Paying OOP for Dining - Budgeting

[JimmyV]

I have lost 90lbs this year so far..

 

[rznhal]

Just an FYI:TIW is only available for Florida residence, AP holders and DVC members. Many here have been led astray believing they can purchase the card when they get to WDW only to find out that they don't qualify for it.

I thought I read that somewhere...thanks for confirming!!!!!!

 

[rznhal]

And we won't have a fridge full of counter service desserts at the end of our trip!

Major perk of OOP: NO MORE CS DESSERTS!!!!!

lol those things are struggling !!!!!

 

[dmdelight]

I have lost 90lbs this year so far, so am wanting to save my splurges for things like Ghiradelli ice cream and Babycakes Cupcakes rather than being faced with the option of dessert each meal.

fantastic
well done
you are doing marvellously

we have only had "free dining" and would never pay for dining plan-it's just not worth it-as we are also lighter eaters-whilst we occasionally have dessert. it is certainly not with every meal nor even every day.
we always have credits remaining at the end of our vacation and the majority of our snacks are water,diet cokes and fruit.

 

[davedmaine]

Avoid the dining plan. You'll save money and aggravation by not being on it. (CS desserts, left-over snacks, reservation stress, etc)..

 

[cmh314]

I would be very cautious with the advice of those who reflexively reach for the DDP. The Dining Plan is not about saving money. It is about pre-paid convenience. Yes, you can manipulate your meals the way "extreme couponers" manipulate coupons and make the system work to your financial benefit. But the question becomes: Is this really about saving $10 per day, or is it about eating the way your family wants to eat. If you really love the appetizer offerings on a menu and would be happy making a meal out of those, you will save money over the DDP. But more importantly, on the DDP, those doors are shut to you unless you add on OOP costs, which blows the whole DDP savings concept out the window. If you are dreading the thought of yet another slice of cheese cake for dessert, but are lamenting the fact that you couldn't get the goat cheese ravioli appetizer, then the DDP savings are irrelevant. If the three of you could split an order of ribs and an order of chicken at Flame Tree and be perfectly content, then you save money over the DDP which requires you to pay for a CS meal for each person in the family. Yes, if your family eats every morsel of food provided by the DDP, and you maximize your selections by opting for the priciest snacks and entrees, you will save on the DDP. But if you surrender just once during the week and think to yourself..."all I want right now is a green salad and some water", then the DDP will cost you extra money. This is why you have to look at things from an individual standpoint. Familes that dismember and share Mickey Waffles do better off the Plan. People who eat everything offered on the Plan do better on it. No way for us to know which camp you fall into. You have to do that math.

As far as guideline for OOP costs, figure on the following:

We always buy groceries at Publix and eat breakfast in our room as we get ready for the day. I can't tell you the last time I paid Disney prices for breakfast, so I can't help you here. For us, we spend around $60 in groceries for a full week. So we figure around $10 per day.

A typical CS lunch (combo meal) will run around $16 per person. We are also a family of three, and we usually get two meals to split among three people, and an extra straw. We find the large drink size to be more than enough such that three people can drink from two cups. So our lunches for three people run around $32-$34 per day.

So far, we have spent around $42 or so per day. (We rarely buy snacks, but for the sake of argument, I will subtract out $5 per day on average just in case the kid wants popcorn.) A budget of $150 per day would leave us with roughly $103 for dinner. Two appetizers split among three people will cost around $25. At TS restaurants, we will typically get a single dessert to share. That will cost around $7. That leaves $71 for three people to order main courses. In many circumstances, this is just about right. At higher end places, this is not enough. Add in tax, tip and wine, and it isn't nearly enough.

But here's the rub. We don't do a TS every single day. There are days when we double up on CS meals (such as MK days) when there aren't any TS restaurants that interest us. So here is where the math gets tricky. The average daily cost would come to $150 per day, even though not one single day came close to that precise number. And this is where the DDP fails us. On days when we eat light, we don't get the most value out of the DDP. And on days when we "go big", there isn't enough flexibility or credits in the DDP to account for our three course meals. For example, imagine a two day trip on the DDP where you have 2 CS and 2 TS credits. On day one, you go to the MK and eat at Columbia Harbor House and Pecos Bill's as your two meals. Your two CS credits are gone. On day two, you go to dinner at the California Grill and you add some appetizers to your dinner. Your two TS credits are now gone, and lunch that day as well as the appetizers has to be paid OOP. So you spent over $300 for the meal plan, ($50 per person per day for 3 people x 2 days), plus around $34 for an OOP lunch and $25 for appetizers for a total of $359. If you bought everything OOP as described above, your three CS meals would come to around $102. Your appetizers and dessert at CG would run you $32 ($25+$7) for a running total of an even $134. Even if everyone bought a $40 entree at the CG for dinner, your grand total would still only be $254. And before people jump all over this, I could just as easily concoct a two-day scenario where the DDP pays dividends. Which is why EVERY PERSON HAS TO DO THE MATH BASED ON A REALISTIC PREDICTION OF WHAT THEY MIGHT EAT. That statement will always be true.

I agree with this statement. We have done the DDP twice and liked it (especially the convenience) but for our upcoming trip we are paying OOP. We looked at the menus on allears.net and calculated what we're likely to spend on the meals we plan to have on this trip. We are easily saving money going OOP and may save even more if we share some meals (or if DD and DS share some meals - which they should be able to do often as DD4 is not a big eater). When also taking into account the room only AAA discount we were able to apply to our room (which we couldn't have used if doing a package with DDP) we are definately coming out ahead.

It really does depend on what and where your family will eat. Our last trip, DD was 2 so we didn't have to purchase the meal plan for her. We did tons of character meal buffets which were more expensive and she was able to eat at the buffet for no additional charge. On that trip I think we did well with the DDP.

I suggest looking at the menus online and breaking down the costs of what you'd realistically order to see what makes sense for you.

 

[GraceMonica]

For my birthday trip I budgeted $50 per day per person not including alcohol. I plan on eating one CS and one TS per day. On the days I have a buffet planned I don't plan on CS lunches just a snack. (Since buffets are pricey and I want to get my monies worth!!)

I have never been on DDP but the idea of dessert with every meal turns me off. its just not the way I like to eat (well...I love dessert, but eating it every at meal does not sound fun) also my family enjoys appetizers! Plus, we have a TiW card so that is a major reason why we chose not to get the DDP.

 

[LisaBi]

I definitely like free dining because we usually stay at ASMo so the savings on food is greater than the RO discount. (Based on what I would actually spend OOP),

If I have to pay for dining, it's not worth it.

 

[LisaBi]

I definitely like free dining because we usually stay at ASMo so the savings on food is greater than the RO discount. (Based on what I would actually spend OOP),

If I have to pay for dining, it's not worth it.

....darned send button....

If we are OOP I do watch the expenses...fewer desserts and bottled drinks, etc. We can eat much cheaper than the cost of the dining plan.

But OP said you weren't big eaters. If I'm paying OOP, I will often get kids meals at CS places....not to save money but because it is a much better serving size. Even on DDP I will often ask for kids sides (like grapes) instead of fries or whatever.

 

[goofyintoronto]

....darned send button....

If we are OOP I do watch the expenses...fewer desserts and bottled drinks, etc. We can eat much cheaper than the cost of the dining plan.

But OP said you weren't big eaters. If I'm paying OOP, I will often get kids meals at CS places....not to save money but because it is a much better serving size. Even on DDP I will often ask for kids sides (like grapes) instead of fries or whatever.

I definitely like free dining because we usually stay at ASMo so the savings on food is greater than the RO discount. (Based on what I would actually spend OOP),

If I have to pay for dining, it's not worth it.

totally agree with this. This is us too! we stay at the values most of the time so free dining is a much better deal than the room discount.

Sent from my Galaxy SII using DISBoards App

 

[dsneygirl]

Last trip was me, DH and our 6 year old. (baby just ate off our plates) We averaged $100/day using TiW and we had wine/cocktails with several meals. I think $150 is very reasonable unless you are a doing a buffet every day (about $30pp+) we also did a lot of lunches which is usually cheaper and a lot less busy in the restaurants. We also had our own bottled water.

 

[nanhol]

I think $150 is very reasonable. We are paying out of pocket this trip for the first time in a long time. We figured out on our last trip that we'd sometimes rather eat and appetizer instead of dessert or just have an app for dinner if we just weren't overly hungry by the time our ADR rolled around. We were very big into the DP, but we've noticed changes in our eating habits so OOP seems like a better choice.

Sometimes even though you want a sit down and quick service everyday doesn't mean the DP is always the best option. It's very easy to spend less then the dining plan since you'll most likely eat the way you want and not the way you feel you'll get the most value out .

I think $150 is definitely a good number, but what you should do is look at the menus of the sit down places and just do a rough gauge as to what your family will eat. This should give you a good amount that will be left for the day after those meals .

Aq

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[dawnball]

Major perk of OOP: NO MORE CS DESSERTS!!!!!

On our last trip, we could swap the dessert for a side salad at our resort. By our last day, the fridge was crammed full of salads and drinks that we were sure we'd eat later!

My personal goal for the upcoming trip is to stop getting desserts I don't really "want" - just because they're included. We'll see how I do with that!

 

[taaren]

$150/day seems high to me, and my family composition is similar to yours, its DH, me, and DS6. DH and I are also big sharers, though we love dessert, especially TS dessert.

Our plan is to do breakfast in the room, then we have a several TS lunches, but most likely I'll order an app and DH will order an entree and we'll share both of those plus a dessert. Then DS6 will get a meal. So about $60-75 for most of our TS's. For dinners we'll be doing mostly CS, so sharing one entree and DS will get his own, so under $25. I never order soda to avoid the calories, and DH only does about half the time, and we're not really frequent alcohol drinkers unless we're at home. I think we'll go home with extra $$ even budgeting $100/day, even if you throw in the inevitable churro (and given DS6's appetite some days, that may replace his CS meal ...).

Work up a spreadsheet though, just input the items from the menu that you'd be likely to order (or pick a median price and plug it in). I did one for us since I wanted to see if the DDP or TIW was worth it for us, and it wasn't. Its good to know when my Disney Reward card money I'm planning on using for our meals will run out, though.