Losing Money on the regular DP?

[Cayenne]

Apparently I am not truly enjoying my planning of this trip unless I'm worrying about something.

So, I can't actually start making reservations until this Monday morning, but I'm trying to convince myself that once I make the ressies I can't change them because if I don't convince myself of that, I'm pretty sure I'll still be shifting them around in the airport during our layover on the way down. Anyway, here's the current list:

O'hana - dinner
Cinderella's Royal Table - breakfast
Le Cellier - lunch (possibly dinner)
Akershus - breakfast
Coral Reef - lunch
Mama Melrose - lunch

My mother and I will be on the regular dining plan for eight nights, and the above is how we would be spending our table service credits (and, of course, we would be using our counter service and snack credits, too.) And before you say it, I'm aware that several of those are quite hard to get ahold of, but I'm pretty persistent, and our dates and times are VERY flexible. But I'm suddenly just getting all worried that we'll come out losing money on the dining plan. I tend to order higher priced items (steaks, etc), but that's not so true of my mother.

Basically, just tell me whether or not you think we'll lose considerable money with this list of reservations on the dining plan? Thanks!

 

[chartle]

You do know that Le Cellier Dinner only is now two credits? Could effect your plans if you didn't know.

As for your question I guess it would be best to go to the menus have you and your mom pick what you probably would order and add up the cost.

One other observation, the earlier the meal the less "value" you get for the credit.

 

[HuskerFaninIL]

Well 3 of your choices (CRT, Akershus, Ohana) are all one price meals, so it doesnt matter what your mom eats at those places it will still be the same.

I'd pull up the menus of the others and see what you both might order and go from there, do a little quick math.

And just and FYI, I got CRT (dinner), Ohana (dinner), Akershus (dinner), Le Cellier (lunch) without any trouble on my 180 day. I logged on to the computer really early and snagged them with ease, and I have a party of 6 so I would think your party of 2 would be good to go if you do it early.

 

[Hootch]

you have a good chance of losing money on some.

First off, if you get the lunch at Le Cellier that it appears you want you will have only used seven credits. Lunch is on credit and dinner two.

O'hana - dinner
Probably a push with the CS and snack

Cinderella's Royal Table - breakfast
Not a good deal. The two credits include your tip but you will be using only about 50% of your spend for this meal. You would need another $40 - $45 on your two CS and snacks.

Le Cellier - lunch (possibly dinner)

Lunch possibly if you are planning on having a steak. With some of the other items such as any of the sandwiches or the salmon it is doubtful. Dinner again if you are ordering a steak. With dessert and beverage and steak, you're probably looking at a $55 - $60 leaving $30 - $35 for the two CS meals and snacks. (BTW - this site has a typo on the salmon. It shows $44 but the price is $34.)

Akershus - breakfast
Good deal

Coral Reef - lunch
Depends on what you are eating

Mama Melrose - lunch
Depends on what you order. Most of the entrees are below $20 with some quite a bit lower. Those would make it hard to get your value from the DDP. If you are planning on the Fantasmic dining package then it is probably a good deal. The package is a set price including an appetizer, entree, dessert and drink. I think the rate for our upcoming trip is $34.99 before tax and tip for an adult. You can order any items on the menu.

 

[Disney_1derland]

When calculating whether or not to do the dining plan, I like to look at it from an overall standpoint. Not a 'per meal' place. Some meals are 'bigger' some are 'smaller', so to look at the overall is where your true savings comes in. Take a look at current prices for the meals based on what you think you would order, don't forget to add in your tax as that would be covered under the dining plan. Leave the tip out of the equation because it's not a factor.

For us, a party of 5 we wind up breaking at the place where the 'cost' of the dining plan is a savings comparable to getting our counter service and snack free each day. Meaning, we spend on the table service the equivalent of what our daily fee for the dining plan is, so it's like getting the counter service and snack for free.

 

[PEANUT1]

If the dining plan is 45.99 per night and you are staying 8 nights....its about 736$. So...add up the costs of all the sit downs and see what you come up with...it is always a better "value" to do your credits for dinner than lunch or breakfast because dinner always costs more. so..
Ohana33$ per peson x2
CRT 44$x2
Akershush 39.40$x2
Le Cellier lunch (about 100$)
Mama Melrose lunch (about 75$)
Coral reef lunch (about 100$)
these last 3 depend of what you order..so your grand total is 509..plus you get 8 counter service meals and 8 snacks each. So..if your counter service meals are around 9$ each and snacks around 3$ that would be aroune 192$ again give or take what you order.
192 plus 509 equals 701$ so yes you will lose money...or just break even if you order more expensive things...I would not go to Le Cellier for dinner though and then add one more sit down and then you should be fine if you have 8 dinner credits.
In my opinion buffets are not a good value on the dining plan esp for breakfast..I would change the Akershush to dinner and leave CRT for breakfast.

 

[Mrs D]

You tend to get a better "value" on the DDP when using TS credits for dinner - dinners are more expensive so your meal cost is greater giving you a greater value.

I just used the dining plan spreadsheet Cafeen made. You can search under user name and the link is in his signature. It requires you to do a little work (nothing that I don't already do) but I found it to be spot on!

HTH!

 

[WantToGoNow]

So..if your counter service meals are around 9$ each and snacks around 3$ that would be aroune 192$ again give or take what you order.
192 plus 509 equals 701$ so yes you will lose money...or just break even if you order more expensive things...I would not go to Le Cellier for dinner though and then add one more sit down and then you should be fine if you have 8 dinner credits.
In my opinion buffets are not a good value on the dining plan esp for breakfast..I would change the Akershush to dinner and leave CRT for breakfast.

Don't forget the drinks and desserts at the CS meals - that's usually another $5 per meal.

 

[sscassel]

I personally would stick with all dinners that are 1 credit. Better bang for your buck. Why spend that much money on a mickey waffle!?

 

[chartle]

Don't forget the drinks and desserts at the CS meals - that's usually another $5 per meal.

But only if you would normally eat the dessert. Thats one other factor in getting the full "value" of the plans.

If you give up a dessert it makes it less valuable.

 

[Madonna3]

The dining plans are no longer designed to save money. It advertises that you COULD save up to 20-30%, but in reality it more or less makes you break even.

 

[chartle]

The dining plans are no longer designed to save money. It advertises that you COULD save up to 20-30%, but in reality it more or less makes you break even.

Thats why I don't think the QDDP would work for most people. The price range for QS as very narrow and we wouldn't get the desserts.

Its a lot more difficult to get the full value of the QDDP.

 

[PEANUT1]

Most people wouldn't have dessert with lunch and dinner...at least I think. So you could leave those out...also if I wasn't on the dining plan with a drink included, I would ask for tap water which is free. We also bring bottled water into the parks with the flavored packets to drink.


We have saved hundreds and hundreds of dollars using the dining plans (deluxe and regular) I have done trips where I saved all of the receipts to see if I saved.

To do this though you really have to plan. We won't eat at alot of buffets, we only do one sit down breakfast and we eat at the more expensive restaurants. We went to Jiko in November and our bill was over 250$ (we used deluxe plan for that meal so it cost us under 200$ for the dining plan..plus we had another sit down meal that day that cost over 100...so we paid under 200 but our bills were over 350 plus the 8 snacks we had for the day. We also try to go to the nicer counter service places that have more expensive meals.

 

[TDC Nala]

Buffets are not great deals for adults on DDP, especially breakfasts. They are excellent deals for children. 2 credit restaurants are generally not a good value on regular DDP.

Yes, you can save money on DDP. It depends on the makeup of your party, how you use it, whether you leave credits unused, the restaurants you visit, the menu cost of the items you order, and whether you would have wanted or ordered those items if you hadn't prepaid them.

 

[wishicouldgomoreofte]

The dining plans are no longer designed to save money. It advertises that you COULD save up to 20-30%, but in reality it more or less makes you break even.

Totally agree. I'd say you really have to work hard to save any money now. Not eat what you want, or get what you want. You would have to actively plan each meal by the most expensive choices at the most expensve restaurants during the most expensive times.

People say "I saved XXX" Would you really order that same prepackaged carrot or chocolate cake with every counter service meal day after day if you were not on the DDP? People feel pressured to get the expensive item, etc, and then count it as saved money, when they very well may order something else altogether or dine somewhere else if not on DDP.

 

[Cayenne]

Thanks so much for the input, everybody!!!

So, I do definitely understand that we would probably spend a lot less money if we weren't going on the dining plan. We would scrimp and save on which entrees to buy, not so many sodas, probably no desserts, and I wouldn't be eating at any of the places I currently am thinking about. BUT, on the other hand, a large part of the dining plan's draw to me (and my mother) is getting to eat something somewhere we normally wouldn't. Paying a pre-defined amount in advance lets us justify going fancy places and ordering fancy things. I wouldn't order 3/4 of the steaks I'm planning on eating if I knew that I was going to have to spend $40 on every plate.

SO! All that rambling aside, the only thing I'm REALLY set on is Cinderella's Royal Table for breakfast. We're not big breakfast eaters generally (neither of us like breakfast foods very much, and I always wake up nauseated), but I know I want to eat in the castle, and I figured it would be fun to have an early morning breakfast ADR at the castle for my birthday. Otherwise, I'd be just fine eating all dinners all the time - especially since we like eating late, and the parks will be closing relatively early for our hours.

By the way, I am fine with "losing" money on some of our meals, as long as we come out at least even in the end (meaning having a cheap meal, but making up for it with a more expensive meal later). I will definitely go through and do a rough bit of math for what we think we'd eat, but if I go ahead and do all dinners with all of these meals, except for CRT, do you think we'll come at least even, or should I switch out Le Cellier for a 1 TS meal somewhere?

 

[PEANUT1]

If you switch everything to dinners except CRT and change Le Cellier to lunch you will come out way ahead...and you'll have another Table service credit to use.

Thanks so much for the input, everybody!!!

So, I do definitely understand that we would probably spend a lot less money if we weren't going on the dining plan. We would scrimp and save on which entrees to buy, not so many sodas, probably no desserts, and I wouldn't be eating at any of the places I currently am thinking about. BUT, on the other hand, a large part of the dining plan's draw to me (and my mother) is getting to eat something somewhere we normally wouldn't. Paying a pre-defined amount in advance lets us justify going fancy places and ordering fancy things. I wouldn't order 3/4 of the steaks I'm planning on eating if I knew that I was going to have to spend $40 on every plate.

SO! All that rambling aside, the only thing I'm REALLY set on is Cinderella's Royal Table for breakfast. We're not big breakfast eaters generally (neither of us like breakfast foods very much, and I always wake up nauseated), but I know I want to eat in the castle, and I figured it would be fun to have an early morning breakfast ADR at the castle for my birthday. Otherwise, I'd be just fine eating all dinners all the time - especially since we like eating late, and the parks will be closing relatively early for our hours.

By the way, I am fine with "losing" money on some of our meals, as long as we come out at least even in the end (meaning having a cheap meal, but making up for it with a more expensive meal later). I will definitely go through and do a rough bit of math for what we think we'd eat, but if I go ahead and do all dinners with all of these meals, except for CRT, do you think we'll come at least even, or should I switch out Le Cellier for a 1 TS meal somewhere?

 

[Cayenne]

Alright, sounds like a plan! Thanks!!

EDIT:

I was looking at Le Cellier's lunch menu on All Ears and noticed there are no desserts listed! I want my dessert! So, is that menu just not accurate, or would I really not be able to get a dessert at Le Cellier? Could I order a side since there is no option for dessert and use that as my dessert "credit"?

In other news, I ended up switching around a whole bunch of restaurants, because my mom would rather eat late dinners after the parks close and also largely because I have issues letting sleeping dogs lie. (Looked for a -facepalm- or -headdesk- sort of smilie but couldn't find one, so those will have to do). Anyway, I ended up with quite a lot of "fixed price" meals... And when I did what ya'll suggested, and added what we thought we would be eating, we ended up with $303.78 to spend with snack credits and counter service credits! That seems like... a lot to me. Will that be hard to meet, with a total of 16 counter service credits, and 16 snack credits... Which doesn't sound that bad, but when you divide $303.78 by 32, you end up with needing to spend about $9.49 per snack/meal!

ACH. This is stressful. Do I need to rearrange to some higher priced, 1 TS meals again?

 

[OThopeful35]

When calculating whether or not to do the dining plan, I like to look at it from an overall standpoint. Not a 'per meal' place. Some meals are 'bigger' some are 'smaller', so to look at the overall is where your true savings comes in. Take a look at current prices for the meals based on what you think you would order, don't forget to add in your tax as that would be covered under the dining plan. Leave the tip out of the equation because it's not a factor.

For us, a party of 5 we wind up breaking at the place where the 'cost' of the dining plan is a savings comparable to getting our counter service and snack free each day. Meaning, we spend on the table service the equivalent of what our daily fee for the dining plan is, so it's like getting the counter service and snack for free.

I found the same thing to be true when debating whether or not to get the ddp. I added up what I would order and only included 2 or 3 desserts over the course of our 8 night stay. I clearly come out better with the ddp.

 

[dd50]

The dining plans are no longer designed to save money. It advertises that you COULD save up to 20-30%, but in reality it more or less makes you break even.

I agree! When I used it a few years ago we barely broke even but in reality we lost because I wouldn't have had dessert because most of the time I couldn't even eat it and I had to stress about getting something more expensive to break even instead of what I wanted.

What I do know is save the money what would cost for the DDP and send it to my credit card company before I leave home and date it for a week later. I have paid for it and can pick what I want and I end up saving money that way.