How to save $ w/ the DP?

[Jessica14]

Forgive me if this is somewhere else. I looked but couldn't find it.
Disney advertises that you can save 30% by purchacing a DP. I ran all the math for two kids , 6 and 7, and two adults, and even if we go to 6 TS meals and some CS meals, it ,at the very most , costs us the same. What am I missing? I'm thinknig that either my math is faulty or becasue we are not doing higher end or 2 credit meals, we are losing out on savings. I believe that for 6 days, we are probably going to do mostly breakfast and lunches which includes three character meals. Even if we did 2 credit meals/shows, we would still need to buy additional food for the extra credit we used. I'm not seeing how this is an advantage or just more of a convinence. Please advise as I think it would be easier to pay up front that to carry cash or an extra card. And with the plan, we would still need to pay tax and gratuities, correct? Thanks!
Jessica

 

[design_mom]

I think the "save up to 30%" is figured based on people eating the most expensive thing on the menu, at most expensive restaurants, at the most expensive time of day, for every meal. Normal people wouldn't get that much savings.

It sounds like you are eating more economical table service meals (breakfast and lunch are usually less expensive than dinner), etc. I doubt you'll get the full 30% savings. We didn't either.

I "ran the numbers" when we did it, and we were about at break-even for what we'd spend out of pocket versus on the DDP. However, if we paid OOP we probably wouldn't have ordered as many desserts or snacks (so the extras were essentially "free.") I enjoyed it, and we would consider doing it again... but it wasn't a HUGE savings for us.

 

[MichaelColey]

For adults, the DDP is $41.99. For that, you get a snack, a CS meal and a TS meal.

Snack is usually $2-$3, but many are close to $4 and if you go during the Food & Wine festival, you can even get a lobster roll ($7.25) with it.

CS meal with a drink and dessert is usually around $15, but can be $20 or more.

TS meal with drink and dessert is usually around $30, but some can be $40-$50.

For averages, I would say about $48 ($3+$15+$30). For maximums, I would say $70 ($4+$20+$46). That's a 12.5 - 30% savings.

For kids, the DDP is $12.

A kids CS meal is typically about $5-$6, but if you use the credit somewhere that doesn't have kid's meals, you might get more like $10-$15 out of it.

A kids TS meal is typically about $8, but some are as much as $20.

For kids, you can get about $15 ($3 + $6 + $8) out of it on average and about $35 ($4 + $11 + $20) as a realistic maximum. That's a 20-65% savings.

If you use credits for breakfasts, lunches, cheaper snacks, Signature restaurants, or cheaper menu options, it's probably break-even (at best). If you might eat cheaper (drinking tap water, skipping desserts, cheaper restaurants, appetizer instead of a meal, bring food, eating off site, etc., you can do much better.

My conclusion is... If you're going to pay for the dining plan, plan it out so that you maximize the value you get out of it. Otherwise, it's probably not worth it.

 

[siskaren]

Actually, it says up to 30%, but I did a test.

A day at the Magic Kingdom:

Lunch at Cosmic Ray's

Chicken & Rib Combo (I will admit that this is the most expensive entree) 13.99
Soda 2.19
Chocolate Cake 3.59

Snack at Aloha Isle

Dole Whip 2.89

Dinner at Crystal Palace 32.99

Total 55.65

Since the price for one day of the dining plan is 41.99, the savings is 13.66 which is 24.5%. And since at a table service restaurant where you order off the menu you can order an appetizer and a dessert, you can easily get a total more than the 32.99 that Crystal Palace charges.

 

[danceintherain]

The Value of the Dining Plan depends greatly on where you use it.

The bulk of the "value" comes out in your Table Service choices, because snacks and counter service meals have lower values, and it's more difficult to "plan" where you're going to "spend" your counter service and snack credits, because trekking across a park so you would "spend" a little more is kind of silly.

For example, a Table Service breakfast at one of the resorts hardly ever reaches the $20-25 that could be considered the allotment for a table service meal on the dining plan. Whereas, dinner usually exceeds that expectation.
ie. Breakfast Kona Cafe: Steak & Eggs = $14.49 (the MOST expensive thing on the menu) + Beverage = usually around $3...I think you can get two beverages for breakfast, because there's no dessert option, but don't quote me on that. Your total will be somewhere between $16-$20, which is barely scraping $20 off your daily dining plan "value". You have $22 to make up for with your snack and counter service meal, which is very difficult to do. Most counter service meals max out at $15 and snacks are under $4.
Even most Character Breakfasts are around $20. Akershus is the highest at about $30. CRT is $31.99, but breakfast still requires two credits and that's a terrible table service value.

If you go with Dinner, your chances of a great value are much better.
Let's say we stick with Kona Cafe. The LEAST expensive thing on the menu is the Pan-Asian Noodles for $16.99 + Beverage around $3 + Dessert $5.49
You've got $25 which is a decent value on the Dining Plan.
An inexpensive character meal is around $26 for dinner, but you can easily spend over $30, leaving you with less than $10 to cover with counter service and snack.

Lunch is somewhere in between breakfast and dinner

Ok...but you were wondering how to SAVE money, which is much more tricky. Unfortunately, if you want to SAVE money you can't just eat wherever you want whenever you want. That 30% is incredibly elusive, and Disney marketing doesn't mention that.
I'll just suggest a 1 day plan.
Breakfast - Your snack Root Beer Float at Epcot = $4 (counter service breakfasts are also terrible values!)
Lunch - Sunshine Seasons = Mongolian Beef $10 Drink $2 Strawberry Shortcake $4 = $16
Dinner - Le Cellier = Filet Mignon $35 Chocolate Raspberry Shake $4 Dessert Chocolate Whiskey Cake $8 = $47
Your Day's Total = $67, a Savings of $25 or 37%
This day is only achieved by planning and getting the most expensive thing on the menu, which may be fun, or it might be irritating to get something off the menu just because it's the most expensive when you really want the least expensive item.
Also, eating the large meal at the end of your day might not appeal to you.

We like the Dining Plan, but mostly as a prepaid meal plan. Any savings are just icing on the cake, especially since we often prefer the most expensive thing on the menu.

Ultimately, the best approach to the Dining Plan is to sit down and figure out where you would actually eat and what you would actually order, which you've already said you've done. If it seems like most days you're barely breaking even, then it might not be a good fit for you.

Remember, you can charge meals to your room via your KTTW card, so if you don't go with the Dining Plan, you don't actually have to carry around an extra card. You can even pay off your room charge with a Gift Card, if you prefer the "prepaid" approach.

 

[Bridge203618]

It definitely depends on what kind of eaters you are. I am a steak eater and my DH is a steak/seafood eater - those are normally more expensive. If you don't go to the expensive places and you are ordering pasta/chicken then it probably won't be worth it.

For me we totally will get our money's worth. And based on what I think we will order we will save money. Now my DSD that is 14 won't get her moneys worth most likely. but it will be close. I think it is easy for kids to get their moneys worth.

I could budget and spend less, but we wouldn't have the freedom to eat what we wanted. I would be critical and anyalize what everyone orders. The dessert at every meal is a nice treat

Also don't forget that some restaurants let you have milkshakes etc for your drink.

It is what you make of it.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Snack: MK: Auntie Gravity's Fruit Smoothie $3.99 + $.26 tax = $4.25
Lunch: Coronado Springs: Pepper Market's Ribeye $22.95 Ice Cream Scoop $3.50 Soda $2.19 + $1.86 tax = $30.50 (note: ribeye may have been removed from menu since 1/10)
Dinner: Epcot: Tutto Italia's Tagliata de Manzo $36 + Iced tea $4 + Copetta Sotto Bosco $14 + $3.51 tax = $57.51
$4.25 + $30.50 + $57.51 = $92.26
Cost of standard dining plan = $41.99 per night
Savings $50.27, or 119%

Even using siskaren's more sure example of Cosmic Ray's
Lunch: MK: Cosmic Ray's Chicken & Rib Combo $13.99 + soda $2.19 + chocolate cake $3.59 + $1.29 tax = $21.06
$4.25 + $21.06 + $57.51 = $82.82
Savings $40.83, or 97%.

 

[ancestry]

With children the best way to save money on the dining plan is to do buffets or the family-style restaurants where people are charged a flat price -- Ohana, Boma, 1900 Park Fare, etc. One buffet often costs more than what you pay for the child's dining plan for the entire day.

For my family that goes on the trips usually - 2 adults and 2 kids -- we always make out way ahead BUT it is mainly because of the kids.

 

[Jessica14]

Wow! I knew I was asking the right people! I appreciate you all helping me with the math. The examples are really helpful and are making me hungry. The shake for the beverage sounds really delish!

While I don't mind making the ADR's in dvance, its hard to know what you will be eating at the time. When I was adding up, I would look at a median number to determine, but whose to say if that is what you will be doing on that particulat day? Also, for some restaurants with menus, I could see us sharing with the kids or just getting them an appetizer to split. But, for character meals, it certainly is worth it as well. We do prefer lunches at TS places because we just don't want all that heaviness right before bed.

I think the answer for us is to probably go without it, though I'll probably add it up again, and then hope for a FD extenstion into December like there was last year

Thanks again! Jessica

 

[kirbygump]

I find myself totally second guessing myself right now with regard to the DP. I'm going Aug 6-13 and booked CL at BCR - that is peak time and now there is a surcharge on the DP so it costs $47.99 & $12.99 - I have ADRs booked but only 2 character meals that I really want to do dinners at both Garden Grill & Crystal Palace. I have a lunch ADR at Tusker House that I'm on the fence about. What I totally HATE about the DDP is the lunchtime dessert - because I"ve paid for it, I feel compelled to take it & ultimately eat it, lol - just me I guess & the way I am. Other meals we have booked are for the The Wave, 50's Prime & Captain's Grille, so unless we really specifially buy the most expensive thing on the menu, I cannot see it saving us much money - we are 2 real adults, 1 disney "adult" & 2 kids. I'm sooooooo on the fence. When we went 2 years ago, I don't believe there was a surcharge. Outside of the Dole Whips I don't think there really was any other snacks that we bought.

 

[dd50]

When I purchased it last year I broke even but didn't like going to a TS every day. Two of my kids didn't really eat much at all but I still paid the $40 every night for them. The desserts at CS are nasty and we would throw them away except for at Pop. You can only do good if you go to the more expensive places including the more expensive CS. To me it is to much of a hassle because I want to eat what I want to and it isn't always the most expensive thing. When we go to Cosmic Ray's if I get the chicken/rib combo I always split with someone because it is a lot of food and I wouldn't be able to finish it.

 

[MichaelColey]

I find myself totally second guessing myself right now with regard to the DP. I'm going Aug 6-13 and booked CL at BCR

Any chance you can move your vacation to start 9 days later? If so, you could get the dining plan for free, which is almost certainly a better value than any other promotion you have since you have three Disney adults in your party.

 

[magicaddict]

Remember too that when on the dining plan it includes the tax on the meal which you may not have figured in when doing your calculations. It may not seem like much but it does add up.

 

[atmail35]

I went back and forth if we should have done the DDP and in the end, we saved about 24%...or $180 give or take (yes I did do an excel spreadsheet out of curiosity). We did eat every meal and CS/snack (2 adults and one child). I also generally feel that we didn't stuff ourselves or eat anything we wouldn't have purchased anyway (like snacks at the park....we would have endulged if on cash).

I could have saved more if I used my credits for our last meal (1900 Park Fare dinner) instead of paying cash and paid cash at Chef Mickey's Breakfast as we ate one extra TS meal.

We did one signature meal...Calif. Grill. DH got the most expensive item..mine was the second most expensive. DD got mac and cheese which was less than the salmon, but she doens't eat fish. THey did allow us a virgin pina colada and a capuccino for our "non-alcolholic drinks". Those were almost $4 each. Oh and the waiter told us we could sub the cheese board ($20) for a dessert (about $12) so we did that and shared both.

The most value for our money was eating at The Wave with both of us getting the pricest thing and dessert. That was early in our trip and we should have gotten a virgin drink, but we didn't really think to ask about that as an option....the DP covered over $90 there with tax...

For counter service, we often were allowed to sub a bottle of water for our dessert to carry around (it was HOT). We didn't have a car so bringing our own wasn't really an option, unless we wanted tap water from the hotel or water cooler and we liked the option of the bottle.

And don't forget the tax....it's 6.5 percent.

And the Pineapple Dole Whip Float at Adventureland at MK is $3.99 plus tax and we had a few of those

I'd probably do it again....we liked having TS each night to relax...DD5 did very well at TS. Although you do need to make sure you have ADRs for each day to make sure you can use them...which to me was hard to decide in advance where we wanted to eat. SInce it was our first time there with DD, we decided to have most dinners at our resort restaurants since we came back to swim in the afternoon then had dinner at the resort.

 

[StuckInKS]

We naturally like the more expensive places/menu items, so the DDP saves us a lot. We can easily spend $210 a day, which the DDP is only around $120 for all of us. That's saves $90 a day or $900 on a 10 day trip; I believe that is a savings of close to 43%. Having so many kids on the DDP also helps to up the value of it. It really depends on family size and eating habits.

 

[kirbygump]

Any chance you can move your vacation to start 9 days later? If so, you could get the dining plan for free, which is almost certainly a better value than any other promotion you have since you have three Disney adults in your party.

Actually we're staying BC CL with the 40% discount, so it's almost the same as FD - I think about $12/day. I sort of compromised - doing 3 days w/DDP & 4 days room only. Less pressure to get our monies worth I think. I am going to track it this time to see how it works out.

 

[SunnieRN]

My favorite use of CS credits at MK is, breakfast at Main Street Bakery, 1 CS serves two to four of us (2A/2C), lunch at Cosmic Rays, rib/chicken combo I share with my grandsons! We have 3 CS a day, my daughter would choose a different lunch at Cosmic Rays or get food from CHH and eat with us at CR, We are all full, happy and have what we want.

Snack there, ice cream cookie sandwich, or whatever else we think sounds good!

Other places we don't do a breakfast, or use snack credits.

Other great, expensive CS meals are the rib/chix combo at Fairfax Fare at HS, SS at Epcot, or my favorite, WPEC!! Best use of a CS credit IMHO. At AK II eat egg rolls with a snack credit and maybe 1/4 of a pizza at Pizzafari, if my grandson leaves me one.

 

[Bete]

to come out way ahead on the $$$. If you share meals then you need to do an extra meal that day to use up all your credits or go to a signature restaurant to use up 2 credits per meal. You have to maximize your results by going to the more expensive restaurants and ordering the more expensive meals and doing more dinners. You can start doing dinners at 4 pm in most restaurants. I don't consider that too late. I find it better to do the resort restaurants to make out better on the plan. Don't leave credits on the table; use them all. This is not to say that you won't make out by going to lesser places or not using all your credits, but you just won't be maximizing the plan. The key factor to the plan is not paying sales tax on what you eat; because, you are on the plan. This is a good hunk of change and goes a long way towards that tip you pay for TS meals on the regular plan. You have to be willing to make reservations early to get the best places. You need to keep your reservations, as well. We skip a lot of our snacks during the trip and then we stock up on them for home.

It almost sounds like the OP would be better off doing the QSDP and paying out of pocket for some TS meals. You need to do the math. You need to figure out what you can accomplish with your family, too.

If you get the dining plan free then it's hard to go wrong with whatever choices you make; so, it's easier to make out when it's free. You do have to compare it though with the room off rates that are available, too.

We enjoy the dining experiences; so, the dining plan is good for us. It does depend on your children, too. Are they willing to sit for an hour doing a TS meal? Will they try new foods? If it's going to be a battle royale I would go with the QSDP.

We have done the plan for our last ten trips. We've done it more under the free dining promo, but we have paid three times for the plan in these last 10 trips and we won't go without it now. We've done the upgrade cost from the free QSDP, too. This is not to say we wouldn't rethink it if the plan prices soared up or we couldn't get the free dining plan here and there. For us, it's fun to do the TS meals. It provides for a good rest; so, we can have a longer day at the parks.

If you have the means to go by car and travel for your meals or you are satisfied with bringing groceries to your room and eating there for some meals, then the plan becomes less worthwhile. We have done budget trips where we took the resort room discount and ate cheaply while we were there, too. If you have small appetites it may not be worthwhile, either.

It can be a good thing if you are willing to work at the plan and I'm glad Disney offers it.

 

[MrsLS]

It depends on what you order. Just this past trip we were 2 adults on the deluxe plan, we didn't get the most expensive meal, sometimes we did but not most of the time or maybe one of us did sometimes, we sometimes skipped dessert but we did 2 TS a day (one being signature) and saved about $550 from the plan, and that was about a 30% savings for us. If we weren't on the plan, we might not have done a character breakfast or 2 since those to me aren't worth the money for what you get, compared to say other buffets in Vegas or such which are much cheaper in the high end hotels or gotten a dessert or app for lunch but even so we would have saved money, just not 30%.

 

[MichaelColey]

Actually we're staying BC CL with the 40% discount, so it's almost the same as FD - I think about $12/day. I sort of compromised - doing 3 days w/DDP & 4 days room only. Less pressure to get our monies worth I think. I am going to track it this time to see how it works out.

Are you sure about that? With three Disney adults and two kids, the free dining is about a $150 value. The rack rate would need to be over about $330 for 40% to be a better value.