My experience wth TIW

[drdisney]

After relaxing from a long week at WDW, I decided that I wanted to post about my new experience with the TIW card. Ever since I have been going to Disney World, I have done the dining plan. For the most part it seemed to be a "value" and I liked the idea of not having to worry about paying for meals when I arrived. But something changed this year. It must of been the increase of $51.54 a night as others on the board felt the same. In the past times that I have gone, I always seemed to order the most expensive entree listed so that I felt that I was getting my moneys worth on the dining plan even if I truly wanted another dish. Another thing about the dining plan was so much food. Most of the time me and my wife will split the entree and then start off with a few appetizers to share. Well after thinking about it for months, I decided to try out the TIW card for this past trip. After getting the card, my wife and I enjoyed our meals like we normally do back home. At first I thought the servers would be upset that my wife and I were sharing meals, but all of them understood and had no issues what so ever. We always would start off with an appetizer and a soup or salad, and then picked out an entree to share. Since TIW covered alcoholic drinks, I even decided to try out a few that I normally would not do. So at the end of the week it came to this:


Total cost of quick service meals, table service meals and a few snacks:
$347.08

Amount saved from Table Service and a few Quick service locations:
$76.84

Cost if I enabled the dining plan for our trip:
$721.56

Total amount saved from just dining during our trip:
$374.48 !!!!

I know the savings does not include the $75 cost of the card, but this will be a non issue since we will be going back a few other times to use the card. I just wanted to thank everyone for convincing me to become a believer in the TIW card. I wish I would of done this sooner, but then again I say the same thing about DVC...lol.


Dr D

 

[jp02]

Thanks for posting. I am thinking about purchasing the TIW card for my next trip. Do you receive any discount on counter service or is it just table service?

 

[stitch34]

Sounds like TIW is the way to go for you... especially with sharing some meals, then DDP would really not be worth it.

Last trip for us we compared the prices for DDP versus if did everything out of pocket with TIW. 6 nights Deluxe dining... versus TIW.
Interestingly, we came out pretty close. The TIW would have saved only $11 more total over those 6 nights... BUT, where the dining plan helped us was it included tax and beverage... and snacks. So the dining plan for pretty much the same price, also got us over $150 in snacks, plus our beverages and tax included.... in long run, yes, it saved us more than TIW.

and that's with us not ordering any desserts - well, very rarely, even though they are included, and not always getting appetizers, and if do, get one for us to share. Still have found great savings in the DDP - and love having it paid up front and be done with it!

That WAS as 2 adults and 2 kids. And we do character buffets every day of our trip, and also some pretty pricey dinner buffets, too.

fast forward to later in 2012... ah! Twins become "adults"... and the cost of the dining plan when all adults.... oh, no! Not to mention, the kids can't eat full adult meals... too much for them! So yeah, TIW ALL THE WAY it will become then, kids sharing meals or ordering off kid menu if possible.

I did my math with all of us ordering as adults for various meals we would be doing... and TIW versus DXDP.... and figured TIW will be about $40 a day LESS than us doing DXDP (and that's also with me adding tax, beverages and an average of $25 of snacks out of pocket per day in there).... still will be about $40 less than if did DXDP.

Used to go solo... me and three kids... $135 a day for DXDP for all of us.. and there we found quite the savings! But as adults.... nope, I don't think the dining plan is a good deal for anyone at all!
I am going to miss it... having that part of our trip paid in full beforehand, though!

On the plus side also with TIW - I do like having the tip included... and being able to use it for drinks (alcoholic).... which after a couple drinks with dinner, it's very nice to have the tip already figured out in there for ya!

 

[TDC Nala]

Moving to the main restaurant board, as TIW is not part of the Disney Dining Plan.

Do you receive any discount on counter service or is it just table service?

There are only nine counter service restaurants at WDW that accept a TIW discount - the four value resort food courts, the POFQ food court, the SSR quick service, and the three Disney-operated quick service at Animal Kingdom Park (Flame Tree, Restaurantosaurus and Pizzafari).

 

[pumba]

We always come out ahead...with the TIW card..

We usually stay at Port Orleans FQ, or Movies...this year we are staying at POP Century with the family...I am anxious for our visit to the House of the Mouse..
We have made sit down restaurant ressies also...Norway Akershus Princess breakfast, Crystal palace Dinner...Biergarten Dinner... and where ever else we decide..
Knowing that we usually go back before our year is up for our AP and also TIW ..this is a good deal for us..

 

[lockedoutlogic]

There are a few things that - i believe - can make tables in wonderland a better deal:

first, if you are a longtime or high frequency traveler - you know that the quality at the sit downs just is NOT what it used to be...and that is largely across the board. I always attribute that to a downgrading of the quality of foods served, the streamlining of menus so most things are bought walmart style in bulk and then shoved at you at practically every location, and a mathematical shell game that the management plays with the dining plan in play....they seem to tweak how much they can get away with on an annual if not more frequent basis. So I'm not interested in "locking in" the "savings" because if it is good - i don't have a probably buying more meals with TIW...if its bad and we eat mickey bars and pucks over and over again...then i haven't fed the monster.

second, the dining plan...which we all know was a pretty good buy back in 05-06-07...has never been the same since. your food quality has been declining, your guaranteed cost has gone up, and they give you less with a 20% out of pocket surcharge (tip) added...where it used to be included...out of pocket.
They say its up to a "20%" savings on the dining plan on their own promotional material....which is about right when you crunch the numbers.
But...its a fixed expenditure...when if you use the 20% on a TIW...you have the discretion on exactly how much you eat/ spend. This of course really works if you are primarily sitdown customer, which it seems to be more common with veteran travelers.

third, and lastly...the alcohol. I'm not a consistent drinker at home...but when you don't have to drive anywhere...and you don't have to be anywhere at any specific time...the drinks are a nice bonus at WDW. Sure, they are overpriced...but at least they are a little more manageable with TIW. Of course, if you're used to drink costs in a major city - then the drinks are actually still a bargain

 

[aubriee]

I guess my thinking was like yours. As an AP holder I go to WDW several times a year. I've used the DDP or the DxDDP ever since they first introduced them, because I liked the convenience, liked having everything prepaid, and I felt I was saving alot of money. Since most of my trips are solo the TiW didn't seem like a good fit. However, after running the numbers and considering that I prefer TS over CS and so normally eat TS at least once and usually twice a day, decided to use TiW this year. So far I've used it for my Sept and my Nov/Dec trips, and will be using it again for my May, Sept, and Oct trips (since it's good for 13 months). All five of those trips are solo trips, except the Oct one, when my husband is going with me for F&W Festival. Now we are also taking my GS down there next week (Feb 4th-11th) but decided to use the DxDDP for that trip since we are doing three TS meals/day in order to get alot of character meals in for my GS. I ran the numbers both ways and for that trip the DxDDP came out cheaper.

One of the main draws of the DDP is having everything prepaid, but for the last two trips I've simply ordered disney gift cards to use to pay for meals, gratuities, and any souvineers I might want. I love coming home to a zero balance on my credit card.

 

[BLTLDZ]

We LOVE the TIW card, and have had it since it first came out!
We find it to be a great value, especially since we like our wine with dinner.
We have never tries the dining plan, as we have always felt it was WAY too much food for us.

We are dinner people.
We eat fruit for breakfast mostly, or something small.
Very light lunch, if at all, sometimes just a small snack.
But we love going out to dinner and splurging.
TIW paid foritself for us after the first two nights of our honeymoon.

 

[kmb584]

Thanks for sharing! I'll be utilizing TIW for the first time on our trip in April and now I'm even more convinced that it's the way to go!

 

[Disneychix]

I got a TIW card last Sept. I figure I 'broke even' with that trip and I have 2 more planned during the time the TIW card is active so I'll be way ahead!

Question: How does the TIW card work for CRT or other places where you pay ahead?

 

[kkar]

We LOVE the TIW card, and have had it since it first came out!
We find it to be a great value, especially since we like our wine with dinner.
We have never tries the dining plan, as we have always felt it was WAY too much food for us.

We are dinner people.
We eat fruit for breakfast mostly, or something small.
Very light lunch, if at all, sometimes just a small snack.
But we love going out to dinner and splurging.
TIW paid foritself for us after the first two nights of our honeymoon.

This is exactly us! We normally enjoy pre-dinner cocktails and a bottle of wine with our meal, so the TIW is a real savings for us. It normally pays for itself over the course of one weekend! We also like that it can be used at most lounges just for drinks (i.e. Territory Lounge, Misners, Outer Rim, etc.)

 

[Kay1]

It works for us, especially when we remember to use it at the end of the meal.

I especially like to use it at CS. Big savings. Glad you had such a nice experience.

 

[North of Mouse]

The TIW card definitely cheaper way for us to go. We don't eat that many large meals or snacks and like to "wing it" most of the time and not worry about ressies because we don't know in advance how we'd like to eat every day we're there. We have AP's and go abt. 3 times a yr. so really save lots of money and enjoy exactly what and when we want - lots more relaxing too

 

[BLTLDZ]

This is exactly us! We normally enjoy pre-dinner cocktails and a bottle of wine with our meal, so the TIW is a real savings for us. It normally pays for itself over the course of one weekend! We also like that it can be used at most lounges just for drinks (i.e. Territory Lounge, Misners, Outer Rim, etc.)

So, when is your next trip?? Between all of us, we can have a party

 

[kkar]

So, when is your next trip?? Between all of us, we can have a party

We were just there 10 days ago, with two other couples. At one meal alone (Narcoosee's) we saved over $120 between food and wine with TIW!
Going back in April (for a work conference), then again in October for 10 days.
Let's party!!

 

[donnaf516]

We're headed down in 10 days! It will be our first trip with AP's and we plan on purchasing the TIW card as soon as we arrive. Normally we use the dining plan but have decided to stay off site this time and visit some family. I'm looking forward to dining in a new way but am also a little nervous with not having everything prepaid for the first time.

 

[disney debi]

We also purchase disney gift cards to prepay meals etc and love the flexibility we get from using TIW vs DDP. We like to share an appi and sometimes a dessert and that just not how the DDP works.

 

[csmommy]

This is very interesting. I just posted the below in another thread & would love your views/thoughts/advise. We have always done the DDP & loved it, but thought this trip we would do the TIW, then we hear that the prices of food have gone up considerably so we are back to undecided.

We are also trying to figure which is better for our family. We are going in May for DS's 17th b-day & for him it is not about the food ( I know he is crazy! )

We have reservations for dinner at:

50's Prime Time Cafe
Biergarten
Kona

and we are hoping to get into Beaches & Cream.

Breakfast we will have in the room.

Lunch will be quickserve.

As DVC members we hear the TIW card will cost $100 so the breakeven point will be $500. Both DD & I enjoy a glass of wine or beer with meals & at the pool. Originally we were going to go with TIW, but we understand the prices at the restaurants have gone up so we are wondering if the DDP isn't a better value. Any thoughts?

 

[Albytaps]

We were going to get the TIW card this year for the first time but during our entire trip is the block out dates... so we decided against it.

 

[csmommy]

We were going to get the TIW card this year for the first time but during our entire trip is the block out dates... so we decided against it.

Where can I find the list of 2012 blackout dates for TIW?