DDP, TIW, OOP, DVC, Club Level, Kitchenettes - help!

[jacquellie]

I thought about dining options for our planned December 2021 holiday yesterday, did some research, then went to lie down in a darkened room. My question is, do any of you have a strategy or formula for working out what's the best way for you to go dining-wise?
We have DVC at AKL so I'm hoping to book a studio with a kitchenette for 13 nights. We don't need to eat out every meal, but I'd like to go to some dinner shows - Aloha and Hoop De Doo. Along with Jiko at AKL, these all require two table service vouchers.
To facilitate this I looked into Deluxe Dining Plan, but the thought of spending $3000 on food seems a bit obscene. Then I looked into Tables In Wonderland and thought about combining it with either Disney Dining Plan or Out Of Pocket while using the kitchenette for breakfast and maybe going Club Level for the all-day snacks. Roughly, we'd like to eat out at least once a day, counter service or table service, and do a couple of dinner shows. I'm out of my depth - any advice?

 

[Pumbaa_]

It is doubtful the dining plans will be back next year. Contract Negotiations typically take place now and finalized end of year-ish. So toss that plan out

club levels are not open now and again, highly unlikely throughout next year. All the dinner shows are also dark w cast members laid off. Unlikely to return next year either.

you have a toaster, coffee maker and a microwave In a studio. Hard to make real meals but reheating, salads, sandwiches etc.

I doubt anything resembling normalcy will return until ’22, but we will see.

 

[mrsclark]

if DDP and Club Level are options, I would still highly suggest paying OOP if your main goal is to save money. I have done the math and unless you order like the most expensive thing at every restaurant you go to, the dining plans don’t save you money. Another poster can correct me if I am wrong but I think the math gets even worse if you go to two credit restaurants. Same goes with Club Level— it is very difficult to eat enough to make up for the large price difference versus a standard room. If you plan to drink a few alcoholic beverages every day, that would probably make the math somewhat better but the price difference is hard to overcome.

Now if you prefer to prepay for your meals because you like the all inclusive feel and don’t want to think about money on vacation, then getting the dining plan and/or going club level might make sense, but from a purely dollar savings point it doesn’t.

One more point, how do you want to spend your vacation? Even though the dining plan is prepaid I have overheard arguements among families about whether they should use a snack credit on something or save it for something with a better value later. And I have seen and heard of people with so many snack credit left at the end of a trip that they are at the hotel gift shop loading up on candy to Take home so they don‘t “waste” credits. Although I love to find deals and bargains, I personally don’t want to spend my time at Disney discussing with my husband if we should use a snack credit for a popcorn or save it in case we go back to Food and Wine and use it for something like costs a couple dollars more than a popcorn, but then running the risk of having too many credits left at the end of the trip. It just seems like a tremendous waste of vacation time. If you do want to try to “beat” the system, I would highly suggest setting up a spreadsheet ahead of time to plan exactly how the credits will be used so you don’t have to spend vacation time trying to weigh the value of a credit everytime you eat a meal or get a snack.

 

[HikingFam]

People do not expect that TIW will ever come back, so I wouldn’t factor that into your calculations. Personally, we pay OOP and eat what we want (usually 1 TS per day), and it works out cheaper than a dining plan would be (plus less stress about maximizing value of the plan, feeling like we have to get a cocktail and dessert every meal, etc.). We also find we like to order pizza or Ubereats a few nights when we are feeling too tired to go anywhere. The fact that it is cheaper is a bonus.

 

[starry_solo]

Pay OOP.

We stay in DVC studios. To save money, we sometimes have breakfast in the room. Cereal, oatmeal, bagels, toast. Not every day but most days if we didn't have breakfast ADRs (we like Mickey waffles, mainly, but those disappear after an hour or so). Plus, if we sleep in, we just want something small before we head to the park for a lunch ADR.

Sometimes we come back for a mid-day rest and eat sandwiches. Again, not every day.

 

[jacquellie]

It is doubtful the dining plans will be back next year. Contract Negotiations typically take place now and finalized end of year-ish. So toss that plan out

club levels are not open now and again, highly unlikely throughout next year. All the dinner shows are also dark w cast members laid off. Unlikely to return next year either.

you have a toaster, coffee maker and a microwave In a studio. Hard to make real meals but reheating, salads, sandwiches etc.

I doubt anything resembling normalcy will return until ’22, but we will see.

 

[jacquellie]

Oh thanks Pumbaa - very informative - but now I'm sure I want to go at all! I figured at the very end of 2021, into January 2022 we'd be getting back to almost normal, but like you say, who knows?! Hmmmm

 

[Pumbaa_]

Normal won’t return, imho, until we have a vaccine and it is available to everyone. Until then, masks for all

 

[karen4546]

I thought about dining options for our planned December 2021 holiday yesterday, did some research, then went to lie down in a darkened room. My question is, do any of you have a strategy or formula for working out what's the best way for you to go dining-wise?
We have DVC at AKL so I'm hoping to book a studio with a kitchenette for 13 nights. We don't need to eat out every meal, but I'd like to go to some dinner shows - Aloha and Hoop De Doo. Along with Jiko at AKL, these all require two table service vouchers.
To facilitate this I looked into Deluxe Dining Plan, but the thought of spending $3000 on food seems a bit obscene. Then I looked into Tables In Wonderland and thought about combining it with either Disney Dining Plan or Out Of Pocket while using the kitchenette for breakfast and maybe going Club Level for the all-day snacks. Roughly, we'd like to eat out at least once a day, counter service or table service, and do a couple of dinner shows. I'm out of my depth - any advice?

Since you have DVC @ AKV then I am sure you now the likelihood of getting 13 nights in a CL studio are very slim. But, if CL is back and you are able to book CL then I would do that. I love CL @ AKL. The breakfast is more than filling, the afternoon tea is great, and the light dinner is always very delicious. IF you drink beer, wine, milk, soda, etc. Then CL is also great for that.

Who knows if dining plans will be back but usually if you calculate the cost of meals versus dining plans then usually paying OOP is better-UNLESS you have kids under 10 - in that case, the Dining plans are a good value because of the prices of buffets and dinner shows for children. If you have children who are picky eaters or 10-12 year olds who don't eat much then the dining plans are not a great value. Dining plans are really just a convenience.

You can have groceries delivered to your resort. Instead of getting CL you may look @ 1br value for the same number of points as CL studio and then you will have a full kitchen-larger refrigerator with freezer compartment. The Jimmy Dean breakfast scrambles are convenient and use real egg (inlcuded).

We have the TIW card and use it now that we own DVC. But, if we take our grandchildren we may get the dining plans because we do a few character meals (but who know when and if they will all be back).

The Deluxe dining plan IMO is never a good bargain. It is very difficult to use all those credits up and to really make use of it then you need to eat @ mostly sit down restaurants and that takes up so much time.

Since in your post you say you want to eat out at least once a day @ either counter or table service and a couple of dinner shows then I would say IF the dining plans come back then the regular dining plan that has 1 counter, 1 table and 2 snacks would work best. you could use all your counters for your one meal and you table service credits for your HDDMR and spirt of aloha. TIW is not accepted at many counter service locations and since Disney is pushing mobile orders the CMs act like you are being a jerk if you ask to order at the register-which you have to do to get your discount @ FlameTree BBQ. I don't know if they are selling TIW at this time.

I will say this also, IF they bring back room service, breakfasts are really convenient. You can order a pot of coffee, pastry basket, a couple of kids meals and feed 4 people easily.

 

[Faldred]

Ok, throwing out the discussion of what will likely be true for 2021 specifically, and looking ahead to the resumption of some kind of normalcy (and assuming dining plans will work or more less similarly to the way they have done in recent past), one thing to consider is breaking that 13-night stay into multiple smaller consecutive stays if you wanted to do a mix of various options.

That way, you could include a dining plan for part of your trip, without having to add the full cost for all 13 nights. The drawbacks would be having to plan to use all of those credits within a specific time window and the risk of having to move from unit to unit as there's no guarantee you'll get the same unit for each of the consecutive stays.

For a simple example, book 5 nights no dining plans, 3 nights with DxDP, and 5 nights no dining plan. You'd have 4 days to use the 3 nights worth of DxDP credits ("check in" day for the second stay until midnight following the last night of that stay), which would be pretty easy if you're including signature meals and/or dinner shows. And unlike basic DDP, it's relatively easy to save money on DxDP as long as you use all of the credits for table service. And hey, the refill mug will actually still be good for the rest of your stay should you care to use it.

 

[KPeterso]

We do OOP. With our APs or DVC, we get a 10% discount at many of the restaurants (not all though). We order bagels, yogurt, cereal, and bananas for breakfasts in the room. We then usually do lunch as our big meal of the day around 2:30-3 PM (if dining in the park) or early dinner 5-5:30 PM (if dining in a resort). We then have a bunch of snacks in the room (cheese and crackers, chips and dip, cheez-its, goldfish) for days we have a late lunch for an evening snack. Or we go get ice cream bars at one of the resort shops. For days we do dinner, we will often split a counter service for lunch in the parks and then get ice cream or popcorn as a snack. We definitely come out way ahead of the DDP.

 

[sharonabe]

My question is, do any of you have a strategy or formula for working out what's the best way for you to go dining-wise?

The BEST way is to first decide where you want to eat. Choose your restaurants, both TS and QS, and then take a look at whatever menus you can find and get a rough idea of what you might order. Once you have that information, just DO THE MATH and see what works best for you.

 

[happymommy]

To reiterate Pumbaa’s comments, dining plans are unlikely in 2021 to return (if they do in the future, no one knows). Same for Club Levels, no dates have been announced for them to return and not likely next year, same for dinner shows.

I’d just plan on booking meals for TS that you desire, paying out of pocket, and not counting on TIW either.

 

[Crazyhorse]

You have to take any info you read regarding dining plans and club level for 2021 with grains of salt. To date, there has been little to no official communications from Disney regarding either. So...maybe under promise and hope they deliver one or both prior to the end of 2021. These plans are HUGE money makers for Disney...they want them back as soon as it's safe to do so. It's all about the $$$$. Stay safe everyone!

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

I thought about dining options for our planned December 2021 holiday yesterday, did some research, then went to lie down in a darkened room. My question is, do any of you have a strategy or formula for working out what's the best way for you to go dining-wise?
We have DVC at AKL so I'm hoping to book a studio with a kitchenette for 13 nights. We don't need to eat out every meal, but I'd like to go to some dinner shows - Aloha and Hoop De Doo. Along with Jiko at AKL, these all require two table service vouchers.
To facilitate this I looked into Deluxe Dining Plan, but the thought of spending $3000 on food seems a bit obscene. Then I looked into Tables In Wonderland and thought about combining it with either Disney Dining Plan or Out Of Pocket while using the kitchenette for breakfast and maybe going Club Level for the all-day snacks. Roughly, we'd like to eat out at least once a day, counter service or table service, and do a couple of dinner shows. I'm out of my depth - any advice?

It's definitely complicated to figure it all out. I've made several spreadsheets about it and what I do is just enter what we would normally eat, price it all out with menus on Allears, and calculate cost of dining plan. DDP is never worth it for us since about 2011-2012 with the price increases. TIW has been great in the past, especially because you have such a long trip. Since HDDR requires prepayment (maybe Spirit of Aloha does too, I've just never done it), it's easier to "budget" since those are already paid for by the time you get there. I have a family of 4 and I budget about $500-600 a day for food, Lyft, and spending money

 

[ShouldBeWriting]

I have little experience and am mostly on these forums to learn from other people. I just registered and am trying to get my 10 posts in! Haha. Anyway, we traveled to AKL in March 2020 (the week before covid changed everything), and we did the DDP. I found it to be nice on the one hand, because I didn't have to worry about the kids begging for snacks and because we booked some "fancier" character meals than we maybe otherwise would have. At the same time, though, there were many meals at the parks that we probably would have preferred to just pay OOP so we could enjoy more time on rides instead of waiting in line or sitting to eat. Idk if plans will be back in 2022, but if they are we are seriously debating whether we want to get one.
That said, we did bring a decent number of snacks in our daypack, and I will definitely do that again. That plus cereal in the hotel so we could get to the parks before rope drop!

 

[Dakota731]

It is doubtful the dining plans will be back next year. Contract Negotiations typically take place now and finalized end of year-ish. So toss that plan out

club levels are not open now and again, highly unlikely throughout next year. All the dinner shows are also dark w cast members laid off. Unlikely to return next year either.

you have a toaster, coffee maker and a microwave In a studio. Hard to make real meals but reheating, salads, sandwiches etc.

I doubt anything resembling normalcy will return until ’22, but we will see.

According to Disney dining plans will be back soon - I’m predicting by the end of the summer!!

 

[Pumbaa_]

Since my quoted post was nov of ‘20 I was not wrong. Until all restaurants are open, and the dining plan contracts negotiated, there is no dining plan. I’m sure it will be back at some point. Highly doubtful for this year.

 

[dvc lover 1970]

13 nights is a long time. Butbremember you would need to book the dining plan for entire reservation so not sure that is worth it either from the sounds of your plans. If you do the dining plan ibwould do the regular dining, deluxe is way too much food. That will cover all your quick serves and you can double up on tables servicr meals. I usually pay cash for cheapest meals then double on the more expensive ones, or do pizza one night on cash to compensate for the loss of table service because you doubled it. I love TiW too!!

 

[Mwh76]

I have little experience and am mostly on these forums to learn from other people. I just registered and am trying to get my 10 posts in! Haha. Anyway, we traveled to AKL in March 2020 (the week before covid changed everything), and we did the DDP. I found it to be nice on the one hand, because I didn't have to worry about the kids begging for snacks and because we booked some "fancier" character meals than we maybe otherwise would have. At the same time, though, there were many meals at the parks that we probably would have preferred to just pay OOP so we could enjoy more time on rides instead of waiting in line or sitting to eat. Idk if plans will be back in 2022, but if they are we are seriously debating whether we want to get one.
That said, we did bring a decent number of snacks in our daypack, and I will definitely do that again. That plus cereal in the hotel so we could get to the parks before rope drop!

Are you allowed to bring food (snacks) into the parks? My issue with not getting the dining plan is my husband strokes out when he actually sees me fork over $7 for a Mickey pretzel or anything else like that. He’s better if he doesn’t see the money leaving my purse