Has anyone actually done the math on DDP v. paying OOP?

[B-Ride]

For us the math definitely works out. We always save 300 or 400 dollars. Okay, I admit that I have never paid for the Dining Plan as we always go during Free Dining, but we have booked it a few times before the deals came out and still decided it was worth it.

For me the number one attraction is that your costs are all set before you go and you can just relax and enjoy yourself.

 

[java]

I did the math and because 2 of my 4 kids are considered adults on the plan we opted out. It didn't make sense.

As it is the 2 oldest will probably share a meal. I just took a day - looked at what we were planning on and it was cheaper oop. But there was one day that it would have made sense- but the other 8 not so much.
We are a family of 6 and the price would be over $250 a day. So while we would spend more than that on our California Grill night- that would also be 2 credits worth so actually about $400? Which is no where near what we spend there.

 

[DaParkers]

I did the math and because 2 of my 4 kids are considered adults on the plan we opted out. It didn't make sense.

As it is the 2 oldest will probably share a meal. I just took a day - looked at what we were planning on and it was cheaper oop. But there was one day that it would have made sense- but the other 8 not so much.
We are a family of 6 and the price would be over $250 a day. So while we would spend more than that on our California Grill night- that would also be 2 credits worth so actually about $400? Which is no where near what we spend there.

More than $250? Is that with the basic DDP, because 4 adults and 2 kids on the basic is only $192 and $218 during holiday pricing. If you're talking about DxDDP, then I understand because that's $330 a day.

 

[BriarRosie]

D'oh. I need to figure out what I want to say. LOL

 

[lamb616]

IMO, you can *easily* pay OOP for your meals for LESS than any dining plan, if you want to (or need to). And if you're a simple/picky eater, you're probably better off paying OOP. Like if you're someone who's going to order a chicken sandwich or grilled chicken breast everywhere you go even if on the DDP - then paying for the DDP is a waste. If I'm paying OOP, I'd probably be ordering chicken sandwiches too. BUT, if I'm on the DDP -- believe me, I'm ordering filet or prime rib or lobster or shrimp AS MUCH as I possibly can, lol. And DH is the same way. So since it's vacation and I want to splurge and not eat chicken all week, that's what I'd do and it would be well worth it to get the DDP in our case.

 

[RadioFanatic]

Wow! This thread really took on a life of its own! For us, based on the great advice here, we have decided to stick with the plan. We will use teh four TS based upon our reservations we have and the CS i will share with my son who is under 3. The snack credits will go for his milk (I hope - can I use them for this?); so it does seem to be a value - thanks so much for your help!

 

[Tara]

There are so many threads on if the DP makes sense that I can't remember what I've responded to and what I haven't.

In general for our family, I don't think the DDP makes sense. We are DVC members and on a typical vacation, here's how we eat:

-Half our breakfasts are in-room.
-Most of our lunches in room OR very rarely, DH and I will split a QS meal (and we'll get McDonald's for DS at his request).
-Signature meals almost every night.
-We like appetizers (I am a soup junkie) more than desserts.
-Lots of frozen lemonade when it's hot.
-We will bring our own water in reusable bottles.

So DDP makes little sense - the QS credits go to waste and we'd end up paying a lot OOP for the 2TS meals. TIW works very well, though.

This Wednesday I begin a trip where I'm trying DxDP for the first time. It's just DS8 and me, and here's why:

-We are staying at CBR, so no kitchen like we're used to, which means eating out more often.
-Not only do we eat very little QS, DS eats NO QS lunch or dinner.
-I have to really be strategic about getting enough food in DS, but he will reliably eat well at breakfast buffets. (e.g., he'll eat eggs at home, but not often and not "enough" at one sitting, but he'll gobble up scrambled eggs at Tusker House like there's no tomorrow)
-We have a signature meal planned every single day.
-It's going to be hotter than all get out, so we will definitely be getting cool snacks, like our favorite frozen lemonade, every day.

Will we save money over using TIW? Possibly. I did calculations based on what I thought we would want to eat (not based on "maximizing value"). If my calculations held true, we'd save about $45 over paying OOP and using TIW. That includes adding in tips, too. That may not play out, but it gives me confidence that we won't waste money on the plan, either. Oh, AND it includes refillable mugs, which we probably won't use much (not soda drinkers, I don't drink coffee) but I really wanted bigger mugs to keep in our Owner's Lockers for use when we are in a villa as DH hates the itty bitty coffee mugs they have.

And I have to admit, I love the fact that our trip is basically paid for before we leave home! I will have to pay for the rental car, tips, and any shopping we do (and I'll get some snacks and gatorade at the grocery store), but having room, admission (existing APs) and virtually all food paid for ahead of time is nice.

Now if I can just manage to keep the secret for another 2 days and 2 hours...DS has no idea we're going!

 

[wizzzzzard]

The snack credits will go for his milk (I hope - can I use them for this?);

They should. Generally speaking, a snack credit can be applied to anything less than $4.00. This is the rule my family and I have followed, and has yet to fail us.

If you are unsure, ask a person at a register. They can tell you for sure.

 

[rance]

This thread is great as I am trying to decide on the DDP also.

Outside the dollars and cents I am trying to visualize how enjoyable the dining experience will be with a 2 year old and 5 year old for 7 nights at a TS.

If they are getting tired and cranky in the parks, I'm not sure they will do well waiting 20 min. to get seated for an ADR and then sitting thru the meal for another hour.

I'm thinking that we might wait till they are older and have the flexability of ordering a pizza around the pool rather than forcing a cranky meal in a sit down restaurant.

Just one more thing to consider outside the $.

 

[branv]

Wow! This thread really took on a life of its own! For us, based on the great advice here, we have decided to stick with the plan. We will use teh four TS based upon our reservations we have and the CS i will share with my son who is under 3. The snack credits will go for his milk (I hope - can I use them for this?); so it does seem to be a value - thanks so much for your help!

Yeah, just one of those questions that get a looooot of opinions. Glad you found an answer in there.

As for the milk, I can't report personally, but I see it pop up a lot on the thread that reports allowed snacks. So I suspect you're good. Although if you're going in August, I remember reading a thread where some parents were talking about noticing a correlation between high heat, milk, park rides and a seemingly higher likelihood of biological spills Maybe water...

 

[ReneeA]

I'm late to this party too, but I actually find it kind of odd that people would order "cheap things" just because they are NOT on the dining plan. To me dining is a big part of my vacation since I do a lot of cooking, serving & cleaning at home & I'm not about to pack a PB&J to save a few bucks, when I can go sit in a nice A/C restaurant & eat something I really enjoy. When we are on vacation, it's just that a vacation & we eat what we like. That being said, we STILL don't think the DDP is a good deal. The dining plan is far from cheap & i'm surprised that people who will save money by avoiding expensive meals, will go ahead & purchase it.

Like I said, I have actually sit down with the menus and run the numbers. The plan doesn't necessarily save us a lot of money, but we definitely come out ahead - especially while our kids are under 10. We also have a much better dining experience with the plan. I think it's great that you have no problem with ordering exactly what you want on vacation...I have a difficult time with it.

Different strokes, but don't think that we don't actually sit down and do the work of comparing the plan to OOP. I do for every trip, and I still come out ahead on the plan. It helps that we normally travel the week before Labor Day, free dining has been offered since 2005, and it is the best offer for our family (and yes, I've run THOSE numbers, too.)

 

[robinb]

We rented points from DVC this year so it's the first time EVER that we would be paying for the dining plan v. free dining. So my question is - has anyone actually done the math on which is the better deal? We have dinner reservations at Mama Melrose (that night we will be with relatives who have a TIW card so we could get a discount that night only), Garden Grill, Liberty Tavern and Boma. DS is under three so will be free. We intend to eat one CS each day (don't need desserts) - we can use snacks for breakfast but also intend to use garden grocer.

I would love to hear the math wiz's - which would be more cost effective paying for DDP or just paying OOP?

According to my DDP Restaurant Ranking (http://personalpages.tds.net/~rb/DIS/MYW Dining/2010/DisneyDiningRanking2010.htm) the average cost at your restaurants are:

Garden Grill = $33.02
Liberty Tree = $31.95
Boma = $35.19
Mama Melrose = $26.84 ($20.16 with TIW discount)

TS Totals = $127.00

CS meals average $13.42

CS Totals = $53.68

I value snacks at around $3.00 each.

Snack Total = $12.00

Total Average for your 4 days:
$127 + 53.68 + 12 = $192.68

DDP cost = $41.99 (it's the same price at DVC no matter the date) per day.

DDP total = $167.96

You will be saving about $25 per person on the DDP but that "savings" will evaporate between the $6.00 savings from the TIW card at Mama Melroses, and not eating the $12.00 in desserts (approx $3 each) at the CS restaurants.

It will probably be cheaper for you to get the DDP, but not by much.

 

[robinb]

They should. Generally speaking, a snack credit can be applied to anything less than $4.00. This is the rule my family and I have followed, and has yet to fail us.

If you are unsure, ask a person at a register. They can tell you for sure.

Just to make things clear ... snack credits can be used for single servings of items less than $4.00. That change was made a couple years ago. A lot of the candy and snacks that you used to be able to "buy" with a snack credit are now marked "family size" and no longer eligible.

So, a single serving of milk would be on the DDP. A quart container (even if it's under $4.00) is not on the DDP.

 

[kifuller4]

We purchased the DXDDP this year for our vacation. There are 3 adults and 2 children under 9. We looked where we wanted to eat and booked those places. I have done the "math" and it appears that we will save about $700 on food. This takes into consideration what other people have said. I am more willing to get the steak since I have already "paid" for it. We are eating at buffetts, which made the children's portion really pay for it's self. It all depends on what you want/will eat. For us, it is worth it. Part of my Disney experience is eating all that yummy food!

 

[RadioFanatic]

Yeah, just one of those questions that get a looooot of opinions. Glad you found an answer in there.

As for the milk, I can't report personally, but I see it pop up a lot on the thread that reports allowed snacks. So I suspect you're good. Although if you're going in August, I remember reading a thread where some parents were talking about noticing a correlation between high heat, milk, park rides and a seemingly higher likelihood of biological spills Maybe water...

the dining plan is for our trip in December - we aren't using the dining plan in August as we will be at the star wars convention a lot and not really on site.

 

[RadioFanatic]

what's funny is that for the two nights before our cruise, I got the deluxe dining plan bc we are eating at two signature restaurants for dinner, one breakfast at Crystal palace and like having the "free" refillable cups for the whole trip. It was easy to see that was an amazing deal. For the four days, with regular dining plan, for some reason I was having a real problem!

 

[MinneTinK]

Two years ago we got the DDP for the first time and found that we had so much wasted food, so when booking this year, I went to allears.net and looked up the menus of everywhere we would be eating and got the prices for things we would probably order, we found that for us, paying OOP is alot cheaper, but it all depends on your eating habits. We have breakfast in the room(granola bars, juice) CS for lunch(I usually get a kids meal or we split one adult meal) and TS for dinner. Neither one of us ever wanted the dessert and at the end of the trip we had so many snack credits left over we were getting lots of candy souvineers just to use them up!

 

[NMAmy]

The DDP doesn't save money for us. We stay in a villa and one big reason is for the kitchen--none of us likes restaurant food for every meal for 7 or 8 days. With grocery delivery, we'll have light breakfasts, snacks and sometimes even lunch or dinner in the room. I'm not spending hours cooking, either, we're talking a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch or a hard boiled egg and toast for breakfast. Too much restaurant food really does a number on my stomach.

Also, dd and I tend to split a meal at the QS places. We may order three appetizers and dessert instead of an entree for dinner. We sometimes get busy doing something else and decide to skip an ADR. We like the freedom of being able to order whatever we want and not to have to worry about getting our money's worth. If one of us wants steak or lobster, we order it. It's also fine to just get a sandwich and fries--no need to feel obligated to order the most expensive thing on the menu to make the dining plan worth our while.

Because I have the money set aside in advance, I don't stress about saving money at the restaurants. I'd rather not pay in advance and then be roped into making sure we eat what we've paid for.

 

[wizzzzzard]

Just to make things clear ... snack credits can be used for single servings of items less than $4.00. That change was made a couple years ago. A lot of the candy and snacks that you used to be able to "buy" with a snack credit are now marked "family size" and no longer eligible.

So, a single serving of milk would be on the DDP. A quart container (even if it's under $4.00) is not on the DDP.

I was noticing this in '08 when we were down for Christmas. I vaguely recall that in August '07 that we were able to get a quart of milk as a snack credit, but could not do so in '08. Didn't matter much to us then as we were on DxDDP for Christmas.

Ah well, it's just Disney's way of making sure that they are getting thier money's worth. :-D

 

[chartle]

I was noticing this in '08 when we were down for Christmas. I vaguely recall that in August '07 that we were able to get a quart of milk as a snack credit, but could not do so in '08. Didn't matter much to us then as we were on DxDDP for Christmas.

Ah well, it's just Disney's way of making sure that they are getting thier money's worth. :-D

At that time people also reported that a dozen donuts counted as one snack credit also, but no more.