Tables in Wonderland v. Dining Plan

[BlueChariot]

What is the difference? For anyone who has Tables in Wonderland, have you actually used it a lot? How long is it good for? What kind of discounts do you really get??

 

[Reddog1134]

One is a prepaid meal plan that requires that you stay on Disney property.

The other is a meal discount that requires an AP.

 

[JimmyV]

I prefer TIW. First of all, in touting its dining plan, Disney advertises that you "can" (as in might, if you really try), save 15% on dining. But with TIW, you WILL save 20%. On everything. This is particularly nice when dining at a Signature and you want a nice bottle of wine. The card gets you 20% off of a $100 bottle. The dining plan gets you nothing. Plus, TIW allows you to order what you want and still get a discount. If you are on the DDP and see an appetizer that catches your eye, you either have to skip it, or pay full price for it. With TIW, you order it and get 20% off.

 

[JimmyV]

The other is a meal discount that requires an AP.

....or, Florida residency.

 

[linzbear]

TIW is always (excepting blackout dates) 20% off your total bill at Disney Restaurants. The card is good for 1 year & to the end of the month (if you get it on Nov 1, it's good until Nov 30 of the following year).

DDP is a meal plan where you get 1 snack, 1 CS meal (non alcoholic drink, meal, dessert), and 1 TS meal (non alcoholic drink, meal, dessert) per day and you must pay for all days and all people in the room.

Depends on your touring style, really. We only eat TS every other day (and we also go off site to eat on the odd days), but try to plan 2 trips in a 1 year span, so TIW is worth it for us.

 

[BlueChariot]

Okay, so for TIW, can you use it anywhere, or only for table service??

 

[myjourney]

You get free valet parking when you eat at a resort restaurant with TiW

 

[LuvLuvLuv]

it's definately worth doing the math. we're doing a split stay and it works out better to do dxddp for the first part and tiw for the second!!

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Here is a working example, using $100.00 as the original bill to make the math show up easily. Note this is for Table Service. At Counter Service there is no gratuity added.

100.00 - Original Menu Amount
*20.00 - Discount
*80.00 - Subtotal
*18.00 - Gratuity Added based on $100
**5.20 - Sales Tax on $80
103.20 - Final amount charged, takes into consideration discount, gratuity and tax.

Without TiW Discount (and still figuring 18% Gratuity)

100.00 - Original Menu Amount
*18.00 - Gratuity
**6.50 - Sales Tax on $100
124.50 - Total

$21.30 - Savings using TiW Card.

(Note - At Victoria and Albert's the added gratuity is 20% instead of 18%.)
* Ignore the asterisks; they are there only so the columns/numbers line up properly.

All Tables in Wonderland Restaurants as of August 2011

Disney's All-Star Movies Resort – World Premiere Food Court
Disney's All-Star Music Resort – Intermission Food Court
Disney's All-Star Sports Resort – End Zone Food Court
Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge – Boma, Jiko, Sanaa, Victoria Falls
Disney's Beach Club Resort - Beaches & Cream Soda Shop (excludes take-out shop), Cape May Cafe, Martha's Vineyard Lounge
Disney's BoardWalk – Belle Vue Lounge, Big River Grille & Brewing Works, ESPN Club, Flying Fish Cafe, Kouzzina by Cat Cora
Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort – Shutters at Old Port Royale
Disney's Contemporary Resort – California Grill, Chef Mickey's, Outer Rim, The Wave
Disney's Coronado Springs Resort – Maya Grill
Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground – Crockett's Tavern, Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue (9:30 p.m. show only), Trail's End Restaurant (Excludes take out shop)
Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa – 1900 Park Fare, Citricos, Garden View Tea Room, Grand Floridian Cafe, Mizner's Lounge, Narcoossee's, Victoria & Albert's (excludes Chef's Table and Queen Victoria Room)
Disney's Old Key West Resort – Olivia's Cafe
Disney's Osprey Ridge Golf Course - Sand Trap Bar & Grill
Disney's Polynesian Resort – 'Ohana, Kona Cafe, Disney's Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show (Late show only), Tambu Lounge
Disney's Pop Century Resort – Everything Pop Shopping and Dining (excludes merchandise from shop)
Disney's Port Orleans Resort - French Quarter - Sassagoula Floatworks & Food Factory, Scat Cat's Club
Disney's Port Orleans Resort – Riverside - Boatwright's Dining Hall, River Roost
Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort – The Artist's Palette, The Turf Club Bar & Grill, Turf Club Lounge
Disney's Vero Beach Resort – The Green Cabin Room, Shutter's, Sonya's (Excludes Sunday Brunch)
Disney's Wilderness Lodge – Artist Point, Territory Lounge, Whispering Canyon Cafe
Disney's Yacht Club Resort – Ale and Compass Lounge, Captain's Grille, Crews Cup Lounge, Yachtsman Steakhouse
Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort – Garden Grove, Il Mulino New York Trattoria, Kimonos, Shula's Steak House, Todd English's bluezoo

Magic Kingdom Park – Cinderella's Royal Table, Liberty Tree Tavern, The Crystal Palace, The Plaza Restaurant, Tony's Town Square Restaurant
Epcot – Akershus Royal Banquet Hall, Biergarten Restaurant, Bistro de Paris, Chefs de France, Coral Reef Restaurant, Le Cellier Steakhouse, Nine Dragons Restaurant, Restaurant Marrakesh, Rose & Crown Pub & Dining Room, San Angel Inn Restaurante, The Garden Grill Restaurant, Tokyo Dining, Tutto Italia Ristorante, Via Napoli
Disney's Hollywood Studios – 50's Prime Time Cafe, Hollywood & Vine, Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano, Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant, The Hollywood Brown Derby, Tune-In Lounge
Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park – Flame Tree Barbecue, Pizzafari, Restaurantosaurus, Tusker House Restaurant

DOWNTOWN DISNEY – Marketplace - Cap'n Jack's Restaurant, Fulton's Crab House
DOWNTOWN DISNEY – Pleasure Island – Paradiso 37, Portobello, Raglan Road Irish Pub and Restaurant
DOWNTOWN DISNEY – West Side – Bongo's Cuban Cafe, House Of Blues (Excludes Sunday Brunch), Planet Hollywood, Wolfgang Puck Cafe

ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex - ESPN Wide World of Sports Grill

 

[castleri]

Okay, so for TIW, can you use it anywhere, or only for table service??

It is mainly for TS but there are a few places in AK that take it I think and most of the lounges honor it.

We had the Deluxe Dining Plan for one night this trip and ate mostly CS meals for the rest of our meals which saved a bunch. It was also more the way we wanted to eat so we were not tied to adrs with our park planning. We also don't usually eat desserts but do enjoy appetizers when we do eat TS meals so it just works better for us. I have saved all my receipts from this trip and when I get home plan to see how it all worked out and if we would have been better having the QS DP for the other days of our trip. We will be back in Dec. and I want to see if we should add the QS plan for the first part of it. I really think we will be better off paying OOP for those meals and using the TIW card if we do TS and at the lounges.

Hopefully someone can post a link to the list of place included. There are also some lounges such as The gurgling suitcase that take it but are not on the list.

 

[Mrsjvb]

Okay, so for TIW, can you use it anywhere, or only for table service??

not anywhere. there are exclusions.. BUT the other side is.. places that take extra DP credits or do not take DP at all.. do take TiW

 

[matt and beth]

Now I know everyone here has so many opinions, but I was getting fed up with the dining plan prices raising and the tip no longer included. For a family of five the dining price was approaching $200 a day with the tip under the plan. We stayed for ten days last trip and it would have cost $2000 just to eat. So we went with TIW. The price was $1400 to eat total. We saved $600 with TIW. This included drinks. what was different is we avoided the expensive character meals and went to the less expensive table service and avoided all the desserts. We eat at places such as Tonys, Plaza, mama melrose, beirgarten lunch, rainforest cafe. We found that the food was better than all the buffets and we could actually move and did NOT gain the Disney 5#s.

The card is good for one year and we plan on getting two uses out of it this December.

 

[Dan Murphy]

http://allears.net/din/dde.htm

 

[kenny]

We prefer TiW as well. As pp said the DDP "may" save you 15% but TiW will save 20%.
We always look at ddp but unless you are going to eat a cs, ts (with desert) and snack EVERY day it doesn't pay. We seldom get desert with dinner and don't always get a snack during the day.

Also with DDP you have to make it to you meal. We don't like to be so tied to a meal. If we miss a ts dinner, oh well we just get a cs. If we were on the ddp we would have to make that ts or it would cost us more money.

All in all, TiW ends up being cheaper for us, but do the math.

 

[bumbershoot]

It is mainly for TS but there are a few places in AK that take it I think and most of the lounges honor it.

Also the food courts at the Values.

 

[purple figment]

TIW... is good for 1 year & to the end of the month (if you get it on Nov 1, it's good until Nov 30 of the following year).

Actually you can get it any day in November and it'll be good until Dec 31 of the following year. TIW is valid for a minimum of 13 months.

 

[travelfanatic]

Love my TIW card! We have used it more times than I can count. It has certainly paid for it sell several times over & saved us a ton of money!

 

[mountdew1]

A good rule of thumb, if the park or resort doesn't have a WDW owned and operated TS location, the CS locations will take it. There are obviously a few differences, but as a few PPs have posted the list, no need to go through it again. Is it better for you? In many cases yes, but do the math. Take the menus, and figure out how much each meal will cost you. Realistically what you would eat, not what you eat to maximize the benefits of the dining plan. Then add it all up, and see how much you spend. If you normally tip 18%, then the break even point is $375. If you tip 15%, then the breakeven is closer to $400. A party of 4 can easily breakeven in 4 sit down meals. If you over lap trips, just like you can with an AP, you will end up coming out even better. I think I got 4 trips out of the last card. And two of these trips were at resorts where the food court accepts TiW, so we made out quite well indeed.

 

[goofy4tink]

I have used both. I have always had a TiW card. Each and every trip, I sit and decide where I will be eating. I've been to WDW enough that I know how we'll eat at each restaurant. So, it's easy to compare costs.
I list the costs for each day of our stay foodwise. I make a list, which includes our meal cost as well as the expected tip.
Then, I list out each day's food costs using the DDP...don't forget to add in the tips though. Add the total tip cost to the total DDP cost.

With the DDP, I figure it's going to be the same as eating without the tip. I normally tip at 18%, and the TiW card gives me a 20% discount, so it's pretty much a wash.

I usually end up using the TiW card each trip. But, next month we are traveling with another couple and using the deluxe ddp. It is actually cheaper to use the deluxe ddp vs the TiW discount. I keep running the figures but it still comes out the same.

 

[CindyCan]

We don't do TS at all (one dinner this trip of 12 days), and here's an example of how quickly the card can pay for itself.

5 people doing counter service - any counter service we did in the parks did not take TiW except for AK, but we stayed at Pop and ate there at least once a day. 12 days. We bought 2 cards for $125.

All the counter service discounts added up to $126. We spent $1,100 on food for 12 days.

So, the 2 cards are paid for, we got 20% off the one TS we did on top of this, and we have 2 more trips planned.

This is exactly what my math told me would happen - so do the math to figure out which works better for you! By the way - the CS dining plan would have cost us DOUBLE what we spent, and we have 3 teenagers.