Tables in Wonderland vs. Disney Dining Plan

[twinklebug]

TIW I think you have to buy prior to your trip, but the money you saved on your AP could certainly reimburse you for TIW

The TIW can be bought at any point after you have your AP in hand.

 

[BeesKnees]

I forgot to address this earlier. This is the one place where only you know the answer for yourself. Personally, when I am on vacation, I ignore the right-hand column on the menu. I treat "vacation dollars" as some weird foreign currency that has no relationship to day-to-day dollars. So, I just order whatever I want, whenever I want it. Long experience has taught me about what the total will be at the end of the trip (though it does keep going up each year), and I know that at the end of it I will be able to pay the charges off in full. So, I just don't worry about it.

If you would worry about it, and it would seriously crimp your style, that's the *one* reason I can think of to go with the Plan.

We are largely the same way. I can get a little annoyed at counter service prices at times but then we seldom use them.

 

[Brian Noble]

I can get a little annoyed at counter service prices at times but then we seldom use them.

I do admit that I found the prices at the new Mexico CS place insulting given the portion size. Yes, there were three "tacos", but they were three of the smallest, saddest little tacos you've ever seen. I wouldn't have minded the $11 price tag if they were even halfway decent, but they weren't. Even if they were free, I'd grab something somewhere else in World Showcase

 

[BeesKnees]

I do admit that I found the prices at the new Mexico CS place insulting given the portion size. Yes, there were three "tacos", but they were three of the smallest, saddest little tacos you've ever seen. I wouldn't have minded the $11 price tag if they were even halfway decent, but they weren't. Even if they were free, I'd grab something somewhere else in World Showcase

Right. It is one thing to overcharge it is another for it to be so bad you feel like the CMs are probably laughing at you for being such a big sucker.

 

[dmoore22]

Not the case, only one menu, . . .

However this actually happened to us. The waiter told us that the seater had given us a DDP menu by mistake when he found we were on TIW. This was at Tony's Town Square Restaurant during Christmas week, 2009. It was really bizarre. It's not the kind of thing one forgets. Suddenly there are three cast members hovering over your table, one collecting the menus, another passing out menus, and the third explaining why they are taking and replacing your menus, all at the same time. Then apologizing profusely for the inconvenience, all at the same time. We have been given the lunch menus in place of the dinner menus and vice verse before and it was no big deal. But this time was unusual because the CM made a point of saying Disney Dining Plan menu and they made the big deal about it. We would have been non the wiser if they had not said anything other than an oops sorry we gave you the wrong menu and addressed it in a low key manner.

 

[dvcdisney]

Up until about 2 years ago, we've always been on the DDP. We have usually used most of the credits but we hated the fact that we didn't want to eat at CS restaurants and ended up eating there because we wanted to use the credits. So then we decided to get the TIW (also because we get the APs), we crunch the numbers as well and thought that it would cost about the same, but we would have more versatility with where and what we wanted to eat.

We've had 4 vacations since then and we've always spend more on the TIW but we're much happier with it. We usually like to have breakfast and dinner in TS restaurants and eat snacks in between. So, even though we end up spending more, we eat what we want and my children orders what they want. My 6 yrs old daughter is not a big eater and she hates "children-type" food, so she would sometimes just order a caesar salad from the appetizer menu or some other type of appetizer and she'd be fine. My 11 yrs old son on the other hand, eats more than all of us combined and he's small for his age. He would need to order an appetizer and main course and still be hungry. So, I guess my point is that the TIW works for my family even if it's not as cheap as the DDP.

Just to give an example, the last time we had DDP, (not including the gratuities) we spent around $1850 (which I'm sure is much more now) but with our TIW, we ended up spending $2650 for a 14 night trip for a family of 3 Adults (one of which is 11 yrs old) and 1 child. But we had what we want and we were satisfied with it.

And we usually go for 2 trips per year, so it's well worth it.

So, for us TIW is better.

 

[2disneydads]

We own a condo in FL but technically still are NJ residents (we carry NJ drivers' licenses and vote in NJ). Does anyone know what kind of proof Disney requires to buy TIW as a FL resident? We used to buy it with APs, but we gave up the APs when we bought the condo (in Palm Beach County near the water) and cut back on our visits to WDW and MCO. Could we get the FL resident rate with a copy of our deed and tax bill or utility bill? Or do I need to have a FL driver's license? (I can't get a state-issued FL resident ID card without giving up my NJ license.) Any information would be appreciated. I would not want to get a FL license just for this if I could avoid it.

Thanks!

 

[Tamar]

DDP doesn't suit our style at all. We've never done the dining plan, we are TiW people all the way. I really like that we can switch plans for the day at the drop of a hat, and don't have to worry about a dining reservation or finding a participating restaurant with room.

I can have a glass of wine (or 2) with dinner and that's covered by the discount. We can split a dessert, or go somewhere else for dessert (DH's favorite is the chocolate cake at the Beach Club Marketplace--how often do you think he'd get that if we had a free dessert or two coming somewhere else? ).

One bummer is that the Chef's Table at V&A isn't covered by TiW. In leaner days, that stopped us from even considering trying to get that ressie, but we did it once and now we're hooked. It's worth it even if we could get a 20% discount in the main DR.

 

[lugnut33]

I know this will upset a lot of people, but we are eating off-site more. When I can take my entire family (4 "adults", eventhough the kids are 14 & 11) to a really good buffet at Sweet Tomatoes and it costs us a total of around $50 as opposed to a buffet on property that will ding up a cost of around $200, I just cannot justify eating on-site anymore. The food quality is very comparable. Yeah, we will still eat some counter service because we don't want to leave the park sometimes, but even then it's not a big deal to hold off and swing by an off-site place. Plus, with DVC we always have stuff back at the villa to eat.

Also, we almost always take an afternoon break from the parks, so eating in the villa isn't a big deal.

 

[vellamint]

I still keep worrying about whether I have made the right decision in purchasing the QSDP for my family this summer. I do still intend to do 3 sit down meals anyway. I am buying TIW also because I am going two more times in the year it will be active.

I keep questioning if I have done the right thing and just cant seem to do the math lol. I think the CM said I could cancel up to 48 hours before arrival....

Sheesh....I thought I would have this all down to a science by now....

 

[Tiger926]

I totally forgot that I was subscribed to this thread, as it's been busy around here! School was officially done today, so my summer vacay has just started!

I started a thread last night mentioning how the DxDP won out for us over TIW this year. I have kids between 3-9 yrs old, who love character meals, so we are doing DxDP for 2 days. We are spreading it out over the 2 weeks we are there, and will be doing 6 character meals. With summer surcharges in effect, the DxDP was cheaper.

We are not purchasing TIW this year, as the other TS meals (1 per day, and 2 meals in our villa) we are paying cash, and using a few discounts (AP, DVC and Safari Club).

I hope everything works out with our DxDP! Happy eating, Tiger

 

[honeymo78]

We used to get Platinum and Premium pre-DVC and have used the regular DDP and DxDDP once each. The first and only time we used Deluxe, we thought Deluxe might fit us since we prefer TS over CS. We figured purchasing every entitlement at each meal it would have been about the same as using TiW. However, we discovered that DH was ordering appetizers he didn't want or trying to find something on the kids menu as an app because he felt he needed to get it. I was ordering dessert and only eating a few bites or overstuffing myself because it was so yummy. We also like to drink around World Showcase and get drinks and food at the Rose & Crown Pub instead of a full meal. Now we don't have to order things we really don't want, just to be sure we get the full value. The more we visit, the more relaxing we are making our trips. We no longer feel the need to eat 3 meals - we might sleep in and just have a late breakfast or early lunch, then dinner and later evening snacks. Our preferred habits just don't match with the dining plans. Now if they let DVC buy Premium or Platinum packages, that might change things, particularly since we were getting our money's worth out of those by using the tours and water sports - the food was just a bonus.

As long as we are getting an annual pass (going at least twice a year) we will get TiW. And now that it is good at Shula's there is even greater benefit for us.

 

[Barbydoll8]

"We own a condo in FL but technically still are NJ residents (we carry NJ drivers' licenses and vote in NJ). Does anyone know what kind of proof Disney requires to buy TIW as a FL resident? We used to buy it with APs, but we gave up the APs when we bought the condo (in Palm Beach County near the water) and cut back on our visits to WDW and MCO. Could we get the FL resident rate with a copy of our deed and tax bill or utility bill? Or do I need to have a FL driver's license? (I can't get a state-issued FL resident ID card without giving up my NJ license.) Any information would be appreciated. I would not want to get a FL license just for this if I could avoid it."


I am a FL resident and when I bought my TWI card, they asked to see my FL drivers license.

 

[rlovew]

We own a condo in FL but technically still are NJ residents (we carry NJ drivers' licenses and vote in NJ). Does anyone know what kind of proof Disney requires to buy TIW as a FL resident? We used to buy it with APs, but we gave up the APs when we bought the condo (in Palm Beach County near the water) and cut back on our visits to WDW and MCO. Could we get the FL resident rate with a copy of our deed and tax bill or utility bill? Or do I need to have a FL driver's license? (I can't get a state-issued FL resident ID card without giving up my NJ license.) Any information would be appreciated. I would not want to get a FL license just for this if I could avoid it.

Thanks!

I would guess they would ask to see the same documents as for FL resident tickets. If you look at the ticket sticky in the theme parks section of the board it should tell you. I know they have recently tightened up what they allow and I don't know what they take outside of driver's licenses now.

 

[Sammie]

It depends on so many things. Large group, multiple trips, food ordered.

Neither TIW or DDP save us money over paying out of pocket and we order what we want regardless.

DDP does make it convenient though.