Found This Rant on the Dining Plan

[sharonabe]

Create a second profile for her; maybe use her middle name. She can use the Beach Club profile for dining and park tickets, and the Boardwalk profile for room access. She'll have to use two different magic bands. Don't purchase the dining plan for the Boardwalk reservation.

But if she is on the Boardwalk reservation (even with a different name) and the boyfriend wants the DDP, wouldn't she still need to buy the DDP for both?

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Yeah that is the problem. The boyfriend wants DDP too. So the daughter would be on two rooms, both of which have DDP, for four days. Can you all use that many dining credits?

I've been listed on two room reservations at once and didn't have any issue with access to either. Did not need to change names or make a new profile. But there was no DDP involved.

 

[StuckInKS]

I always challenge those who swear by it to do the math...HONESTLY...and not playing the "this is what the plan provide" game.

The only time we've ever done the dining plan is when it was "free" (twice for a kids play, stay dine deal and once with free dining), so we've had plenty of trips OOP. When we of OOP, our trips are definitely less enjoyable because we are constantly keeping track of what everything costs. As far as planning a head, there have been several trip where I get to the parks and the menu prices are more than what I found online. That adds up with a large party.

Now that Disney allows sharing credits, the plans are more than going to pay off for us. We can order DxDP for one room and have 84 dining credits, 56 snack credits and 4 mugs for $1550. We plan on CRT ($417 OOP), Spirit of Aloha ($356 OOP for cat 3 or $402 OOP for cat 2), Chef Mickey's ($230 OOP) and Akershus breakfast ($270 OOP). That's $1273 to $1319 OOP or 48 dining credits used. So, for the $277 that we'd have left OOP, on the plan we'll get 36 more meal credits, 56 snack credits and 4 mugs.

Now, if we couldn't share, we would buy the regular DDP for both rooms at $1950. After our planned meals, we'd have $677 to $631 left OOP or 8 TS credits, 56 QS credits, 56 snacks and 8 mugs on the DDP. Last trip (2015 OOP) we spent an average of $150 for each TS non-character/non-buffet meal, $75 at each QS for 2 adult & 6 kids meals ($525 for 7 meals), our snacks averaged about $4 ($224) and the mugs are $17 ($136, although the youngest two really don't need a mug). So doing the math, we'd still come out nearly $400 a head without sharing credits, since we'd pay over $1k OOP for the "extras" we'd get after our 6 scheduled meals.

Could we minimize those costs by making meals in one of our kitchens or bringing in snacks? Sure, we could and we have. But, my kids enjoy the Disney Food Porn thread as much as I do and we spend a good portion of our planning time discussing the great meal and snack options, so our trips are definitely less enjoyable that way.

ETA: I did the math above with 2 adults and 6 kids since I was comparing to our 2014 costs during which my two oldest ordered off the kids menus since we were OOP (no character meals/buffets for us when OOP). Our plan costs will be a little more with the DDP for both rooms since they would be Disney adults on the plan, but our OOP costs will be too, so I think the math still sticks for that plan. The math is still the same for the DxDP room since 1A/3C will be registered to that room.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

So, it really does depend on your circumstances. We do not eat like the plan 'dictates.' Desserts every once and a while, snacks maybe every other day, breakfasts in the room, would never consider a mug, etc. BUT, we have 3 Disney kids and are doing several character meals. Voila, $50 to $100 in savings based on my spreadsheet, based on each restaurant we are eating at and the food we are likely to order, not the most expensive entre. I also used the dining calculator which said our savings were something like $200, which I thought was overstated. But I changed restaurants recently and it went up to $400. Huh?! Well, food prices went up and our plan didn't. Score for us! Now we have more headroom in case someone gets sick and doesn't eat dinner.

I have no doubt that as the kids get older and we are not so much about the character experiences it will quickly not make sense for us. But in the meantime, I am totally looking forward to having a Diet Coke AND my alcoholic drink at dinner. Something I would never do in real life but always want to. It feels like a fun vacation luxury (silly, I know).

My point, each family needs to look at the math for themselves and their circumstances.

 

[myhoney]

I see the point of the dining plan if a family enjoys eating the way the plan works. When we've had it in the past, we have not lost money. Of course we had two disney children at that time, split meals with the kids and ate three meals a day for the kids, as per their regular eating schedule.

Yes! I don't understand the "it's a lot of food" theory. I typically eat 3 meals a day, why wouldn't I on vacation? No, I don't eat apps and dessert at every meal at home, but it's vacation. We do the DxDDP. My four kids are on a schedule, as well, and last trip we didn't have any meltdowns because not only did we keep to their schedule, but the sit down meals gave us a rest time. My young kids can't go commando through the parks so breaking for meals gave us a chance to regroup. We also never felt stuffed, either, because at home we aren't walking 4-5 miles every day! We did CRT, Cali Grill, SoA, and HDDR and we did save money by using the plan.

The most stressful meal we had on our last trip was at Casey's Corner. DH was getting the food for the four of us (at that time) and trying to juggle the trays, and I was trying to find a place to sit with the little kids because all the tables were taken. It was a madhouse. DH and I agreed that for our family (and our sanity) we would rather pay more and be waited on so that we also feel like we are on vacation.

As for the money...I am tempted to do OOP because I can see where it could save us a few bucks. We don't really need 6 apps at each meal on our upcoming trip. But I know myself too well. Our trip is $6500. It's big big bucks to us. But when I go, I will just eat and enjoy what I want and not care about it. If I paid OOP, even if I had all the money on gift cards to pay as we went along, getting a $350+ bill for CRT breakfast would make me lose it. I would be mentally adding all the time trying to figure out how much we'd spent and how much we had left on the gift cards and how many meals we still had to eat. Sticker shock at every meal is not my idea of a good time! I know why people are against the plan, but for some families, the plan works for different reasons.

 

[theclarks53158]

Does anyone have a excel template they used to compare DP vs. paying out of pocket?

 

[Lisa F]

Does anyone have a excel template they used to compare DP vs. paying out of pocket?

I just kept it simple. I have a two columns per day where I have some notes on the parks I want to do and then a row per meal and a row for snacks. So under breakfast I'd add "Crystal Palace" under the name and then in the next column I have something like $51.11 which is the amount for me and my kiddo with tax. Then I add all of that up at the bottom of each money column and then add it across to get a "total value of food". Any snack where I am unsure of I conservatively listed at $4 per snack . Then I take the total value of food and subtract the cost of the DDP for the two of us.

 

[snooty3]

Thanks. I had to purchase the Boardwalk dining plan for her boyfriend. I am going to try adding her to the reservation at check in, at least to get her a room key!!

 

[Steve19842015]

So in guessing there's nowhere to check my cost of all meals so I know if I came Out ahead or not.

 

[sharonabe]

So in guessing there's nowhere to check my cost of all meals so I know if I came Out ahead or not.

Are you already back or still planning? If already back, do you have your receipts?

However, when checking, you need to be honest and determine if you would/will order everything the plan gives you. For example, my family is a 4 Disney adult family. There's no way we would order 4 desserts at ANY TS meal, so I would only include the one or two we might order in my calculations.

 

[KnittingMom]

Some of the appeal of the dining plan is purely psychological, especially since the plan is now not so much a discount plan as it is a prepayment plan.

If there's to be a discount, it's up to the consumer to realize the discount (by using the plan to pay for the more expensive items).

I have two sons who eat -- a lot -- and the dining plan and all you care to eat buffets are good choices for them. Make your ADR's. Look over the menus and predict your bills, then do the math. Add in the refillable mugs. Not each family will come to the same decision.

 

[Nancyg56]

Yes! I don't understand the "it's a lot of food" theory. I typically eat 3 meals a day, why wouldn't I on vacation? No, I don't eat apps and dessert at every meal at home, but it's vacation. We do the DxDDP. My four kids are on a schedule, as well, and last trip we didn't have any meltdowns because not only did we keep to their schedule, but the sit down meals gave us a rest time. My young kids can't go commando through the parks so breaking for meals gave us a chance to regroup. We also never felt stuffed, either, because at home we aren't walking 4-5 miles every day! We did CRT, Cali Grill, SoA, and HDDR and we did save money by using the plan.

The most stressful meal we had on our last trip was at Casey's Corner. DH was getting the food for the four of us (at that time) and trying to juggle the trays, and I was trying to find a place to sit with the little kids because all the tables were taken. It was a madhouse. DH and I agreed that for our family (and our sanity) we would rather pay more and be waited on so that we also feel like we are on vacation.

As for the money...I am tempted to do OOP because I can see where it could save us a few bucks. We don't really need 6 apps at each meal on our upcoming trip. But I know myself too well. Our trip is $6500. It's big big bucks to us. But when I go, I will just eat and enjoy what I want and not care about it. If I paid OOP, even if I had all the money on gift cards to pay as we went along, getting a $350+ bill for CRT breakfast would make me lose it. I would be mentally adding all the time trying to figure out how much we'd spent and how much we had left on the gift cards and how many meals we still had to eat. Sticker shock at every meal is not my idea of a good time! I know why people are against the plan, but for some families, the plan works for different reasons.

I agree. I do not like wondering if I have enough allocated to food. With my crew, you just never know. I also like having a place already planned for a break and a nice meal. The last thing I want to do is say no to something on teh menu, or to a snack, or to look at prices. THat is something I cannto help doing when I pay OOP. I know I CNA have anything I want, I really do. But gift card or not, I still look at the prices. I buy the DDP and the worst thing I can do is to look at the cost and wonde if I am not spending enough! I can live with that.

 

[Mom2Stitch]

So in guessing there's nowhere to check my cost of all meals so I know if I came Out ahead or not.

Not sure if this is what you are asking for or not, http://www.distripplanner.com/

It is not always 100%, but gets in the ballpark I think.

 

[happymommy]

I've only used the DDP (regular one) once, and it was free. It was too much food. Nice to try it though.

Had the free QSDP at Pop last August, and that was a good deal. DD and I were alone on that trip. We only do QS meals anyway, and we enjoyed it. It was still too much food! Took home 14 bags of snacks!

Have it again at Pop this coming late August. We still find that free QSDP at a value resort works well for us, and is a decent savings. We'll try to use our credits this time!

No way would I consider paying for the plan. This is especially true as we tend to only do one TS meal in a week at Disney.

 

[Hikergirl]

When we go as a family of 5 I do not get the DDP, I can do much better out of pocket, 2 of my kids aren't big eaters and they are all Disney adults. Our last trip we only did a couple TS restaurants and mostly CS. We normally have breakfast in the room, we stayed CL (on a great deal through a TA) last time so breakfasts (and water bottles) were taken care of.

This time its just dh and me and we are going to for F&W, I am planning on getting the DDP. Our plan is to skip breakfast, and just snack early in the day using our CS credits. We know we will want some down time later when F&W gets more crowded so I have late dinner ADRs that we will use or TS credits for. I did the math, for the dinners and the 2-4 cups of coffee we'll do a day its already half of the cost of the DDP. It may be too much food, I may not finish every speck on my plate but I'm not going to worry about it. I'm not going on vacation to worry about my budget, I'm going on vacation to relax, splurge a little and get away from the real world (i.e my frugal ways LOL).
We will use any left over snack credits to bring stuff home for the kids.

There is a kink in my plans though, because I'm thinking about getting the F&W premium pass. I'm not sure if I will keep the DDP if I do that, or not. I'm waiting to see what is included this year.

 

[Woodmnky]

You would lose that challenge for a couple of our trips.

See, that is what I do. Look at our trip. Make our plans, then calculate the price of meals.

We do, generally, eat like the plan. We eat breakfast in the room. Eat a quick service meal for lunch, then a sit down/table service for dinner. A snack around fireworks time, normally sounds good. Eating that way, never leaves a credit unused. And if there are any snack credits leftover, they make great snacks for the drive home.

We don't share meals. My husband eats a full meal, as does my 20 year old son. Even if I wanted to split with someone, which I don't, I would have to grab a passerby.

We rarely drink alcohol, and if we do, I might have one drink. My husband never drinks. So even though we are DVC members, Tables in Wonderland isn't a good choice for us.

All of that said, if the numbers don't work in our favor, we don't add the dining plan.

This is us. I do the math for each trip based on where we want to stay, what we want to eat, and how much we want to pay. Sometimes it is a bargain to get a dining plans, other times it isn't.

In January we stayed at AoA for 3 nights while my husband ran the marathon and then we stayed offsite for another 6 days. We bought the DDP for the onsite portion. We ate at Ohana, Garden Grill, and Boma. The total for those meals with tax was $333.42. The dining plan was $450. We also then got 9 QS credits, 9 snack credits, and the mugs. The dining plan worked in our favor that time.

In April we stayed at Pop for a couple of days pre cruise. Since we were just going to do some QS meals, didn't care about the mugs, and knew that we were going to be eating lots while on our cruise we just payed out of pocket (and came out significantly ahead).

We are going in Sept and will be staying at Pop for a week. We are getting the free quick service dining plan with our stay. Once the cost of tickets are removed we are spending $900 for a weeks lodging and meals at Disney for a family of 3. We could save about $80 by buying tickets through another vendor, but even taking that into account we will still be coming out ahead.

The dining plan is neither good nor bad, but really something that everything needs to figure out for themselves whether it is worth it.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

The dining plan is neither good nor bad, but really something that everything needs to figure out for themselves whether it is worth it.

Exactly.

What is funny for us, is that we are actually getting Tables in Wonderland (TiW) this trip.

We have two trips planned close enough that we will be able to use the card for both trips. Between that and the fact that this trip is table service heavy, we will come out ahead with TiW.

 

[12disneybee]

Its easy
If you want to pay OOP..feel free
If you want the DP..buy it..
Everyone's habits are different
Everyone's view of quality is different
Everyone's views of convenience is different

I personally feel Disney's Deluxe Hotels are far from Deluxe and find it hard to believe anyone would pay $400 or more per night for just the hotel portion for a standard room..but that is my view..others find good reasons and needs to pay these rates..
We do 14 nights of DxDP..some would find it to much..we love it ..its a personal choice. I find dinner at 1900 Park fare to be worse than Golden Coral.. Absolutely horrible.. Many love it.

 

[disneymom0104]

I think back in the 2007 era, when there was only 1 dining plan, and it included appetizer, entree, dessert, drink AND gratuity (and yes, I know that is a lot of food)- and the price was around $42-ish per adult per day (I didn't look it up- going by memory so I might be off)- anyway it was advertised that it was like a 35% savings over ordering everything without the plan. That was probably true if you were going to order all of that anyway. We have always had the DDP- this will be our 3rd WDW trip with free dining (we even had it free in 2011 at Disneyland with a rare pin code) -we like having it. I don't believe the savings are near what they used to be, and there might not be any savings at all- or it could be done for less if you were skipping entrees and desserts and just eating appetizers. For us, we just like having the plan and the kids can get what they want- they feel like they are getting to have a splurge because we only get these things when we go to WDW. I still have youngers that love the character meals and I love being able to do multiple ones in one visit. When we had free dining at DL we did all of their character meals- when we pay out of pocket, we usually choose one or two. I understand that we are paying more for the room, but for us, the $2500 that free dining saves my family is more than a room discount + being pickier about what and where we eat. If we were frequent visitors of WDW, we might do things differently- but our visits are fairly infrequent, and the dining plan, for us, is part of the fun.

 

[cheshirealliekat]

I think back in the 2007 era, when there was only 1 dining plan, and it included appetizer, entree, dessert, drink AND gratuity (and yes, I know that is a lot of food)- and the price was around $42-ish per adult per day (I didn't look it up- going by memory so I might be off)- anyway it was advertised that it was like a 35% savings over ordering everything without the plan. That was probably true if you were going to order all of that anyway. We have always had the DDP- this will be our 3rd WDW trip with free dining (we even had it free in 2011 at Disneyland with a rare pin code) -we like having it. I don't believe the savings are near what they used to be, and there might not be any savings at all- or it could be done for less if you were skipping entrees and desserts and just eating appetizers. For us, we just like having the plan and the kids can get what they want- they feel like they are getting to have a splurge because we only get these things when we go to WDW. I still have youngers that love the character meals and I love being able to do multiple ones in one visit. When we had free dining at DL we did all of their character meals- when we pay out of pocket, we usually choose one or two. I understand that we are paying more for the room, but for us, the $2500 that free dining saves my family is more than a room discount + being pickier about what and where we eat. If we were frequent visitors of WDW, we might do things differently- but our visits are fairly infrequent, and the dining plan, for us, is part of the fun.

We are frequent visitors of WDW because we live less than an hour away and have AP. However, we are staying for a long weekend at the end of the month and doing the DDP for the first time for the fun. Living so close I don't feel like we can justify paying the outrageous prices for snacks and desserts, so we often bring snacks and split QS on our trips. This is our chance to play tourist and do all of the things we usually skip without having to look at the bill afterward. It also makes sense for us because we have a 4 year old who insists on having her own food even though she eats like a bird, and we are doing a lot of character meals this trip. We also plan on spending lots of time at the resort, so we are going to get our money's worth on those mugs. The DDP not only works out financially this trip, but it also does give us the psychological benefit of not caring that the child only ate 5 bites of her $20+ character meal, and it gives us an excuse to get the snacks we always skip because we can get a cupcake at the bakery near our house later, etc. Will it make sense for every trip? No. But it's definitely a good deal this time around, especially now that a mediocre burger at Cosmic Rays is $13!