dining plan JUST to have it already paid for?

[robndani]

NOW, if I looked at prices, tried to make sure everyone ordered a cheaper menu item, told everyone to drink water and told everyone "no dessert." Yes, I am sure it would be cheaper out of pocket.

But we are on vacation. And we plan to act like it.

YES!!!! I totally let my kids eat worse at Disney.

(It's also hard to find beets and peas, my kids' favorites...lol)

 

[maxiesmom]

Are you sure? Did you factor in gratuities, menu choice, etc? That you wouldn't get desserts with qsr meals? Honestly, I've yet to see a case where anyone saved money on the plan

Really? I've used the plan 3 times, and the only reason we used it was because it saved money.

However, I have been informed that we need to have it, even if we don't quite break even. The convenience factor of having everything paid for ahead of time is huge!

 

[robinb]

You'll be paying $160 per day for the DDP or $1120. Of that, you will receive $15-$20 worth of snacks which leave $145 to spend on meals.

Here are the Jan 2014 prices according to Rusty Scupper (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3108466)

Chef Mickeys - $46/$23 (Dinner)
Akershus - $51/$28 (Dinner)
Hollywood & Vine - $34/$17 (Dinner)
Crystal Palace - $40/$19 (Dinner)
1900 Park Fare (B) - $27/$15 (Breakfast)

The other meals, I did a quick estimate of each.
Artist Point - Back of envelope (Dinner), $48/$15 with tax
Tutto - Back of envelope (Dinner), $45/$18 with tax
The Wave - Back of envelope (Dinner), $35/$10 with tax
Be Our Guest - Back of envelope (Dinner), $33/$10 with tax

I would pay OOP for 1900 Park Fare breakfast and for BOG.

If you remove that from the list, you have a total of $299 for adults and $130 for kids for 7 days or $858 worth of food for 7 days or $122 per day. that leaves you with $23 left over after accounting the snacks to break even on your CS meals. Adult CS meals are about $13 and kids meals are about $6.50 with drinks and tax. Add another $4 for adult desserts. So, CS meals would cost you about $39.00 OOP or $47 with desserts. So far, you are ahead with the DDP.

Let's now look at how much these would cost with the TIW card. You get a 20% discount off all TS meals. Based on $299 at full price with taxes, the pre-tax cost of your adult meals would be $280, $225 with the discount and then $240 with taxes added back. Children come to $122 pre-tax, $98 with discount and $104 with taxes added back in. Your total would be $688 for the core 7 meals with the TIW card

Now, let's add the CS meals back at full price with desserts. We figured they came out to $47 per day. Add $416+$329 and you get $1017. That's $3 less than the DDP.

The DDP wins for you and your mugs and snacks are free.

 

[sherri810]

We really enjoy using the dining plan, QS, DDP, and DXDDP. We have tried them all and they all save us money. It just depends on how we plan to vacation that trip. Love the fact I can pay for everything before hand and just pay for tip on vacation. After so many years our style of enjoying Disney has change and we love it. We will continue to pay for plan even if we lose a little. We are already way ahead by this time.

 

[persimmondeb]

Yep. I am sure.

And no, I didn't factor in gratuities. There are no gratuities. I am looking at the quick service plan.

I printed out menus for all of the places at which we would eat.

I had my family choose their meal. Whatever they would order if cost were no object. When my son said, I am allowed dessert, I said yes.

And I come out ahead.

Now, we are all adults. We like to eat. And we would normally eat dessert, while on vacation.

NOW, if I looked at prices, tried to make sure everyone ordered a cheaper menu item, told everyone to drink water and told everyone "no dessert." Yes, I am sure it would be cheaper out of pocket.

But we are on vacation. And we plan to act like it.

Yes! This exactly!

Evil Cranky Mommy could get the hungry grouchy family in and out of Disney QS for less than the cost of the QS plan (three adults--one CS meal, 2 kid's meals, one soda, 3 cups and a certain amount of yelling because everyone is still a little peckish and the kid's turkey sandwiches are boring). However, we are doing the QSDP this time (thank goodness, I didn't think we could swing it this time even with a value) and there's no question that the value of what we'll get on the plan will come out to more than the cost of the plan, and it will all be eaten and enjoyed. It's always possible to get away cheaper paying OOP, but the real question regarding value and the dining plan is which option will let you order the way you want to while keeping spending under control. We've never had the dining plan and not been happy that we had it.

 

[Misha72683]

Are you sure? Did you factor in gratuities, menu choice, etc? That you wouldn't get desserts with qsr meals? Honestly, I've yet to see a case where anyone saved money on the plan

I've done the math, looking at the menus of the places we're hoping to eat at and guessing what everyone would choose to eat (including snacks) and it'll cost us about $10 more with the DDP. Would we normally eat Desert with every meal? Maybe not, but we would probably have snacked on lots of sweets, so having dessert after a QSR isn't much different.

So for a difference of $2.50 a person, I'll go with the DDP. It'll save us a headache and we'll know that our meals are already paid for.

We're planning on a lot of buffets and character meals for our TSR.

ETA- I didn't realize the meals come with the refillable resort mug. We were planning on picking some up. So yes, we will actually come out ahead on the DP.