TIW or Deluxe Dining Plan?

[irunnoft]

We're going to be in WDW for 8 nights. Currently, I've added the Deluxe Dining Plan on to our DVC stay. However, I'm afraid that it's going to be way too much food! As I've got our ADRs planned out right now, we're doing a table service and a Signature dining every day. We're NOT eating three table services a day.

If I was paying out of pocket for every meal, I'd probably not do an appetizer and a dessert every time.

I know there are probably some Disboard members who have crunched the numbers already, so I thought I'd ask.

Would it be cheaper to just get the TIW card and pay out of pocket for meals or use a dining plan? If I'm paying OOP, the most I'd probably get at any meal would be either an app and an entree or an entree and a dessert. We don't drink alcohol so that doesn't factor into the equation.

Thanks, in advance, for the advice!

 

[Canadian Girl 77]

We tried TIW on our trip before last but we have returned to the dining plan. In fact, we're trying Deluxe Dining next trip. I like having it all prepaid and the discount isn't that fab.

 

[irunnoft]

The cost of the Deluxe Dining Plan for our trip would be $1727.76. Just in case that helps.

 

[vicki_c]

You really have to crunch the numbers for yourself to figure out which is cheaper - because you have to compare what your family will most likely ACTUALLY eat when you go. When I did it, out of pocket & TiW card (which we have already used a ton of times), was $100 cheaper than using the DDP for our upcoming trip.

But it's going to vary depending on the ages of your group and your eating habits.

(and I assume you know you have to have an AP or be a Florida resident to purchase the TiW card - I didn't see you mention that in your post).

 

[irunnoft]

You really have to crunch the numbers for yourself to figure out which is cheaper - because you have to compare what your family will most likely ACTUALLY eat when you go. When I did it, out of pocket & TiW card (which we have already used a ton of times), was $100 cheaper than using the DDP for our upcoming trip.

But it's going to vary depending on the ages of your group and your eating habits.

(and I assume you know you have to have an AP or be a Florida resident to purchase the TiW card - I didn't see you mention that in your post).

Yes, we will have APs when/if we purchase TIW cards. Another thought that came to me was perhaps just downgrading from DDP to regular DP.

 

[Inkmahm]

We're going to be in WDW for 8 nights. Currently, I've added the Deluxe Dining Plan on to our DVC stay. However, I'm afraid that it's going to be way too much food! As I've got our ADRs planned out right now, we're doing a table service and a Signature dining every day. We're NOT eating three table services a day.

If I was paying out of pocket for every meal, I'd probably not do an appetizer and a dessert every time.

I know there are probably some Disboard members who have crunched the numbers already, so I thought I'd ask.

Would it be cheaper to just get the TIW card and pay out of pocket for meals or use a dining plan? If I'm paying OOP, the most I'd probably get at any meal would be either an app and an entree or an entree and a dessert. We don't drink alcohol so that doesn't factor into the equation.

Thanks, in advance, for the advice!

We have had the TIW card for several years now and love it. I have crunched the numbers after the fact for several of our trips and actually used the DDP on two of our recent trips. One was 1 night booked for 5 of us and one was 3 nights for just my DH and me.

It actually comes out pretty close to break even between using TIW or DDP for us based on what we ACTUALLY ordered. But we never eat CS. We only eat TS and usually Signature Dining for at least one meal each day. We used our 3 TS credits each day for lunch and dinner, never breakfast.

I liked getting the refillable mug but I didn't really use mine. I drink water 99% of the time. My DH used his but not often. We didn't really need all the snack credits, either, as we don't eat a lot of snacks inbetween meals.

In the end, I decided we probably won't do the DDP again. The TIW card gives us a great discount. If we don't have the DDP, I won't order both appetizer and dessert most of the time. It really is too much food to eat. And I feel guilty if I just order food to take a taste and then waste it. That's just too hard for me to do, although a lot of people use the dining plan as an opportunity to do that.