NO MORE Dining Plan for us..my reasons

[Doug7856]

We won't be using the current version of the DDP for the reasons outline in other posts. It is a shame that the changes were made, but I'm hoping the result will be less demand opening up the restaurants for more spontaneity. It's sad that we can't decide in the morning (or even a few days early) to have dinner that evening.

I've read several reviews about the tips and the DDE and I hope Disney addresses the issue of "double" tips.

 

[photobob]

My reason for not using the DDP has more to do with not wanting to plan my entire trip around getting to a restaurant by a certain time. I don't want to make reservations months ahead of time. I've been very fortunate in past trips getting in as a walk in to the restaurants. That being said my general plan is to go early to TS restaurants for lunch which is the easier meal to get in.

 

[dianeschlicht]

My reason for not using the DDP has more to do with not wanting to plan my entire trip around getting to a restaurant by a certain time. I don't want to make reservations months ahead of time. I've been very fortunate in past trips getting in as a walk in to the restaurants. That being said my general plan is to go early to TS restaurants for lunch which is the easier meal to get in.

We used that plan in the past, and now that we will no longer be using the dining plan, we will use it again in the future. I HATE having to make reservations for meals months ahead when I have no idea what park we want to be doing that day. I'd rather be able to plan our trip "spur of the moment" while we are there. We don't do commando park tours anymore, so why make our vacations be at the mercy of our dining reservations?

 

[eliza61]

I think you used the only valid cost comparison -- cost of DDP vs. what you would actually spend paying cash. (You see a LOT of fuzzy math over on the DDP Board!) The tips don't matter, you'd tip regardless of how you're paying for the food, and you're below the 6-person threshhold where tips are mandatory. You have an accurate picture, which says DDP is going to cost you $75, and you're willing to pay that for the convenience, etc.

I love the DDP boards, it is how I get my daily laugh. Never has one plan caused so much commotion. Fuzzy math indeed, folks have spreadsheets on this thing that would make Alan Greenspan proud.
Anyway, we tried the ddp a couple of years ago and didn't particular care for it so we never went back.
I'm trying to remember the old food plans disney offered. Does anyone remember if they were offered to save money? I always thought they were more of a pre-paid alternative. Basically so you wouldn't have to worry about a food budget while on vacation.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

It is really expensive for large parties. I will only do it again for trips just me and the hubby. And even then , we will probably use it most for the really expensive, two credit dinners.

 

[Chuck S]

I love the DDP boards, it is how I get my daily laugh. Never has one plan caused so much commotion. Fuzzy math indeed, folks have spreadsheets on this thing that would make Alan Greenspan proud.
Anyway, we tried the ddp a couple of years ago and didn't particular care for it so we never went back.
I'm trying to remember the old food plans disney offered. Does anyone remember if they were offered to save money? I always thought they were more of a pre-paid alternative. Basically so you wouldn't have to worry about a food budget while on vacation.

There was a "plan" call food 'n' fun, but it really wasn't a pre-paid type thing like the plans today. You pre-paid $50 and got $55 worth of food. There have also been discount card, like the DVC Discounts, AP Discounts, DDE and defunct Magic Kingdom Club.

Other than that, the pre-paid plans were part of full travel packages offered by CRO, and in the travel industry generally, those plans are designed for convenience and rarely save the consumer a dime. The only thing they did was break the DDP out from the "all inclusive" type packages and make it available separately, I guess because they discontinued the Length of Stay type park tickets.

 

[LIFERBABE]

After 6 nights on any plan, Im tired of food. On the DDP you lose money if you dont eat all your TS meals. There were at least 2 nights we could have did without TS, because we were not that hungry.

My boys like seafood. Crab legs and shrimp. Very scarce at WDW restaurants and the lobster tail at Capt Jacks was just nasty.

We wont skimp on meals without the plan. Dh cooks a great breakfast and it is a nice luxury to be able to have a leisurely breakfast without having to rush off to work or school.

Our next trip, I will take the approx. $1500 it will cost us over 2 weeks to do the DDP and just eat whatever we want when we want.
Whatever is left, Im going to the Coach store!

 

[pilferk]

Agree that the dining plan has lost its allure. We just got back from marathon weekend using the new plan. The snacks have been reduced a lot. We could get a mickey shaped rice krispie treat thing, but not a rice krispie treat thing shaped like a football, or we could get a $2.50 bag of chocolate princess coins, but not a $1.50 donald lollipop. The CMs didn't understand the rationale any better than we did. "Single serving" seemed to be an illusive measurement. Overall, we felt more like we were on a health insurance PPO than the dining plan. We paid our co-pay ($38.99 per day) and after that we split things 80/20 (including tip). Next trip we're on our own

Interesting.

We were at AKV the week prior to the marathon. We got Mickey shaped, football shaped, heart shaped, etc crispy treats with no issues.

We couldn't get the LARGE bags of chips, or the "family sized" pretzels or trail mix bags. Ditto on the boxes of donuts or the 1/2 gallon of milk. We didn't try for any of the "candy" stuff (lolipops or the like), but had no problems with bowls of fruit, mickey ice cream bars, pita chips, etc.

 

[crisi]

Is it Disney greed or was it guest (and sometimes server greed)?

Spend time on the dining board and you'll see all sorts of cases of people "maximizing" the plan. People who are more interested in getting the most expensive thing on the menu than something they like.

The plan was priced far too low. To hike the price 30% to cover tips and appetizer would have been unacceptable and caused an outcry, so they lowered what you got by 30%.

We did the old plan once, but I don't know if we would have done it again even with the old plan. I think we've pretty much come down on the "we are more DDEers" - ordering a bottle of wine, eating 20%+ of our table service meals at a signature place. The greatest benefit to us of the old plan was the pre-pay don't need to worry about it, no nickle and dime while at Disney aspect, but with tips being taken out, we still have the nickle and dime of tips.

 

[psu4glory]

I think you used the only valid cost comparison -- cost of DDP vs. what you would actually spend paying cash. (You see a LOT of fuzzy math over on the DDP Board!)

for anyone who's serious about 'running the numbers', this is the key...most people's eating habits at WDW are not accurately reflected in the DDP design. i know for us, the 1 Snack / 1 CS / 1 TS credit per day plan is just too much. so - when i'm trying to determine it's worth, i have to be sure that my estimates are based on reality...i.e. what are we REALLY going to eat every day? so i lay out our day-by-day dining plans (including when i think we'd actually purchase counter service, table service and snacks), then utilize on-line menus and prices, include tax and tip, and see what shakes out.

this is the only way to analyze it for us, b/c we would NEVER eat a CS meal every day if it wasn't pre-paid....we rarely get dessert (that's what Beaches n' Cream is for)....and almost never get an appetizer during our TS meals. in addition, we are AP holders - so we also have the added benefit of being able to save 20% (or the cost of the tip) on our TS meals.

i just recently ran the numbers for DW and i for our 9-day trip this JUN and figure that we will (conservatively) save $100 by using the DDE and not the DDP.

 

[BCV23]

I'm trying to remember the old food plans disney offered. Does anyone remember if they were offered to save money? I always thought they were more of a pre-paid alternative. Basically so you wouldn't have to worry about a food budget while on vacation.

We never used the Food n Fun plan that Chuck described but we did the old Gold Key plan many times starting in 1983. The name changed over the years... Deluxe, Deluxe Magic, Gold, etc.. but we saved quite a bit of money using it. It was all inclusive and as Magic Kingdom members, we did get a discount on it. It included golf (lessons and rental clubs too), tennis including lessons, tours, behind the scenes programs for children, babysitting clubs, boat rentals, parasailing, waterskiing and three meals/day although in the early days counter service at the parks was excluded. We liked that exclusion anyway. Over the years, the savings we experienced declined but we always came out ahead and had lots of fun and many great meals together.

We stopped doing it when we were able to go to WDW more than once/year. At that point, APs and the great AP room discounts available in the good old days made more sense.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Is it Disney greed or was it guest (and sometimes server greed)?

Spend time on the dining board and you'll see all sorts of cases of people "maximizing" the plan. People who are more interested in getting the most expensive thing on the menu than something they like.

The plan was priced far too low. To hike the price 30% to cover tips and appetizer would have been unacceptable and caused an outcry, so they lowered what you got by 30%.

We did the old plan once, but I don't know if we would have done it again even with the old plan. I think we've pretty much come down on the "we are more DDEers" - ordering a bottle of wine, eating 20%+ of our table service meals at a signature place. The greatest benefit to us of the old plan was the pre-pay don't need to worry about it, no nickle and dime while at Disney aspect, but with tips being taken out, we still have the nickle and dime of tips.

I disagree with MUCH of this thread, however I think crisi's post is right on target.

MG

 

[TenThousandVolts]

RE: the servers being 'pushy' about their tips. I was there for New Years- so I witnessed the chaos after the 1/1/08 rule change. The servers were very bold- even though I was on the '07 plan and tip was included- 3 servers after 1/1 asked me to sign a slip for a tip to be charged to the room above the automatic tip. (I would get 2 slips in the billfold- 1 said- 6 TS credits...then a 2nd slip to sign for a tip) It was a hassel and a little embarrassing getting them to understand they were still being auto-tipped. Also appetizers and salads showed up on the bill at Whis.Canyon after 1/1- a quick comment to the server and he knew it was wrong and took care of it right away- but a lot of the servers were less informed and you had to fight for what you paid for.

The biggest reason for us to not do the dining plan is the amount of planning you have to do and the massive amount of time you spend at restaurants. These reasons have nothing to do with the new changes.

 

[BCV23]

I disagree with MUCH of this thread, however I think crisi's post is right on target.

MG

 

[pilferk]

i just recently ran the numbers for DW and i for our 9-day trip this JUN and figure that we will (conservatively) save $100 by using the DDE and not the DDP.

Does that factor in the $60 cost of the DDE card?

When I've run it, and factored in the cost, it's about break even for us, between the 2. Everyone's mileage may vary, obviously, and we're not big drinkers so the "adult drink" discount is going to make bigger difference for many people, probably.

 

[pilferk]

Interestingly, Disney (at least BCV) gave me a statement on checkout day that showed each DP purchase...according to Disney's records, I would have spent $150 more had I paid cash for the DDP charges...add in the tips that I did pay in cash (about $120) and I figure we saved $30 for the two of us for the week...

But...wouldn't you have to tip regardless?

Maybe I'm confused here....but the above sounds like "mixing up" two different things:

1) Savings over OOP

and

2) Savings using the 2008 DDP vs 2007 DDP.

To me, your post says:

1) You saved $120 over OOP...which seems pretty good to me.

and

2) You saved $90 LESS than you would have under the 2007 plan.

 

[BCV23]

n2mm reported that the DDE is now $60 for AP holders.

The basic plan saved us a small amount over DDE but would no longer do so without the appetizer and tip. We still used the DDE card for other meals (especially signature) and adult beverages.

 

[pilferk]

Bottom line: part of what you purchased when you bought DVC was a kitchen.

USE IT.

I LOVE our kitchen...but I don't want to cook meals on vacation.

We used it to make simple breakfasts (bagels, cereal, etc). We used it to eat a nice "shared" CS meal from mara for dinner one night. We used it for night time snacks, etc.

But I doubt we'll often break out the pots and pans. We cook almost every day at home. My wife for 4 nights out of 7, and me for the other 2 or 3. We prefer to eat out on vacation, for the most part. I think there are LOTS of people who feel the same way.

Ultimately, though, you do make a good point: If cost savings is your ULTIMATE goal, then eating in your room is the way to go. For us, while we like to incur some savings, we're willing to pay SOMETHING for not cooking on vacation.

 

[psu4glory]

Does that factor in the $65 cost of the DDE card?

When I've run it, and factored in the cost, it's about break even for us, between the 2. Everyone's mileage may vary, obviously, and we're not big drinkers so the "adult drink" discount is going to make bigger difference for many people, probably.

the $100 savings that i quoted does NOT include the $65 annual cost. so if this were the only trip we were taking for the year, the analysis would be closer to a wash ($35 savings for DDE). however, we are taking 3 trips (approx. 20 days on property) w/in our AP year, so it's really a no-brainer for us...

we're also 'non-drinkers' - so that's not a consideration for us...

 

[pilferk]

n2mm reported that the DDE is now $60 for AP holders.

Thanks BCV! I've edited my post appropriately.