GillianP1301
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2012
I am just back from a 9 night stay at YC (was 10 nights, but came home 1 day early due to Dorian). I wanted to do a detailed analysis of my experiment to pay OOP for all meals (I'm a fan of the dining plan and have always used it, usually deluxe).
A bit of scenario setting info:
- We are a party of 2, 1 adult and one 11 year old (adult for the sake of dining at Disney).
- Room discount offer was cheaper than the free dining offer, so my options were to purchase a dining plan or to pay for all meals out of pocket.
- When I first booked/planned my trip, I had the deluxe dining plan (DxDP). We tend to eat 2 - 3 meals a day and prefer most to be table service (TS).
- I downgraded to the regular dining plan (DDP) and eventually to no dining plan at all and paying all meals out of pocket (OOP). Each time I changed the dining plan option, I did not change any of our meal plans. In other words, I planned for exactly the same number of meals and same restaurants paying OOP as I did when I was DxDP.
- My primary goal was not to eat as cheaply as possible. There are many ways to save money on dining while at Disney (eating grocery store snacks in room for breakfast, sharing meals,etc...) None of that was in my plan and my experience does not fall into that category.
- My trip was originally 10 nights, it got shortened to 9 nights due to hurricane, so all my math is based on a 9 night stay (since Disney refunded me the 10th night anyway).
- We had 1 meal that was OOP and would have been regardless since it's not on the dining plan (Shula's), so I'm excluding that from my numbers. For those curious, that meal cost us $151.23 + $28 tip.
- I am not including tips in my calculation since those are not covered by the dining plan and would have been the same whether on plan or not. For the total trip, we spent $255 on tips.
- I had 4 Early Morning Magic events booked outside of the dining plan and they each came with breakfast. That contributed to me needing less dining credits.
Now for the numbers:
Cost of DDP would have been $1358 and we would have had a total of 18 TS credits, 18 QS credits, 36 snacks, 2 refillable mugs
Cost of DxDP would have been $2092 and we would have had a total of 54 TS credits, 36 snacks, 2 refillable mugs
By the end of our trip we had spent a total of $1676.83 which was made up of 8 TS restaurants (5 of which were character meals), 5 signature restaurants, 4 QS restaurants, 24 snacks and 2 refillable mugs. Translated to credits that would be:
36 TS
8 QS
24 snacks
2 mugs
If I had used the DxDP, I would have had 10 TS credits and 12 snack credits left unused and I would've had no OOP expenses. Plan cost less the total of what I paid OOP = $140 savings by not buying the DxDP.
If I had used the DDP, I would have had to pay for 18 credits worth of TS meals OOP, had 10 unused QS and 12 snacks left over. Plan cost + cost of meals not covered by the plan less the total of what I paid OOP = $268 savings
What does this all mean? My experiment to pay all OOP showed me that I spend less on dining that way than I do when I pay for a dining plan. Even with several character meals and a lot of meals ordering one of the most expensive meals (we ate a lot of filet mignon!), I still spent less paying OOP. I did find that on the odd occasion I did skip dessert or ordered an appetizer instead of an entree, we even shared 1 meal. None of those things would have happened on a dining plan. I definitely did not need as many credits as I would have had on the DxDP.
Worth noting that I did not maximize the use of my credits, but I'm assuming that even if I had used up more credits, the ratio of savings for each meal would've averaged out to still have overall savings. My goal was to eat what and when I wanted regardless of being on the plan or not, so maximizing the credits was not my main goal.
Conclusion: Unless a free dining promo saves me more than a room discount, I will always pay OOP for all my dining now.
A bit of scenario setting info:
- We are a party of 2, 1 adult and one 11 year old (adult for the sake of dining at Disney).
- Room discount offer was cheaper than the free dining offer, so my options were to purchase a dining plan or to pay for all meals out of pocket.
- When I first booked/planned my trip, I had the deluxe dining plan (DxDP). We tend to eat 2 - 3 meals a day and prefer most to be table service (TS).
- I downgraded to the regular dining plan (DDP) and eventually to no dining plan at all and paying all meals out of pocket (OOP). Each time I changed the dining plan option, I did not change any of our meal plans. In other words, I planned for exactly the same number of meals and same restaurants paying OOP as I did when I was DxDP.
- My primary goal was not to eat as cheaply as possible. There are many ways to save money on dining while at Disney (eating grocery store snacks in room for breakfast, sharing meals,etc...) None of that was in my plan and my experience does not fall into that category.
- My trip was originally 10 nights, it got shortened to 9 nights due to hurricane, so all my math is based on a 9 night stay (since Disney refunded me the 10th night anyway).
- We had 1 meal that was OOP and would have been regardless since it's not on the dining plan (Shula's), so I'm excluding that from my numbers. For those curious, that meal cost us $151.23 + $28 tip.
- I am not including tips in my calculation since those are not covered by the dining plan and would have been the same whether on plan or not. For the total trip, we spent $255 on tips.
- I had 4 Early Morning Magic events booked outside of the dining plan and they each came with breakfast. That contributed to me needing less dining credits.
Now for the numbers:
Cost of DDP would have been $1358 and we would have had a total of 18 TS credits, 18 QS credits, 36 snacks, 2 refillable mugs
Cost of DxDP would have been $2092 and we would have had a total of 54 TS credits, 36 snacks, 2 refillable mugs
By the end of our trip we had spent a total of $1676.83 which was made up of 8 TS restaurants (5 of which were character meals), 5 signature restaurants, 4 QS restaurants, 24 snacks and 2 refillable mugs. Translated to credits that would be:
36 TS
8 QS
24 snacks
2 mugs
If I had used the DxDP, I would have had 10 TS credits and 12 snack credits left unused and I would've had no OOP expenses. Plan cost less the total of what I paid OOP = $140 savings by not buying the DxDP.
If I had used the DDP, I would have had to pay for 18 credits worth of TS meals OOP, had 10 unused QS and 12 snacks left over. Plan cost + cost of meals not covered by the plan less the total of what I paid OOP = $268 savings
What does this all mean? My experiment to pay all OOP showed me that I spend less on dining that way than I do when I pay for a dining plan. Even with several character meals and a lot of meals ordering one of the most expensive meals (we ate a lot of filet mignon!), I still spent less paying OOP. I did find that on the odd occasion I did skip dessert or ordered an appetizer instead of an entree, we even shared 1 meal. None of those things would have happened on a dining plan. I definitely did not need as many credits as I would have had on the DxDP.
Worth noting that I did not maximize the use of my credits, but I'm assuming that even if I had used up more credits, the ratio of savings for each meal would've averaged out to still have overall savings. My goal was to eat what and when I wanted regardless of being on the plan or not, so maximizing the credits was not my main goal.
Conclusion: Unless a free dining promo saves me more than a room discount, I will always pay OOP for all my dining now.