Dining Plan vs No Plan--It is close!

[maxiesmom]

Ugh. How do you decide between getting the plan and not getting the plan when you are thisclose to breaking even on it?

I've gone thru and written down what restaurants we would eat at, and what we are likely to order. After all the table service meals I would still have to spend $225 a person over 8 days on quick service meals and snacks. Or around $28 a person a day. We would be going to WDW over the Food and Wine festival, and I know those can be some high priced snacks that we could cover with credits.

What do you think?

 

[aaarcher86]

I go for it if I'm around the $100 mark. I like to get desserts, but wouldn't typically without the plan. If it's that close I'll go for it. It's small potatoes compared to the cost of the trip.

For $225 I'd probably go OOP the whole time.

 

[maxiesmom]

Part of me says to do it because it is so handy. It is nice to not have to worry about what we order and to know it is paid for. However I also know I can eat cheaper than I will if I'm on the plan. I can order quick service minus the fries for lunch, or get a child's sized portion. My adult nephew, on the other hand, wouldn't be full at all doing that.

What to do, what to do.

 

[sharonabe]

$28 for a QS and a snack? Even with the F&W, you'll be hard pressed to spend that much even for one day. It sounds like you'll spend less OOP even if you eat like the plan calls for. Can you eat what you want OOP without cutting corners knowing ahead of time you'll still spend less than if you get the DDP?

 

[loves to dive]

If you have truly run all the numbers and done all the comparisons, I think it would boil down to your eating style. Do you like eating at least two solid meals a day including dessert? Do you think during F&W you might want to skip a meal or two and just nosh at the booths? I've been to F&W twice and I can tell you other than tea at the GF and one food and wine pairing meal, I didn't eat a TS the entire time I was there and I can't think of more than 2 QS meals I ate during the 5 day trip and they were both breakfast. Seriously, it took me the entire 5 days to sample at least one something from each booth and at times that one something was a drink. It was just too much. I spent about $150 at the booths (would have been less but DH gave me money to get a Dom tasting which was over $30 and so not worth it). Personally, I hate having to be tied down to a certain amount of TS meals, there are days you just aren't in the mood for a big meal and I prefer appys to deserts.

 

[maxiesmom]

If you have truly run all the numbers and done all the comparisons, I think it would boil down to your eating style. Do you like eating at least two solid meals a day including dessert? Do you think during F&W you might want to skip a meal or two and just nosh at the booths? I've been to F&W twice and I can tell you other than tea at the GF and one food and wine pairing meal, I didn't eat a TS the entire time I was there and I can't think of more than 2 QS meals I ate during the 5 day trip and they were both breakfast. Seriously, it took me the entire 5 days to sample at least one something from each booth and at times that one something was a drink. It was just too much. I spent about $150 at the booths (would have been less but DH gave me money to get a Dom tasting which was over $30 and so not worth it). Personally, I hate having to be tied down to a certain amount of TS meals, there are days you just aren't in the mood for a big meal and I prefer appys to deserts.

There are only 2 restaurants we would book for dinner--Le Ceiller and Be Our Guest. I can easily see us spending 4 or 5 nights at Epcot sampling the booths. We would have 2 more pricey breakfasts--The Crystal Palace is a must do, and we though we would try the Garden Grill.

 

[Minniesgal]

For us it is easy. I work out where we want to eat then add up how many credits that is.

I always have the wrong amount of credits too many for regular too few for deluxe. So for us it doesn't work as it doesn't fit the way we eat.

If it fits the way you eat and it saves you money i'd got for it.

 

[sharonabe]

There are only 2 restaurants we would book for dinner--Le Ceiller and Be Our Guest. I can easily see us spending 4 or 5 nights at Epcot sampling the booths. We would have 2 more pricey breakfasts--The Crystal Palace is a must do, and we though we would try the Garden Grill.

While CP and GG breakfasts are pricey, they are $6 LESS than the value of that TS credit, so if you use the DDP, you're paying $6 more than you would be OOP. You won't be able to make up that $12 by eating at F&W. For Le Cellier, even if you order the $50 entree, $11 dessert, and a $5 drink, you're $10 LESS than the value of those 2 Ts credits you need to use.

Still want to use the DDP?

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Is your break even within 5%? If it is, you could always do the gift card from Target route with a Red Card.

 

[BCNHF]

It's worth it for me to not have to worry about the money while down there. I know everythings paid for and everything, it's like going on a all-inclusive.

 

[eliza61]

It's worth it for me to not have to worry about the money while down there. I know everythings paid for and everything, it's like going on a all-inclusive.

You know I always find that so interesting because when I was on the dining plan, I worried about meal money waaay more. (just me)

When I did the ddp, all I did was obsess about making sure we got the "maximum" value for our credits. I can't tell you how many times all I really wanted was a appetizer and maybe a salad but forced myself to ear or how many times we wanted an appetizer but I vetoed it because I knew if we ordered appetizers we wouldn't have room for dessert and that would go to waste.

Or a couple of times we wanted to eat breakfast (not a character breakfast) and once again I vetoed it because it wasn't the "best" use of the credits.

Especially since now most of the restaurants we go to the menu has been watered down, I stress much less about what to order.
I think it's totally different than an all inclusive as at least the ones in Mexico, ordering stuff a la carte is more expensive. at disney it's the opposite (generally speaking), usually most of the time ordering a la carte is cheaper.

 

[Jing]

I'm in somewhat the same boat. We saved about 25% over OOP on DxDDP (adult only trip), but just doing regular DDP last time with our free toddler, we were under 10%. Oddly, we made out on the free dining promo last fall because the room we wanted was not available by the time the room only discount came out, and even if it was, out OOP break-even would have been at about 75% of our credit use. If the free dining promo for fall came out today, it would be cheaper to take it over the current 25% bounce-back offer we have simply by eating as we normally do and not trying to maximize credits. Actually, I am thinking of adding the DDP to our bounce back offer before the expected price increase/rumored tiered ticket pricing comes out. I like to take advantage of the DVA, so pre-paying meals for 8 nights nets me an extra 2% off my already 18%-20% off from using discounted Disney GCs. We have Cali Grill Brunch and dinner at CRT, 1900PF, and Garden Grill planned next trip, plus Tiffins if there is a Rivers of Light Dining package - that eats all 8 credits in 5 meals where you fall at least $3 ahead of the DDP TS break even. We love breakfast at BOG, WGP-express, and pretty much everything at Pepper Market, all of which are also $3+ more per QS credit. The only cheap-o there will be Casey's Corner. We use our snack credits at food and wine for everything over $5, so again, reaping value.

But see, that's a lot of unnecessary gastronomic math for what should be a relaxing vacation. I could just as easily put cost of the DDP plus anticipated OOP meals on a gift card and call it done. My time is worth something, and the hours I put into figuring out the savings could be spent doing actual overtime at work. Hubs would also be more relaxed about ordering without me. He never can remember to say "room charge," he wants to tap his band and not think.

And yet, the marketing is soooooo good, I will probably make that phone call to reservations to add DDP this week, lol!

 

[Chelley00]

We are coming close on what we are calculating too and decided to keep it. Without the dining plan, the accountant in me is going to skip dessert and chose the cheapest item on the menu, add costs of snacks in my head....... That's just how I am. With the dining plan I'm going to order the expensive stuff, mainly because I rarely do For me, having it paid for and not worrying about is worth the little over we might spend if we don't calculate it right. If it came to $100 or more, then we'd dump the plan.

 

[maxiesmom]

Ok, I have decided to not book the plan. I rarely get dessert (except for the ooey gooey toffee cake) and I am comfortably full when ordering kids sized chicken nuggets at quick service restaurants. I'll just buy a bunch of Disney gift cards from Target, and save the 5%. Thanks everyone for your thoughts, it was helpful!!

 

[Lisa F]

IMO the only time it is a value without trying hard is when you have lots of buffets and a ratio of 1:1 kids (3-9 yrs) to adults. It's around $20/day for kids and a single buffet is anywhere from $2-12 more than that with tax. With the ability to order adult QS meals with kids credits, especially for kids closer to 9 than 3, it ends up being a good value. Any other time I think you just have to work it too hard to make it worth it from a dollars and cents point of view.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

You know I always find that so interesting because when I was on the dining plan, I worried about meal money waaay more. (just me)

When I did the ddp, all I did was obsess about making sure we got the "maximum" value for our credits. I can't tell you how many times all I really wanted was a appetizer and maybe a salad but forced myself to ear or how many times we wanted an appetizer but I vetoed it because I knew if we ordered appetizers we wouldn't have room for dessert and that would go to waste.

I am just the opposite. If we are paying OOP, which we do if the DDP doesn't save us money, I nitpick every dime we spend. I once answered my husband's question of where to eat lunch with, "We just ate." Um, right, we just ate breakfast, 5 hours earlier.

If we are paying OOP he is in charge of the timing of meals. Otherwise I starve the family.

 

[eliza61]

I am just the opposite. If we are paying OOP, which we do if the DDP doesn't save us money, I nitpick every dime we spend. I once answered my husband's question of where to eat lunch with, "We just ate." Um, right, we just ate breakfast, 5 hours earlier.

If we are paying OOP he is in charge of the timing of meals. Otherwise I starve the family.

Know the feeling.
I use to worry about that but in general I've started to make our meal budget pretty generous. I do what folks here suggested and put the budget on a GC, this way I can keep the stress of wasting money down to a minimum while not starving folks.

 

[Ava]

IMO the only time it is a value without trying hard is when you have lots of buffets and a ratio of 1:1 kids (3-9 yrs) to adults. It's around $20/day for kids and a single buffet is anywhere from $2-12 more than that with tax. With the ability to order adult QS meals with kids credits, especially for kids closer to 9 than 3, it ends up being a good value. Any other time I think you just have to work it too hard to make it worth it from a dollars and cents point of view.

This is our situation. We've had the free DDP the last 2 years in a row, but are planning to go in the spring next year (and want to rent DVC) so free dining will not be an option. The first year we did DDP we had 2 adults and 1 child (and 1 toddler not on plan) for a 7-night trip and it worked well. Last year we had 4 adults, 1 child (and 1 toddler) for a 9-night trip and it felt like too much. Next time we will be 2 adults and 2 children, and while we want a more relaxed/less scheduled trip, I think we may end up doing DDP again. If we do just 2 or 3 character buffets over a 6- or 7-night trip, it makes the DDP worth it. I also like doing the Fantasmic package at DHS, which is a good value at 1 TS credit, and would definitely do a dining package for Rivers of Light as well if one is offered.

 

[sra12574]

Whats the promo that you save 5% on Disney Giftcards at target?

 

[Lisa F]

Whats the promo that you save 5% on Disney Giftcards at target?

If you have the red card (target's store credit card) you get 5% off all purchases and it includes disney gift cards. I just bought $150 worth today and paid $142.50 for them. Not a HUGE savings but over the cost of a trip it adds up.