best value for dining plan!

[TFrauts]

I just did the interactive dining plan thing, and it said that the disney dining plan will be of little calue to us!! We will be eating at cali grill and le cellier, and we are only staying 3 nights! Does anyone have any suggestions about how I would get more value out of the dining plan?? We are staying at the boardwalk, so I said we would be using 4 cs credits at the bakery, and i am not really sure what else!!

Thanks,
PS...we always order the most expensive thing on the menu!! ;)

[TFrauts]

*value* not 'calue'....

[vamaggie]

Did you factor in all the TS, CS & snack credits foods? I cannot imagine how you would not save $$ especially with 2 high priced meals.

[TFrauts]

that is what I thought also!! I made sure it said that I had no credits left...it said i would save 23 percent(which is good enough for me) but it definitely it wouldnt be worth it to me!

[vamaggie]

Did you put in your cost per day of 2 meals and snacks? When I did it it seemed that $85 per day is where the scenario you propose becomes paying less on the dining plan. I am not sure of the philosophy of the estimator but my guess that when the difference between what you would pay and what the plan costs is minimal that's when you get a "no value".Hopefully someone who developed the estimator will stop by and enlighten us!

[robemcdo]

In my opinion, best value for the DDP in its current form is not to get it. Take the money you would have spent on the DDP, add the 18% on the bills you would have incurred on the TS, and put it in your pocket.

Eat normally for the three days and I'm sure you'll have money left in your pocket at the end of the day.

That being said, I think Le Cellier, Concourse Steakhouse, Mama Melrose, Coral Reef are among the most expensive on the plan. And the food is pretty good as well.

Seems the best deal out there might be the Coronado springs pepper market....I've never been but it seems like it's sit-down food that you walk through and get, so it counts as CS. I also found Wolfgang Express at DD excellent CS.

As for the Boardwalk, the Bakery will let you have just about anything in their and count it as a snack. Highly recommended but i think you know that already.

[WDWCrazyKaren]

Think clearly about the tips!

With the new 2008 plan, you must add your tip. We found that with each meal, for only DH and myself, the tip was routinely $20-$25 for the table service restaurants. Those tips really added up by the end of the trip. With staying only three days, maybe it's not such a big deal.

Karen

[Bri]

I used the estimator as well. It said we would save about 25% for 2 of us. But also how I figure if the DDP is a good value is by doing this: the DDP costs $38.99 per person per day. So we spend about $20 on breakfast (sometimes out of pocket, sometimes not), another $20 on lunch, probably $20 or so on snacks/water, and about $50-$60 on a sit down meal at a 1 TS restaurant per day for 2 people. So for us, it's worth is. We start out the week paying for breakfast out of pocket. Sometimes by mid-week, especially if it's hot, we don't eat much for lunch. Then we will start to use our CS credits for breakfast. The most we are paying out of pocket on any day is $20 and now we will have to pay tip as well. Like I said, it's worth is for us still.

[Polynesian Dweller]

Bri has it right. You have to work it out and see what's best for you. We won't be using the DDP because we don't want that much food and a TS every night just is too much. So it doesn't work but for others it might. Use the estimator and be honest about how you eat and then work it out.

[bigbabyblues]

I went looking for the calculator, and it said we would save about 21%.....without snack credits. I thought it was a good deal for us, I guess so.

[tinkerbell98]

Our family is trying to decide if the meal plan would be cost effective for us, but I was unaware of this calculator that people are talking about. Where would I find it.
:thumbsup:

[TFrauts]

at the top of the page...where you would click on the 'discussion' to the right it says 'interactive'!!

[DANAM]

Could it have something to do with the fact that you are using 2 TS per person at California Grill? Friends of mine when in November and she came home and added up here receipts and said they didn't save much because they used 2 TS credits at California Grill. Yes it is expensive but is it worth 2 TS credits? With the new plan you can't get the apps so really look at and see if it's worth it.
For us we are really saving money on the kids. The money per child you save per day really would make up for the tips. Without the kids you have to go to the more expensive restaurants but remember if you order the most expensive thing you have to tip on it. That's where Disney is going to get us. It will train people not to order the most expensive item anymore. Just my opinion.

[Janmac]

I did the calculator too and it said the dining plan was not a good value for us, tho it said we could save over 20% with the restaurants I had selected.

Perhaps what the calculator fails to take into account is that some of us place a greater value on not having to think about food prices while we're at WDW. Not having to consider food prices and saving twenty percent sounds like a great value to me.

We did sit down and look at the menus of the table service and counter service restaurants we plan to eat at and totaled our menu choices. Our total almost exactly equaled the cost of the dining plan. We did not factor in 18% gratuity but frankly, DH wouldn't pay that much - he thinks fifteen is ample. Since we have spent a lot of time looking for our server, he may be right.

Also, our total did not include any estimate for snacks. Probably our snacks wouldn't offset paying for the tip, but we wouldn't stop for many snacks, along the way, unless they were 'free'. We tend to get cranky when the fuel and fluids get low. Last year on the dining plan we got more snacks and had a better time.

So, we're getting the dining plan again. We really like not having that cost to think of, while we're there.

Jan