Restaurants OOP

[DISNEY1975]

We did the math when we got home from our most recent trip (because I'm THAT kind of nerd...) and we came out ahead paying OOP. Pretty significantly, actually. That included TWO meals at Boma and TWO character meals. We didn't pay any attention to what we were ordering - just got what we wanted. I liked not worrying about whether we were getting a good value. Some days we were hungrier then others. And some days we ate one TS meal and a bunch of snacks.

This is why I get the dining plan! I dont want to be paying attention to what Im ordering and after the 5th or 6th $250+ bill, knowing I have another 15+ to go, I know Id start paying attention. I love ordering what I want, where I want and coming home to no significant bill (just the tips )

 

[princessmocha]

We have done it OOP and with dining plan. We can make the DP work depending on where we plan to dine. Our upcoming trip will be OOP with Tables in Wonderland. I am a little excited to see what our saving will be compared to DP. We have some signature planned and one character meal.

 

[Dean Marino]

Deleted

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

OP, I don't know how these people save OOP if they're doing character meals like how my family does character meals. We save on DDP because all our TS are character meals, some buffets, some family style, but all at a set price. Now, if we wanted to eat at places where we ordered a la carte off a menu, so that we might share plates or someone might only eat an appetizer, maybe we should pay OOP. But that style of eating is what we do at CS, using maybe 3 or 4 CS credits for the six of us. The "extra" CS credits we turn into 3 snacks. We love that feature! We tried absolutely every snack we were at all interested in while at Epcot.
I am definitely the type where I would be nickel and diming the entire stay if I had to make sure we stayed within budget or didn't run out of gift cards. I am miffed that people between 10-20yo have to pay the same as 21+, who get alcohol, but now my kids can get the smoothies, milkshakes, and other special drinks that I would never buy them normally. My kids love the DDP--and they love Mama on the DDP. ;-)

 

[staceymay00]

We usually do the meal plan and eat at places like Ohana, Tusker House, Be our Guest, Mama Melrose, Boma. I think eating at nice restaurants are still a big part of making the trip magical. We are considering paying OOP this trip. So my question is do you eat at Disney restaurants like these paying OOP?
If so which places do you find are a decent value for a family of 4.
Thanks

I used to compare DDP to OOP and never found DDP would save us money over TiW. We no longer get TiW or care to book as many TS meals, and there are some meals we'll probably never do again now that all three kids are Disney adults. We do still book a few meals that are overpriced, but a decent value for us for WDW. Last trip we enjoyed a late breakfast at Tusker House and would book it again. We always book 'Ohana and yes, it is pricey for five, but thought it was worth it for a nice Disney meal until they started rushing the meal way too much. Other restaurants we'd still book OOP are Sanaa, Biergarten, Sci Fi and Teppan Edo.

 

[ImSoSarah]

We do both and with the alcohol included have come out way ahead on the dining plan when we eat a lot of character meals/buffet.

This trip we are paying out of pocket and are going to signature places for dinner (i would never on the ddp) and mixing in some lower cost table service and still coming out ahead. In fact, many sit down options are just a little more than the quick service and we would prefer that anyway... But we are still an every other trip DDP

Our ADR for next week for 6 days:
California Grill
BlueZoo
Via Napoli
Grand Floridian Cafe
Ohana
Yak/Yeti
Sci Fi
Be our guest (lunch)

 

[caylene44]

This has been echoed before on many "to DDP or not" threads but I really feel like it depends on your eating style/habits. For some, the DDP isn't worth it because they don't drink alcohol/eat dessert/drink specialty beverages/eat at buffets/etc.

Like a lot of posters have said, I would do the math for your family and look at the menus with a realistic idea of what you would/wouldn't eat.

It made sense for us because we're single adults who like to drink at every meal, like to snack, and aren't super price conscious when it comes to eating dinner (I know I'll miss these days of being DINKs later on). So, for us, we're guaranteed to break even on the meal plan but will most likely come ahead. Definitely not the case for everyone though!

In terms of saving money OOP, I would probably avoid any buffet or prix fixe meal. I would also only schedule one TS per day and share meals (if possible).