Dining Plan

[tony609]

Can someone explain to me why so many people think the DDp has no real savings/value in it? I am confused. Does it have to do with the amount of people in your party or resort level? the types of meals you would get anyway?

We are 2 adults, always stay value, I LOVE POP, I have no desire to upgrade as we do not swim,and I hate paying for other hotel ammenities that i will not take advantage of and do free dining, sometimes upgrade to Dlux DP, or just upgrade to the regular DDp. It seems to save us money since we want at least one TS everyday for dinner, and Everyday for breakfast (if we do Dldp). For lunch we sometimes do a TS (on a open to close/EMH evening) day or QS or just skip it, and meals before we leave for the airport, we always do a late flight on departure day so I can hit a park again for a few hours) The snacks are great,at least I think so for water,soda,popcorn etc..... I would buy a soda,water at least 2 per day as I am always thirstie. I usually don't snack if I have snack credits left, which on the DLdp last year we had 18 nd got to use it on the confectionary in MK and grabbed like 18 different types of the small Goofy's candy company candies, I still have gummy mickey's left for snacking at home!!!

Please help me see why this doesn't save me money???? I am not paying tat much more per night on the room. When I have looked at menus added up approx meals it comes in over $800 for two doing 14 TS meals. Chef Mickey's alone for dinneris around $80.00. The average TS meal was approx. $40-70 not couning a desert or appetizer with every meal.

 

[sharonabe]

It IS a great value given your parameters. You stay at a value and upgrade to DxDDP from FREE dining. Even taking into consideration the possible room discount, you're only paying $64/night/per person to eat 3 meals a day plus two snacks. It would be very difficult to eat 3 meals a day for less than $64 unless you're eating all QS.

So, yes, it is a great value if you want to eat all of that food. My family is perfectly happy with QS most of the time and 2-3 TS. And we don't eat desserts or drink sodas. So I would have to do a little planning and research to see if I want to pay for that upgrade or take the free QSDP and pay OOP for the fewTS we want.

 

[TDC Nala]

Okay, I will explain why I don't use the dining plan since it was asked.

I am a DVC member. We don't get free dining. (Actually I wouldn't use it even if I could get it.)

I'm an annual passholder so I would have to buy tickets to get free dining anyway.

I have a TIW membership for 20% off most TS and some CS, including alcohol (I do order alcohol).

I don't order dessert with every meal and sometimes I would rather have a couple of appetizers rather than entree plus dessert.

I'm single - no trying to feed a family or please a family.

I don't eat snacks daily. I do buy Diet Cokes. Not the best use of a snack credit. If I had the DDP I would get food-type snacks, but I don't really care if I have them or not. With all the food it is probably better for me not to have them. I don't want to be able to use the snack credits to get 18 different types of candy to eat at home. That I definitely don't need.

I very rarely do buffets and I prefer signature restaurants (not the greatest deals on the DDP and I don't want to order three courses at every meal as would be required on the DxDDP). I also skip breakfast most of the time.

I don't eat the way the plan is set up - and I don't want to. I might be saving money with the plan if I were going to order dessert with every meal but I don't want to HAVE to get the dessert. I'm pretty sure nobody was saying it won't save YOU money - but it won't do that across the board for everybody.

 

[jlk806]

We do the DP every trip because we are on vacation and dont want to look at prices or worry about where we are going to eat... if we didnt have the DP my husband would probably only allow us to eat at one or two TS meals the whole trip! We are doing a split stay this trip (Pop, 5 nts with FD upgraded dining plan, and then 4 nts at Kidani on rented points and added the regular dining plan). I added up what we would spend considering the restaurants we are eating at, and a ton of money would be saved!

Last month me and 3 girlfriends went on a girls trip (one of the 3 friends just graduated college and works for Disney now) so she got us the resort for 60% off and the regular dining plan for only $27.99 a day per person (cast member special at that time). We were there 4 nts and I figured out the 4 Table service meals alone cost about $488.00, not even including the counter service meals and snacks! . Not bad considering the DP only cost $447.84 for all 4 of us for 4 days! Too bad thats not what the dining plan costs regularly! But for that trip we werent going to do the DP but when our CM friend told me the price I said theres no way we cant do it!!

 

[havoc315]

If you are maximizing all the entitlements, it absolutely does save you money.
But if you don't prefer eating the way that the meal plan is designed, then it won't save you any money at all, and be even more expensive.

Let's say, for example, I like doing a TS non-buffet breakfast, a very light lunch, and a signature dinner - moderate entree only, but no appetizer, no dessert. And assume I drink water with all my meals. There is no plan that matches those needs --- The deluxe would allow for all 3 of those meals, but at over $80 per person in 2012 pricing.
With the DDP, I could cover the light lunch, but I couldn't cover all the other meals.

So, assume a light breakfast at Kona Cafe, a CS sandwich for lunch, and a signature entree for dinner.
If totally OOP:
Tonga Toast breakfast plus coffee plus tax -- About $15
Columbia Harbor House Lighthouse sandwich for lunch, with tax, about $9
California Grill, Roast Chicken for dinner, with tax, about $35

Total OOP cost: $59

Now, let's do the exact same meals with the DDP and DxDP:

On the DDP, for $52 in 2012 pricing:
I have 1 TS credit, 1 CS credit. Since California Grill is 2 credits, I can't use my TS credit there. So I'll use it for the breakfast. And I can use the CS credit to cover the lighthouse sandwich for lunch.
So dinner has to be out of pocket.
So on the DDP: $52+ 35 = $87

Or, I could go with the DxDP, for $80+. But it would cover everything.

So, Purely OOP: Total expenses = $59
DDP -- Total expenses= $87
DxDP -- Total expenses = $80+

So based on the way this person prefers eating, OOP is the far superior choice.

Example number 2:
Cereal for breakfast.
Sandwich at the Plaza for lunch, no dessert at that time.
Mid afternoon snack/dessert -- pastry from Main Street Bakery
Dinner -- Tony's Town Square Pasta

If going totally out of pocket:
Cereal, about $3.
Plaza Turkey Sandwich: About $12 with tax.
Cinnamon Roll for dessert from bakery-- Under $4 with tax.
Tony's Spagetti and meatballs-- About $19 with tax.

So total OOP: $38, for 2 TS meals, plus cereal breakfast, plus a mid afternoon dessert.
If I went with the DDP -- it would be over $50, plus I would have to pay for 1 of the TS meals out of pocket. So the total price under the DDP would be $60+
The DxDP would cover it all, but would be over $80.

Finally, let's look at someone who does eat exactly as the plan as designed, but does CS breakfast, and does cheaper meals:
CS breakfast platter at resort: Tonga Toast platter, plus a beverage: About $8
Snack in mid-day -- About $3
Dinner at The Plaza: Cheesesteak Sandwich, plus beverage plus Sundae for dessert-- About $22 total.

In this case, this person used all the DDP entitlements -- But if they had simply gotten the exact same food OOP, then the total cost would be $33, compared to $50+ for the dining plan.

 

[LilyWDW]

It would save me money IF I ate the way it dictates. However, I often don't do so. I'm not a big dessert eater, I enjoy my appetizers, and I often get two apps instead of an entree. The dining plan doesn't really allow me to do that IF I want to use it to it's fullest. If I am not going to use it to it's fullest, then there is no savings in it.

I pay out of pocket and we still eat a table service pretty much every day.

 

[krb2g]

We don't do the dining plan because there's no version that allows TS meals without dessert (or two apps instead of an entree, or an app for your meal). We'd rather take room-only discounts and eat the way we want. We stay club level, and find that the lounge breakfast (included in the cost of the room) fits our breakfast needs perfectly. We enjoy snacks and drinks in the lounge throughout the day, so we don't get dessert for our TS meals--and sometimes don't need such a big meal (though I may buy a Mickey Bar or a Dole Whip...). We ran the numbers, and, given what we want to eat, the room discounts made more sense than the free dining. YMMV.

 

[vicki_c]

Also (although I am also a DVC member), if you stay in a value w/free dining, that is often a better deal than if you stay in a deluxe w/free dining vs. any other room discount offer that might be out there.

So since we always stay deluxe, even though we don't do DDP at all - free or not, it would always be cheaper for my family to take a decent room % discount than to pay rack rate @ a deluxe to get free dining.

And in addition to all that - we just don't feel the DDPs are a good fit for our family and what we want to do. So we stick with our Tables in Wonderland card while we have Annual Passes, and just pay cash when we don't.

 

[mousegear]

We like the flexibility and prefer TiW than DDP/DxDP. We could never eat all the food that is offered on DxDP to come ahead of the value. This year, we are going during FD and will be on DDP. However, we are upgrading those tix to AP and getting TiW (several more trips for next year). We also decided not to upgrade to DxDP. We plan to share some meals and order an appetizer or two (discounted with TiW) and share the dessert. Truthfully, we don't even need those dessert but will have taste since it's included. So we will be stretching those DDP credits. But normally, we are happy with TiW and paying OOP.

 

[DisneyLoverUSA]

We happen to be getting the QSDP free so it is saving me a ton of money, but if we didn't get it free we could definitely eat 2 CS meals per person for less than $35.99 per day. Most CS meals you can get for $10 (X 2) and 2 snacks (X $4) That's only $28 per day to pay OOP for 2 CS meals and 2 snacks. We aren't dessert eaters, ever. But we will let the kids get dessert while we are on vacation and since it is free. Free dining would have cost us, if we were paying, over $1600 for 5 of us for 10 days. Actual OOP food costs would be more like $1,000. So getting free dining saved us a grand or so.

It would cost me over $200 a day to upgrade us to DLXDP. And for just ONE more meal a day, $200 is way too much when you can get a CS breakfast for $7 per person.

I can't imagine eating 3 TS meals a day and that's really the only way to get your money's worth out of the DLXDP. IMO.

 

[Alinasan]

What I find confusing is determining whether the plan has value for me. I can easily see how it won't work for some, or how it works great for others. All depends on how much you eat, and how much time you want to spend on that, versus touring parks or doing other things in Orlando.

My first thought was that the plan wouldn't be good for us, because it would be too much of the wrong kind of foods for too much money. Not to mention, with a 3 y.o, well, dining is often a challenge for us. When it was offered for "free", that sort of changed our minds a little, even though ultimately it was trading one discount on the room for it. But we figured we could book more of the "experience" type TS meals, and in that way, get some value out of the plan besides the cost of the food itself. We will end up spending more money this way than I think we would have, had we kept the discount and eaten in a more conservative way. Plus I'll have to work harder to exert will power to not overindulge ( so that DD won't either), so we can safely ride the fun stuff! It's just not a clear choice (dining plan vs. not) for us, but we're going to try it out and see how it goes.