OOP cost with DDP & reservation questions

[alc571]

We are tossing around dates for September 2014, coming up with our budget, etc. We have never done the dining plan, because the way we eat doesn't make sense for us to buy the plan. But, with free dining offered often in September, we may try it out. I'd also like to try some character meals, and HDDR which we would never spend the money on OOP.

We always opt for a good room discount over free dining, but when I look at our last trip and how much we spent, I'm not sure it makes sense. DH figures we spent about $600 OOP at Disney for food. We spent some offsite too, but for my purposes I wanted to see how much would be covered by free dining. We want to stay at POR. If we applied the current discount (25%) the savings would be about $400, which would mean the free DDP would be the better option and still give us $200 for anything OOP.

My question is, for those who have been on the DDP, how much do you end up spending in a week OOP?

My second question is whether or not its important to make reservations for all the restaurants, or just the signature/character/popular ones. For example, would I need to make a reservation for PORs TS restaurant or would we be ok to just show up.

Thanks for your hep.

 

[jmrothermel]

Have you googled the "Disney dining plan calculator"? It tells you based on where you're eating if the dining plan makes sense for you and which way is most economical.

 

[alc571]

Thanks, I'll check it out.

 

[sharonabe]

Have you googled the "Disney dining plan calculator"? It tells you based on where you're eating if the dining plan makes sense for you and which way is most economical.

But I don't think this takes into account that OP is talking about FREE dining vs a room discount. The calculators are for those trying to decide whether to pay for dining or go OOP.

 

[alc571]

But I don't think this takes into account that OP is talking about FREE dining vs a room discount. The calculators are for those trying to decide whether to pay for dining or go OOP.

Thanks...I thought maybe I was missing something. lol

I already know its not a good deal for us to pay for dining. But I figure if I get it free, over a $400 discount, that still leaves me $200 in our "food" budget for the trip. I just wonder if that's a reasonable amount for OOP expenses. We aren't big TS people, so I have a feeling we will end up using TS credits for CS meals (if possible), but it will also get us to TS restaurants we wouldn't normally try because of the OOP cost. At least that's my thinking, if it makes sense.

 

[sharonabe]

I think you'll be fine with $200 for any OOP. You can save some of the QS desserts for your breakfast snack. You can also use snack credits for breakfasts. Look over the confirmed snack sticky at the top of this forum to see what you may want to use those snack credits for. With a good plan, you probably won't need to spend much of that $200.