Booked the dining plan - here's why it's "worth it"

[sharonabe]

Baffles me that ppl still use this line, that one is restricted or forced to eat certain things. I think some people don't know that you don't have to spend a point per person at every meal. You just use them when you want. Appetizers are not relevant. So what if you'd have to pay for an app if you're on the DDP. You'd have to pay for it if you weren't too. If you only want an appetizer for dinner then order that and use the point at the next place. Say you and your significant other split a meal and an app. DDP is perfect. With cash you'd have to pay for the meal and the app at both places. On the DDP you'd use your point for the meal (and share a dessert even better) and pay for the app. At the next place you'd use the other person's point for that meal and pay for the app. You just got 2 meals -- with appetizers and shared 2 drinks and 2 desserts for the price of 2 apps you'd have bought anyways. DDP has many great benefits. Flexibility to apply your points in the most optimal way you choose is one of its benefits!

And this is why there are post after post with....AGGHHHHH I HAVE 10 QS CREDITS LEFT! WHAT DO I DO WITH THEM????

 

[MrInfinity]

And this is why there are post after post with....AGGHHHHH I HAVE 10 QS CREDITS LEFT! WHAT DO I DO WITH THEM????

So? People screw up all the time. Disney makes money when they do -- that funds the benefit in it to me. Kind of like...... with medical savings. How many people do you think leave thousands in unspent medical savings accts? Doesn't mean these plans shouldn't be offered or that they aren't a good value for those who use them successfully. As you see from my post I said the DDP can be, and often is, a great option when you use it well not squander it.

"Some people will totally fail and use prepaid plans terribly" is not an argument against how they can be useful to those who use them well.

 

[sharonabe]

So? People screw up all the time. Disney makes money when they do -- that funds the benefit in it to me. Kind of like...... with medical savings. How many people do you think leave thousands in unspent medical savings accts? Doesn't mean these plans shouldn't be offered or that they aren't a good value for those who use them successfully. As you see from my post I said the DDP can be, and often is, a great option when you use it well not squander it.

"Some people will totally fail and use prepaid plans terribly" is not an argument against how they can be useful to those who use them well.

My point is if you use the DDP the way you described and split/share meals, you'll end up with meals leftover. I don't think your logic shows the DDP as being as flexible as you propose it to be.

 

[OThopeful35]

And this is why there are post after post with....AGGHHHHH I HAVE 10 QS CREDITS LEFT! WHAT DO I DO WITH THEM????

Exactly! This family in front of me had 20 something QS credits left on their day of check out.

 

[ILoveMyDVC]

So? People screw up all the time. Disney makes money when they do -- that funds the benefit in it to me. Kind of like...... with medical savings. How many people do you think leave thousands in unspent medical savings accts? Doesn't mean these plans shouldn't be offered or that they aren't a good value for those who use them successfully. As you see from my post I said the DDP can be, and often is, a great option when you use it well not squander it.

"Some people will totally fail and use prepaid plans terribly" is not an argument against how they can be useful to those who use them well.

Part of the fun is maximizing the usage but truthfully, we would still at least break even without thinking about it.

 

[DisBuckMan]

Baffles me that ppl still use this line, that one is restricted or forced to eat certain things. I think some people don't know that you don't have to spend a point per person at every meal. You just use them when you want. Appetizers are not relevant. So what if you'd have to pay for an app if you're on the DDP. You'd have to pay for it if you weren't too. If you only want an appetizer for dinner then order that and use the point at the next place. Say you and your significant other split a meal and an app. DDP is perfect. With cash you'd have to pay for the meal and the app at both places. On the DDP you'd use your point for the meal (and share a dessert even better) and pay for the app. At the next place you'd use the other person's point for that meal and pay for the app. You just got 2 meals -- with appetizers and shared 2 drinks and 2 desserts for the price of 2 apps you'd have bought anyways. DDP has many great benefits. Flexibility to apply your points in the most optimal way you choose is one of its benefits!

You can convince yourself of whatever you want, but simply put...you can order ANYTHING off of ANY MENU when paying out of pocket. Not so if you're on the DDP.

The fact that you're adding in OOP expenses to get what you want only reinforces what I've said.

The bigger gamble is if someone in your party gets sick, and isn't able to use their credits. Happens all the time.

 

[Nancyg56]

You can convince yourself of whatever you want, but simply put...you can order ANYTHING off of ANY MENU when paying out of pocket. Not so if you're on the DDP.

The fact that you're adding in OOP expenses to get what you want only reinforces what I've said.

The bigger gamble is if someone in your party gets sick, and isn't able to use their credits. Happens all the time.

SO far in ten plus years of using the DDP on trips, and not using it on others, my family is way ahead on DDP. We have had CS credits leafy ove, and still have been ahead, so when my oldest (he is pushing 40) son dashes into the market on our last day and cashes them in on his prized goofy bags of candy, I'm okay with that.

I have always told folks to do their own math and to be very honest in how they will order. The plans are restrictive if you do not normally dine the way they are laid out, and not if you do. FOr some the plans are like a weight hanging over the family, driving them from meal to meal, and for those liek us, they are a means that we use to enhance our already in place for months meals. No one shoudl blindly add the plans on, and no one should blindly tell others they are not worth the money. They are like any other "add on": a value for some, and a wastes of resources for others.

 

[DisBuckMan]

SO far in ten plus years of using the DDP on trips, and not using it on others, my family is way ahead on DDP. We have had CS credits leafy ove, and still have been ahead, so when my oldest (he is pushing 40) son dashes into the market on our last day and cashes them in on his prized goofy bags of candy, I'm okay with that.

I have always told folks to do their own math and to be very honest in how they will order. The plans are restrictive if you do not normally dine the way they are laid out, and not if you do. FOr some the plans are like a weight hanging over the family, driving them from meal to meal, and for those liek us, they are a means that we use to enhance our already in place for months meals. No one shoudl blindly add the plans on, and no one should blindly tell others they are not worth the money. They are like any other "add on": a value for some, and a wastes of resources for others.

Of course it works for some. Never stated differently.

But, my point is that in general, it works financially for those who eat the way Disney REQUIRES you to eat while on the plan. Some menu items are not an option when on the dining plan. You already know this.

 

[Nancyg56]

Of course it works for some. Never stated differently.

But, my point is that in general, it works financially for those who eat the way Disney REQUIRES you to eat while on the plan. Some menu items are not an option when on the dining plan. You already know this.

Of course. I actually cringed when my daughter ordered a flatbread as her entree at Mama Melrose. I knew that white our family dynamic we were still okay in terms of DDP value, but it was my inner spender sending ESP to her that woudl not stay contained. She actually saw my face and laughed. DD is an accountant and she always tracks our dining, (she cannot help herself LOL) but woudl have ordered what she wanted any way.

This trip there were nine of us, and some of us were on the DxDDp, and our littles were in character meal heaven. I think I booked every character meal there was for those two character junkies, and you know what that would have cost if OOP. Their Mom actually bowed out for 1900 PF breakfast because she was so done with any character, but Nana was all in!

 

[MrInfinity]

Of course it works for some. Never stated differently.
But, my point is that in general, it works financially for those who eat the way Disney REQUIRES you to eat while on the plan. Some menu items are not an option when on the dining plan. You already know this.

You're building a strawman argument. You've now changed your stance to it does in fact work financially for some (good!) -- but it REQUIRES to you to eat what you've bought. Well duh. This is like saying "concert tickets are a bad deal because once you buy a ticket you have to go to the place you bought -- They REQUIRE you to go there." What if I decide that day that I'd rather go see someone else? Nope. They hose you over good. That's absurd because of course you have to go there, it's what you prepaid for. The baseline understanding in any prepay situation is that you do in fact want what you're buying. If you buy the DDP, then it's presumed you will eat approx. a QS, TS, and a couple snacks per day. If you would eat cheese and crackers, then you wouldn't buy this.

You can convince yourself of whatever you want, but simply put...you can order ANYTHING off of ANY MENU when paying out of pocket. Not so if you're on the DDP.

The bigger gamble is if someone in your party gets sick, and isn't able to use their credits. Happens all the time.​

In our many times going to WDW we've always eaten wherever we want, ordering exactly what we want. In some cases we chose to pay for this OOP. In other cases we chose to prepay to save $$ and provide some other benefits. There is no case where I've been required to eat somewhere or not order something. You're making this out to be some evil trick. It's just a prepaid plan. These exist in all walks of life from medical to phone service to timeshares. They make sense and can save you $$ if you'll use what you bought well, while in return get you to commit to certain purchase levels.

 

[Joel W]

We upgraded to the Deluxe at our last stay. Just made it easier since we did a lot of TS meals. Since we already had a free dining plan the upgrade was worth it.

Did we have leftover credits on our last day...yes. Did we use them before we left...YES! We were staying at Kidani and bought every last pint of Haggan Dasz (spelling?). The woman at the counter even encouraged it saying "You paid for it, don't leave money on the table!"

 

[DisBuckMan]

You're building a strawman argument. You've now changed your stance to it does in fact work financially for some (good!) -- but it REQUIRES to you to eat what you've bought. Well duh. This is like saying "concert tickets are a bad deal because once you buy a ticket you have to go to the place you bought -- They REQUIRE you to go there." What if I decide that day that I'd rather go see someone else? Nope. They hose you over good. That's absurd because of course you have to go there, it's what you prepaid for. The baseline understanding in any prepay situation is that you do in fact want what you're buying. If you buy the DDP, then it's presumed you will eat approx. a QS, TS, and a couple snacks per day. If you would eat cheese and crackers, then you wouldn't buy this.

In our many times going to WDW we've always eaten wherever we want, ordering exactly what we want. In some cases we chose to pay for this OOP. In other cases we chose to prepay to save $$ and provide some other benefits. There is no case where I've been required to eat somewhere or not order something. You're making this out to be some evil trick. It's just a prepaid plan. These exist in all walks of life from medical to phone service to timeshares. They make sense and can save you $$ if you'll use what you bought well, while in return get you to commit to certain purchase levels.

What are you even arguing with me about?

Never said it was a trick. Never said some people don't come out ahead financially (feel free to quote me where I've said that). I'm not sure where you think I've changed any "stance" I've taken. The only stance I've taken is that I've simply said it's not as flexible as paying OOP. There are restrictions to being on the DDP. There are zero restrictions to paying OOP. Not sure why you're arguing that FACT.

You should probably look up the definition of "strawman argument" and see who is the one guilty of such.

 

[MrInfinity]

The only stance I've taken is that I've simply said it's not as flexible as paying OOP. There are restrictions to being on the DDP. There are zero restrictions to paying OOP. Not sure why you're arguing that FACT.

And there are zero restrictions to paying DDP/OOP. I've just not been restricted from buying anything when I've been on the plan -- if I want an appetizer I get it. Have you actually said I'd just like an appetizer and the server says no you must order a meal? They should explain that you have the option to pay for it, which would be correct. But you'd have to pay for it no matter what since it's not part of your prepaid plan. If you only buy appetizers, then you wouldn't be in a plan to prepay for meals in the first place. If you routinely split appetizers and meals, that's a very good way to get value out of the plans.

 

[chris benton]

MrInfinity -
Can you give an itemized description of what you are referring to? I just want to make sure I understand correctly. I'm not sure how it would be easiest to describe. perhaps for like two ppl on whatever plan - sounds like reg ddp? Two ppl, x number of "nights" (pick a number for x, I guess.)

I always try to assume that with my family, that we would split a few meals, and then use a few 2 credit meals here and there, but I want to see where you are coming from with the way you use it. TIA. (and don't stress...I'm not holding my breath or anything - just whenever you have a minute.)

 

[chris benton]

We upgraded to the Deluxe at our last stay. Just made it easier since we did a lot of TS meals. Since we already had a free dining plan the upgrade was worth it.

Did we have leftover credits on our last day...yes. Did we use them before we left...YES! We were staying at Kidani and bought every last pint of Haggan Dasz (spelling?). The woman at the counter even encouraged it saying "You paid for it, don't leave money on the table!"

So, if you wanted the ice cream as part of your DP, then...well played.
If you were just using up credits so you wouldn't lose money, then, I think most ppl would think you might not have gotten a great value with the DP, since you were buying stuff just to buy it, instead of buying things you wanted. I have no real dog in the fight, here. Just a bystander. I look for ways to make the DP work for my fam, but it doesn't. And part of the reason is that it's just too much food. (and I really thought I ate a lot.) We would be throwing away a lot of food that we pre-paid for. For those of you that the ddp works for - I think it's great. I actually kinda wish it worked for us.

 

[Moliphino]

And there are zero restrictions to paying DDP/OOP. I've just not been restricted from buying anything when I've been on the plan -- if I want an appetizer I get it. Have you actually said I'd just like an appetizer and the server says no you must order a meal? They should explain that you have the option to pay for it, which would be correct. But you'd have to pay for it no matter what since it's not part of your prepaid plan. If you only buy appetizers, then you wouldn't be in a plan to prepay for meals in the first place. If you routinely split appetizers and meals, that's a very good way to get value out of the plans.

Sure you can always buy additional food OOP if you're on the dining plan.
We always find that the dining plan already includes way more food than we really want to eat, so buying even more food would be a waste. So it does limit us to just eating QS/TS/snack credit items. This is why I only do the DDP if it's part of free dining.

 

[Joel W]

It is a lot of food. We used ours to treat family to many TS they wouldn't have been able to afford. We are a family of 3, but treated extended family (9 more) to lunch and dinner at places like Boma, Tusker House, BOG, etc. If it was just us 3 and we weren't upgrading from a free plan, then I would consider just the regular Dining plan. My wife planned out all the credits, but having extra people threw that into a mess and we ended up with extra snacks. We do love ice cream though.

One could also treat strangers to meals, help make some magic.

 

[rer1972]

I think DDP can work for some people, especially if it is “free”. We are DVC so pay full price for the Dining Plan if we choose to use it. We were there the week of New Years and I kept track of everything. We did not do DDP, I did buy Tables in Wonderland even though we were there on New Year’s Eve and Day which are blacked out. We had 6 adults and one child, 8 nights. I did have discounted gift cards from Sam’s, but since I would have used them either way I did not include the discount in my analysis.

8 nights for 6 adults and 1 child:
Deluxe DDP : $5,899.92
Regular DDP : $3829.52

Actual food costs: $2,981.67+150(TiW)= $3131.67

We did eat most breakfasts in the room, a full kitchen allows us to do that. Just frozen breakfast sandwiches, cereal, etc. I don’t like to cook on vacation! I spent $122 at Publix for food for the week and brought cases of water and some snacks with us. We ate at TS restaurants 8 times and QS 6 times, so pretty close to what we would have gotten credits for on the regular Dining Plan. We ate at Tusker House (breakfast), Crystal Palace (breakfast), SciFi (lunch), Turf Club (dinner), Rose & Crown (dinner), Biergarten (lunch), Skippers Canteen (lunch), and Be Our Guest (dinner) for our Table Service. We also had one large snack/appetizers at the Nomad Lounge which I don’t believe is on the Dining Plans. We also had in the range of 83 snacks. We did not go hungry by any sense of the word and we had no restrictions on what our kids ordered (three of our “adults” are teenagers). We also had an alcoholic beverage (or two) a day for each of the three adults of legal age. Several of our TS meals involved having two appetizers instead of an entree. For us the DDP really doesn’t make financial sense. The regular plan would still be $697.85 more than we actually paid, the Deluxe an astounding $2,768.25 more. On either plan, we would have had another 30 or so snack credits to use up at the end. I just don’t need that many Rice Krispie treats!

The one time we did use the dining plan was back when appetizers, dessert, and tip was included. I also had 2 still in the “child” category which is where I think the greatest plan savings is. We thought it was overly restrictive and did not fit with our eating patterns. My son had a stomach bug in the middle of that trip so we had to shuffle ADR’s around and ended up keeping some I would have canceled if we were paying OOP and trying to find last minute locations at the end of the trip when we had unexpected credits left from the meals we had to skip when he was sick.

In the same boat here as well. DVC owners, and haven't had the DDP's be worth it for us in almost 10 years now. Was a good back in the day, but not anymore. Of course, I wouldn't turn down a free DDP, but I don't see that happening for us.

I've been estimating our food costs for the next trip, and the DDP vs cash is several $100 more.

 

[robinb]

I'm glad it works for you! That is why I always suggest that people "run the numbers". Sadly, the DDP has not worked for us since my DD because a "Disney Adult". I've tried and tried and tried to make it come even close but it never does. We do drink alcohol so I'll run the numbers again before our next vacation but I'm not holding my breath. I'll have a beer at lunch but my DH rarely does.

 

[DisBuckMan]

And there are zero restrictions to paying DDP/OOP. I've just not been restricted from buying anything when I've been on the plan -- if I want an appetizer I get it. Have you actually said I'd just like an appetizer and the server says no you must order a meal? They should explain that you have the option to pay for it, which would be correct. But you'd have to pay for it no matter what since it's not part of your prepaid plan. If you only buy appetizers, then you wouldn't be in a plan to prepay for meals in the first place. If you routinely split appetizers and meals, that's a very good way to get value out of the plans.

Yes...of course. DDP *plus* OOP is very flexible. But, that's not the discussion anyone here other than you is having.

You've completely missed the point of why I brought up ordering appetizers. I'm not talking about appetizers as an addition to your meal...I'm talking about appetizers AS YOUR MEAL. We go to WDW several times a year, every year. We go some during hot months. Often, when we arrive at a restaurant, we may not be hungry enough to order an entire meal, so we order APPETIZERS instead of a full meal. Works perfect OOP...not so much when on DDP.

We go to Via Napoli and we get a large pizza to split amongst the three of us. Perfect amount of food if we're hungry. Can't do that on the DDP. Or, if we're not really hungry, we'll order one individual pizza and split amongst the three of us, and desserts. Again...can't do that on the DDP.

The above two paragraphs are true flexibility that you won't get from the DDP.

I have zero way of knowing weeks/months ahead of time how hungry I'll be when I arrive to a restaurant. Therefore, I'm not going to "lock" myself into paying up front for food that I may not even be able to eat.

Is any of this making sense to you? If not, I can't be more clear than that as far as FLEXIBILITY goes.

If you still want to hammer away at using a combination of DDP/OOP to attempt to make your point....have at it. I enjoy you making my point that the OOP component adds true flexibility.