DVC and the Dining Plan

[Sandisw]

This is really the key. I see so many people saying "We saved XXX dollars using the DDP." But did they really? Would everyone in your party always order a dessert with every TS? Would you have necessarily ordered all those CS meals or eaten all those snacks or had the most expensive thing on the menu to "get your money's worth"? I did as you, figured out what we most likely would have eaten without the plan, take off the 20 percent for the TiW and we definitely come out ahead that way. But everyone's different, so people have to figure out what works best for them.

I also think it depends on how you define "savings" as well. When we went to Disney before the DDP, we were on a budget and watched what we ordered and where we ate. We may not have had dessert at every meal or as many snacks--but not always because we didn't want them, but rather because we were budgeting closely.

For us, our "savings" comes from getting more for about the same we were spending prior to the DDP. Dollar for dollar it is not that much less, but the food we are enjoying is better.

Now that they have the QSDP, we find that fits our needs better since we really only like 1 - 2 TS meals (and did find the DDP a bit restricting). Our plan will be to complete split stays so we can do DDP for a few nights and QSDP the rest of the time.

I do agree that the best thing to do is to look at the costs, what your preferences are, and go from there.

 

[mickeymyfavorite]

You also used the word "you" which means that it is "in your opinion" not worth it for the person you are talking to. It would be clearer to say "IME (in my experience) it was not worth it for us."

Now I understand how discussions get off of topic.

 

[Tara]

Uuuummmmm Not sure if you noticed but I did say IMO, which means in my opinion, sorry if you misunderstood.

Sure, I get that you said it's your opinion. However, the fact is that it works for us and for many others. It's all about individual travel and dining habits. Everyone is of course welcome to her or his own opinion, but when you say "MAYBE worth it if you live in Florida go to WDW as a single day trip and have AP, but NO way does it work if your traveling on vacation to WDW" that sounds a lot like you're stating something you believe to be a fact and applicable to others, not just yourself.

 

[wdwcoltsfan]

We use TIW and it works very well for us. We are usually able to get 3 trips out of it.

The biggest drawback for us with the DDP is that our children are 13 and 11 and would have to pay adult price.They still order off the kids menu and would never get $39 worth of food each day. There would be a lot of wasted food. We also don't eat dessert with CS, DH does like beer with dinner and there are several restaurants where we prefer an appetizer. It just doesn't fit with our family.


Rachel

 

[Goofy442]

You have a FRI through MON stay, 3 nights-4 days. You and I know we will have 3 credits each for table service, counter service, snack. You arrive on FRI morning. You check in at your resort. Whether you get your room or not your credits are activated, or am I incorrect on this. Maybe, on FRI, you use a counter credit for lunch and table for dinner then do the same SAT and SUN. Come MON you're set to fly out late afternoon. How many credits left?? If you plan on hanging around Disney for the day, maybe do a park or visit other resorts, you will have a meal or two on MON to plan for. You have no more DDP credits so, for someone who is trying to stay on a budget, this needs to be accounted for. And it CAN have an impact on your budget.

The family I observed, for whatever reason, apparently thought they had credits based upon the number of DAYS of their stay, and they tried to argue that point with the cashier. She kept telling them that they must have used all of their credits before that day so they stood there, holding up the line, talking about where they ate beginning on their arrival day, which happened to be somewhere in MK for lunch using a counter service credit then dinner at Whispering Canyon using a table credit. I guess they repeated this pattern each day until they were left with no credits on their departure day.

All I'm getting at is that is incorrect to talk about DDP on a PER DAY basis, and I see it discussed that way often here. Most of us know how many credits we will have, regardless of how/when we use them. But if someone who is not as familiar with DDP as us keeps seeing PER DAY in discussions they may well get the wrong idea. If you arrive late on arrival day and leave early on departure day, yes, you may even have trouble using all of your credits. But if, as described above, you have to pay for a meal, even counter service, it can "blow" your budget.

I don't get the impression that we are the only ones who vacation at Disney the way I have described. I think a lot of folks hit the parks on arrival and departure days and a meal or two will need to be accounted for. We don't budget our trips, it is what it is for us. But I think many are really trying to budget theirs and a meal for a family of four can be quite expensive.

Sorry, I've rambled enough.....[/QUOTE]


You are right that's how it works, people don't get how this works. When you check in for 4 nights for two adults you get 4 ts , 4 cs and 4 snacks times two. So you have 8 ts ,8 cs and 8 snacks. We had friends come visit us and used our meal credits for them. We were told if I wanted to us all my credits on the first day of check in feel free to do so but would have no more left. On your check out day if by some chance you have any credits left they are good till midnight of that day.

 

[Twilight Terror]

I am finding this discussion very helpful. We just did a 17night split stay at SSR and then OKW. For the first stay we paid OOP for everything, but did tend to stick to one CS and one TS per day, and only occasionally a snack per day. I had a look at TiW but could not find out all the information I wanted, but what I found made me do a quick weigh up between purchasing that and adding on the DDP. In the end, we added the DDP to the second half of our holiday (at OKW).

I haven't had chance to work out what we paid and what we saved, but reading this is making me reconsider TiW for next year. We are planning on a week vacation in May, and then another 17night stay in Sept/Oct, which will (hopefully!) include a cruise of some kind. We have APs and will be renewing them in Sept anyway, so that is no 'extra' cost for us.

Is the discount on alcohol per bottle, per glass, both? This year, I had a couple of meals where I had a glass of wine (while on DDP), but obviously had to pay OOP for it, so would I save there on just a glass?

 

[Deb & Bill]

... We have APs and will be renewing them in Sept anyway, so that is no 'extra' cost for us.

Is the discount on alcohol per bottle, per glass, both? This year, I had a couple of meals where I had a glass of wine (while on DDP), but obviously had to pay OOP for it, so would I save there on just a glass?

The discount is a flat 20% off on all those purchases at a location that accepts the TIW card. So, if you had the dinner on the DDP, you could get the appetizer and beverages on the TIW. You would have a separate bill for the DDP portion and a bill for all other items not on the plan that you could use the discount on.

If you use the TIW card, they tack on an automatic 18% tip to that portion of your bill. You would still owe a tip on the DDP portion of your bill.

 

[Twilight Terror]

Brill, thanks for that. I will do some number crunching and see what the meals on the DDP would have cost had we done TiW, and that should give me an idea for our next trip, especially as we generally like to eat at the same places, with a few differences each year.

I assume you could also have as many TS meals a day as you wanted on TiW? Was mainly thinking TS for breakfast and one for dinner?

 

[Boardwalk Tigger]

I agree with some of the other posters that DDP is only a good deal if it fits in with you eating style. We did it one year when the tip was included but we said never again. At that time we were given free apps and dessert My stomach hurts even thinking about it Way too much food for us. Plus we don't like counter service. So we prefer the 20% discount and order what we want.

 

[PolynesianAlex]

DVC members staying on points are not eligible for the FREE dining plan. Members on points stays can still purchase it for regular price. You can also get a DVC room for cash at rack rate (and a ticket purchase) and get the dining plan free. Studios start around $300 per night.

Thanks for telling me this because we would of not of joined dvc if we could not still buy DVC .. because when i first read her post i was really mad

 

[Tara]

I assume you could also have as many TS meals a day as you wanted on TiW? Was mainly thinking TS for breakfast and one for dinner?

Yes, certainly. That's the great thing about TIW - no worrying about what kind of meal, credits, etc.

 

[Twilight Terror]

Yes, certainly. That's the great thing about TIW - no worrying about what kind of meal, credits, etc.

Thankfully, we did it the right way around for our holiday - paying OOP first, then DDP for the second part. Although had we had TIW the entire time we would have saved just a tiny bit more. However, I can't help wondering if we wouldn't have bought so many counters and snacks had we not had the DDP, we certainly didn't the first week. But we do tend to do a TS every day.

The Artist's Palette, at SSR, comes up on the list of places that accept TIW. Does that mean that is one of the few places where you can buy snacks and counter services and still get 20% off the food/beverages? Useful to know, since our May trip maybe at SSR

 

[Dean]

I agree with some of the other posters that DDP is only a good deal if it fits in with you eating style. We did it one year when the tip was included but we said never again. At that time we were given free apps and dessert My stomach hurts even thinking about it Way too much food for us. Plus we don't like counter service. So we prefer the 20% discount and order what we want.

I would agree that for most people it is about eating and ordering style and that many who like it are actually paying more than they would without the DP. However there are certain relatively special situations that make the DDP an especially good deal. These can include when a significant portion of the group are kids 3-9, those that plan for the higher ends options and those that use if for shorter segments esp if they get full use the first and last day.

 

[bangzoom6877]

Whether or not the DDP works for you is an individual matter, which is why Disney has different DDP options as well as the TiW card for guests that may visit more often in one year.

I crunched the numbers, and since we know where we will make TS ADRs, I just looked at the menus and added up the cost of the LEAST expensive items in each category. The basic DDP still saves us a LOT of money over the course of a 10-night trip for the 4 of us (my kids will be 3 and 5 when we go so they are the children's price). I always check with the least expensive menu items in case that is what we feel like eating at that moment. However, it would probably be something in the middle over the course of the whole trip. Realistically, we're not ordering NY Strip steak every night for dinner, and we are also not ordering a vegetarian entree every night for dinner either, or just ice cream for dessert at every meal. For CS, I also calculated the least expensive items, but the difference in price is not as big as comparing different entrees at a TS restaurant.

When I crunch DDP numbers, I don't even add in snack credits. Realistically, we would probably not purchase 40 snacks on a 10-night trip if we were paying for food entirely OOP, so I never factor those in, yet the DDP still saves us lots of money before the snack credits so we see them as an added bonus.

I did look into getting just one of us an AP and purchasing TiW, but since we only go every other year for 10 nights this would not be a good option for us. The DDP and our 7-day base tickets save us more money than if one of us had to upgrade to an AP and pay $75 for a TiW card. However, if we were planning to go back the following year, we would just go 10 days earlier than we are going in 2010, all purchase APs and get the TiW card so we could use it for 2 trips. Then it would save us money.

It really is individual based on the family. As far as arrival and departure times, this can vary greatly as well for different people. We plan to arrive in the early afternoon on arrival day. Some arrive much later, especially if they are traveling from the West Coast, to allow for the time difference. Remember, a 6-hour flight from the west coast to Orlando turns into losing 9 hours of time due to the time difference, so even on a 9AM flight, one would not arrive to Orlando Int'l airport until 6PM and then first have to get their luggage and get to their resort. For us, like I said, we will be arriving in early afternoon this next trip, and we leave right after an early breakfast on departure day. No problem using all our basic DDP credits!

 

[tidefan]

Our only problem with TIW is that Teppan Edo, which is DW's fave, is not on the TIW list...

 

[maddmike]

The main reason the DDP does not work for us is that one of our kids is 10 years old and another is 12. Disney considers both of them adults in the plan. My 10 year old does not like much off the regular menu and would rather eat off the kids menu. My 12 year old does too most of the time.

We also don't eat that much. If we were to get dessert we would share one or two instead of getting six. In the long run its much cheaper to pay as we go. I figured it out last year and can't remember the dollar amount but we paid about 35% less for food than we would have on the DDP.

 

[Dean]

The main reason the DDP does not work for us is that one of our kids is 10 years old and another is 12. Disney considers both of them adults in the plan. My 10 year old does not like much off the regular menu and would rather eat off the kids menu. My 12 year old does too most of the time.

We also don't eat that much. If we were to get dessert we would share one or two instead of getting six. In the long run its much cheaper to pay as we go. I figured it out last year and can't remember the dollar amount but we paid about 35% less for food than we would have on the DDP.

I was just thinking in the shower at 5 am this morning how screwed up the DDP choices are. I found myself designing a one size fits all program where you had 3 levels to chose from but it worked the same for everyone other than he number of credits. I did base it roughly on the current plan types and current costs. I have posted some of these ideas before in general but not nearly as specifically as now.

CS meal = 1 dining credit
TS meal = 2 dining credits
Signature = 3 dining credits
snack = 1 snack credit
dessert @ CS = 1 snack credit
dessert or appy at TS = 2 snack credits

Price for 2 dining/4 snack credits per day = $25-30
Price for 3 dining/6 snack credits per day = $35-40
Price for 4/8 $45-55

The advantage is you have more flexibility for about the same price and roughly the same benefit to Disney with little if any cost or risk to them. You can get appy and/or dessert if you want or save those credits for other times/options. It removes the issues of the appy that has plagued the 2009 DDP. It gives DVC and the locations only one type of plan to look at and administrate.

 

[disneynutz]

I was just thinking in the shower at 5 am this morning how screwed up the DDP choices are. I found myself designing a one size fits all program where you had 3 levels to chose from but it worked the same for everyone other than he number of credits. I did base it roughly on the current plan types and current costs. I have posted some of these ideas before in general but not nearly as specifically as now.

CS meal = 1 dining credit
TS meal = 2 dining credits
Signature = 3 dining credits
snack = 1 snack credit
dessert @ CS = 1 snack credit
dessert or appy at TS = 2 snack credits

Price for 2 dining/4 snack credits per day = $25-30
Price for 3 dining/6 snack credits per day = $35-40
Price for 4/8 $45-55

The advantage is you have more flexibility for about the same price and roughly the same benefit to Disney with little if any cost or risk to them. You can get appy and/or dessert if you want or save those credits for other times/options. It removes the issues of the appy that has plagued the 2009 DDP. It gives DVC and the locations only one type of plan to look at and administrate.

It's a great idea but you forgot one thing. Some of profit in of the plan for Disney is the fact you need different credits. They don't want the plans to be flexible. They know exactly at what point in a Guests stay do the start to waste credits just to get rid of them. They also know how many never get used and how many TC are used to buy a QS meal.

 

[Dean]

It's a great idea but you forgot one thing. Some of profit in of the plan for Disney is the fact you need different credits. They don't want the plans to be flexible. They know exactly at what point in a Guests stay do the start to waste credits just to get rid of them. They also know how many never get used and how many TC are used to buy a QS meal.

I realize it does lose some of the use or lose benefit and that it might not keep people on property quite as well as the current plan does. I also realize that the largest negative is that it's hard to know how the groups are going to use their credits. You don't want 90% at CS or 90% at CS, you want a balance to plan for usage, etc. However I think the added flexibility and simplicity for both the user and Disney evens those issues out and more. And I feel that a lot more people would get such a plan that would not get any plan now, assuming it was fairly priced. Obviously I don't have access to their price and profit evaluations or their price, profit and usage projections to determine exact specifics and pricing, nor do I want to.

 

[lazydazy8]

This thread couldn't come at a better time. I've battled with "to do the FP or not", "to do the TiW card, or not". Our past four trips, we've done the FP. I am leaning towards not adding it to this Dec. trip. I often found us ordering app's and wishing I wasn't having dessert (I'd rather have a Dole Whip or Mickey head ice cream later on.)

Thanks for all your feedback!

Does anyone know if the TiW card is allowed to be used on my meal for the Candlelight Procession package?