News from the BWV annual meeting - Dining plan

[dtndfamily]

Not everyone in DVC gets an AP (although I would bet most of us on the boards do as most of us are Disney junkies), so they will not be entitled to the DDE. For times when we will have the AP I would definitely consider the DDE and do the calculations to make sure it still makes sense, but for when we are using MYW tickets, the dining plan is the way we will go.

 

[BCV23]

We absolutely love DDE. It fits our dining habits well as we enjoy the "signature" restaurants, having wine with dinner and don't usually order desserts. We also rarely eat at counter service spots.

But I'm going to explore using the dining plan for a future trip. I think it would be easy to save around 40% on the plan especially since tip is included. Counter service dining options look so much more varied now as well.

I just hope we still can get the AP discount and that AP holders can still buy DDE. Were either of those discussed at the meetings?

 

[JandD Mom]

One thing to consider with the Dining plan ... alcohol is not included and neither are the virgin smoothies or the glowing drinks the kids like to order. SO if you order any of these with your meals, or the occasional martini, you will still pay. WIth DDE you get 20% off of these.

For the snacks if your kids want an ice cream cone I don't think they can have one. Only the smallest ice cream bars are included in the snack.

So if you are like us, and for dinner you like to get nothing but the incredible Cobb salad at Hollywood Brown Derby and a glass of wine, you are better off with DDE. If you want to eat 3 courses and still get that glass of wine, I am not sure if you are better off with the dining plan since it is a signature restaurant. If you are ordering bottles of wine from the wine list, you might be better off with DDE.

BTW, DH and I can't BELIEVE Le Cellier is included in the dining plan and not a signature restaurant. It really is not all that much more expensive than Brown Derby -- they just have a smaller bar.

For the record for us, I am not sure what we will do. We usually eat breakfast in the villa, but sometimes we like a sit down lunch and sit down dinner. With DDE a sit down lunch with a salad and an iced tea really did not cost us much more than eating in a counter service place which did not take DDE. But then again, you have to figure in that you need the AP + the cost of the DDE.

 

[JandD Mom]

We absolutely love DDE. It fits our dining habits well as we enjoy the "signature" restaurants, having wine with dinner and don't usually order desserts. We also rarely eat at counter service spots.

But I'm going to explore using the dining plan for a future trip. I think it would be easy to save around 40% on the plan especially since tip is included. Counter service dining options look so much more varied now as well.

I just hope we still can get the AP discount and that AP holders can still buy DDE. Were either of those discussed at the meetings?

BCV - you and I must have been posting the same thing at the same time!

 

[Chuck S]

I am curious for the justification of this Chuck... mainly because I am looking at doing the same thing. On a per person basis, the Dining plan seems like the MUCH better deal than the DDE.

Lets use Le Cellier as an example.
With Dining Plan we get the following included:

Appetizer: $3.95 to $8.95
Entree: $15.95 to $24.95
Dessert: $2.99
Drink: $2.50 (this is an estimate)

Total is: $25.39 plus tax to 39.39 plus tax.
Lets estimate tax at 7%, so the totals are $27.17 to $42.15. Also remember that the tip is included so that is another 15% of value.

Now the same meal with the DDE discount and a 15% tip is $24.99 to $36.24.

With counter service, using the Tusker House as an example:

With the Dining Plan, you get:

Entree - $6.99 to 7.99
Dessert - $2.99 to 3.79
Drink - $2.39

So $12.37 to $14.17 or $13.24 to $15.16

With the 20% Discount
With taxes $9.90 to $11.34 or $10.59 to $12.13

So the totals per person with the DDE based on these menus (a good average):

Low End to High End
Snack about $2.50
$10.59 to 12.13
$24.99 to 36.24

38.08 to 50.87 versus 37.99

on top of that add $50 for the cost of the DDE.

So if you eat the exact same as what you are given with the meal plan, you are only going to break even IF you go as cheap as possible at every restraurant.

I guess the cheaper the meal, the better the DDE is, but if you did the higher end meal, that almost pays for the whole Dining plan... and you still get a counter service meal and a snack. Obviously if you are doing nothing but table service, DDE is better, since the DP only covers 1 table service meal. But if you do 1 counter and 1 table, I can't see coming ahead with DDE, unless you are ordering the cheapest thing on the menu, and even then it seems a wash.

SO I just ask for justification to your statement... My math says the best value is the meal plan (unless you eat all table service meals in which case all bets are off) given that you get more food for a cheaper cost.

Please for all you DDE fans, I would like to hear why you choose DDE over the dining plan. Did you not know tips are included? Do you always do table service meals? Please let me know.

The justification depends upon your dining habits. We seldom order appetizer, entree AND dessert...it is too much food for us for one sitting. We also often have a TS breakfast at Olivia's, and a late TS lunch in the parks...the dining plan would not cover both meals.

Based on what we ordered, including tip, for a 9 night stay we came out $5 cheaper by using the DDE than we would have using the dining plan. That is why I encourage folks to add up there meal costs for a typical trip and do the math. The best way to do this is simply add all the dining places up from your room charge bills.

Plus during the trip, we ordered 5 glasses of wine, which I included in my total for our food...they would be out-of-pocket in addition to the dining plan. So, if I didn't count the wine, and based solely on our dining habits, the plan would have cost us about $30 more than using DDE. The plan is of no value to me if I feel like I have to over eat and feel "Thanksgiving stuffed" every day, and I'm a rather rotund guy, 5'8" 250 lbs. We also, as adults, don't do character meals, which are pricey to cover the cost of the CMs in character. There were some days we spent more $$ than the dining plan would cost, and some days we spent less $$, overall, it would not save us anything.

 

[goofyforlife]

I see the merits of both plans..however at this time an AP isn't as good a value for us as a 10 day premium MYW.... (Only two trips planned within the year the ap would be valid) with the 10 day we can use remaining day or two for our third trip late next december....

So dining plan will be more than enough food for a trip when we stay in a studio and there really isn't much of a cooking area (a couple bottles of water and a couple beers barely fits in the baby fridges)..

 

[InstImpres]

I am wondering if you can do both. For some trips DDE will be the way to go and for others the dining plan. I wonder if you eat on the dining plan can you use DDE for the alchol discount?

 

[disneyeveryyear]

This is wonderful news! I determined that it will cost my family $124.96/day (since DS11 is considered an adult - no big deal, he eats off of the adult menu most of the time anyway). I think this will work very well for us. Some serious advance planning will be required, since I think we will use some TS for larger buffet breakfasts when we plan to be back in room for dinner, and some will be for dinners because we don't mind eating breakfast in.

Arent' all of the credits posted to one card? That might be tough if we ever planned to split up for part of a day, but I guess it will work.

I bought the DDE for our trip last month, since there were 7 of us, I "saved" my $50 already, so will probably try the meal plan for August.

 

[JandD Mom]

I am wondering if you can do both. For some trips DDE will be the way to go and for others the dining plan. I wonder if you eat on the dining plan can you use DDE for the alchol discount?

Yes you can! Remember with the dining plan you do not have to use the plan for every meal. So if you want to go to Brown derby 1 night and use 2 credits. You now have lost 1 credit and will need to pay for your TS meal on some other day. You can use DDE for that.

Or if you just want a salad and a drink, why waste 2 signature credits on that? I would bank the credit and pay cash for the meal. If you have DDE you can use it for that purpose.

The only thing is, you need to add up the cost of the DDE ($50) plus an AP if you were not planning on getting one. Does it make sense for your to pay for both for just 1 trip? If your trip is only a few days does it make sense to buy an AP plus a DDE?

 

[CoolDisneyCat]

At this time, I will continue with the DDE. Reasons why:

- counter service - we eat at Beaches and Cream, Earl of Sandwich, maybe other one .. but that is all in a trip
- signature restaurants - we always go to Yachtsman Steakhouse, usually to Jiko and Flying Fish. If we did those three, there would go 6 nights TS.
- snacks - we rarely get snacks.. maybe once or twice a trip
- all the food - we never get an appitizer each and dessert each. That is just way way too much food. If we order an appitizer, we split it and dessert is the same way.

I just got out my list of ADRs for our trip in Jan. and here is how it breaks down: CS - 3 times, TS - 10 times .. 2 of those signature. This is for a 6 night trip. I would need 12 TS to cover this. I would be paying for 6 TS OOP and not using 3 CS. We are having breakfast in the villa except one morning. Granted, I could change one or two TS to CS, but looking at the list, I really don't want to. We enjoy the restaurants at WDW a great deal and really look forward to visiting our favorites.

Now the issue of having an AP could be a problem. When my DD goes to grad school in 2 years, our trips may be less frequent. Who knows if we will have an AP then or not? At that point, I will revisit the idea of the dining plan. But 2 years? Who knows what will be going on?

 

[BCV23]

I am wondering if you can do both. For some trips DDE will be the way to go and for others the dining plan. I wonder if you eat on the dining plan can you use DDE for the alchol discount?

As Jand D's mom said, you certainly can at least the way it is set up now. And if we were to ever use the plan, we would also still buy DDE...at least as long as we can. We always buy APs anyway. We would use DDE for our signature meals and the plan for other meals. Even not ordering desserts, I still think it is a good deal. And it is not as if we need to be members of the clean plate club. The appetizers at WDW are often so good but the prices have really gone up on those lately it seems to me. The plan would make it easier to justify getting an appetizer and entree for me anyway.

 

[InstImpres]

The only thing is, you need to add up the cost of the DDE ($50) plus an AP if you were not planning on getting one.

I do have a problem with my AP, it cost me a fortune this year! Three times, I said the tickets are already paid for, DVC is padi, wow that airfare looks great , so I spent more with all my extra trips

 

[JandD Mom]

I do have a problem with my AP, it cost me a fortune this year! Three times, I said the tickets are already paid for, DVC is padi, wow that airfare looks great , so I spent more with all my extra trips

InstImpres

Hello from down the Turnpike.

I know what you are saying, the AP makes going on way too many trips sooo tempting!

 

[Ralph&Pam]

We'll be using the DDE for our January and March trips, and I plan to track our costs and savings so I can make an informed decision for our June visit. That'll be the first time the dining plan is an option for us. I suspect we may find that DDE is the better choice for us, since we've become comfortable with our dining schedule. For a typical 6-night visit, we do planned TS dinners on alternate nights. For all intents and purposes, these are at signature restaurants, so two credits would be used. The only exception is Le Cellier. In fact, I laugh at the constant price comparisons using LC as the example, since I cannot think of any other restaurant of that quality that's only one TS credit. Certainly all the other ones we enjoy are signature choices and cost double credits. I'm actually concerned that we may no longer be able to get reservations for LC due to the dining plan crowds, and we really like LC's menu choices. In any case, we'd easily use six TS credits each in just the three planned dinners at signature restaurants. For example, in January, we'll be at Flying Fish, Narcoossee's, and the Yachtman's Steakhouse. We've found that eating a TS dinner more frequently than every-other night leaves us too stuffed to function properly. Even then we usually share a single appetizer and may share dessert as well. Further, there is the DDE discount on wine. (Any question I can get the DDE 20% discount on the wine while using the dining plan for the meal? I suspect it's one or the other.) So the real question about the dining plan is how the cost compares when you use the TS credits for signature restaurants and the CS credits for lunches and the remaining dinners. It may be a close call, so I plan to run the numbers and try to make an informed decision for our particular eating pattern.

Ralph

 

[crzy4dals]

This sounds GREAT !!!

I will follow your advice Chuck and look at what we spend during this months trip with DDE and way the options with our April trip. We will be eating at alot of TS dinners this trip because my FIL is coming down with us and we are in 2 studios -- my waitlist for the 2 bedroom did not come through!

I am quite sure I would not use it on our October trip. Will be doing the member cruise and probably would just like to eat crackers and carrots after that..

15 more days for me!!!!!!

 

[lisaviolet]

Can anyone share if the "Magic Your Way" dining is any better deal than the "Disney Dining Experience"??

Pros...cons...

Is the difference that MYW includes counter services too??

I've done both....MYW dining "free" in September at POP and just bought the DDE.

so..

1)both plans include CS locations

2) If you hate constant reservations MYW dining isn't for you. I know you have to make ressies sometimes with DDE but it is your choice. You don't lose out if you don't. I mean you could always use your TS at a restaurant that isn't as popular but it is a lot of planning.

3) Different "rules" at different locations can be (not always) but can be frustrating at times on MYW. These are non-Disney locations such as Wolfgang's Puck Express for example that will not allow you to drink bottled water for your meal even though MYW dining states "beverage". We ate breakfast (because we often shared and had tons left so breakfast wasn't a loss!) at Kona Cafe. KC is a TS. TS are appetizer, entree, drink and dessert. I understand the no dessert at breakfast. I've heard that Disney has changed their breakfast wording since I've been. But I was only allowed an entree for my TS no appetizer such as a grapefruit/ fruit cup etc.. I wasn't angry ....I just found these different rules very weird. And before you say "just don't go there" these strange rules seemed to be at some of my favourites....WP express, E of S, Kona Cafe.....

4) If you don't drink alcohol and you don't do a lot of sitdowns it might be hard to have any discounts beyond the $50 you spent on the DDE. That is my experience so far.

5) Snacks are the "vouchers" that are least used. I loved them. Ate grapes and other whole fruit every single day and more and they were gone early.

6) Sometimes you might forget to use your DDE. Sorry maybe that is just me but I forgot three times at CS locations on my last trip.

7) MYW dining is a lot of food but we shared all the time (didn't do many buffets) so that allowed us to use some for breakfast if we wanted or to make up signature (2 vouchers) dining. But we could share most meals using the DDE and not come close to 75.98 for the two of us in one day. Not even close.



8) MYW dining allows you to feel quite spoiled. I think that is the nicest part. I hadn't been in a sitdown restaurant in years. I scrimped to go to WDW. So it was wonderful feeling. I really enjoyed the variety and opportunity to just go to a restaurant and order whatever my little heart desired!!!

9) I have DVC now. For me that will mean that I will make use of the kitchenette/kitchen. Yeah!! Sometimes I get tired of eating out. So if you are like me, like to eat in on vacation, I think the DDE is much better than MYW dining. I know there are a lot of people who do not like to cook/eat in.

So I loved MYW dining....but it was "free" and really "free" b/c my rack rate at POP was only $77. Plus, tip was included. But I hate reservations so I would probably never pay for it. DDE....well for me it's a wait and see....if I can remember to take the darn thing out....plus I do mostly CS so I am not even sure if I'll break even.

I am going to WDW soon (solo) so I'll have to check out the lounges/bars and spoil myself with a drink too. That's a nice feature with DDE. You can eat/drink in the lounges and get the discount.

One thing is for sure. I love that DVCers and DVCers with APs have options.

 

[paults]

Dining plan $37.99 per adult total price for my 9 nt stay at BWV.
$37.99 x 2 adults = $75.98 total

Is this correct? Also the tip is included already , RIGHT?

 

[lisaviolet]

Dining plan $37.99 per adult total price for my 9 nt stay at BWV.
$37.99 x 2 adults = $75.98 total

Is this correct? Also the tip is included already , RIGHT?

75.98 for every night. So 9 x 75.98 total for your trip. No calculator....683.82 total?????

 

[lisaviolet]

And yes tip is included.

 

[Chuck S]

75.98 for every night. So 9 x 75.98 total for your trip. No calculator....683.82 total?????

Plus tax, I'm guessing. The current plan charges room tax (11 or 13%) on top of that, since it is a "travel package". For this "new" free-standing version, I assume tax will be FL sales tax...which I think is 6.5% so total 2 adults for 9 nights = $728.27