Random thoughts on the dining plans

[Masonmj84]

In my opinion, the DDP and QSDP are only worth doing if you are staying in a moderate or value resort and get free dining.

The DxDP is still worth paying for if your style is to do a character breakfast or TS lunch plus a signature dinner every day AND you value having a dessert over having an adult beverage with your meal AND you have a big enough appetite that you can eat an appetizer, bread, a main entree and a dessert twice a day, plus two snacks a day (otherwise TIW is probably the better option).

As a side note, if you are staying in a moderate and get free dining, upgrading to the DxDP is one of the best deals out there IMO.

If staying deluxe, free dining is usually moot becuase you can usually get a better room discount. However, if your style is as described in the above paragraph, the DxDP still beats paying OOP by an appreciable margin. The other dining plans don't, regardless of your style.

Where most people get in trouble with the DxDP is trying to do 3 meals a day with it. Most quickly find out this is way too much food (and takes way too much time) and end up cancelling ADRs right and left. However, I think people are gradually getting smart to the 2 meals a day (1 being a signature) strategy.

Accordingly, I predict that over the next several years, we'll see increased erosion of the value of the DxDP (mostly by raising prices) to the point where even the smartest and most efficient users of it will hardly see any savings (unless they're staying in a moderate, get free dining, and upgrade).

 

[havoc315]

In my opinion, the DDP and QSDP are only worth doing if you are staying in a moderate or value resort and get free dining.

The DxDP is still worth paying for if your style is to do a character breakfast or TS lunch plus a signature dinner every day AND you value having a dessert over having an adult beverage with your meal AND you have a big enough appetite that you can eat an appetizer, bread, a main entree and a dessert twice a day, plus two snacks a day (otherwise TIW is probably the better option).

As a side note, if you are staying in a moderate and get free dining, upgrading to the DxDP is one of the best deals out there IMO.

If staying deluxe, free dining is usually moot becuase you can usually get a better room discount. However, if your style is as described in the above paragraph, the DxDP still beats paying OOP by an appreciable margin. The other dining plans don't, regardless of your style.

Where most people get in trouble with the DxDP is trying to do 3 meals a day with it. Most quickly find out this is way too much food (and takes way too much time) and end up cancelling ADRs right and left. However, I think people are gradually getting smart to the 2 meals a day (1 being a signature) strategy.

Accordingly, I predict that over the next several years, we'll see increased erosion of the value of the DxDP (mostly by raising prices) to the point where even the smartest and most efficient users of it will hardly see any savings (unless they're staying in a moderate, get free dining, and upgrade).

Agree with the above, except to point out:
Most guests are not eligible for the TiW card.
If you are eligible, then it is almost always better than the dining plans -- even better than the deluxe plan.

In 2011, the pricing of the DxDP was a good savings -- If you ate 2 TS per day, and 1 of them was a signature. You didn't need to maximize every appetizer and every snack. You could even skip a couple of credits and still save significantly.
After all -- at $72 -- Very easy to do a $25+ lunch and a $45+ signature dinner, or $20 breakfast with $50 signature dinner, without using all your allotments. (You could hit those numbers while skipping apps or desserts)

Under 2012 pricing, the value of the DxDP gets a lot narrower -- You now need to do a $25+ lunch with a $60+ signature dinner to start seeing value. Still quite possible, but you can't skip too many desserts or appetizers to do it.

If price increases to the DxDP continue-- then by next year, it will only be a savings if you really maximize all the credits, just like the regular DDP now.

 

[mommyrosa2]

In my opinion, the DDP and QSDP are only worth doing if you are staying in a moderate or value resort and get free dining.

The DxDP is still worth paying for if your style is to do a character breakfast or TS lunch plus a signature dinner every day AND you value having a dessert over having an adult beverage with your meal AND you have a big enough appetite that you can eat an appetizer, bread, a main entree and a dessert twice a day, plus two snacks a day (otherwise TIW is probably the better option).

As a side note, if you are staying in a moderate and get free dining, upgrading to the DxDP is one of the best deals out there IMO.

If staying deluxe, free dining is usually moot becuase you can usually get a better room discount. However, if your style is as described in the above paragraph, the DxDP still beats paying OOP by an appreciable margin. The other dining plans don't, regardless of your style.

Where most people get in trouble with the DxDP is trying to do 3 meals a day with it. Most quickly find out this is way too much food (and takes way too much time) and end up cancelling ADRs right and left. However, I think people are gradually getting smart to the 2 meals a day (1 being a signature) strategy.

Accordingly, I predict that over the next several years, we'll see increased erosion of the value of the DxDP (mostly by raising prices) to the point where even the smartest and most efficient users of it will hardly see any savings (unless they're staying in a moderate, get free dining, and upgrade).

I'd have to disagree with you on this one. We currently have a reservation at the BC with a 30% off room only discount. If free dining were to come out and I were to switch to the FD promo (regular DP), we would save just under $700. The table service restaurants we have chosen to dine at for dinners alone come out to more than 1/2 of what the DP would cost us. I do agree though that the savings each year goes down and the margin is getting more narrow. But for our family of 4, a free dining promo this year would definitely still save us money. But for some folks who like to split meals, skip meals etc., yes, a room only discount might work better.

 

[havoc315]

I'd have to disagree with you on this one. We currently have a reservation at the BC with a 30% off room only discount. If free dining were to come out and I were to switch to the FD promo (regular DP), we would save just under $700. The table service restaurants we have chosen to dine at for dinners alone come out to more than 1/2 of what the DP would cost us. I do agree though that the savings each year goes down and the margin is getting more narrow. But for our family of 4, a free dining promo this year would definitely still save us money. But for some folks who like to split meals, skip meals etc., yes, a room only discount might work better.

Not a matter of sharing meals. It's straight math, for the most part...
Is your family of 4, 2 adults and 2 children? Or 4 "adults?"
If 4 adults, then free dining saves you up to about $200 per night -- as that's about the cost to purchase the dining plan separately. You could view the savings less than that, if you aren't going to maximize the use of the plan.
If you are 2 adults and 2 children -- then free dining saves you about $130 per night.

So next it depends on your room rate.

We are staying at the Poly around President's weekend -- almost $600 per night.
So had the choice of free dining or 30%. We are 2 adults and 2 children. So the 30% saves us $180 per night.
Free dining would have saved us $130 or less (less, if we didn't fully utilize the plan). It can't save us more than $130 -- as we could always just purchase the plan for $130.

If we were 4 adults, then arguably, free dining would have saved us slightly more than the room discount. But with any less than 4 adults, the room discount is clearly better than the 30% (again, dependent on the price of your deluxe room).

It's hard for me to imagine any scenario where free dining would save $700 more than a 30% room deluxe discount. Would have to be a very cheap deluxe room, during value season, with 4 adults, over a full week. Under that scenario -- free dining is better than 30% room discount.

 

[mommyrosa2]

Not a matter of sharing meals. It's straight math, for the most part...
Is your family of 4, 2 adults and 2 children? Or 4 "adults?"
If 4 adults, then free dining saves you up to about $200 per night -- as that's about the cost to purchase the dining plan separately. You could view the savings less than that, if you aren't going to maximize the use of the plan.
If you are 2 adults and 2 children -- then free dining saves you about $130 per night.

So next it depends on your room rate.

We are staying at the Poly around President's weekend -- almost $600 per night.
So had the choice of free dining or 30%. We are 2 adults and 2 children. So the 30% saves us $180 per night.
Free dining would have saved us $130 or less (less, if we didn't fully utilize the plan). It can't save us more than $130 -- as we could always just purchase the plan for $130.

If we were 4 adults, then arguably, free dining would have saved us slightly more than the room discount. But with any less than 4 adults, the room discount is clearly better than the 30% (again, dependent on the price of your deluxe room).

It's hard for me to imagine any scenario where free dining would save $700 more than a 30% room deluxe discount. Would have to be a very cheap deluxe room, during value season, with 4 adults, over a full week. Under that scenario -- free dining is better than 30% room discount.

Here's are scenario:
End of August, BC, GV, 9 days, 4 adults (2 adults/2 teens - disney adults). 30% off pin code with 9 day PH = 3724.36. If FD was to come out, same room, view, tix = $4701.32. The cost of the dining plan for the 4 of us = 1649.28, if I add this to my room only discount above my grand total = 5373.64. The difference between 5373.64 and the regular free dining promo total of 4701.32 = $672.32 savings. The savings actually comes out a little higher b/c when i add up all the places we want to eat at and what we would order and include snacks, etc. it's about $80-$100 more and that's not including any price increases that may occur before we actually get there. And even if I hadn't done all the other math, just the difference between my room only cost of 3724.36 and the the FD cost of $4701.32 = $976.96 (this amount is NOT enough to cover all of our meals for 8 nights - or at least not the places we want to dine at anyways).

 

[havoc315]

Here's are scenario:
End of August, BC, GV, 9 days, 4 adults (2 adults/2 teens - disney adults). 30% off pin code with 9 day PH = 3724.36. If FD was to come out, same room, view, tix = $4701.32. The cost of the dining plan for the 4 of us = 1649.28, if I add this to my room only discount above my grand total = 5373.64. The difference between 5373.64 and the regular free dining promo total of 4701.32 = $672.32 savings.

Okay... you're 4 adults, going during a cheaper season. So that makes sense. There are certainly times that free dining is better than a 30% deluxe code -- And you are an example of 1 of those times.

The savings actually comes out a little higher b/c when i add up all the places we want to eat at and what we would order and include snacks, etc. it's about $80-$100 more and that's not including any price increases that may occur before we actually get there. And even if I hadn't done all the other math, just the difference between my room only cost of 3724.36 and the the FD cost of $4701.32 = $976.96 (this amount is NOT enough to cover all of our meals for 8 nights - or at least not the places we want to dine at anyways).

You can't look at the "extra" value of the DDP --- As you could always get that extra value by using the room discount AND purchasing the dining plan.

In terms of feeding a family of 4 for $976.96 (not counting tips) for 8 nights--
That's $122 per night.
I think there are some families out there that would do just fine at $122 per night, and others who would find it too restrictive. Certainly, it wouldn't cover character meals or too many "expensive" meals.
On the other hand, if you ate some meals off property, didn't do a lot of soda and desserts, you could eat quite nicely for $122 per night. It really depends on the type of vacation -- and type of dining -- that you want to experience.

(Personally, it would cost me more than $122 per night as we don't eat much CS... but at the same time, the DDP wouldn't work.. because again, we don't eat CS. The "cheapest" option for us, is to use the room discount AND buy the DxDP).

 

[mommyrosa2]

Okay... you're 4 adults, going during a cheaper season. So that makes sense. There are certainly times that free dining is better than a 30% deluxe code -- And you are an example of 1 of those times.




You can't look at the "extra" value of the DDP --- As you could always get that extra value by using the room discount AND purchasing the dining plan.

In terms of feeding a family of 4 for $976.96 (not counting tips) for 8 nights--
That's $122 per night.
I think there are some families out there that would do just fine at $122 per night, and others who would find it too restrictive. Certainly, it wouldn't cover character meals or too many "expensive" meals.
On the other hand, if you ate some meals off property, didn't do a lot of soda and desserts, you could eat quite nicely for $122 per night. It really depends on the type of vacation -- and type of dining -- that you want to experience. (Personally, it would cost me more than $122 per night as we don't eat much CS... but at the same time, the DDP wouldn't work.. because again, we don't eat CS. The "cheapest" option for us, is to use the room discount AND buy the DxDP).

I COMPLETELY agree with you here. And someday we'd love to try the deluxe plan...just the thought of trying all the different signature restaurants and not have to worry about swapping credits - someday!

 

[havoc315]

I COMPLETELY agree with you here. And someday we'd love to try the deluxe plan...just the thought of trying all the different signature restaurants and not have to worry about swapping credits - someday!

Truthfully, you can eat at a "deluxe" level, for a true price somewhere between the DDP and the DxDP.
Especially if you qualify for the TiW card, but even without the TiW card--

You can truly eat at a "deluxe" type level, for about $65-$75 per adult, per day.
Using 2 adults as an example:

Under the deluxe plan, you might do a TS breakfast and a signature dinner:
So pricing out the same 2 meals reasonably for 2 adults:

Kona Cafe for breakfast -- Tonga Toast, eggs, coffee etc -- Call all be had for less than $25.

And California Grill for dinner -- Share a sushi roll as an appetizer ($22), get 2 mid-priced entrees for dinner (about $35each), 2 beverages, and share dessert ($12)= About $110.
So combined, about $135. Add in a couple mid-day snacks and tax...
You're talking about "deluxe level dining" for under $75 per person.

Personally, I wouldn't even see the value in the DxDP for adults -- Like the regular DDP, it can save a bit more with children.