For the first time in forever ... First time dining OOP live dining report ~ August 23 ~28 - Verdict

[oceanmarina]

Hi all,

Checking in tomorrow at Wilderness Lodge. We used our American Airlines points for a 5 night stay in a 1 bedroom villa. We love Wilderness Lodge and have not been there in 2 years since the renovation / changes.

This trip will be our first time out of pocket. I'm curious to see if we will actually save money this way. We are a family of four, traveling with me is DH, DS 12 and DD 9.

I'll be keeping a tally of the costs and will have a grand total at the end. We usually get the deluxe dining plan as we like to have a few signature dinners.

The deluxe dining plan for our family of four would have cost us $1793.55

I'll be including lots of pictures

A little worried about the weather in Florida this week (DH warned me about late August)




Anyway off to bed as we have an early flight. Will check in real soon, Marina

 

[auntfrannie]

Have a great trip!

 

[FSU Girl]

Have fun! Are you staying in the Copper Creek villas? Can you take pictures of the room, I have a stay there in December and would like to know how it is since it's so new.

 

[nco91590]

YAY! Can't wait to follow along

 

[sleepydog25]

Have a blast! Enjoy the Lodge and its grandeur!

 

[oceanmarina]

Have a great trip!

Thank you and thanks for following along

Have fun! Are you staying in the Copper Creek villas? Can you take pictures of the room, I have a stay there in December and would like to know how it is since it's so new.

Hi we are staying at boulder ridge. A 1 bedroom villa.

YAY! Can't wait to follow along

Natalie your "down with OoP" report completely inspired this one. I loved following yours and seeing your fantastic pictures of your meals and your beautiful family.

Have a blast! Enjoy the Lodge and its grandeur!

Sleepydog thanks for following. I know you were at WL earlier this summer and I loved your pictures and updates!

 

[oceanmarina]

Had a beautiful smooth flight out of westchester airport Ny. Took an airbus and we lucked out with the whole row to ourselves.

First meal. Burger kings at MCO. (Not me just DH and the kids as I wasn't that hungry. ) we paid 23$ for 2 happy meals and 1 adult meal

 

[dnllmz]

Have a great trip! Following along.

 

[hjvigz72]

Also following... trying to do the same for our upcoming Feb trip. Traveling for a shorter period of time so we'll see... don't forget to track those snacks and drinks too!

 

[AliceNDinah]

I'm here too We are heading down Sunday---Yay! Looking forward to your report.

 

[vettegirl]

I am here for the party! Have a great time and can't wait to hear all about it

 

[Texans_loyal]

I'm in, hope you have a blast!

 

[mda]

Following! Our trip is in Oct. with husband and kids (13 & 10) and we are also OOP this trip. Excited to hear how it goes! Safe travels

 

[sleepydog25]

Hi all,



This trip will be our first time out of pocket. I'm curious to see if we will actually save money this way. We are a family of four, traveling with me is DH, DS 12 and DD 9.


A little worried about the weather in Florida this week (DH warned me about late August)e an early flight.

We did the Deluxe DP a couple of times, and it simply was too much food. We haven't done a dining plan for half a decade or more, and it has saved us money. We tend to share one entree and split a couple of appetizers, so the cost savings are quite noticeable. As for the weather, you'll have a wonderful time, regardless.

 

[oceanmarina]

Hi all wanted to check in. Thanks everyone for following and your sweet, kind wishes for us to have a wonderful trip.

Well after Burger King we headed to magical express. Usually we have a wait of 20-30 minutes before it leaves but this one left right away and was so crowded that my DH had to sit a few rows back. Every seat on the bus was taken. Wilderness lodge was the first stop - another first for us in magical express. (Ps I'm also posting pictures from our trip on the wilderness lodge board if interested)

So our room was ready at WL when we checked in around noon - yet another first for us.

We got a 1 bedroom villa. What's nice about the 1 bedrooms is a washer/drier and a full fridge. I always do an order from garden grocer. (Love them!) and this time since we are OOP I ordered some eggs ect in case my DH wants to make breakfast in the room


This is the first trip that I have not made any ADRs for breakfast. I plan on bringing up quick service breakfast platters from roaring fork to our room and DH says he will make breakfast for himself. I'm not going to count the garden grocer order in my tally as I always order stuff from them even when we are on the dining plan.

Anyway I had a 5:15 ressie at coral reef. We decided to head over to Epcot. It was cloudy (which makes touring so much bearable in the summer with the string, humid Florida heat).
We did soarin & nemo , looked around the tanks and then the kids got hungry. I think we got to coral reef a little before 4 but they let us move up our dining time. We got a tank side table. Here was our beautiful view with dinner. ;



The kids ordered Mac & cheese & loved it;



I got the shrimp scampi with delicious pasta. The mussels were very dried out do I didn't eat those, but everything else on the plate was delicious , the dish cost $32



DH got the strip steak for $33 (he's not a veggie guy so he got double mashed). I had a piece of his steak and it was delicious.



So our first bill / tally start is the cost if our dinner at coral reef

107.52 (dinner was 90$ and 17$ tip). Also note we did not order desert or appetisets and DH and I had lemonade , no alcoholic drinks.

Other snacks we had today. - 2 Mickey bars 5$ each so 10

And cotton candy at Epcot fur 4.75

So for day 1 our grand total is $122.27

After dinner it started raining lightly at Epcot



Our plan was to get back to the hotel and do an early evening swim. However with lightning in the area, the pool was shut down. We walked around the lobby and my kids made Mickey tye dye shirts with the rec department ($36 for 2 shirts) not counting this in my food tally but listed in case others were interested in the cost of this.

Some thoughts: I have never thought I would ever go to Disney without a dining plan. But tonight at coral reef I was kinda glad we didn't have to order desert (the kids were tired at that point and were more than ready to head back to the hotel) I will say dining OoP makes you more aware of prices. On the dining plan I would not have been as aware that I eating a 32$ fish dish. I am predicting that we are going to be below the $1700 price tag of the deluxe plan.

Will post again tomorrow. Marina

 

[Niki Andiokno]

Great start to your report. Have a wonderful vacation.

 

[Someluck]

Thanks for sharing your experiences! I really enjoy reading about the various restaurants and meal choices.

 

[MinnowMinori]

Thank you so much for keeping a casual tally of whether or not the DDP would have been worth it as you go along! Can't wait to see more.

 

[DrunkJam]

Ooh, Enjoying so far. Looking forward to reading more! Have a great holiday

 

[sleepydog25]

Glad to hear your room was ready. That's always a nice surprise! We've enjoyed our Coral Reef visits the past two years. Too bad about the mussels, but those are delicate little morsels that many kitchens overcook. You said a couple of things that are quite true about not being on the DDP--it makes you count costs a little more carefully and eating less. For us, they go hand in hand. We typically eat two appetizers and then share an entree. We've found by slowing down our experiences just a bit--taking time to savor the restaurant and to talk--the appetizers kick in so that we're not as hungry. Thus, one entree is usually enough. On occasion, we'll split a dessert, though that's infrequent. Not being on the dining plan also means that we tend to watch what we eat which isn't a bad thing. We splurge a couple of meals--such as Artist Point--but also visit places we enjoy and that offer good value (relative to Disney) such as Sanaa. I definitely think you'll save money, too. Looking forward to hearing more!