DVC and Dining Plan

[Dean]

I did the math based on our eating habits and our eligibility for discounts. We still saved money on the Dining Plan.

As I noted, we don't overall. We MAY try it for an upcoming trip however I have a DDE that is expiring (which I may not renew at $60) and have orchestrated my restaurant choices to the more expensive ones purposefully. It is my belief that a lot of people will overeat on the plan, a problem unto itself. I also believe that people will order things they wouldn't order otherwise which may or may not be a problem but certainly skews any calculations as to "value". All I would suggest is that everyone look at the plan critically to be sure it's truly a value for them. That is won't cause them to overeat and that they don't get a false sense of value looking at the more expensive menu options or at appetizers or desserts they would not normally order.

 

[bicker]

That's a good point. I deliberately never selected the most expensive menu item (even though, in some cases, it is what we might have ordered), but rather the next one down on the list, in order of price. I highly recommend what you suggest... it is kind of fun, actually, playing with the spreadsheet.

 

[Dean]

That's a good point. I deliberately never selected the most expensive menu item (even though, in some cases, it is what we might have ordered), but rather the next one down on the list, in order of price. I highly recommend what you suggest... it is kind of fun, actually, playing with the spreadsheet.

I agree it can be interesting and fun to analyze these type issues. Likely others with different personalities will look at this tendency and think we're nuts and they may be right, maybe a little OCD as a minimum. As with many of my posts, I want to get people to think about what they're doing, not make their decisions for them.

 

[starbox]

A BIG $$ factor with DDP is also simply time of day. Before DDP, we scheduled our meals to include either a late TS character breakfast (around 11) and then skipped lunch and ate a CS dinner OR we ate a light breakfast, scheduled a TS lunch around 3pm and ate a very CS light dinner. For years, we were a young family on a tight income - but I've always loved to eat and I've always loved to eat at TS restaurants.

This worked well for us because it always allowed for early morning touring and gave us a mid-day air-conditioning break. It absolutely did not cost us more than 100$ a day to eat like this (or 150$ a day when signature dining) - even without the DDE.

With the DDP, we eat a full CS lunch around noon and then a TS dinner around 7pm. The DDP does save us money, but that savings is totally in the form of getting food I would not have ordered at times of day I would not have ordered it. Then again, I rarely order the most expensive thing on the menu because I try really hard to avoid eating steak for seven days straight, and I start craving salad as an appetizer after a day or two.

It does encourage me to try new restaurants - and I've gotten to where I really like to resort-hop just to eat at different places. It offers the very real convenience of pre-paying meals. I like having my entire vacation (other than fun stuff) paid for in advance.

 

[DebbieB]

Using the DDP to eat at buffets is not really a good value. Many buffets are less than $30.00 pp, so that leaves $8.00 for a CS and a snack. This is basically a wash. <snip>

I took my 12 year old niece last month, it was her first trip and I wanted her to experience the character meals. We did DDP. Most of the dinners came to about $70 for both of us with tax and tip. Counter Service was usually around $25. Snacks around $5. So we were close to $100 for both of us each day, saving about $24 per day.