How do you compare costs?

[mommyof3princess27]

How does everyone compare costs of the DDP and paying oop? I am playing with the idea of doing the dlx dp or reg and paying a few oop... does everyone jsut write down what they would order? Do you use a spreadsheet? If so can you post it? Need ideas please!

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

I use a spreadsheet I got from someone here on the DIS years ago, but it does require me to go to the menus (I use AllEars.net) and input prices of what I think we'll eat. There's a spreadsheet at a website called See Ya REEL Soon (not REAL, but REEL) and it doesn't require you to do that. It uses average prices for each restaurant, and you customize it to whether you order on the high end, mid-range or low end. It gives you the cost of DDP, DxDP, QSDP, OOP, cost if you use TIW .. any scenario you can imagine. I would download that if I were you. There's even a Youtube video explaining how to use it and I think it's pretty accurate.

 

[pigletto]

This is one of the better calculators I have seen for comparing the DDP to OOP.

http://www.distripplanner.com/

Someone posted it a few months back and I bookmarked it. It's an overview rather than planning menu item by menu item. I liked that better though because going through and picking each individual item we might order at each and every restaurant was driving me nuts. This gives you a general idea.

 

[Happyjen27]

I just sat down and looked at all the menus online and got a feel for what we would probably order. If the range of entree prices was 35-24 I would guess 30 per entree. I would look up the price of kid's meals which are standard regardless of which choice. If the kids meals were gross, I would look at what adult entree the twins might split.

I estimated $25 per day for snacks.

Then I added it all up. It was close, and so I opted out of pocket so I could have options like having my kids split adult entrees and we would want appies instead of desserts all the time.

 

[Princess Disney Mom]

Also I factor in the length of time. As each vacation day passes I eat less and less. Too hot too tired too much rich foods. I opt for OOP for that reason and if someone has some sort of bug you already paid. So best OOP.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[pryncess527]

I downloaded this complex excel sheet:

http://seeyareelsoon.wix.com/seeyareelsoon#!dining-plan-calculator/cxc0

 

[eliza61]

Cost wise, yes I just sat down, went to alleas.net and"ordered". I know my family's eating style well enough to get an accurate cost.

We haven't done the DDP in years and not once has paying oop been more. I can't see us ever going back.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

I downloaded this complex excel sheet:

http://seeyareelsoon.wix.com/seeyareelsoon#!dining-plan-calculator/cxc0

This is the one I referenced above. It's quite comprehensive.

 

[hsmamato2]

allears.net has the menus and prices....I look at average cost of meals we want, say a qs dinner, then figure it times 4 people, based on what we would order (shared drink, probably shared fries) snack prices in general (approx 4-6.00) and calcualate,maybe one per day give or take....
my example is 4 (big) people, times 8 days. breakfast in room, qs for lunch,(approx. 10 per person) qs for dinner (approx. 15.00 per person) plus a snack a day times 4 (16.00 total)
SO I know on average our lunch cost will be approx. 40.00 (probably less) and our dinner cost will be 55-60.00 per day. for the 4 of us. Now a ddp included in a deal can be a bargain too, if you have enough people,and a decent priced room and package.
But we've visited enough to know that we like lots of the qs here too, so no ts is not too difficult.

 

[hsmamato2]

sorry,forgot to finish....so I am guessing approx. 100 per day for the 4 of us when we eat only qs (we're paying oop for one buffet) and some snacks here and there....more than enough food for us! (my family could live happily in Epcot,dining on all the qs options for a month)that's about 800.00 bucks,(or so)
If we got ddp, it would be approx. 55.00 per person,per day. that includes one ts per day, but it's 1760.00. and since we got a good deal on a room only,it is cheaper oop than a package this year.

 

[happymommy]

We've only done the DDP once, in 2008 (I had to go look at my signature - wow can't believe it was 5 years ago!). Only reason we did the DDP was that it was a great deal, free dining plus a room discount! We ended up doing a couple of buffets (Cape May breakfast, only because we had one table service credit left last day, plus Tusker House which I wanted to do but maybe we wouldn't have without the plan) plus used two credits one night for room service when we were super tired.

My kids liked that they could get snacks or drinks and just swipe their card to buy them, and it was a great deal since it was "free". Many counter service meals are so big that my DD and I would share a meal, and it would be enough. I think we left with a counter service credit or two leftover.

For us, it felt like too much food. I thought about looking into it since, but then the stress of "getting my money's worth" was just too much. I can get by definitely without breakfast (I'm not a huge eater early in the day at all, just coffee and I'm good to go), a light lunch, and sandwich then snack later. Maybe one or two sit down meals is all we need really.

We wouldn't have done the Cape May without having the credit to use up - 4 adults would have been I guess $140? For breakfast - I can buy enough groceries for the room for breakfast and snacks for a week on that. Of course, most folks go to those for the characters - we just were not into that - it was cute - but not what we were interested in.

For someone who definitely wants character dining - yes it can be worth it for sure! Those character meals are expensive.

Side note: my kids and I went last August for 15 nights - stayed offsite (Sabal Palms for the majority of the trip) and only ate one table service meal the whole trip (and that was at Macaroni Grill in Kissimmee). My kids would rather do counter service at the parks, and we also LOVE getting snacks at Epcot. My son loves Japan - chicken terriyaki - that's kind of tradition. When my DH is along (he wasn't that trip) he does like a sit down meal or two, so we'd rather pay OOP for that.

PS: and we do splurge - one of the best meals we've had was at the French Bistro upstairs in France at Epcot - we had the Prix Fix meals with wine pairings, it was incredible, and DH wouldn't even let me see the bill (I know it was well over $400, and that was years ago).

If we ever did a dining plan, it would be the counter service one, but I think they reduced the snacks to one a day from two? Don't know - if it were free and we were staying onsite, I'd do it, but otherwise, if you like character dining and want a lot of sit down meals, it may be worth it.

 

[mommyof3princess27]

ill def look into those ss thanks guys!