want above and beyond the free DDP - rather than pay for the upgrade. We did DxDP once and had a lot of leftover credits. It was a lot of food and our ADRs weren't spaced with enough time for us to be hungry for dinner, so we ended up canceling some dinner ADRs. Knowing how we felt after the huge meals, we decided the regular plan was better for us and if we ever want an appetizer or an extra snack outside of the regular DDP, we would just buy that OOP. It would be cheaper than adding $25-$30 per person per night for us.

 

[TwistGrl101]

It's something I'm torn between right now, because we would really like to do:
CRT
Mickey's Backyard BBQ
Cali Grill
and wouldn't mind doing:
Yachtsman
Flying Fish
Le Cellier

But like the PP said, the deluxe dining plan leaves you with just too much food, and too little time (we're going for 8 days.)

I don't know if it's worth upgrading to deluxe from free dining, or just choosing a few 2TS restaurants to pay for out of pocket.

I wish Disney offered a plan for 2 sit downs, and 1 counter service per day.

 

[TDC Nala]

According to DVC (DVC has its own Dining Plan brochures with the price listed) the price for the regular dining plan in 2012 is $51.54 per night per adult and $15.02 per night per child.

Not sure where this $55/19 thing is coming from - if you're trying to book a DVC dining plan I think you can say that's wrong. As for packages, I know a lot of guests are getting different figures for packages which has happened for awhile now. Prices are not listed on the package brochures.

I think the point here is that Disney likely never intended for the dining plan to save us money, but rather to be a prepay for food.

Disney used to advertise the dining plan as "may save up to 40%" on food costs.

Eventually it went down to 30% and now they say up to 20%. Of course, you have to use it properly to realize that kind of savings. Now you pretty much have to use it properly to realize any savings at all.

The original incarnation of the dining plan (tip and appetizer included) was nothing if not a moneysaver. At some point they figured out that large numbers of guests would pay just for the convenience and the possiblity of savings.

 

[MarkF0wle]

According to DVC (DVC has its own Dining Plan brochures with the price listed) the price for the regular dining plan in 2012 is $51.54 per night per adult and $15.02 per night per child.

Not sure where this $55/19 thing is coming from - if you're trying to book a DVC dining plan I think you can say that's wrong. As for packages, I know a lot of guests are getting different figures for packages which has happened for awhile now. Prices are not listed on the package brochures.

Seconded, these are the exact prices I have for off-peak prices. Slightly higher for peak prices.

 

[cmurray234]

According to DVC (DVC has its own Dining Plan brochures with the price listed) the price for the regular dining plan in 2012 is $51.54 per night per adult and $15.02 per night per child.

Not sure where this $55/19 thing is coming from - if you're trying to book a DVC dining plan I think you can say that's wrong. As for packages, I know a lot of guests are getting different figures for packages which has happened for awhile now. Prices are not listed on the package brochures.

The $55/$19 came from apparently ill-informed phone representatives from Disney. I edited my first post to reflect the correction. Sorry to everyone for the mis-information.

I LOVED the original DDP. It was more food than I could eat with an appetizer AND dessert at dinner, but the tip included was the BOMB. And it was a HUGE money-saver.

 

[xrobx]

I feel that $85 is well worth the cost of 3 table service meals and 2 snacks per day, that an adult gets with the deluxe dining plan. We get it every year!

We usually gain 10 pounds every time we go as well, but that's beside the point.

 

[Kakikomori]

Ok, just to make sure I wasn't insane for buying the DxDP for my upcoming trip (even though I got the free dining promo), I decided to do some calculations of my own.

First, some information on my decision to buy the DxDP:
1. I wanted to eat only at TS restaurants. On my last trip, trying to find a place to sit at QS restaurants was far more aggravation than it was worth, and I was there on some of the lowest crowd days of the year.
2. I wanted to eat breakfast outside of the resort. The ASM food court wasn't bad, but why eat there when I can eat in one of the parks or somewhere fancier?
3. I wanted to stay onsite. I don't doubt that there are cheaper and fine restaurants off-site, but I'm going to WDW to escape the "real world".
4. I'm a big guy and may eat more than most. Also, the restaurants are a big part of the fun of the trip for me.

So, I went through the menus for my ADRs and got OOP prices to compare with the DxDP cost. I chose my preferences rather than the most expensive items. I skipped appetizers and dessert where I felt I would. I didn't include costs for snacks, and I didn't include drinks for any of the OOP costs.

Price for OOP meals: $559.12
Price for 6 nights of DxDP: 513.12
Price for upgrade with free dining at Moderate Resort: 203.88

While it's true that I may have skipped more if I paid OOP, I would have accumulated more than $46 in drinks and snacks.

For me at least, it's a good deal, with the free dining it's an awesome deal!

If I've made some kind of major mistake, feel free to let me know.

 

[cmurray234]

It's something I'm torn between right now, because we would really like to do:
CRT
Mickey's Backyard BBQ
Cali Grill
and wouldn't mind doing:
Yachtsman
Flying Fish
Le Cellier

But like the PP said, the deluxe dining plan leaves you with just too much food, and too little time (we're going for 8 days.)

I don't know if it's worth upgrading to deluxe from free dining, or just choosing a few 2TS restaurants to pay for out of pocket.

I wish Disney offered a plan for 2 sit downs, and 1 counter service per day.

Whether it's worth it depends on a couple of things. First, are the members of your family early-risers who enjoy a big sit-down breakfast? Because that's at least a start at making it worth your while.

As for the 2 TS credit things, that also depends. Generally speaking, it is not a good "use" of regular dining plan table service credits because the meals are almost never twice as expensive. BUT if you've your heart set on eating at those restaurants anyway, it makes more sense to just get the deluxe plan.

All of that being said, my family is simply not capable of consuming that much food. Even if you decide on a sit-down breakfast, CS lunch and sit-down dinner, I'd be too stuffed to move. Good luck.

 

[jakeybake]

For me it is totally about convenience.

I like that I don't have to pay out of pocket for each and every meal and can just whip out the card and be done with it. We always stay at the BC and book out trip with a Bounceback offer before we leave. This year we were lucky enough to get Free Dining for our August trip.

In regards to paying for the Dining Plan, if after the 7 days it costs me a couple hundred dollars then so be it. For me that is a small price to pay for knowing that as soon as I check in on arrival day that everything is all taken care of.

I do miss the days where there was an app and tip included but all in all I like it and view it as a convenience, not a money saver.

Jay

 

[nkereina]

It's something I'm torn between right now, because we would really like to do:
CRT
Mickey's Backyard BBQ
Cali Grill
and wouldn't mind doing:
Yachtsman
Flying Fish
Le Cellier

But like the PP said, the deluxe dining plan leaves you with just too much food, and too little time (we're going for 8 days.)

I don't know if it's worth upgrading to deluxe from free dining, or just choosing a few 2TS restaurants to pay for out of pocket.

I wish Disney offered a plan for 2 sit downs, and 1 counter service per day.

2 sit downs, 1 QS per day would be my ideal. I agree. If you have any TS breakfasts, it is almost always cheaper to pay OOP for them. Check out the menus and figure out what you would order at each to determine what would be cheaper to pay OOP for it. It might even be cheaper to keep one or more of the 2 TS credit places on DDP, and pay OOP for 2 1 TS places. Also look at the desserts - some of the restaurants had desserts that weren't appealing to us. If we had to pay OOP at some places, it would have been the places with bad desserts.

For me it is totally about convenience.

I like that I don't have to pay out of pocket for each and every meal and can just whip out the card and be done with it. We always stay at the BC and book out trip with a Bounceback offer before we leave. This year we were lucky enough to get Free Dining for our August trip.

In regards to paying for the Dining Plan, if after the 7 days it costs me a couple hundred dollars then so be it. For me that is a small price to pay for knowing that as soon as I check in on arrival day that everything is all taken care of.

I do miss the days where there was an app and tip included but all in all I like it and view it as a convenience, not a money saver.

Jay

This. If it was a significant money saver, then everyone would be doing it!

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I think the introduction of the dining plan and "free" dining has served its purpose in filling Disney restaurants to the brim, but it has also resulted in a general decline in value and quality.

Many of us who have been visiting WDW for decades have been saying this for a long time. At this point, I think the only people who would disagree are those who started visiting WDW after DDP's inception or those who are big fans of DDP & refuse to admit there could possibly any negatives to the plan. I'm holding out hope that someday there will once again be executives that put a premium on quality food & will work to reverse the down slide.

In this case, I would think it would be cheaper to pay OOP for anything you want above and beyond the free DDP - rather than pay for the upgrade. We did DxDP once and had a lot of leftover credits. It was a lot of food and our ADRs weren't spaced with enough time for us to be hungry for dinner, so we ended up canceling some dinner ADRs. Knowing how we felt after the huge meals, we decided the regular plan was better for us and if we ever want an appetizer or an extra snack outside of the regular DDP, we would just buy that OOP. It would be cheaper than adding $25-$30 per person per night for us.

I think this depends on an individual's eating habits. If we ever choose to use a dining plan, DXDDP is the only plan that would work for us. We eat 2 TS meals a day. Breakfast/early lunch & signature dinner. We don't eat CS at all. We rarely snack. With DXDDP we'd find ourselves with snack credits that needed to be used or lost, but this is the only plan that would work at all. As of now, we use TIW. If we're ever in the position to choose FD or no discount at all, we'd upgrade to DXDDP. So far, room discounts have always been a better option for us.

 

[havoc315]

I was being conservative in my estimates.. all of the totals were from restaurants where we didn't even include drinks.. we are not huge alcohol drinkers so we would order soda or juices.. Add around $8.00 for that.. I know there are only 3 snacks per day.. and my hubby would use them for coffee at our resort latte's are $3.46 per coffee which adds up to be over $10.00.. I have NEVER eaten at a counter service for less than $ $30.00 and sometimes much more than that.. I know that we are going to have to pay at least 1 meal OOP.. and yes Via napoli would have been the one as it seems to be the most expensive..
If i am eating at a signature, I want to get the most out of it, and I will order app. and entree and dessert.. as we have all dinners except for chef mickeys I would order dessert more than likely every night.. Not for lunches though.. But, just ordering 2 sandwiches, a hot dog and 3 drinks from CS at our resort would be around $34.00.. if you take into consideration that the sand. are $9 a piece, and a hotdog is 7 and the drinks are around $3.00 a piece.. and that is NOT the expensive counter service..
I was adding on $$ as my orginal estimates did not include everything and were conservative..

And we have confirmed that the prices quoted in this thread were off.

So all that considered -- Yes, it does appear you would save a tiny amount with the dining plan.

So this is really where it becomes subjective -- Do you pre-pay the Dining plan, really locking in your choices, for a small savings of around 5%.
Or do you simply pay as you go, maximizing your flexibility, for 5% more.

If it was me in your shoes... I'd consider things like....
"If I'm on the dining plan, and I want a latte at my TS lunch, I may have to pay extra.. effectively paying for 2 beverages, the included beverage and extra for a latte. If I go out of pocket, I just pay for what I want -- the latte that I want....
If I'm on the dining plan, based on my projected eating, I'll save a tiny amount.. but what if someone gets sick, or what if we cancel 1 of the reservations?"

That's why, for me personally --- I'll go with a plan, if there are some pretty significant savings --- 15% or more.
But anything less than 10%, I'd personally rather just have the flexibility.

 

[havoc315]

I think the point here is that Disney likely never intended for the dining plan to save us money, but rather to be a prepay for food. It was us (the customers) who discovered how we could work it to save money. Disney is likely closing loopholes.

No, they always heavily marketed the plan as a great way to save money. Especially when it started, the ability to save money on the plan was this big benefit you could get by staying on property.

It's always been marketed primarily based on savings. I've never seen any marketing material promoting the "ease of prepayment."

Now, while the intent was always to make people *think* they are saving --- Disney's intent was always to get people to actually spend more.

Let's take an example -- The current dining plan for 2012 is about $51.

Let's imagine a world without a dining plan -- Take a guest who would....
Eat a snack bar in the room for breakfast (thereby giving Disney $0), would grab a Turkey leg and bottled water for lunch (thereby giving Disney about $10), grab a bag of popcorn as a mid-day snack ($3 for Disney), and have a cheap dinner, whether it be a cheap TS entree or CS (giving Disney $15-25).
So in this world without the dining plan -- This person has spent about $30-$40 at Disney, on food. Giving Disney revenue of $30-$40.

Now, Disney comes along with the dining plan -- A great way for the guest to "save." So instead of collecting a mere $30-$40 in revenue from the guest -- Disney has locked in a collection of $51 in revenue from the guest.
Meanwhile, the guest gets "perceived" savings -- As they can theoretically purchase items that cost more than $51.

It's like sales events that run for "Buy 1, get 2nd at half price" ---
The goal of such promotions is not to give savings to the customer, the goal is to get the customer to spend more -- To get the customer to buy a second item, even at a decreased profit margin, instead of just buying 1 item.

The goal of the Disney dining plan is similar --- It's looking at the typical guest who might spend only $40 --- and saying to that guest, "If instead of $40... if you give us $51, we will give you $55 worth of food."

As another analogy, they are saying, "Spend more money, and we will throw in an extra dessert at no charge!"

 

[havoc315]

2 sit downs, 1 QS per day would be my ideal. I agree.

They have that already... It's the deluxe plan. The deluxe plan includes the option of 3 TS meals per day, but it's not designed for a guest to get the most expensive TS meal for every meal. (Though, it prices keep increasing, that might eventually become the case).

Really, a non-character TS breakfast is around the same price as -- or even cheaper than -- a CS lunch.

For example, Kona Cafe breakfast -- French toast is $9.99. Plus beverage -- total cost is about $12.50 --- significantly less than many CS meals.

So even if Disney specifically designed a plan that was 2 TS + 1 QS --- They would have to price it about the same as they price the DxDP.

 

[disneydreamingdebby]

51.54/ 15.02 = $133.12 per day
If you eat at Cape May Cafe for dinner - you spend $125.64--making the cost worth it since you would still get a snack and counter service meal. Of course, you would need to eat at a very expensive buffet each night to realize this savings. (Four qs and four snacks for less than $10).

Our situation has now changed, though. Our girls turn ten...yet they still eat like nine year olds...

51.54 = 206.16 per day / Cape May Buffet $170.36 (Four qs and 4 snacks for $36) less savings...

My theory was that we saved because we credited the low kids cost (under $12) towards the adults' cost... The DP saves if you have kids nine and under and plan on doing the expensive (character) buffets.

We find that it is too much food for us. We could extend the qs credits for breakfast and lunch by sharing food. On our last trip, we had 10 counter credits left the night before departing. We would eat a buffet at 10 and not need to eat again until 8 or so and could share meals. We'd grab a snack around 4.

We cannot afford to do the dining plan with two little kids (who Disney sees as adults.) Our soon to be ten year olds don't eat $50 worth of food a day...heck dh and I don't either. (But he sure tried when we ate at the buffets! )

The costs of the buffets are outrageous at this point for us. The character experience isn't necessary, and I can't imagine paying $200 for a dinner at Cape May Cafe. The dining plan saved us money in the past - only because we booked at expensive restaurants and stuffed ourselves- plus kids costs were low!

 

[w-family]

I couldn't believe it either. we are heading down in August and our oldest is not 10. It was a great deal when they were all on kids prices, but there is no way my DD would eat that much food to justify paying an adult price for her meals.

We will pay out of pocket and will consider buying annual passes, (if we decide to go a 2nd time within the year) so we can get TIW. I am a little apprehesive about not doing the DDP, since we have been doing it for years, but I cannot justify paying those prices for the ease at the dining lines.

 

[havoc315]

The costs of the buffets are outrageous at this point for us. The character experience isn't necessary, and I can't imagine paying $200 for a dinner at Cape May Cafe. The dining plan saved us money in the past - only because we booked at expensive restaurants and stuffed ourselves- plus kids costs were low!

Great points. Yes, the DDP can become a value *if* you do a lot of buffets. But the buffet prices are such rip-offs for adults and mid-aged children, that it's still hard to call the DDP a "value."

Comes down to this --- when my kids are 10 and over, we won't do character meals. Doesn't make sense to spend $50+ per night for a dining plan for a 10 year-old, and doesn't make sense to spend $40 for a 10-year-old to get chicken nuggets from a character buffet.

 

[lugnut33]

Some of us DVC members vacation differently than a lot of the normal WDW vacationers, so I realize this isn't realistic for a lof of people. However, last August we were there for 10 nights and we ate in our 1 bedroom villa (with full kitchen) a lot and ate off-site a lot. I figure we saved over $800 by doing this.

Of course, I was roundly chastised on the Dis for even thinking about eating off-site eventhough I have no problem driving off-site since it's only a 5 or 10 minute drive and we do it while we are taking our afternoon break anyways.

Anyways, if you have a car, don't be afraid to eat off-site. It's not a big deal.

 

[eliza61]

Some of us DVC members vacation differently than a lot of the normal WDW vacationers, so I realize this isn't realistic for a lof of people. However, last August we were there for 10 nights and we ate in our 1 bedroom villa (with full kitchen) a lot and ate off-site a lot. I figure we saved over $800 by doing this.

Of course, I was roundly chastised on the Dis for even thinking about eating off-site eventhough I have no problem driving off-site since it's only a 5 or 10 minute drive and we do it while we are taking our afternoon break anyways.

Anyways, if you have a car, don't be afraid to eat off-site. It's not a big deal.

LOL. I feel your pain lugnut, don't ever say that you can actually have a nice vacation and not stay onsite. It will only lead to pain.


Anyway,
I think from reading all the replies, the bottom line is with the ddp getting more and more expensive, it is becoming more and more imperative to figure out if the ddp will or will not work for your family.

For me its definitely not. the only way I would save is if I did an expensive buffet every night and that's totally not the realistic way we eat, convenience or at least the way it's defined here is not high on the scale since I budget very realistically for our meals anyway.

I've been going to disney for a while and dining plans come and go so I'm sure we'll see some new version every year.