Help me decide about dining plan

[Nancyg56]

Then I wasn't talking about you! lol. I was talking about people who say they want the DDP, solely because it frees them from having to look at the prices and worry about the budget once they are there.

It does free me as well though. I would debate that darn dessert from here til tomorrow! No there is no debate! I enjoy every last bite of my crème brule, my toffee pudding, my chocolate anything and my cupcakes at lunch, and as I enjoy each one I know I am within the budget I have created. If I did not do it this way, I would debate every extra dessert, etc. As I said, we do know ahead of time about what we would spend, but once we arrived I would have a hard time giving myself permission to use it all.

 

[senadler]

This is the argument I can never understand. I suppose it's just too psychological for me. "I'm so frugal I could never order the expensive food, but I'll pay $200-$500 more so I don't have to look at the prices." I tell my parents, "if I had paid for the dining plan, you'd have $40 to spend on your meal, so that's your budget." That seems to work for me.

I don't really think people are debating over the plan when it is $200 - $500 more. However, when someone may break even or even pay a few dollars more for the plan, I do think there is a psychological benefit. I am debating whether to get the plan for our next trip. In making my calculations I am about even, and I think if that is the case, we will probably end up getting the plan.

 

[TNKim]

I don't really think people are debating over the plan when it is $200 - $500 more. However, when someone may break even or even pay a few dollars more for the plan, I do think there is a psychological benefit. I am debating whether to get the plan for our next trip. In making my calculations I am about even, and I think if that is the case, we will probably end up getting the plan.

Exactly. That's what I'm struggling with, knowing I'd be paying more than the plan because I have extra TS ADR's (but not enough to justify the DDX plan, or just paying OOP and it may be considerably less than the DDP, but having my mom think we should count pennies when ordering. After paying for resort, tickets, flight, etc., why count pennies now!

 

[supersnoop]

I don't really think people are debating over the plan when it is $200 - $500 more. However, when someone may break even or even pay a few dollars more for the plan, I do think there is a psychological benefit. I am debating whether to get the plan for our next trip. In making my calculations I am about even, and I think if that is the case, we will probably end up getting the plan.

Honestly, I think a lot of people did the math a few years ago when the plan was much cheaper and stick with that decision today. I forget the psychological term for that; but we base our current decisions more heavily on our past decisions than on the current realities.

If you've done the calculations and are coming out that close, then you're most likely placing value on every single entitlement under the plan. That may or may not be realistic, and could greatly skew the actual value. In other words, you may be paying more to get stuff that you don't want or won't use, and only when you factor in those items do you break even.

Obviously, each individual needs to do their own math, and I'll readily concede that the more children you have, the higher the value. But I routinely see people say they get the plan because they're so frugal, they don't want to look at the prices, even when the math clearly shows they'd save money without the plan.

 

[senadler]

If you've done the calculations and are coming out that close, then you're most likely placing value on every single entitlement under the plan. That may or may not be realistic, and could greatly skew the actual value. In other words, you may be paying more to get stuff that you don't want or won't use, and only when you factor in those items do you break even.

The calculations I am doing are for a trip with just myself and my DS who will be 5. All of our table service credits will be used for set price meals. A few character meals, the fantasmic dinner package, and CRT. While I figure I am paying about $20 more than OOP for myself (but this is without including the mugs and snack credits), his meals alone are saving over $50. Once you add the snack credits and mugs, which we would get either way, we are saving easily $100 total.

What I am still debating is whether to use the deluxe plan. I am planning on paying for a number of meals OOP, including SOA and probably a signature restaurant. I would also do less QS if we upgrade, which I definitely prefer. When I calculate this plan out, I may end up paying slightly more for the plan depending on how often he wants to eat an adult meal, but still within about $50. I may upgrade just to give him the flexibility to order what he wants. I actually know we will not use all the credits, and will probably spend them on treats to bring home for the rest of the family, but that is just a bonus and I did not figure that in my calculation. Having a child in the mix definitely impacts the decision. I agree I could not make it worth it for only adults.

 

[Nancyg56]

The calculations I am doing are for a trip with just myself and my DS who will be 5. All of our table service credits will be used for set price meals. A few character meals, the fantasmic dinner package, and CRT. While I figure I am paying about $20 more than OOP for myself (but this is without including the mugs and snack credits), his meals alone are saving over $50. Once you add the snack credits and mugs, which we would get either way, we are saving easily $100 total.

What I am still debating is whether to use the deluxe plan. I am planning on paying for a number of meals OOP, including SOA and probably a signature restaurant. I would also do less QS if we upgrade, which I definitely prefer. When I calculate this plan out, I may end up paying slightly more for the plan depending on how often he wants to eat an adult meal, but still within about $50. I may upgrade just to give him the flexibility to order what he wants. I actually know we will not use all the credits, and will probably spend them on treats to bring home for the rest of the family, but that is just a bonus and I did not figure that in my calculation. Having a child in the mix definitely impacts the decision. I agree I could not make it worth it for only adults.

THe cost to upgade a child to Deluxe is minimal, so when we did the math on one room in August we did it. It was well worth it for us becasue the new rules allow sharing, and there were two rooms of "us". WE have not always upgraded because we do crunch numbers and depending on the meals we planned, we would not have even broken even.

I will say that after our last experience we found that we like TS lunch if we are traveling in AUgust, and I can say that if my DH travels with us, it will probably work out no matter what. WE discovered the hard way he wants appetizers with most meals, got himself all confused ( do not ask me why he decided to stay within the stinkin plan and not order his appetizer every meal) wanted his hot breakfast even though we had paid for CL, and basically woudl have made it worth while LOL!