Most Expensive Item on the Menu? Worth It?

[copperbrick]

I'd like everyone's opinion, please.

A lot of folks on the Dining Plan order the most expensive item on the menu, just so they can make sure they're getting their money's worth.

Your thoughts?

 

[spare+a_pair]

We will be going on our first WDW trip in 2 months. Originally, we paid for Dining, but when the FD offer came out, we were able to take advantage of this.

For us, even if we would have paid OOP for the plan, DDP is more about convienence of having everything pre-paid up front. We are not worrying ourselves with ordering the most expensive thing - I am more concerned about enjoying what I do order. From the reviews I have read, I think that people who go in trying to maximize that value, don't always enjoy the dining experience as much as those who look at it like you are paying/getting a convienece.

 

[dbaggs]

I'll be honest. We've gone for free dining before and the first year I did try to maximize the value. My wife ordered what ever appealed to her on the menu. After day 5 I noticed that I was eating a lot of steak and she was having some very interesting tasty meals.

This year I'm following her plan.

 

[DaughteroftheKing]

My dh kind of thinks like that. He was raised to if you went to a buffet, you don't get bread or mashed potatoes (you can have those anytime at home), you get the expensive stuff, meats, etc. It stems from not having had much money, so you make the most of what you have.

For me, as far as DDP goes, we are leaving in 2.5 weeks. I plan to just order what I want. Most expensive or not. I'm here to enjoy myself, not agonize over every penny (I do that enough at home).

But to each his own.

 

[Minniemama350]

It boils down to "What do you feel like eating?" If you don't feel like it, don't order it. We always look at the most expensive item, but if I just don't feel like it, no way! It's your money's worth if you enjoyed eaxh and every meal.

 

[vinotinto]

I like fish and shellfish a lot. Often they are of some of the most expensive items, sometimes they aren't. But I plan to get it as much as possible when we go to Disney in a couple of weeks on the dining plan. Steaks are consistently some of the most expensive items. I can cook a great steak at home, so although we're on the plan, I don't think we'll be getting steaks more than once (if at all).

 

[bangzoom6877]

We will order whatever we feel like eating. Before adding the DDP to our July 2010 trip, I looked at the TS restaurants we will be going to, as well as the most likely choices for CS. I went to allears.net and looked at the menus. I added up the LEAST expensive choices from each category (entree, dessert, beverage), and added in tax. I did not take any snack credits into account. The basic DDP still saves us a good amount of money on a 10-night trip, even before factoring in any snacks. We will have 40 snack credits, and some $1 items could be considered a snack credit (a banana for example, something the boys, DH or I would possibly get for a midday snack anyway). So all I would have to do is add $40 to the total. The only reason I did not factor in snack credits was because I was trying to see how much we would save doing the DDP vs. paying OOP, and I am not sure exactly how many snacks we would buy over a 10-night trip, but I don't think it would be 40. I do know though, that we always get dessert with dinner on vacation (even not on vacation lots of times!), we always eat a TS dinner every night on vacation, and when touring a theme park we prefer a CS lunch. The only thing we might have done without is the CS dessert, but plenty of times I would get either fruit or a yogurt, something I normally have daily after I eat lunch. No one said I have to have ice cream, a cookie or cake every time! Even if I omit the least expensive dessert from all the CS lunches, we still come out ahead.

So, IMO, it is more important to order what you want, because to me that is the best value. If you are eating something you really don't want just because it is more expensive and you feel you are getting a better deal, think about it...is it really a better deal if it was not your first choice?

 

[WDWRocksMySocks]

I'll be honest, I have went through all the menus to calculate what's more bang for your buck. But, that was only b/c I was bored one day at work and wanted to see potential savings for DDP. In January, I plan on getting meals that look good and that I may not try normally. I will, however, try to maximize my snack credits. I plan on doing some snacks oop as well so I want to make sure I use my snack credit credit for the more expensive item. I'm frugal!

 

[Nadjalu]

We use the DDP, last time we paid this time had a free Pin code. We are normally steak eaters, so our meals usually are on the higher end of $$, so we do get our monies worth. But if there is a dish I would like to try or think I will like better you can bet I will get that even if it is cheaper.
Like PP said, I think it isn't about maximizing your $ it is about convienence and hey if it saves $ too then great!

 

[marie1203]

No we don't order just because it's the most expensive thing, we order whatever we want. But if you want to save money most 2 TS restaurants just don't add up you will be better off having 1TS credit restaurants. Other thing we do is my husband will have a full dinner and I will order something smaller because I can't eat it all or I want something that is not included in the plan like sushi and the share the dessert.

 

[crazytoshop]

I am sure that this happens alot, but hopefully eveyone will be ordering what will be most enjoyable to them. Our trip is in less than two weeks and will be our first free dining trip. We normally purchase the dining plan, and we select based upon whatever we are in the mood for and try to not even look at the prices! I have to say, I might enjoy a little bit more this time on free dining though!

 

[bangzoom6877]

No we don't order just because it's the most expensive thing, we order whatever we want. But if you want to save money most 2 TS restaurants just don't add up you will be better off having 1TS credit restaurants. Other thing we do is my husband will have a full dinner and I will order something smaller because I can't eat it all or I want something that is not included in the plan like sushi and the share the dessert.

I agree. The 2TS restaurants are a much better deal on the deluxe plan than the basic plan (deluxe plan includes appetizers, and many people eating at a signature restaurant would like to try different things, apps, entrees and desserts to make it special). Many people purchase the deluxe plan because they choose to do a different signature dinner every night, and they use the third meal credit for either breakfast or lunch, plus they have 2 snacks per person per night, so plenty of food to go around even with doing a 2TS every night. DH and I would do the deluxe plan if we planned on lots of signature restaurants, but our boys are only going to be 3 and 5 when we go in July, so we decided to hold off on signatures for now since we go to WDW every other year anyway. The only 2TS we are doing is CRT because my son begged me to eat in the castle. I didn't think the boys would be excited over it so we didn't go last year but my older one was upset, so we will be going there for dinner one night, which works out well since my sister and nieces will be with us for that dinner. My nieces have eaten in the castle before and they love it, and so does my sister! So we are really doing it for the kids. Other than that, the signatures can wait for us. So the basic DDP works well for our habits. It doesn't work well for others necessarily. That's why Disney has a few dining plan options, plus the option to just pay OOP which is better for some people too.

 

[ReneeA]

We've used the DDP 4 times now. The first year, we booked the most expensive 1 TS credit meals, and ordered expensive dishes. It was nice, but got a bit tedious.

Every year since, we go where we want to go, and order what we want to eat even if it's one of the less expensive meals. I keep track of our receipts and we don't really "lose" much value just ordering what we want to eat anyway...and everyone ends up so much happier in the end.

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

We also order what we want, though I admit it is often expensive. We don't eat out much so being able to have a steak or something is great. Also, remember when you tip if you are ordering expensive stuff just to do it then you are paying more in tips. So we order what we want and enjoy ourselves knowing we can eat whatever sounds good.

 

[mom of princessx2]

We get the DDP for the convenience and the fact that we don't have to look at prices we can just order what we want. That being said, we have never ordered because it was the most expensive item. I mean, why order steak when I want chicken?? I think the DDP is a value and convenience no matter what you order.

Now snack credits are a completely different story!!

 

[Rockmtn]

When deciding on the ddp, I figured it would cost about $60 per day for 2 adults and a 6yr old.
With the ddp I figured I would easily spend that amount on food per day.
Without even looking at menus I am happy that I got the dining plan.
That said, if something appeals to me and it is the most expensive item then great. If it is the least expensive then so be it.
Any one table service is going to cover my $60 per day cost of the ddp or at the very least cover a good portion of it. That is value to me.
I am liking the fact that I will have the majority of everything paid for before I even get on the plane.

 

[dormouse72]

The value to me is not having to worry about NOT ordering the most expensive thing if that's what I want (as in "Wow that steak sounds awesome but I'm going to stick to a bowl of soup because that's all I can afford").

My kids are excited about going to a "celebrity chef" restaurant, because even though we have them up here, they don't go to them (yes I know it's celebrity chef in name only but they don't know that and I'm not telling them). So there's a value right there in having my kids be excited about eating something other than fries and pizza AND being able to give them that experience because it's already paid for.

 

[Bluenoser]

With DPP we can just order what we like and not have to look at the prices on the menu and worry about the cost. I really like desserts, especially anything with chocolate and we don't normally order them when we eat out, so with the DDP we can all try different things.

Now that we know about all the 'other' things you can get for the snack credits (and where to get them) we will take advantage of all the interesting treats we can get. We didn't know this last time we had DDP so we ended up with a bunch of credits on the last day. I know my DDs will enjoy the variety of treats that are available.

 

[Tiger926]

We don't order most expensive either - we have done dining plans a lot (both regular and deluxe) and have eaten almost everywhere, so we save money pretty much with ordering regular stuff like we eat at home: grilled chicken, fish, veggies, drink water, etc. We would never lose money on the dining plans, as that doesn't make sense to us, so we re-evaluate each trip based on needs at that time. We have a 2 year old and a 6 year old, so the children's DP prices are great, and that is part of the savings as well!

Happy eating, Tiger

 

[WETWHISTLE]

Personally, I think that's stupid. Order something that you want to eat on the menu, NOT because it's the most expensive thing.

I'm not going to order steak just because it's the most expensive thing. If I want to eat fish, I will order that.