how to decide

[gigi1976]

For those of you who have gotten pin codes for free dining and have had the option for the public offers..how do you really decide? I mean I get how to do the math, but what math are you doing? Are you calculating what you would normally spend on food if you weren't on the plan to what you would spend if you were or how much your room would be rack and how much it is with a discount...I am overwhelmed!.. Lucky for me I don't have this problem, as the darn pin fairy refuses to visit my house, but one day I hope to have this dilemma, until then, I just wonder how I would figure it out.

Thanks for your math advice!

 

[beansmom]

For those of you who have gotten pin codes for free dining and have had the option for the public offers..how do you really decide? I mean I get how to do the math, but what math are you doing? Are you calculating what you would normally spend on food if you weren't on the plan to what you would spend if you were or how much your room would be rack and how much it is with a discount...I am overwhelmed!.. Lucky for me I don't have this problem, as the darn pin fairy refuses to visit my house, but one day I hope to have this dilemma, until then, I just wonder how I would figure it out.

Thanks for your math advice!

we are 2 adults and we would generally spend $60-80 per day on food OOP...for that I can choose what I want to eat...appetizer instead of dessert....as many snacks as I want in a day...2 sit downs instead of just one. We almost NEVER order 2 entrees...we just can't eat that much. We don't finish ONE meal..much less two. So it doesn't really save us much of anything to pay for the dining plan.

Then there are the days when we don't eat at any restaurant...sandwiches in our room days...even leftovers brought home the night before in a doggie bag. On those days we can spend $0-20 max....much less than the almost $100 per day for us on the DDP.

If they offer free dining, I have to pay rack rate for my room AND buy a park ticket for both of us. We plan to purchase APs in October to cover us for the next year so a room only discount saves us much more than free dining.

I'm sure if we were a much bigger family ...say 4 of us or more...OR had teenagers that are empty chasms....the DDP would be a better way for us.

 

[StuckInKS]

I know some people just add up the discounted portion and see which is saving more $$$, but I add up the full cost of food, tix and room to see what each offer costs. I also do this for various amounts of days (ex: 5 vs 7) and for one resort stays vs split stays. It was a lot of work, but it helped me visually see where we would be at under each senario. Now if something happens that raises or lowers our budget, I have the numbers right there to decide what we can/need to change in order to stay in line with what we can/want to spend and which discount is best for that situation.

When it comes to DDP vs no DDP: For offers that include DDP, I add in the cost of DDP + extra snacks. For those that don't, I add up what we would spend at the places that I really want to go to (NOT necessarily 1 CS and 1TS per day) + snacks. This is an important difference for our numbers because we will likely eat less full meals and enjoy more snacks if not on the DDP.

Anyway, that's how I do it!

 

[emmabelle]

For us, my husband and son love the dining plan, so it enables me to get them to WDW with little whining. Here's a comparison I did when we were considering the GF, we ended up switching to BWI to save some money on the room and to add in the dining plan.


7/21/10 - 7/28/10

GF - standard room- value season
2 adults and 2 disney adults


rack, dining, 1 day base - $4885 (no discounts)

35% off room, dining, 1 day base - $3751 (it's now only 25% off)

rack, free dining, 1 day base - $3569

room discount 35% only - $2099 (now only 25%)


I definitely think we could have taken the $2099 room only discount and saved money on the dining, but like I said, it was the only way to get the family there.

 

[Bridge203618]

I have guessed based on posts from here and questions I have asked along with food menus what I think we would spend if I paid OOP for food. I believe that I can eat cheaper than the dining plan costs. It also depends what the amount of savings you have on your room, etc.

I personally would save about $850.00 on Free QSD but only 300 something on my room.

What I did was quote my room only with the discount, For me for 8 nights at POP it was 685 (as opposed to almost $1000 with no discount). I figure it would cost me $1k for food OOP. I don't need tickets for all of us so that is a factor too. I only need a ticket for my youngest. So for me tickets, room and food costs me about 1900.

If I book room no discount it is about 1000, if i add base tickets for all of us (1 day) it came to about 1300. If I was getting FQSD and upgrading to DDP that would be about another 250. So I am now at 1550 for food, tickets, dining which is cheaper than the above. oh and i have to add in the 150 or whatever to upgrade my DD's park ticket to 6 days. so that takes me to 1700, still cheaper

If I I took my room only discount 685 added 1 day base tickets for all of us I think that brought me to just under 1000, it costs me another 1100 for dining plan - so now I am at 2100 plus the 150 I will need to spend to upgrade my DD to 6 days. So now I am at 2250 or something. which is more than i would spend on my own IMO. It isn't alot more, but still more. Plus I am buying tickets I don't need. IF disney would let me buy dining plan without tickets (which I think they should consider with all the AP tickets and non expiry tickets that i am sure they want to sell) I would probably buy the plan to convenience cuz it is close to what I would spend on my own. but since I don't need tickets, that is an extra expense i don't really need. Although I do plan to come back and would use them eventually, just not now.

 

[ancestry]

I look at the amount I am able to save off of the room type and category I am booking and then I compare that to how much the dining plan would cost us if we bought it. I go with the package that gives the greater savings. We prefer to stay deluxe so the % off the room is usually WAY more than the value of the dining. For example we are staying 9 nights CL next month with a 40% off rate. That savings is well over $2,000. No way I would ever be able to save that by getting free dining.