Need Help with my Disney Math!

[mom2princesses2]

We are going to be at Disney during free dining. We are staying for 10 whole days with the DxDP and plan on doing TSM each day, including a dinner at CRT. That means we will be short 2 TSMs for our stay (9 meals for 10 days plus losing another TSM for CRT).

Would it make economic sense for us to upgrade our DD9 to an adult DXDP using most of those TSMs for her but doing OOP for some of her meals from the children's menu. (which she would prefer over the adult menu anyway). Would we then be able to use those saved TSMs from her for plan for TSMs for my DH and me at other TSMs?

As I understand, we would only pay the difference in her Park ticket. Is that right? We will have Park Hoppers for 10 days. Is the price difference only $19 as I think it is?

I hope I laid this out so it's understandable and all advice is much appreciated!

 

[sissy_ib]

We are going to be at Disney during free dining. We are staying for 10 whole days with the DxDP and plan on doing TSM each day, including a dinner at CRT. That means we will be short 2 TSMs for our stay (9 meals for 10 days plus losing another TSM for CRT).

Would it make economic sense for us to upgrade our DD9 to an adult DXDP using most of those TSMs for her but doing OOP for some of her meals from the children's menu. (which she would prefer over the adult menu anyway). Would we then be able to use those saved TSMs from her for plan for TSMs for my DH and me at other TSMs?

As I understand, we would only pay the difference in her Park ticket. Is that right? We will have Park Hoppers for 10 days. Is the price difference only $19 as I think it is?

I hope I laid this out so it's understandable and all advice is much appreciated!

Are you doing the Deluxe plan? It sounds like you have the regular plan but DxDP stands for deluxe. Also I don't follow your math. How many TS meals do you have planed? 9 or 10? I know CRT is 2 credits so if you have 9 meals including CRT that would be 10 meal credits meaning you would be one short not two.

 

[Cafeen]

A 10 day trip would be 9 nights, or 9 credits of each (assuming you're on DDP (1 TS, 1 CS, 1 Snack per night) and not DxDDP (3 meal credits per night). Is this correct? (Would be 11 TS credits "required" for 9 meals).

Moving with that assumption, upping the age will work, and if you think that she'd prefer the adult meals anyway, then you may as well (since during FDP promotions it's relatively inexpensive to do).

The idea that if you do up her age and she wants a couple kids' meals that you pay OOP and use the extra credits for yourself is a good one as well.

 

[MerriH807]

I would keep your daughter on the kids plan. The DDP for kids is like 11.99. For example ohana is 14.99 for kids. Just at ONE meal you have saved money on the kids plan. Since CRT is two credits, I would use DDP credits for half your party and pay OOP for the rest of your party then CRT has now only "cost you" one credit. All the DDP credits are pooled together for your entire party.

Now look over your TSM and either drop one to have enough meal credits OR see which one would be the cheapest if you pay OOP.

IMO I would not upgrade to an adult plan for your child..... It really isn't worth it

 

[MerriH807]

I would keep your daughter on the kids plan. The DDP for kids is like 11.99. For example ohana is 14.99 for kids. Just at ONE meal you have saved money on the kids plan. Since CRT is two credits, I would use DDP credits for half your party and pay OOP for the rest of your party then CRT has now only "cost you" one credit. All the DDP credits are pooled together for your entire party.

Now look over your TSM and either drop one to have enough meal credits OR see which one would be the cheapest if you pay OOP.

IMO I would not upgrade to an adult plan for your child..... It really isn't worth it

 

[sharonabe]

I would keep your daughter on the kids plan. The DDP for kids is like 11.99. For example ohana is 14.99 for kids. Just at ONE meal you have saved money on the kids plan. Since CRT is two credits, I would use DDP credits for half your party and pay OOP for the rest of your party then CRT has now only "cost you" one credit. All the DDP credits are pooled together for your entire party.

Now look over your TSM and either drop one to have enough meal credits OR see which one would be the cheapest if you pay OOP.

IMO I would not upgrade to an adult plan for your child..... It really isn't worth it

The OP is going to be at WDW during FREE dining, so the only cost is the upgrade of her DD to an adult park ticket which is relatively inexpensive. As others have said, they can then pay for her child meals OOP and use her TS credits to cover the extra meals they want to do.

 

[mom2princesses2]

Yes, we will have the DDP, not the Deluxe. Sorry for the confusion!

I found the pricing for children's meals at each of the TSMs we will have, and it looks like if we upgrade my DD9 and do OOP for five of her meals off the children's menu and pay OOP for two of my DD3's TSMs (since her's will be short as well for all our TSMs) that would cover our TSMs for 10 days for only around $50 OOP for their meals (choosing to pay for the cheapest inclusive kids' meals) and the $19 difference for the upgrade.

That sounds a littlr cheaper or around what we would pay for one TSM OOP, right?

 

[sukhakuli]

I'm probably going to upgrade my dd 8 (will be 9 at travel) because the kids meals won't be to her liking, but I wouldn't buy her meals and then use her credits for us. I dunno, something about that seems, well, not like something I would do, but I can't put my finger on why, exactly. It feels like I'm taking something from her, probably because she doesn't like the kids meals. We are going to be short some credits for all the ADR's I have booked, so we're paying OOP for some meals. I kind of feel like FD is a bonus (and we're paying for dining for part of the trip, and yea, paying to upgrade dd as well), and I had planned on paying for all our meals, so buying a few OOP doesn't bother me.

I can see why the flexibility would be nice, but I don't think I'd do this on purpose. It also seems like a planning nightmare. So, let's say you have 4 TS credits that you and dh are going to use, are you going to pay for your dd's meals out of pocket then, too? So, you bought 4 kids TS meals ($40 ish) and then buy more ($40 ish again) that's about 80 bucks, and the upgraded ticket. Maybe it's better to just pay for a cheaper TS place on your own?

 

[sharonabe]

I'm probably going to upgrade my dd 8 (will be 9 at travel) because the kids meals won't be to her liking, but I wouldn't buy her meals and then use her credits for us. I dunno, something about that seems, well, not like something I would do, but I can't put my finger on why, exactly. It feels like I'm taking something from her, probably because she doesn't like the kids meals. We are going to be short some credits for all the ADR's I have booked, so we're paying OOP for some meals. I kind of feel like FD is a bonus (and we're paying for dining for part of the trip, and yea, paying to upgrade dd as well), and I had planned on paying for all our meals, so buying a few OOP doesn't bother me.

I can see why the flexibility would be nice, but I don't think I'd do this on purpose. It also seems like a planning nightmare. So, let's say you have 4 TS credits that you and dh are going to use, are you going to pay for your dd's meals out of pocket then, too? So, you bought 4 kids TS meals ($40 ish) and then buy more ($40 ish again) that's about 80 bucks, and the upgraded ticket. Maybe it's better to just pay for a cheaper TS place on your own?

I believe the OP is saying her DD would want to eat the kids meals. Except for signature and buffets, kids' TS meals are all under $10. So if they pay OOP for her to eat 3 kids TS, they have enough credits for them to do another TS. So that's where she gets the $30 for the OOP meal and the ticket upgrade of $20 to equal $50, which would be a lot cheaper than paying OOP for all of them to do one extra TS.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

What would be cheaper is eating an extra CS OOP. Also OP, you need to factor in the higher tip you'll be paying on those higher priced adult meals.

 

[mom2princesses2]

I'm probably going to upgrade my dd 8 (will be 9 at travel) because the kids meals won't be to her liking, but I wouldn't buy her meals and then use her credits for us. I dunno, something about that seems, well, not like something I would do, but I can't put my finger on why, exactly. It feels like I'm taking something from her, probably because she doesn't like the kids meals. We are going to be short some credits for all the ADR's I have booked, so we're paying OOP for some meals. I kind of feel like FD is a bonus (and we're paying for dining for part of the trip, and yea, paying to upgrade dd as well), and I had planned on paying for all our meals, so buying a few OOP doesn't bother me.

I can see why the flexibility would be nice, but I don't think I'd do this on purpose. It also seems like a planning nightmare. So, let's say you have 4 TS credits that you and dh are going to use, are you going to pay for your dd's meals out of pocket then, too? So, you bought 4 kids TS meals ($40 ish) and then buy more ($40 ish again) that's about 80 bucks, and the upgraded ticket. Maybe it's better to just pay for a cheaper TS place on your own?

I don't feel like I'm taking "something from her" because we looked at the TSMs and there are a few where there is nothing on the adult menu she would eat. Is it better to force her to order a meal and have her waste more than half of it?

We've done the DP on our four last trips, half paid for and half FD. Each time we've had to plan out our dining. When we paid for it, it was so we got our money's worth and when it was FD it was to cover our meals. We always come early on our first day and leave late on our last so we have always been "short" on TSMs. We don't mind paying OOP either but in case you haven't noticed, a trip to the World is not cheap and the only discounts we get are going in value seasons and/ or FD. So yes, we are going to maximize what ever we can as long as it's permitted by Disney.

And all this is not a planning nightmare for a non-recovering Disney planner who has laminated index cards for each days itinerary.

 

[mom2princesses2]

What would be cheaper is eating an extra CS OOP. Also OP, you need to factor in the higher tip you'll be paying on those higher priced adult meals.

It would but we will have one day of CSMs only and would rather avoid another so that's why the need to cover more TSMs and we'd pay the TSM tip no matter.

 

[Carla33]

I would just pay oop for the CRT meal for everyone. This way you still have to credits to use for the whole trip. We always pay out of pocket for CRT and use the credits for other meals.

 

[mom2princesses2]

I would just pay oop for the CRT meal for everyone. This way you still have to credits to use for the whole trip. We always pay out of pocket for CRT and use the credits for other meals.

That would be $178 for the four of us at our CRT dinner...not a deal in this case.

 

[sukhakuli]

That's the way *I* feel about it. How you feel may vary. I also have a thing about making sure there is something on the menu that everyone will eat, so if there is a TS restaurant and there is not anything there dd will eat, then I don't book it. It's just the way our family is. You are welcome to run yours differently. I'm sure our kids are equally happy.

I'm still unsure on the math, though, because it seems like for every credit you take from her, you have to pay OOP for TWO meals for her. The one in which you "saved" the credit, and then another when you yourself used the credit, and she still needs to eat, so you'd pay OOP for that one as well. I'm unclear if that is truly economical, because every credit costs you 20-ish OOP.

To say it another way:
Day 1, go to Sci Fi, buy her a kids meal - $10 1 TS credit saved
Day 2 go to Coral Reef, buy her a kids meal - $10 you use her saved credit, so -1 TS credit

I wish Disney had a flex plan for kids 8-12, so they could choose between the adult meals and kids meals. Kind of an intermediary plan between the small kids and grown ups. But they don't.

If you want to use your index cards to plan this out, then no one is stopping you, but maybe you should sit down with a calculator and figure out which is the cheapest option for you, since none of us are sure what restaurant you are going to pay OOP for or use the credits for or whatnot. It's really a question you can answer best for your family.

And yes, I'm fully aware of what Disney costs, LOL!

 

[mom2princesses2]

I'm still unsure on the math, though, because it seems like for every credit you take from her, you have to pay OOP for TWO meals for her. The one in which you "saved" the credit, and then another when you yourself used the credit, and she still needs to eat, so you'd pay OOP for that one as well. I'm unclear if that is truly economical, because every credit costs you 20-ish OOP.

To say it another way:
Day 1, go to Sci Fi, buy her a kids meal - $10 1 TS credit saved
Day 2 go to Coral Reef, buy her a kids meal - $10 you use her saved credit, so -1 TS credit

I did sit down with my calculator and did look at the TSMs we intend to hit and the kids meals at the places she wouldn't want an adult TSM would run $8.95 inclusive of entree, drink and dessert (if we were eating at SciFi, kids' meals are $8.99 inclusive). We would pay for her but still have an adult TSM credit which will be worth at least double what we would pay for one kids' TSM. Even factoring in the $19 to upgrade and the increase in tip on an adult rather than a child TSM (which is not too much because many of our meals are buffets and the prices for adults and kids are only a couple $), it still looks like we save.

 

[Cafeen]

Let's put some "real" numbers into play. I have a feeling that the OP is just fine with her calculations, but let's see what we come out with. It's actually a pretty simple comparison, since they're planning the same itinerary either way, so we just look at OOP costs incurred by this switch (tips overall would theoretically remain the same, some increase if DD9 orders an adult meal at a location other than CRT, but probably not that much).

Upgrading the DD9 to an adult would cost an additional $19 for the park ticket (I'm taking this at word, since I don't feel like looking it up). Paying OOP for 2 Kids' Meals (at roughly $9 + tax each) would be $18 before tax or $19.17 after tax. Tips can be canceled out, since they'd remain the same on both sides of the equation. This gives us $38.17 additional OOP cost.

CRT Pricing is ~$55 a, ~$34 c (2 credits) (this comes out to the $178 number mentioned).

Hmm.. And looking at those prices, it's actually not THAT bad a value on DDP, it's still not good and adults are "losing" ~$5 each, but kids are gaining ~$11 in value (based off of a $3 snack, $3 CS, $6 TS credit cost, which should be close (based on 2011 prices.))

At any rate, for that $38.17, you are essentially gaining 1 Adult meal here, so $55 worth of value. It also will allow DD9 to order an adult meal at other TS if she desires, if not, you're not out anything really.

(This situation, e.g. Free Dining Plan promotion, where it doesn't matter so much if you're 10+ prefers the kids' meals, since that part of the plan is actually free. Of course, math should be done to make sure that paying OOP with a room discount won't be cheaper, but so long as the 2 adults are coming out ahead, it should be just fine in moderates and values).

This is my long way of saying, yep, the math was spot on.

 

[mom2princesses2]

Thank you, Allan!

My husband doesn't let me touch our checkbook for several reasons, one being math isn't my strong suit , so I just wanted some confirmation that I wasn't crazy in thinking this may be a nice alternative, giving my DD some flexibility in ordering and maybe saving a couple of bucks so we can spend them on more Dole Whips!