It's more about the fact that I would be ruled over by the dining plan without any significant savings, if any.
If you told me I'd be saving 25% by having a dining plan I'd be like "sir, yes sir, master sergeant dining plan"!
My original plan had 3 buffets and one signature (Cape May, Boma, Biergarten, and Yachtsman). The Yachtsman definitely lost a lot of value with the 2 credits each. I think the other downfall is that we have a 10-year-old "disney adult" who does not yet have the palette of an adult diner.
~Cari~
I just did the math for an upcoming trip. It's just me, DH, and 2 yo and it adds up to $721 not counting what I'll spend on 2 yo (because either way those are OOP costs). We have 2 buffets (Chef Mickey and Biergarten) scheduled for this trip. Standard dining plan for my visit is $906. That's a $185 difference and I'd be 2 credits over on my QS allotment and 6 credits under on my TS allotment. Rearranging my plans to use these credits would mean eating somewhere I probably didn't want to eat in the first place just to use the credits.
My math is based on how we normally eat at Disney- 2 soft drinks and 1 beer/ alcoholic drink per day (total for two of us), and no desserts (we don't usually order them or sometimes we split one). Calculations include tax, but do not include tip (it is not included on DDP, that's an OOP expense no matter what). I used our snack allotment for items at F&G booths mostly, and then the 1-2 snack items we'd want in other parks.
Any scenario where I break even (spend $185 more dollars) means changing my plans just to "get my money's worth." I'd either be ordering beverages and desserts I don't want, or eating at restaurants I don't currently have in my plan, ordering things just because they're more expensive, or eating snacks I wouldn't normally be eating.
Now, if I had 2 more buffets that would nearly be the $185 difference, just to be breaking even. The bottom line is that for us, I've added up at least 4 trips now and based on how we eat we do not break even or come out ahead. If we ate differently, we probably would. I always advise anyone considering the dining plan to do the same.
We did this our first trip and we did save, but every meal was buffet/character and both our kids were under 10. We don’t do Disney that way anymore, just one character meal and now we have 3 Disney “adults”.Depends where you eat. Our trip last year we went to many character meals since we had a two year old along, however if it was just adults then I'd have to do the math. We ended up saving money since we would have eaten at those places anyway.
So I emailed my TA to remove the DDP. I plan on loading up gift cards with the money that would have gone toward the DDP, plus a bit more to be safe. Now we have the freedom to eat HOW, WHEN, and WHAT we want without restrictions... and it feels so good! Still pre-paid, but on our own terms.
We did the Deluxe Dining Plan last trip for the first time. While we really enjoyed it - it was extremely filling and we had lots of leftover credits. On that trip we just had to pay for the upgrade from Reg to Deluxe ( booked on a bounce back a few years ago). We are on free dining now but the upgrade cost would be from QS to Deluxe so it still is quite more expensive than the Reg plan. THere are 2 adults ( myself and DD23)- we decided the other day not to do deluxe and not to try and squeeze in 2TS meals this trip (even though we were really looking forward to California Grill Brunch and Dinner as well as Yachtmans). I'm still kind of 2nd guess my decision right now and I have about 2 weeks to decide before ADRS come out. It's going to be Food and Wine and I know we will want to spend a bunch of snack credits there so that's one thing that we need to consider into our plans. We wanted to take our friend out to eat when she comes to visit ( and planned to use some of our credits for that but, after reading other boards, not sure that's an option). I"m just more concerned on not using the credits and having too many remaining at the end of the trip- we wouldnt be eating three meals a day and only have about 6 2TS meals - I think we will have to revisit but think I'm just leaning towards the regular as its less than a $45 a day upgrade for the two of us, however, if we want to go to Deluxe it would then be and additional $83 dollars a day -total of almost $128 dollars at night ( and we're looking at 10 nights)- hard for me to justify the additional however, do love the availability of it and we like our appetizers and deserts.... However, it then gets the additional tip funds budgeted in so, which can add up as well. thanks for letting me chime in and ramble..... thinking we will probably stay with Reg but still am extremely tempted by Deluxe
We do the regular DDP, and we absolutely love it. We do a lot of signature restaurants and character meals. We save quite a bit of money on it.I want to add that there is a benefit for some of us in terms of family use of credits. Our last trip we treated my newly married nieces and they were a bit awkward in regards to "spending" credits. Now we were ahead of the game because we had FD and no matter which way from Sunday I tried to manipulate any of the other discounts that came available, we just could not touch this one. Anyway, they started out looking at prices, and no gift card woudl have changed that, but telling them that their credits were theirs, and the only thing we asked was that they try to record the amount on the slip for my numbers loving daughter. At first they thought that a sandwich and beverage from Starbucks was not a "good use" or collecting some tinned Disney mints for gifting with the snack credits was not okay, but once they got past that, meals were fn for them, and not a guilt ridden thing. You see, when you make decisions regarding plans or no plans, one of the intangible things some of us must account for is our family dynamic. Looking at prices moves two ways. Some of us would only order the most expensive items if on a plan, but others whiteout a plan might not get past the cost. i am one of those people. After two days I am stuck on the prices, and can only see the meter running up and up. DH insists on a plan, especially if he is not with us, so he knows DD and I are not including cost into our dining decisions. On the trip with my nieces, had we used the gift card thing, they would never have ordered what they wanted, and would not have enjoyed any of the "extra" snack options for gift giving. The gift cards would have been returned fully loaded.
I never ridicule how any family tours, especially when they are factoring their dining preferences into the planning, because I know that we are all individuals with our own quirks. I have often discussed my DH and what he asks for vs what he means. DD calls him "Princess" when we tell him our vacation plans because we know that he reallly does not meal he wants motel 6 and a salami sandwich on vacation. He wants a monorail resort, Castle view. Three hot meals. Not three meals, but TS breakfast, lunch at a hot dog stand or burger joint, and an awesome dinner. Other folks I know are not happy unless they have a granola bar for breakfast, pack their PB&J sandwiches in a backpack to be enjoyed under a tree, and dinner at a lounge with wings and a beer. These decisions are often based on more than overall cost, and that also should be respected.
For sure, there are some cases where it really does work out. I went with just DS who was only 8 at the time. We added two nights to a school trip after they all went home. With the 2 nights room only we added the dining plan (to make it a ticketless package). We then used those credits to do two buffets: Cape May & Biergarten. The two nights worth of credits meant 2 refillable mugs, 4 QS lunches, 4 Buffets (with an alcoholic drink at both), and 8 snacks. The total cost for the plan was $202 (DS was still a disney child). That basically just paid for the buffets and the rest was "free".We do the regular DDP, and we absolutely love it. We do a lot of signature restaurants and character meals. We save quite a bit of money on it.
We are going to Disneyland in April and I am freaking out because they don’t have DDP. We have gift cards and credit cards with available balances, but I am really afraid that we will run out of money or not relax and eat whatever we want because we are counting every dollar. On DDP, we order whatever we want. I prefer not to worry on vacation.
I understand that it isn’t a savings for some, but for us, it’s a great deal.
OP here... I should title this post, "Why we are ADDING the DDP back on!!!"
In talking with my very wise mother, but not realizing that she was so right until several hours later, I realized that I can add the DDP to the beginning of my split stay. This means ONE night of dining plan. So, $75.49 x 3 = $226.47. We get mugs and Cape May dinner paid for by the plan (which were were going to pay OOP for anyway). Then 3 QS, 6 alcoholic/specialty drinks with meals, and 6 snacks basically for free.
And THAT'S how it's done. OOP for everything else.
It kind of makes me think that we should ALWAYS do a one night with DDP (or deluxe) split stay before the rest of our trip.I always do this if we have a one night split stay at the beginning of our trip. We add on the Deluxe dining plan for that one night and we schedule meals where we really like the apps, entrees, and dessert, so usually one signature meal and another TS meal, it works out even better if there is a festival going on and we can burn snack credits at the booths. Otherwise, none of the dining plans work for how we like to eat, they are way too restrictive for us, and I don't want to feel restricted on vacation.