Disney Dining Plan calculator - Amazing Tool!!!

[Spencerfamily]

Adding myself on here so I can find it again in couple of weeks when know where adrs are confirmed for. Will let you know how we come out- booked deluxe plan at mo.....eek!

 

[kmd1974]

Trying to download the spread sheet but all I get is a bunch of gibberish. I am using Firefox but no such luck. I would really like to use this to see the difference but can't download. HELP!!!!

 

[bjgonzo]

Thank you for sharing this! We are planning a trip in Jan, me, hubby, 4 kids (12, 7, 5, 2) and my mom. We thought the dining plan would be the way to go, but it wasn't! Even doing character meals and plugging in restaurants we probably wouldn't chose to eat at normally we come out a couple hundred paying OOP. But we now know a realistic food budget.

 

[DJWMom]

I wish I had found this a couple of weeks ago when I crunched the numbers "by hand". It'll be a good tool for me when I'm planning my no-kids, 10th anniversary trip for my husband and I though

 

[Coconuts]

We are devoted DDP people, mainly for the sheer convenience, and because we usually do at least 3 character meals. It just always seemed like the way to go. After reading most of these posts, it seems that most people are opting to go OOP. I know that the DDP isn't the deal it used to be anymore.

I finally got to the spreadsheet and I plugged in our numbers with most of the restaurants we usually eat at. I was a little generous and said that we got more snacks and appetizers that we usually do, and used the higher priced option for meals. OOP and DDP were just about even, with less than a $30 difference.

When I was a little more conservative with snacks, appetizers, and used the average priced option, OOP was about $130 cheaper. For that little of a difference, DH agreed that we would probably just stick with the DDP. The convenience of just using credits is worth it to us. I think if we were doing OOP I would be scrutinizing every meal, every price, every last snack that we bought to make sure we got the best value for our dollar. I don't want to have to be stressing about that at WDW.

But I seem to be in the minority anymore.

 

[lovelygirl1975]

We are devoted DDP people, mainly for the sheer convenience, and because we usually do at least 3 character meals. It just always seemed like the way to go. After reading most of these posts, it seems that most people are opting to go OOP. I know that the DDP isn't the deal it used to be anymore.

I finally got to the spreadsheet and I plugged in our numbers with most of the restaurants we usually eat at. I was a little generous and said that we got more snacks and appetizers that we usually do, and used the higher priced option for meals. OOP and DDP were just about even, with less than a $30 difference.

When I was a little more conservative with snacks, appetizers, and used the average priced option, OOP was about $130 cheaper. For that little of a difference, DH agreed that we would probably just stick with the DDP. The convenience of just using credits is worth it to us. I think if we were doing OOP I would be scrutinizing every meal, every price, every last snack that we bought to make sure we got the best value for our dollar. I don't want to have to be stressing about that at WDW.

But I seem to be in the minority anymore.

My husband and I feel the same way. It's just us and we don't have any children. We also did the numbers and the calculator and it was like a $20 difference. But we really do love the convenience and not having to worry about the cost of every meal. I have looked at it so many times and so many ways but my husbands type A personality who enjoys life and vacations neatly planned and taken care of before we arrive would rather prepay for the food. So we have so far stuck with it. We will see what the future holds.

 

[mckelvey72]

I haven't crunched the numbers on the spreadsheet but am going to do so when I have some time. For our December trip we have FD pin and am waiting to see if room discount comes out as we are staying at WL. I am going to wager a guess that OOP is better value for us and I say that due to the following (without doing the spreadsheet)

1. We never eat dessert with our meals but we are typically hungry and want an appetizer
2. We only have 1 signature meal
3. My 13 year old still only wants mac and cheese or chicken nuggets
4. We have one offsite day and I am thinking it will be easier to just grab dinner offsite. NOT having the dining plan allows me this flexibility. If we were on the dining plan I would be a stickler and make the kids wait to eat onsite.
5. Sometimes we just aren't hungry and skip meals, or share meals
6. I don't think I want the stress of using credits....for example on our last trip we stopped at Pizzafari in AK and I wasn't that hungry...so I ate my husbands salad that came with his pizza and we had ordered some breadsticks so I ate one of them. I was full and didn't want anything else. if I was on the dining plan I would feel like I have to eat.

So given those predictions I will have to use the calculator and see how it turns out. In the end, for our last trip, had I paid for dining plan I would have lost close to 500.00!!!!! The kids and I split an individual pizza at Via Napoli and I ate some of the appetizer. We were all full and happy. On the dining plan I would have had to get each of us one and we would have thrown away a lot of food.

Can't wait to see how it turns out HAHA...now if RO discount is NOT good then we will keep our FD and see how it turns out!!

 

[DvF Diva]

AMAZING!
Does in seconds that took me hours and hours to figure out (how to maximize our usage). LOVE IT and will use on our next trip!

 

[fiversmama]

I'm having big glitches with this awesome spreadsheet. I have Numbers on a Mac... Has anyone figured out a work around or do I need to do this on Excel?

Huge thanks! What a great tool. Cannot WAIT to use it!

 

[crxrocks]

I'm having big glitches with this awesome spreadsheet. I have Numbers on a Mac... Has anyone figured out a work around or do I need to do this on Excel?

Huge thanks! What a great tool. Cannot WAIT to use it!

I don't have excel on my PC but had great luck using the spreadsheet with MS SkyDrive https://skydrive.live.com/

I just uploaded the xls file and opened it up from there.

Chris

 

[kansasdisneygal]

This is an excellent tool! Just crunched numbers for our next trip and it was only a $9 difference we would save. It's worth it to me to have the convenience of credits. I know that if I knew I was paying OOP I would choose the cheaper entrees, rather than getting the more expensive entree I really want. Less stress to do the DDP.

 

[Ero_FL]

The DxDDP saves us $438(high) + $60 in free mugs with my desired ADRs (not 180 days out yet).

There are only 2 things that stuck out to me for the calculator:

• It doesn't have Yak & Yeti TS dinner, so I swapped our lunch/dinner, hoping the pricing is similar between that and Rainforest.
• It doesn't specify if the few TS/event meals that do include gratuity are calculated as such. Specifically for us- CRT on our anniversary.

We always get appetizers and desserts, and we always use all our snacks. We like steak/seafood and tend toward the more expensive items on the menu. Character meals are a big part of our experience and we love TS, so Dx is choice.

I figured it would be similar in price, but even within $50 in favor of OOP would be worth it to us for the convenience of having it already paid for/done. I didn't know DxDDP would actually save us *that* much, wow.

I can't post an image of the savings because I don't have enough posts yet.

 

[abinormal]

Does anyone know if the section "meals/snacks not covered by Dining Plan" is meant to be the meals that you didn't select a restaurant for? IE, places I intend to pay out of pocket for?

I'm trying to do a comparison between free dining plan and a la carte with room only discount. So far free dining plan is about $500 ahead. If I have to account for meals not covered that will make a difference.

 

[CraigInPA]

I downloaded and tried out the spreadsheet.

I chose "no snacks" and "50% appetizers and 75% desserts". Last year we brought virtually all the snack credits home in the form of candy and nuts. And we sometimes took appetizers and desserts just because they were included, not because we really wanted them. I chose "average" cost. It suggested OOP would save me about $500 over going deluxe. With deluxe, I'd have 4 TS credits remaining on 9 days of dining, because we were only using 2 TS credits on 2 of the days.

I then took my 2/2013 trip receipts and put them into my own spreadsheet. I compared those to the suggested price per meal with the setting on "average" cost. My numbers were MUCH higher. So, I changed the setting to "high" cost. The savings disappeared. But, my numbers were still higher.

I then changed the assumptions back to "100% desserts" and "100% appetizers" and got a good match to my 2013 trip receipts, but only on "high" cost.

I was a bit incredulous that the spreadsheet actually would work, but it does. The important thing to remember in using it is to be realistic in how you expect to eat. Do a typical meal for your family using the online menus, total it up, add 6.5% sales tax, and compare it to what the spreadsheet says. If you're lower, change the cost per meal average down. If higher, change the cost per meal average up.

 

[bdklein]

We are devoted DDP people, mainly for the sheer convenience, and because we usually do at least 3 character meals. It just always seemed like the way to go.


I think if we were doing OOP I would be scrutinizing every meal, every price, every last snack that we bought to make sure we got the best value for our dollar. I don't want to have to be stressing about that at WDW.

To me it's 180 degree difference.


And many people on the Dining Plans do this: They will be scrutinizing every meal, every price, every last snack that they bought to make sure they we got the best value for their Dining Plan dollar.

Those who go OOP don't stress about that at WDW because they only pay for what they want/order.

 

[eyor44]

Thanks for posting the links. The spreadsheet works great.

 

[Autumnslight]

I'm not sure if I'm missing something, but I'm having a bunch of issues with the spreadsheet.

- The calculated cost of the dining plan in the spreadsheet I downloaded is incorrect. The cost the spreadsheet is showing is about $70 lower than what I'm actually paying for the dining plan for our upcoming trip.

- When I compare the costs for the meals to the calculator on www.distripplanner.com, they're rather different.

- The spreadsheet doesn't have options for things like the Candlelight Processional Package or Gaston's Tavern.

- The spreadsheet is listing dinners at some signature restaurants as either breakfast or lunch, and showing prices that are much lower than I believe they should be, even when I change the cost estimate to "High"

The version I downloaded says it was last updated in February. Is there a newer version? If so, could someone point me to where it is? I think the spreadsheet is awesome, but the one I have is outdated, so I can't rely on the numbers.

Thanks!

 

[cheesemouse]

I'm not sure if I'm missing something, but I'm having a bunch of issues with the spreadsheet.

- The calculated cost of the dining plan in the spreadsheet I downloaded is incorrect. The cost the spreadsheet is showing is about $70 lower than what I'm actually paying for the dining plan for our upcoming trip.

- When I compare the costs for the meals to the calculator on www.distripplanner.com, they're rather different.

- The spreadsheet doesn't have options for things like the Candlelight Processional Package or Gaston's Tavern.

- The spreadsheet is listing dinners at some signature restaurants as either breakfast or lunch, and showing prices that are much lower than I believe they should be, even when I change the cost estimate to "High"

The version I downloaded says it was last updated in February. Is there a newer version? If so, could someone point me to where it is? I think the spreadsheet is awesome, but the one I have is outdated, so I can't rely on the numbers.

Thanks!

Ditto. The spreadsheet is awesome...but not updated. It's very easy to figure out the cost of the dining plan. And the current or even 2014 costs are just not comparable. The cost of paying OOP is more complicated to figure out but when I took the time to figure it out on my own, it too was very different from what the spreadsheet was showing. So, if we can get an updated version then it's great. If not, it's not worth using.

 

[KiKi Mouse]

We just returned and did not do the DDP. We bought a TIW card that is good until next November so we will be able to use it next October as well.

I will have a report later today or tomorrow with the difference.

We are a family of 5 with 3 "adults" and 2 children.

One thing we found was that we weren't eating as much. We rarely had a dessert with QS meals. We bought bottles of water because it was so hot the whole time we were there. My husband lost 5 lbs in the 12 days we were there. Not as much eating and not as much sweet stuff.

We did breakfasts at Chef Mickeys, Tusker House, Swan's Grand Garden and Boma.
Lunch at Tonys
Suppers at Sci Fi, Rainforest Cafe, and The Land (Chip 'n' Dale).

We ate one meal at a restaurant out of the parks.

 

[DisneyMommy9]

Crunched the numbers and the difference was less than 15.00 for me and my son (7). I believe I will do oop this next trip and see how it goes.