TIW or dining plan?

[SecretPoohLove]

We will be heading home to BLT for the first time this November and will be a party of 7. (4 adults, 2 over 10 and 1 infant). Does it make more sense to get the dining plan for all of us, or for my husband and I to get APs and a TIW card. Does the TIW discount apply to everyone in our party for dining or only the AP holders? Any guidance would be appreciated!

 

[skelooch]

Only one needs to get an AP to have a TIW card. And it will cover everyone in your party. You will probably recoup the cost of the card ($75) in one trip.
I use mine all the time even for a quick drink or two at the bar. They do add 18% gratuity to every check.

 

[BrettS]

The TIW card gives you (and up to 9 others in your party) a 20% discount on food and drinks at most table service restaurants and a *very* limited number of counter service restaurants. If you're planning to do a lot of counter service (or even one counter service and one table service each day) then you're probably better off with the dining plan. If you're going to do mostly table service then the TIW card might be better for you.

 

[dianeschlicht]

For us, the TIW is a no-brainer! We find we spend much less using the TIW card than we do when we buy DDP. We wont be using DDP ever again.

 

[cel_disney]

I havent finished all of the math yet (mainly cause we dont have our ADRs yet and I need to know whether to base things off lunch vs. dinner menus), but for our trip in December which is just 2 adults and 1 child - we think we are going to switch to the TIW card.

The main reason is that we much prefer to have appetizers than deserts and we plan to try House of Blues which is not on the dining plan I dont think but is on the TIW plan...

If you plan to go back to Disney again within a year - getting an AP and TIW card is probably a no-brainer...If you are not planning to go back within a year, you should do all of the math out.

Make your ADRs, review menus and see if you break even. If you think that the 10 year olds would split a meal or order an appetizer in lieu of a meal - you may not get the value out of the DDP that you would want...but if they eat like horses - it could be a totally different story!!

With a party of 7 - you will be paying the 18% gratuity no matter what for TS (DDP or TIW)..

 

[Sandisw]

We are running the math to see if maybe we will forgot the DDP starting in and instead go with TIW.

We plan to make our yearly trips 51 weeks apart so we get two trips out of one pass. We just figured out we would have to only do 3 TS meals to break even, based on three of us going, the restaurants we would probably choose, and the meals/drinks we would have.

Since we will be going 6 nights every year, we figure the first year breaks us even, and the 2nd year is when we begin to save money using the card. Now, what we need to do is compare what our OOP costs will be compared to the DDP and go from there.

We are not big TS meal eaters and would never do more than the 3 so in the long run, we will see. I am reading rumors that the 2011 plan will eliminate the dessert so if that happens, it will definitely devalue it to the point where we won't get it anyway.

 

[disney ny]

I am trying to figure out this one myself and was hoping someone might have a spredsheet or something to help see which is the better value. I think it will involve a whole lot of math and guessing as to what we might eat.......

 

[skelooch]

HOB does take TIW

 

[jkfreeman33]

Keeping my eye on the responses on this thread. I was just looking into which would be better for our party of 6 in Oct.

 

[nolanboys]

Keeping my eye on the responses on this thread. I was just looking into which would be better for our party of 6 in Oct.

That's what I'm doing. We're going again in March with the kids, so I thought we could get two uses out of TIW. Already have 2 TS meals for this Oct. with DH. Don't understand that Jiko costs 2 TS when their prices are about the same as Sanaa. That's why I think we're leaning with TIW. We know we'll be drinking some wine and don't really want all those desserts. Feel like we have better control with TIW and we can use it again in March for a character meal and one nice dinner (for 6 of us, 20% off is big).

 

[disney ny]

Ok I am going to tackle this!! I am making a speadsheet (using those limited Excel skills I learned in college) to try and figure this out. I need three things if anyone can help me out. First I need to know what the tax is at Disney on food and then do they take off the TIW discount pre-tax or post-tax? And does the 18% get calculated off of the total + tax or just the total of food and beverage. If any of you TIW or foodie experts can help me out I may be able to make us something that can help. Thanks!!

 

[PEANUT1]

We have done the dining plan 4 times and loved it each time.

This upcoming trip, we are doing TIW...I did the math, and feel that for our needs, the TIW will come out a little cheaper for us. I am excited to not have the limitations of the dining plan..I can order whatever I want and don't have to worry about using all of our credits. We are also planning to do a couple of places that are not on the dining plan.

I think either way is a win win....just depends on what you feel like doing.

 

[Snow Shoe]

We've used the TWI and the Disney Dining card before that for many years. They have always paid for themselves by our trips 4th or 5th day. There's beemn several years where trips overlap the cards experation dates and saves us even more dollars. We also eat at seveal signature restraunts during our stays, and the TWI card works the same without any extra deductions, dining credits, be taken as does the DDP for these same places. For our family, TWI works great.

 

[exwdwcm]

i've started to run the math for us too. the TIW card is a much better deal for us. We have had free dining twice (before we purchased DVC) and while it was great, i wouldn't pay for it. We wasted so much food and felt like we HAD to use all the meals, and we ended up wasting a lot of time eating when we would have liked to be doing something else.

i looked at the menus and just ballparked prices for what i think we will get probably and did the calculations with TIW for our party of 5 (4 adults, one child) and we will probably save $150 total for 7 sit down meals, which of course more than pays for the card. Compared with the dining plan, it was a BIG savings when you look at what we would actually eat and normally order (not ordering dessert everytime etc.). Plus we will go back in October 2011, and will get even more use out of the card then too.

 

[disney ny]

Ok everyone- I did it. I made a spreadsheet to help me do the math!! Basically you kind of guess at what the total amount spent on food and beverage would be for each place and then the speadsheet does the rest. It calculates tip, tax etc. and then the discount. I even created a second worksheet on it if I want to calculate closer how much food, drink etc. is for a specific place. You can get all the menus and prices at allears.net. I don't know how to attach a document so if anyone wants the spreadsheet you can send me a pm with your email and I will send it! You can also compare that to the cost of the DDP but I did not go into that. Just wanted to see how much TIW would save me.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

I have spent hours wrestling with this.

Our family is me, DH, and DS14. DS is tiny. He eats very little and hardly ever finishes a child's portion.

We looked at the counter service dining plan. The ONLY way to come out ahead on that is to ALWAYS spend a minimum of $12 on CS meals and ALWAYS use snack credits at the max value of $4 each. OK, not for us.

Basic DDP. We like appetizers, and we like signature dining. By the time we factor in tips, appetizers, and needing double credits for dinners it is such a huge inconvenience it's not worth it.

Deluxe DDP. We had this for about a week of our 2008 trip. OMG! We lost SOOOO much money! Back then the plan was $70 per person, per day. So $210 per day, plus tips. We were spending at least $60 per day to tip on a buffet breakfast and a signature dinner. I realized there is NO WAY we would spend $270 per day on food with the TIW card. Heck, there is no way we would spend that much on food WITHOUT the TIW card! It was INSANE!

Our upcoming trip is split 2 nights in a regular room, 13 nights in a villa. I tried up, down, and backwards to get ANY of the dining plans to make sense for us and I couldn't do it.

 

[dmoore22]

Like many of the PPs we also spent a great deal of time "analyzing" the TIW vs. DDP for our trips. For us the TIW is more cost effective considering our dining habits. We enjoy appetizers and a libation which are covered with TIW and not the DDP. We generally split a desert since I no longer have the hollow leg I had as a teenager/young adult. Often times we find that we split an entree since the portions are so generous. That leaves room for desert and another libation. Since we get multiple trips out of our TIW it definitely pays for itself. It really depends on your dining habits as to whether DDP or TIW will work best for your trip.

 

[saintstickets]

We will be heading home to BLT for the first time this November and will be a party of 7. (4 adults, 2 over 10 and 1 infant). Does it make more sense to get the dining plan for all of us, or for my husband and I to get APs and a TIW card. Does the TIW discount apply to everyone in our party for dining or only the AP holders? Any guidance would be appreciated!

Here is what we did for our trip at the end of May. DW and I are going with DS-26, DD-22 and DDBF-23. Two of the three adult children are fairly picky eaters so we looked at menus for various restaurants and decided on which ones to visit. We made our ADR's and then revisited the menus and put together a list of what we might order. We then compared the bill vs the cost of DDP vs TIW and it works out this time that we went with the DDP. However, when DW and I return by ourselves after Thanksgiving, we will be eating at different restaurants, maybe wanting more appetizers and adult beverages instead of desserts and soft drinks so then the TIW will be better. All of that can be thrown out the window though if once we arrive at WDW and get a whim for something completely different!!

 

[clc053103]

We previously had dxdp on our last two trips- not only did we each eat an app and a dessert, but we paid tip on that app and dessert. I also found myself ordering filet at every dinner in an attempt to get my money's worth out of the DDP- even though I may have preferred a lighter meal of chicken or pasta. In "real life" we also would be more likely to split two apps between the 6 of us and forego dessert in favor of an ice cream treat later. So- take out the extra tip for food we really didn't need in the first place, and then consider that the TIW also discounts alcohol (we always order a bottle at dinner for the adults), we will definitely come out ahead!

And I am hoping that my pants will fit better on the trip home too- after not stuffing myself with 3 course meals!

 

[jelliott04]

I am trying to figure out this one myself and was hoping someone might have a spredsheet or something to help see which is the better value. I think it will involve a whole lot of math and guessing as to what we might eat.......

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AjAqQIr1K6fmdDdGWU84VkQyY3ppOHhlRmpoN1ZFbWc&hl=en

Jen