Dis trip planner

[linjohn]

How accurate is distriplanner.com?

 

[linjohn]

Has anyone used this to decide if they should use the Disney dining plan or pay out of pocket?

 

[sharonabe]

People use it all the time and make their decision on what it predicts.

Personally, I think you need to go through the menus and see what your family might order and do the math yourself, but there are many, many people on the DIS who swear by this tool.

 

[loves to dive]

They base their numbers on an average, if you order less or more than what they average out it's not a very good tool. I used it once just playing around then used the menus and it was about $200 more than the actual.

 

[sharonabe]

I just went in and put in a "dummy" trip with restaurants we might want. I have 4 buffets and 2 a la carte plus my QS. QS is difficult for us with this tool, because at both AK and EP we might not all eat at the same QS, but I put in those where we could all eat.

Then I went to the menus and chose what we would prefer to eat. At a couple places, I KNOW we would share if paying OOP because the portions are so large, we don't need FOUR entrees. We also prefer water to drink and the calculator has no way to take that into account. If we had the DDP, DH and I would get coffee or we would swap for more snack items or get bottled water...none of which we would normally want.

So, my actual OOP total was $168 LESS than their OOP total and therefore put us at $420 LESS than the DDP would cost us. AND I also consider the tip amount because OOP eating is definitely different than DDP eating for us (4 Disney adults = 4 desserts at every TS!!). With just the two a la carte places I chose, our tip amount would be $20 more than our OOP amount. $20 may not seem like that much, but that's 4 more snacks or a souvenir. If I had 6 a la carte places instead of buffets (where the tip is the same OOP or DDP), that extra tip amount becomes $60. That's a big difference for me.

 

[Lisa F]

It wasn't specific enough for my OCD. I made a spreadsheet and put in likely choices and figured actual costs. Ahhhhh precision, lol.

 

[senadler]

I think it is a good way to start and get an idea of where you stand. If you are not saving any money when you put your plans in distripplanner, I do not think the dining plan is for you. If anything, it would probably overstate your savings.

For me, because we are doing the deluxe plan, the majority of our meals are characters meals, AYTCE, etc., the results were pretty close to my own spreadsheet.