Thinking about not doing the dining plan...but not sure it makes sense

[goofy4wdw2]

We're going during Food and Wine Festival, staying DVC so we don't get free dining. We've been doing the DDP the last few times and usually have a few CS leftover, but I think mostly because we eat so many TS we are so full. This time we're thinking of only doing 4 TS for 9 nights...trying to cut costs and also increase flexibility in our itinerary (less scheduled meal time, so we can eat quicker CS when we want). Our youngest (DS will be just shy of 2 when we go) is not very patient for TS yet, so long meals aren't relaxing anyway...so the 4 TS would be character buffets. Our other child (DD4) doesn't eat much but can't really share or eat snacks here and there b/c she has celiac and will need specially prepared meals at CS places...no problem in Disney. So when we calculate the cost of the 4 TS (Chef Mickey's dinner, 1900 Park Fair dinner, 'Ohana breakfast, and Crystal Palace breakfast) with tax/gratuity compared to the DDP (plus added gratuity on the 9 TS we'd do if on DDP), it's a $560 difference. Then I estimated $30/CS place (2 adult CS choices plus DD's gluten free meal that DS can share)...2 times per day when we don't have a TS, 1 per day when we do have a TS (we'll either eat breakfast in the room with the kids or DH and I will grab a snack/pastry for breakfast) plus snacks (going during Food & Wine Festival), we'd only save about $100 not doing the DDP or maybe only break even. I thought we'd save a lot not doing the DDP if we only did 4 TS. Does anyone have any thoughts, suggestions??

 

[Faldred]

Basic DDP does not sound like a good fit in your case.

Have you considered the QSDP? If you're going to be using a lot of CS meals, this may wind up being useful (you'll want to run the numbers, of course), and the 2 snack credits/pp/night would be quite useful at the F&W festival...