Dining Plan Spreadsheet

[SweetPeasMom2]

Years ago someone here had an Excel spreadsheet that you could input details for restaurants and determine if the dining plan was beneficial for you. Any idea if that is still something someone had to share?

 

[B-Ride]

In my experience the best indicator is the amount you eat. If you are a big eater and normally eat as much as the plan provides then it will pay off. However, if you eat everything you are entitled to simply because it is available then you are better to pay OOP and eat more sensibly.

 

[StarCruzer]

Years ago someone here had an Excel spreadsheet that you could input details for restaurants and determine if the dining plan was beneficial for you. Any idea if that is still something someone had to share?

Hmm I suspect that even if that spreadsheet still exists, it would be out of date in terms of current pricing. The last time we did DDP we made ourselves, based on where/what we wanted to eat.

MouseSavers has some good general tips:

Getting the Most Value for Your Table Service Credits​

• Each adult table service meal credit is “worth” about $61 on the 2024 plan (including beverage and dessert). Child table service meals are “worth” about $13. If you get food worth less than that at a meal, you’re not likely getting your money’s worth.
• If you typically drink alcohol with meals, it is much easier to save money with the dining plans. On the other hand, if you never drink alcohol, it will be much harder to get your money’s worth from the plans. Remember that young people ages 10-20 are charged the adult rates, but can’t drink alcohol.
• Paying for breakfast with a deluxe or table-service credit is typically a very bad deal. Breakfast is relatively inexpensive, even at sit-down restaurants, so you’re usually better off paying out of pocket as a general rule. The big exception here is character breakfasts, which tend to be pricey.
• Using table-service credits for quick-service meals is always a terrible deal. There is no way we know of to come out financially ahead on that.
• Signature restaurant meals and the two-credit princess buffets are almost never a great value, at least on a dollars-and-cents basis, because they cost two dining plan credits but the food isn’t twice as expensive as other restaurants. The average prices at signature restaurants are in the neighborhood of 50% higher than the regular restaurants, but you’re using 100% more credits. That said, signature restaurants typically have elevated service and decor, and who’s to say what that’s worth?
• Often the highest value for a single table service meal credit is a dinner buffet. Buffet dinner prices are very high, starting at around $46 per adult and $27 per child (at Cape May Cafe in the Beach Club Resort), with character meals being even higher, starting around $62/$39. If you plan to eat at a lot of buffets (like 50% of your meals or more), you’re more likely to save money with the dining plans, especially if you have several children 9 or under, as the child price for a buffet is much higher than any other children’s meals at table service restaurants.

 

[jenjersnap]

I always used https://www.distripplanner.com/ when considering DDP value in the Before Times. I don’t know whether it has been updated since I haven’t run numbers (we were deluxe DDP people, the regular never worked for us).