Does the DP work for us?

[MacDalt]

I'm using the dining plan calculator to figure out if we should do it or not. We are only staying 4 nights/5days. No mater which restaurants I choose, the OOP cost comes out cheapest. What am I doing wrong?

 

[sharonabe]

What are the ages of your kiddos? What TS are you thinking of doing? With two potential Disney kids, you should be coming out ahead with DDP, so I would venture you're doing something wrong.

Are you including drinks and desserts with all your meals? Are you doing mostly dinners and buffets?

If you'll post your TS choices and kids' ages, we might be able to help you.

 

[MacDalt]

I'm doing 4 adults, 2 real adults and 2 teens. I'd like to do Whispering Canyon (dinner), Tusker House (lunch), Sci Fi (dinner), and Chef Mickey's (breakfast). I was looking at just the basic dining plan, not QS or Deluxe. If I change everything to QS, that plan comes out close to OPP.

 

[sharonabe]

With 4 Disney adults, it is very difficult to come out ahead on the plan. We're the same, and just the thought of four adult desserts on the table makes my head swim.

If it helps any, the "value" of a TS credit is around $37.50, the QS $17, and the snack $4.

As for the QS, as long as all of you want drinks and desserts at every meal, you'll at least break even and may do better than OOP. However, those QS desserts can get old after awhile, so you may want to look for the QS places that have something out of the ordinary to mix it up.

 

[MacDalt]

Thanks for the info. We really aren't dessert people. Maybe one to share at one meal. I think we would actually do better OOP. I like the convenience of it but we can still use our MBs to charge to the room.

 

[POOHsie]

Thanks for the info. We really aren't dessert people. Maybe one to share at one meal. I think we would actually do better OOP. I like the convenience of it but we can still use our MBs to charge to the room.

If we had the choice of Dessert or Appetizer on the DP, we would pick Appetizer. And order 1 or 2 to share, not one for each person. Desserts aren't our thing. In 2014, your DP cost per night of stay per person is --

$58.66 x 4 nights = $234.64
$234.64 x 4 ppl = $938.56​

On the DP, you'll get 4 TS, 4 CS and 4 Snacks per person, plus 4 refillable mugs. You'll be there 5 days, but DDP credits go by # of nights. There is some additional food you will have to purchase beyond your DP credits. Mostly I'm thinking of breakfast, and Day 5 meals. Dining plan includes 6.5% tax built-in. It does not include tips which are suggested to be 18%.

You can plan to save and set aside the $938.56 before your trip, so when your CC room charges for dining come due, you can pay them ASAP. In that way, OOP isn't much different than using DDP. They'll both be "paid" in advance.

A great thing about paying for dining OOP is you can reserve your resort during times when there are discounted room-only specials at WDW. AAA usually has some discount going on. You may know of other discounts. You could buy tickets at discount thru such places as Undercover Tourist and save additional $.

 

[cluvsdisney]

As two adults, we can't make the dining plan work for us either. I tracked our food costs from a 4 night trip last year and found that we spent $60 less on our meals (food, beverage, tax and tip) then the cost of the dining plan. We are DVC members so we were able to purchase a Tables in Wonderland dining discount card so our savings were in even greater.

 

[bdklein]

What am I doing wrong?

Nothing. Except for not realizing upfront that DDP is good for Disney.
You need to go OOP.

 

[MacDalt]

As two adults, we can't make the dining plan work for us either. I tracked our food costs from a 4 night trip last year and found that we spent $60 less on our meals (food, beverage, tax and tip) then the cost of the dining plan. We are DVC members so we were able to purchase a Tables in Wonderland dining discount card so our savings were in even greater.

According to my figures, I'd save about $60 also by paying OOP.

 

[cluvsdisney]

According to my figures, I'd save about $60 also by paying OOP.

My numbers included items that were excluded from the plan so the savings was greater. We had salads, shared appetizers a couple of times, had beer/alcohol with a couple of the meals, the tip, etc. All that would be on top of the cost of the plan. Plus we had 5TS and 3CS meals which wouldn't work with a 4 night trip on the DDP either.

I know it's a great deal for some guests, but we just can't/don't want to make it work for us.

Have a great trip!

 

[holula]

We are two adults and can't get the dining plan to work for us, unless we did a DxDP for a one night reservation and split it over two days. For a 6 night trip this year we came out over $100 better OOP.

 

[Allison]

Why do you think you are doing something wrong? The point of the calculator is to show if the dining plan is a savings or not. "Not" is a valid result.

 

[MacDalt]

Yeah, that's true. I just thought since its so popular, it should work for us too.

 

[Allison]

Many people don't do a cost comparison or are willing to pay more for it anyway.

The dining plan has only been cost effective for us on one trip and that was when holiday pricing was in effect for buffets, and the appetizer was included as well as the gratuity.

 

[smiths02]

I'm doing 4 adults, 2 real adults and 2 teens. I'd like to do Whispering Canyon (dinner), Tusker House (lunch), Sci Fi (dinner), and Chef Mickey's (breakfast). I was looking at just the basic dining plan, not QS or Deluxe. If I change everything to QS, that plan comes out close to OPP.

Being 4 adults make the math not work as well in your favor.

Then add that 1/2 of your TS meals are not dinner. I don't think that Sci Fi and WCC are the most expensive of dinners.

 

[summermac]

We've went twice, once w/ DDP and once without. I much prefer without with the way we eat - sharing meals, drinks, desserts...