Need help deciding please..

[The Green Monster]

Hi all,
First let me say our deepest prayers are with everyone in the great state of Florida during this time with Irma. Stay safe if you've decided to stay where you are and best wishes for your places of residence if you've evacuated!
We have a trip coming up in December for 8 days including arrival and departure days giving us 7 nights of dining if we choose a plan. The 1 table and 1 quick service plan will run $971 more and the deluxe dining wil run us about $1500 more. As of right now, we have a total of about 14 dining reservations table services (on the deluxe we would have 21 table services each available) and we're trying to decide is it worth it to get the deluxe and not worry about anything except tips or scale back some reservations and go with the 1 table 1 quick service. Ive been trying to calculate the cost of each dining if we were to pay cash against the dining options and in right in the middle of each concerning dollar amounts. We also don't want to plan our vacation around so many dining reservations thus leaving less time to roam around and just enjoy Walt Disney World plus its a lot of food to get the deluxe. So im appealing to all you veterans and fellow Disneyians for your opinions. Scale back the dining reservations or go for the gusto and not worry. Also the more table services we book if we do, means more tips per meal adding on to the expense unless we use the table services at high priced quick service locations. Ive also considered doing all the dining on gift cards and tipping in cash. As a great castmember once said 'everyone loves cash'. Thank you for your opinions ahead of time and again best wishes and stay safe!

 

[Colleen27]

Have you been to WDW before? I love the deluxe plan but hesitate to recommend it for first timers or people who go very infrequently because all the dining does cut into park time. Also, I find that people who have never been don't really get how BIG the place is, and end up with far more transportation time than they expected getting to and from their reservations.

Beyond that, the time of year and makeup of your party can also make a big difference - we go in the winter during slower seasons, so most of our dinners are after both the parks and the pools are closed, so we're really not taking time away from anything else to have signature dinners almost every night. But if you have young children, that might not be the best idea for you. It really is a question of travel style and vacation priorities as much as one of value or savings.

 

[The Green Monster]

This Disney Dining Plan calculator is helpful in determining which dining plan is best. The page is a bit slow to load but there is a lot of info.
http://magicguides.com/disney-dining-plan-calculator/

Thanks BettyAnn! This is a lot to fill out but very helpful!

 

[The Green Monster]

Have you been to WDW before? I love the deluxe plan but hesitate to recommend it for first timers or people who go very infrequently because all the dining does cut into park time. Also, I find that people who have never been don't really get how BIG the place is, and end up with far more transportation time than they expected getting to and from their reservations.

Beyond that, the time of year and makeup of your party can also make a big difference - we go in the winter during slower seasons, so most of our dinners are after both the parks and the pools are closed, so we're really not taking time away from anything else to have signature dinners almost every night. But if you have young children, that might not be the best idea for you. It really is a question of travel style and vacation priorities as much as one of value or savings.

We're no first timers Colleen just putting this out there for people's opinions but one knows probably deep down what one really wants to do fighting with what's the best economic option. But it is our vacation.. It's only me and my girlfriend and one of the reasons I'm reaching out to people is that I'm also saving at the same time to pop a magical question during our stay.

 

[LilyWDW]

I have never found that the dining plan, in any form, saves me money. I enjoy the flexibility of paying out of pocket much more.