Dining plan worth the value?!?!?!?!

[masupo]

I’ve done the math too for our next trip and the dining plan won’t work for us. We did the dining plan once when it was free. It included an app, entree, dessert, and non alcoholic drink. We went with our 3 children. We ended up with unused counter service credits that we could trade in for 2 snack credits each. After trading them in we had something like 23 snack credits left over. On check our day our kids went bananas and brought their friends and teachers home treats. I want to say this was in 2007.

This next trip is just DH and myself. For table service we are planning on dining at California Grill (brunch), Jiko, Yachtman Steakhouse, Tusker House (breakfast), Il Mulino, Raglan Road, and Boma (breakfast) or Homecomin’. Neither Il Mulino or Homecomin’ participate in the dining plan. We are also planning on Nomad Lounge, drinks and apps around the World in Epcot, Hollywood Brown Derby Lounge, Trader Sams, and any other sort of lounges/bars that look appealing. We share at every meal, always have, and generally order a cocktail, (we don’t share these) an app or pasta as an app, a salad of some sort, an entree, and a dessert. We also like a glass or bottle of wine with dinner and maybe an after dinner drink or cappuccino. We’ll generally stay away from quick service as well.

I think the Tables in Wonderland card will work best in our situation.

I know it might not influence your decision, but Homecomin' is included in the dining plan. It's possible it wasn't on the list at the beginning of the year, but a few restaurants get added after some time goes by. I also just wanted to note it in case someone else wants to hit Homecomin' for 1 credit.

Here's a link to the DDP location list:

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/m...ld/en_us/PDF/Jan_2018_DDP_Locations_added.pdf

 

[lorilclevelandrn]

You can always search on google for Disney Dining Plan Calculator, and there are several options that will come up and you can see where you are wanting to eat and see if it works for you. I keep changing my plans doing this.

I’am glad u mentioned the DDP calculator. PLEASE HELP and don’t judge. I promise I’m not mathematically challenged, but for some reason... I cannot get the numbers add up. Do u mind helping me better understand their calculations?

My mother and I are bringing my 4 y/o on a “surprise” 5th Bday trip in September. Ultimately, I’am trying to decide if DDP is worth it considering #1 character meals and #2 my mother eats less than my daughter. Today, I threw together a very “rough” draft including restaurants I currently have reserved. If understanding correctly, I come ahead paying OOP??? Lastly, how are they getting the total cost bc when they break down the numbers and say “this is what you will pay for the plan and then, this is what u will pay OOP” the two totals added together do not equal the total estimated cost.

See example. I’m sorry.., fairly new and my images jumped to top. Help is tremendously appreciated!!!

Have a blessed day!

 

[sharonabe]

My mother and I are bringing my 4 y/o on a “surprise” 5th Bday trip in September. Ultimately, I’am trying to decide if DDP is worth it considering #1 character meals and #2 my mother eats less than my daughter. Today, I threw together a very “rough” draft including restaurants I currently have reserved. If understanding correctly, I come ahead paying OOP??? Lastly, how are they getting the total cost bc when they break down the numbers and say “this is what you will pay for the plan and then, this is what u will pay OOP” the two totals added together do not equal the total estimated cost.

See example. I’m sorry.., fairly new and my images jumped to top. Help is tremendously appreciated!!!

I have no idea how they come up with their numbers and, honestly, there's too much information for my mind to incorporate. Let me see if I can simplify for you.

If you keep all the TS you want. you would need 11 TS credits to cover them all. QSDP covers none of them. DDP only covers 4 of them (4 night stay). DxDDP will cover all of the TS plus one of your QS meals.

If you can swing the $1089.96 for the DxDDP, I doubt you'll want or need all the QS meals you have on your list. Remember, you each have 2 snacks per night to use up as well and that can fill in for those times you need a little something. Most of your TS meals are buffets or prix fix, so you're paying the same amount no matter how much anyone eats. With the DxDDP, use that extra credit for your BoG lunch and you're done. For the mornings you don't have a breakfast planned, take some cereal bars, boxes of cereal, or something easy to grab and eat while you're getting ready in the morning instead of getting a QS breakfast. If that's not your style, then breakfast OOP is pretty cheap and wouldn't add that much to the overall total.

 

[Miffy]

I just looked at the prices for the DDP. I'm working on the numbers of the regular plan, not QS, since I have a TS meal nearly every day. I believe the regular DDP costs approx. $75/day per person. I don't even have to run a spreadsheet to know that this is far more than DH and I have ever spent on meals at WDW. And we eat all our meals in the bubble. We recently returned from a week-long trip and we didn't even hit $150/day (the cost for both of us if we'd had the DDP) the day we ate at TH, which was our most expensive meal of the trip.

Everyone has to see how this would work out for them, but, for us, it's never been a good deal or even a close match to OOP.

I understand why people like having their meals paid for ahead of time (except for the tips, of course) but if the difference in what you'd spend is significant, then having something paid for ahead of time, to me, just doesn't add up. For 7 days, the DDP for 2 adults would cost (I believe I'm reading these prices correctly) $1,050--not counting tips. I don't have the receipts in front of me, but that's on the order of $300 more than we spent OOP on our recent trip. Maybe even $400 more. Including tips. That'd wreck my peace of mind pretty quickly!

 

[lorilclevelandrn]

I have no idea how they come up with their numbers and, honestly, there's too much information for my mind to incorporate. Let me see if I can simplify for you.

If you keep all the TS you want. you would need 11 TS credits to cover them all. QSDP covers none of them. DDP only covers 4 of them (4 night stay). DxDDP will cover all of the TS plus one of your QS meals.

If you can swing the $1089.96 for the DxDDP, I doubt you'll want or need all the QS meals you have on your list. Remember, you each have 2 snacks per night to use up as well and that can fill in for those times you need a little something. Most of your TS meals are buffets or prix fix, so you're paying the same amount no matter how much anyone eats. With the DxDDP, use that extra credit for your BoG lunch and you're done. For the mornings you don't have a breakfast planned, take some cereal bars, boxes of cereal, or something easy to grab and eat while you're getting ready in the morning instead of getting a QS breakfast. If that's not your style, then breakfast OOP is pretty cheap and wouldn't add that much to the overall total.

I just looked at the prices for the DDP. I'm working on the numbers of the regular plan, not QS, since I have a TS meal nearly every day. I believe the regular DDP costs approx. $75/day per person. I don't even have to run a spreadsheet to know that this is far more than DH and I have ever spent on meals at WDW. And we eat all our meals in the bubble. We recently returned from a week-long trip and we didn't even hit $150/day (the cost for both of us if we'd had the DDP) the day we ate at TH, which was our most expensive meal of the trip.

Everyone has to see how this would work out for them, but, for us, it's never been a good deal or even a close match to OOP.

I understand why people like having their meals paid for ahead of time (except for the tips, of course) but if the difference in what you'd spend is significant, then having something paid for ahead of time, to me, just doesn't add up. For 7 days, the DDP for 2 adults would cost (I believe I'm reading these prices correctly) $1,050--not counting tips. I don't have the receipts in front of me, but that's on the order of $300 more than we spent OOP on our recent trip. Maybe even $400 more. Including tips. That'd wreck my peace of mind pretty quickly!

Thank you both for the help! I agree... snacks, cereal & granola bars will work fine for us in the morning and if we need a small recharge during the day. Again, thank U!

 

[rentayenta]

I know it might not influence your decision, but Homecomin' is included in the dining plan. It's possible it wasn't on the list at the beginning of the year, but a few restaurants get added after some time goes by. I also just wanted to note it in case someone else wants to hit Homecomin' for 1 credit.

Here's a link to the DDP location list:

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/m...ld/en_us/PDF/Jan_2018_DDP_Locations_added.pdf

Thank you! I feel like sort of a ding bat because I totally spaced DH’s CM discount. I didn’t realize he gets it at WDW as well as the DLR. No dining plan for us but I see the value in it for others. We only have two meals planned where we cannot use his discount but we can use my AP/DVC discount.

 

[40ariel]

I did the math for the deluxe dining plan after our recent trip: (sorry the spreadsheet format did not copy in!)

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Total
Tusker House Buffet Rivers of Light Package Cape May Café Buffet 1900 Park Fare Buffet Garden Grill Crystal Palace Buffet Boma
Breakfast $103.52 $123.72 $121.41 $131.94 $129.93 $89.46 $699.98
Sci Fi Diner Sanaa Jungle Skipper Canteen
Lunch $- $129.93 $168.63 $164.07 $- $462.62
Boma Buffet Ohana Hoop Dee Do Musical Review Via Napoil Be Our Guest
Dinner $155.28 $178.15 $216.00 $195.25 $160.28 $- $904.96

Total $2,067.56

This total does not include snacks or drink mugs.
I paid $1561.40 for 2 adults and 2 children for 5 days on the dxdp.
We ate as a family at all the restaurants... ie. adult credits were used for adults and child credits were used for children.

 

[Hope Soda]

Based on our ADRs and likely quick service meals for our next stay (8 days), for our family of 4 (plus an infant), I calculated the dining plan as costing about $130 more than paying out of pocket. However, we are probably going to buy the dining plan anyway for a few reasons:

1) My calculations left off a couple of meals. The plans we have are for about 2 meals a day and no snacks. When we eat quick service, we usually order only 2 or 3 things to share, instead of 4 separate meals. That amount of food should be plenty for me, and usually fine for my husband, but my kids don't have the stomach capacity to go all that long between meals. That could mean as much as one additional quick service meal per day per kid (2 kids) that I did not factor in.
2) Cocoa and coffee. When we had free dining, the kids enjoyed having hot cocoa at the resort every morning (in December), and my husband doesn't become a person in the morning until after coffee. On our last trip, we said no to cocoa (we had juice boxes and water bottles we brought from home and were trying to save money). It would be nice to let them have cocoa and other snacks without worrying about how much we're spending. My husband's going to buy the coffee, dining plan or no, and that is a (minor) expense I did not include in my calculations.
3) Fudge and caramel. We had OODLES of snack and quick service credits left over when we did free dining, and we spent them on fudge and caramel, enough to provide us with dessert for over a week, and also Christmas gifts for family members. Our next trip is a little shorter, so there won't be as many credits leftover, but spending them on caramel still seems like a great idea to me...

So PROBABLY we'd come out ahead with no dining plan, since we wouldn't get a lot of Disney snacks without it. However, it's close enough that I can see the value of paying a little bit more to take home a pricey supply of Disney snacks and keep the magic going a little bit longer. I mean, we'll probably end up with 40+ snack credits to blow on caramel, and I really like caramel...

That said, on our last trip with no dining plan, we definitely came out way better than we would have with the dining plan, since we ate a lot of snacks from home, and had only two ADRs, one of which was for BOG lunch (other was Tusker House).

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I think it's worth it, but we like to do a lot of buffets and character meals, and all the adults in our party drink, and we pay for cheaper snack items OOP.

A typical day looks something like this for us;

Lunch @ Satuli Canteen Tofu Bowl $11.49
Sangria $9.50
Dinner @ Boma Dinner $43
Red Wine $10
Drink @ Starbucks $6
Specialty Cupcake $6

Total for One Day $85.99 OOP (before tax) vs. $75 for the dining plan

Obviously it may go a couple dollars difference depending on the day, and a big part of the value is alcohol, but even the days we spend less we always at least break even.

 

[Disneylover1970]

The DDP that everyone is talking about is the one Counter, one TS and two snacks per person, not the Counter Service Plan?

 

[Evermore]

The three plans are usually abbreviated QSDP, DPP, and DxDP, so yeah DDP probably refers to that.

 

[Disneylover1970]

The three plans are usually abbreviated QSDP, DPP, and DxDP, so yeah DDP probably refers to that.

Disney calculates the DDP as $75 per person per day?

 

[sharonabe]

Disney calculates the DDP as $75 per person per day?

$75.49, to be exact. That's for adults. Kids are $25.75

QSDP is $52.50 and $21.75
DXDDP is $116.25 and $39.99

 

[Summer2018]

I think it's worth it, but we like to do a lot of buffets and character meals, and all the adults in our party drink, and we pay for cheaper snack items OOP.

A typical day looks something like this for us;

Lunch @ Satuli Canteen Tofu Bowl $11.49
Sangria $9.50
Dinner @ Boma Dinner $43
Red Wine $10
Drink @ Starbucks $6
Specialty Cupcake $6

Total for One Day $85.99 OOP (before tax) vs. $75 for the dining plan

Obviously it may go a couple dollars difference depending on the day, and a big part of the value is alcohol, but even the days we spend less we always at least break even.

That looks very similar to our daily spending. We've been known to go as high as $90 a day, so we make out like bandits.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

We went in October and had the DxDDP for the first time we used other planes but wanted to try this . I saved all our receipts and added them up after we got home and we saved over $400 or more on what we ordered. so for us it was well worth it and it also made us relax a bit knowing we can order anything we wanted felt good not having to worry about prices.

We’ve done DxDP the last two trips and saved $400 each time, too. It really works for our family of signature, character meal fans. We will be doing it next week for dark side, too. We do not try to maximize by any stretch and still come out way ahead.

 

[happymomof1]

We have done both dining plan and out of pocket. As for it being a convenience.... well... either way you are purchasing food and eating food and either way you are STILL having to figure and sign for extras and gratuity. It’s not like by having the dining plan you can just waltz in and out of restaurants without checking your bill, pulling out a credit card or tapping your magic band. Sure it may feel free while you are there, but it is paid for, by you! Whether or not you choose the dining plan, you can still order a beverage, entree and dessert, because either way you have to pay for that drink, entree and dessert if that’s what you chose.

 

[happymomof1]

Disney has wonderfully themed lounges that serve very tasty and filling appetizers in super unique settings like Trader SAMs, Jock Lyndsey’s and Tiffins, and scrumptious bakeries like Le Halles and artisan glances in France pavilion. This time around I know we want to do more sharing and tasting so we will not do the dining plan. I’m looking forward to sushi, tacos and sharing a Nautilus while trying not to anger Uh-Oa!!!! Then a warm bread pudding from Tambu Lounge. Not every meal needs to be an entree, drink and dessert at one sitting. Disney world has so much to offer in way of food!!!! Yum!!!!

 

[Nana2Callie]

Can someone link a good dining plan calculator? Still on fence about dining plan - we've done in the past and do a daily character meals (I know that is too much for some, but works for us). But, would still like to run the numbers and see if we are saving any actual $'s.

 

[sharonabe]

Can someone link a good dining plan calculator? Still on fence about dining plan - we've done in the past and do a daily character meals (I know that is too much for some, but works for us). But, would still like to run the numbers and see if we are saving any actual $'s.

distripplanner.com is the one everyone talks about, but in all honesty, you'll get a much better feel if you just look at the restaurants you want to do and do your own math. There is a sticky over on the restaurant board with all current pricing for buffets and AYCTE meals. For a la carte, go see what you might order. Don't forget to look at alcoholic drinks, if that's a part of the plan, and add in 6.5% tax on a la carte pricing.

 

[Nancyg56]

Based on our ADRs and likely quick service meals for our next stay (8 days), for our family of 4 (plus an infant), I calculated the dining plan as costing about $130 more than paying out of pocket. However, we are probably going to buy the dining plan anyway for a few reasons:

1) My calculations left off a couple of meals. The plans we have are for about 2 meals a day and no snacks. When we eat quick service, we usually order only 2 or 3 things to share, instead of 4 separate meals. That amount of food should be plenty for me, and usually fine for my husband, but my kids don't have the stomach capacity to go all that long between meals. That could mean as much as one additional quick service meal per day per kid (2 kids) that I did not factor in.
2) Cocoa and coffee. When we had free dining, the kids enjoyed having hot cocoa at the resort every morning (in December), and my husband doesn't become a person in the morning until after coffee. On our last trip, we said no to cocoa (we had juice boxes and water bottles we brought from home and were trying to save money). It would be nice to let them have cocoa and other snacks without worrying about how much we're spending. My husband's going to buy the coffee, dining plan or no, and that is a (minor) expense I did not include in my calculations.
3) Fudge and caramel. We had OODLES of snack and quick service credits left over when we did free dining, and we spent them on fudge and caramel, enough to provide us with dessert for over a week, and also Christmas gifts for family members. Our next trip is a little shorter, so there won't be as many credits leftover, but spending them on caramel still seems like a great idea to me...

So PROBABLY we'd come out ahead with no dining plan, since we wouldn't get a lot of Disney snacks without it. However, it's close enough that I can see the value of paying a little bit more to take home a pricey supply of Disney snacks and keep the magic going a little bit longer. I mean, we'll probably end up with 40+ snack credits to blow on caramel, and I really like caramel...

That said, on our last trip with no dining plan, we definitely came out way better than we would have with the dining plan, since we ate a lot of snacks from home, and had only two ADRs, one of which was for BOG lunch (other was Tusker House).

It all comes down to how you want to vacation on any given trip. If you know you want o spend more on meals, or you wan to have a cocktail or beverage, and if you know snacks are in play you want to consider the DDP. If you are not going to use that aspect, you scale back. Your two variations of touring and dining styles is exactly why I always say the values of the plans are very personal.

distripplanner.com is the one everyone talks about, but in all honesty, you'll get a much better feel if you just look at the restaurants you want to do and do your own math. There is a sticky over on the restaurant board with all current pricing for buffets and AYCTE meals. For a la carte, go see what you might order. Don't forget to look at alcoholic drinks, if that's a part of the plan, and add in 6.5% tax on a la carte pricing.

Exactly