Woke up in a cold sweat

[lacool]

I've never done the dining plan before ... never even considered it. Last night I woke up in the middle of the night with the realization that I've made 6 TS ADRs for our upcoming 5 night trip. I'm suddenly thinking it's foolish not to look at the numbers again.

I don't suppose anyone has developed a spreadsheet type program where you plug in your restaurant and it calculates how much you'll typically eat?

Well, if I have to work it out the old fashioned way, how much is tax on a restaurant meal in Disney these days?

 

[distips]

Having the DDP will change what you order, i.e. you'd get the steak or lobster instead of the chicken or pasta. In order to maximize a purchased DDP, you would have to avoid the 2-credit 'signature' dining restaurants. Buffets don't maximize value either, unless the 'holiday' surcharge is in effect. Then you absolutely cannot skip meals, including counter service. My guestimate is that you can squeeze and extra $10 of value for an adult dining plan per day.

But then, you'd also be eating quite a bit of food per day.

 

[squirrel]

I believe the tax is 6.5% at WDW. I think there are a few places like All-Stars that are 7%.

 

[lacool]

It really seems like a toss-up. Chances are we wouldn't each get an appetizer and dessert with every meal. But it'd be nice to order the Filet Mignon at Teppan Edo and not think twice about it. I'm torn!

 

[angelmav]

Well unless your eating at a 2 TS place, you wont be getting lobster and unless your on the deluxe you wont get an apetizer either. While the meal at Teppan Edo you mention would justify it for that one day, with all the changes to the menu's thats not likely the case everywhere else. If your not the type to want desert with every CS, wouldn't normally buy a snack for everyone each day and only have ADR's for dinner then chances are your doing better paying OOP.

 

[squirrel]

The snack credit can be used at the resort for some breakfast: cereal with small milk, bagel, muffin, pastry, etc.

I would rather bring breakfast items so that I can get good snacks with the credits.

You do get more expensive items when you are on the DDP. I used the snack credit to get Dole Whip Floats instead of the Dole Whips as they were covered in the DDP. It is nice not to have to worry about the cost of the food items.

 

[patriceo1]

There is a spreadsheet out there somewhere where someone has done all the math and figured out what restaurants you should eat at to get the most value out of the plan.

We did the Dining plan in 2007 when tips were included and loved it.

You could probably do better off without it, but not if you ate at the restaurants that are included in the plan or do the 1 credit charactr meals. I especially loved the DDP because it was paid for up front and I didn't have to worry about how much everything was costing, and when my girls asked for a treat, I didn't flinch at $4.50 for an ice cream bar.

 

[patriceo1]

Found the DDP spreadsheets. There are other, but I found this one when reading another post. I'm not allowed to post he link as I'm still have less then ten posts. (Been lurker for a few years)

Colleen27 has created it.