Dining plan: Should we do it?

[jerrp]

Please help with whether I should go with the Dining plan or not. Going in July with 2 adults and 4 teenagers ( no children). Staying from Saturday to Thursday. We have ADR's for Citrico's, Cape May Dinner buffet and lunch at LeCellier and Primetime Cafe , as well as Fantasmic Brown Derby package and the Aloha Dinner show. I was thinking to not use the plan for the dinner shows as they tie up too many credits. We plan on eating most breakfast and some lunches in the room ( BCV). Can I just get 4 days to cover TS at Citrico's and the lunches ( or another signature dinner/ 2 regular dinners)? This would apparently equal the cost of the plan and then the 4 CS/snacks might be the best reason to go with the DP. I've tried to calculate the difference but there are too many variables and I end up still uncertain. I would greatly appreciate any advice. Thanks!

 

[matt&jakesmom]

I would use the DDP. I think money wise you will come out farther ahead. We have used it twice in the past and always far better than if we hadn't used it.

 

[mary174]

Okay, Hollywood Brown Derby is probably the least value per point restaurant on your list, with an average dinner at about $50 including tax and tip. Spirit of Aloha category 2 is about $54. I would get the Dining plan and pay out of pocket for these two. On the dining plan, you would spend $38.99 per one TS, one CS, and one snack. You are only staying five nights you would almost break even on the dining plan with just your TS. Average around $35-36 per TS at the locations listed. Assuming that your family would order appetizers and desserts, you would be much better off on the plan even if you didn't use most of your CSs and snacks. If most of the people in your family wouldn't go for appetizers or deserts, then you would have to eat all your CSs and Snacks to make the plan break even. I'm guessing the plan would be much better for you, but you know how you eat.

 

[agoofyguest]

This is the way I figure it for myself - I always eat at a nice restaurant every night I am in the World and it will usually cost an average of $40 - $50. The Dining Plan cost is less than that per day and I am able to eat a lot more food should I want to. The credits are there to use and my meals are paid for for less than I would normally pay. I do not feel the need to overindulge just because I have the credits, but figure I am saving money anyway on my dinners. If I have credits left at the end I don;t mind because of the savings I have gained over the week for my nice dinners.

Hope this helps - either way you will have a lot of fun!

 

[kaybird]

Agree that the ddp will probably be a great value for you. It is especially nice with teens, as if they are off on their own for a while, the need to send money along is taken care of. We loved scheduling 1 TS a day, that is our "meet up" time, and then the snacks and CS take care of themselves!

 

[hollyk]

THe best part of the plan was we never needed to worry about how much things cost because it was already taken care of. YOu can't beat that. especailly when you see your bill is over $100 everytime, it's great

 

[illiniowl]

1. You can't get the DDP for less than the full length of your stay. So in your case assuming you check in on a Sat. and out on Thurs. that is 5 nights x $39 per adult for a DDP cost of $195 per adult.

2. I roughly estimated what an average *full* meal (app, entree, dessert, NA bev., tax, tip (used 20% so I didn't have to break out the calculator ) would be at each of your 6 ADRs and came up with a total OOP cost of $287 for each adult.

3. If you got the DDP, I agree with mary174 that the best way to use it would be to pay for Brown Derby and Spirit of Aloha OOP and use your DDP credits for the others. That would require you to pay (again my rough estimate) $111 OOP in addition to the $195 DDP cost for a total outlay of $306.

4. $306 - $287 = $19. If you would spend more than $19 per adult on CS meals and snacks during your stay in addition to your 6 ADRs, then DDP makes sense. But again, the big assumption here is that your group would normally be ordering the full app+entree+dessert at the TS's; if not, that $287 number goes down and the DDP may start to make less sense.

Basically I think I'm saying what mary174 already said, except my post is much longer.

 

[bigskyernurse]

We had lots of TS meals and the dining plan worked for us! We paid out of pocket for a couple character breakfasts and used our credits for the most expensive meals and still came out ahead.