Waseller77
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2005
I have been interested in eating decently at Disney without spending a fortune, so I gave this plan a try last week during a short trip. I have enjoyed the Disney Dining Plan about 5 – 6 times since its inception in 2005. At this point, it is prohibitively expensive for my family. We were amazed at the value during the first year but are far less impressed today. Being DVC owners, we’d much rather stay at a DVC resort on points than pay rack rate at a Disney hotel to receive free dining. I do believe that free dining is a good choice for some families who don’t stay using DVC or who don’t have annual passes. But given our current preference, we are looking for more affordable (yet enjoyable) dining options!
This “new” dining plan that I am trying offers more flexibility too. We will eat most if not all breakfasts in our room, bring bottled water with us for a counter service drink, and even share meals if we are not that hungry. The Disney Dining Plan doesn’t offer us that cost-saving flexibility.
I do have an annual pass so I will use Tables in Wonderland. The cost is $75. I will use this pass for about 22 meals at Disney over the course of a year (well, 13 months), so it cost me roughly $3.41 per meal ($75/22) or $10.23 for this trip. I have underlined the meals where Tables in Wonderland was used.
Trip #1 (4 nights):
Last week my friend and I stayed at the Boardwalk Villas from Wed night through Sunday afternoon. And although I own at the Boardwalk, we rented points as we are out for the year. Our 4 night stay Wed-Sun was $506 (46 points for a standard view studio at $11/point).
We ate a counter service (or equivalent) and table service meal each full day there. As a comparison, adding the regular dining plan to our DVC stay would have cost $208 + ~$20 in tips =$228 per adult. You’ll see that we did enjoy the Food & Wine booths for 2 meals. I am considering these counter service meals, but had I been on the dining plan, each item would have been a snack. I could have used 4 snacks, but I would have been 3 snacks short for my lunch on Sunday and have been “forced” to use a counter service credit (or paid out of pocket) instead.
Thurs-
Lunch: Pecos Bill, Taco Salad $9.19
Dinner: Il Mulino (Swan), Tortellini alla Panna (with water and bread) $15 (I had a restaurant.com certificate that takes $25 off 2 entrees. Unfortunately, there aren’t any more available at this time, although I keep looking!)
Fri-
Lunch: Brown Derby, Cobb Salad (with water and bread) $15.50
Dinner: Food & Wine Booths – Canada Filet & Cheese soup / Greece Spanikopita and Greek Salad $17.50
Sat-
Lunch: Pizzafari, Veggie Pizza and Caesar Salad $8.13
Dinner: The Plaza, Cheese Steak w/fries and Soda $15.41
Sun-
Lunch: Food & Wine Booths - Italy Ravioli, France Chicken/Macaroni, Greece Greek Salad $14
TOTAL: $10.23 (TIW) + Above Meals = $104.96
With these meals, I ate for about ½ the cost of the dining plan. Granted, I ate 1 less Table Service meal than the plan would have provided and I also did not eat any snacks on my plan. That would have been more food than I would have wanted.
I am going to keep track over the course of the 13 months with my Tables in Wonderland discount to see how much we end up spending on dining. Will we end up going back to primarily counter service meals and eating in our room due to the cost? I am looking forward to finding out!
This “new” dining plan that I am trying offers more flexibility too. We will eat most if not all breakfasts in our room, bring bottled water with us for a counter service drink, and even share meals if we are not that hungry. The Disney Dining Plan doesn’t offer us that cost-saving flexibility.
I do have an annual pass so I will use Tables in Wonderland. The cost is $75. I will use this pass for about 22 meals at Disney over the course of a year (well, 13 months), so it cost me roughly $3.41 per meal ($75/22) or $10.23 for this trip. I have underlined the meals where Tables in Wonderland was used.
Trip #1 (4 nights):
Last week my friend and I stayed at the Boardwalk Villas from Wed night through Sunday afternoon. And although I own at the Boardwalk, we rented points as we are out for the year. Our 4 night stay Wed-Sun was $506 (46 points for a standard view studio at $11/point).
We ate a counter service (or equivalent) and table service meal each full day there. As a comparison, adding the regular dining plan to our DVC stay would have cost $208 + ~$20 in tips =$228 per adult. You’ll see that we did enjoy the Food & Wine booths for 2 meals. I am considering these counter service meals, but had I been on the dining plan, each item would have been a snack. I could have used 4 snacks, but I would have been 3 snacks short for my lunch on Sunday and have been “forced” to use a counter service credit (or paid out of pocket) instead.
Thurs-
Lunch: Pecos Bill, Taco Salad $9.19
Dinner: Il Mulino (Swan), Tortellini alla Panna (with water and bread) $15 (I had a restaurant.com certificate that takes $25 off 2 entrees. Unfortunately, there aren’t any more available at this time, although I keep looking!)
Fri-
Lunch: Brown Derby, Cobb Salad (with water and bread) $15.50
Dinner: Food & Wine Booths – Canada Filet & Cheese soup / Greece Spanikopita and Greek Salad $17.50
Sat-
Lunch: Pizzafari, Veggie Pizza and Caesar Salad $8.13
Dinner: The Plaza, Cheese Steak w/fries and Soda $15.41
Sun-
Lunch: Food & Wine Booths - Italy Ravioli, France Chicken/Macaroni, Greece Greek Salad $14
TOTAL: $10.23 (TIW) + Above Meals = $104.96
With these meals, I ate for about ½ the cost of the dining plan. Granted, I ate 1 less Table Service meal than the plan would have provided and I also did not eat any snacks on my plan. That would have been more food than I would have wanted.
I am going to keep track over the course of the 13 months with my Tables in Wonderland discount to see how much we end up spending on dining. Will we end up going back to primarily counter service meals and eating in our room due to the cost? I am looking forward to finding out!
. They just priced us right out of eating out at a sit down location every night. We'll use our 10% AP discount wisely were availabe and continue to eat at some of our favorite counter service locations.
