Need advice on whether to get Deluxe Dining Plan or go OOP?

Need advice on whether to get Deluxe Dining Plan or go OOP?


  • Total voters
    21

raek

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jun 12, 2017
Hello,

We are going on our first Disney World family trip on January 25th through January 30th. We will be staying in BLT. It will be three adults, 4 year old and 2 year old at time of travel. We are leaning heavily towards the DXDDP since we will be doing two table service per day. We will probably take advantage of the adult beverage for dinner TS meals. Our 180+5 opened up over the weekend and have the following reservations booked. I used the Disney Trip Planner link but didn't seem all that accurate.

Any feedback on whether to go OOP or DXDDP will be appreciated!

Day 1: Arrival
Dinner - California Grill

Day 2: Magic Kingdom
Breakfast - CRT @ 8:20am
Dinner - Narcoossee's

Day 3: Animal Kingdom
Lunch - Yak and Yeti
Dinner - Citricos

Day 4: Epcot
Breakfast - Garden Grill @ 8:05am
Lunch - Akershus @ 1:20pm
Dinner - Flying Fish

Day 5: Magic Kingdom
Breakfast - Chef Mickey's
Dinner - BoG @ 6:45pm

Day 6: Departure
Breakfast - The Wave
 
We are going on our first Disney World family trip on January 25th through January 30th. We will be staying in BLT. It will be three adults, 4 year old and 2 year old at time of travel. We are leaning heavily towards the DXDDP since we will be doing two table service per day. We will probably take advantage of the adult beverage for dinner TS meals. Our 180+5 opened up over the weekend and have the following reservations booked. I used the Disney Trip Planner link but didn't seem all that accurate.

Any feedback on whether to go OOP or DXDDP will be appreciated!

You have 16 TS credits needed for what you have planned, but you will only have 15 credits. Since you are using ALL of your credits for TS meals, and several are signature, I think you're probably better with the plan than OOP. With the DxDDP, an adult only has to "spend" about $33 per meal credit to break even, and I'd say you can do that easily with what you have chosen.

As for the meal you'll need to pay OOP, I'd probably do The Wave on check out day.
 
Not having looked at your specific plans, but of my two trips we did one on the dining plan and one out of pocket. I liked the "prepaid" feeling of the dining plan, so I wasn't looking at the prices, but sometimes the dining plan seemed like it made it difficult to order what I wanted, if what I wanted was not the set appetizer, entree, dessert. I'd recommend saving up the money that you'd put on the dining plan and just pay out of pocket--if you've got the money all saved up (at least for me) you can order what you want without worrying about the price, and you have a bit more freedom in case what you want to order doesn't line up exactly with the dining plan strictures. :)
 


Always do the math.

That said, as noted, you are planing on using all the credits (and then some!) on TS meals. As long as you are planning on getting appetizer/entree/dessert/beverage for each person most of the time (but it's ok to drop anything but an entree here and there) and you don't think you'll want the very most inexpensive items on the menu, it'll be darn near impossible to not come out ahead on DxDP.
 
You can also share so you don't have to pay any meals OOP if you do the deluxe plan. We easily split 4 DxDP meals between 5 people anywhere that wasn't buffet/family style. And we could have gotten away with splitting 3 meals at some places between the 5 of us. You could probably split 2 meals between 3 adults, or order 3 adult meals to split between adults and children. Remember that your 4 year olds credits will be pooled so you can use that to your advantage.
 
You can also share so you don't have to pay any meals OOP if you do the deluxe plan. We easily split 4 DxDP meals between 5 people anywhere that wasn't buffet/family style. And we could have gotten away with splitting 3 meals at some places between the 5 of us. You could probably split 2 meals between 3 adults, or order 3 adult meals to split between adults and children. Remember that your 4 year olds credits will be pooled so you can use that to your advantage.
4 year old credits might be pooled.

With the change of including an alcoholic drink there is speculation the pooling may end.

Either way, it should be easy to come out ahead on dxdp with that plan.

What about distripplanner didn't seem right? I found it very helpful.
 


Thank you all for the advice! I was thinking about what others have said regarding pooling credits. Since it sounds like a lot of food having appetizers, entrees and desserts for each person, we might just order for three and split between four. Or I could even pay OOP for a kids meal if they don't differentiate between adult/child.

@PrincessArlena'sDad - I used the trip planner and the prices seem to be off. I had Hoop-Dee-Doo and CRT and both were about $50-60 cheaper on trip planner than what was charged for prepay (i.e. $190 vs $250).
 
Thank you all for the advice! I was thinking about what others have said regarding pooling credits. Since it sounds like a lot of food having appetizers, entrees and desserts for each person, we might just order for three and split between four. Or I could even pay OOP for a kids meal if they don't differentiate between adult/child.

@PrincessArlena'sDad - I used the trip planner and the prices seem to be off. I had Hoop-Dee-Doo and CRT and both were about $50-60 cheaper on trip planner than what was charged for prepay (i.e. $190 vs $250).
I did a mock booking for CRT breakfast in mid january, and it came to $236. Distripplanner came up as $217. That $5 per person is probably a price increase that distripplanner didn't put in yet, but I think it's close enough for planning purposes.

I did the distripplanner for your entire itinerary.

Assuming you order 3 appetizers and 3 desserts at every TS meal (where applicable), have a total of 40 snacks (2 pp per day), and bought 4 refillable mugs, your oop costs come up as $2549

If you get the DxDP, you would save $239. It recommends paying for The Wave OOP (as suggested above). It estimates tips to total $308.

But, if you were to pay OOP for your meals, I think it more likely you would not buy refillable mugs. You would average 2 appetizers per meal for the table to share (as opposed to 3), and average 2 desserts per meal. And, I think 1 snack per person/day on average is probably more reasonable.

With these assumptions, the planner comes up with OOP being slightly cheaper, but only by $68. Therefore, it's a virtual break even either way.

So, now, assuming my assumptions are correct, you would take a look at the menus for the restaurants that are not fixed price, and guestimate what you would order. If you would tend to order the priciest items, then DxDP would be for you. If your family would more likely order the cheaper items, then OOP would be less expensive for you. If you would average out to averaged priced entrees, then might as well get the DxDP, and bring home a sack full of rice crispy treats.

However, if you would enjoy each adult having their own entrée, and each adult having their own dessert at each meal, then get the DxDP. Even if there are double the snacks than you need, and never touch the mugs, you'll most likely come out ahead with the DxDP.

I hope this helps you go back and play with the distripplanner. I've found the numbers on there to be close enough to my own estimates that their prediction has the same chance as mine as being the more precise.
 
I did a mock booking for CRT breakfast in mid january, and it came to $236. Distripplanner came up as $217. That $5 per person is probably a price increase that distripplanner didn't put in yet, but I think it's close enough for planning purposes.

I did the distripplanner for your entire itinerary.

Assuming you order 3 appetizers and 3 desserts at every TS meal (where applicable), have a total of 40 snacks (2 pp per day), and bought 4 refillable mugs, your oop costs come up as $2549

If you get the DxDP, you would save $239. It recommends paying for The Wave OOP (as suggested above). It estimates tips to total $308.

But, if you were to pay OOP for your meals, I think it more likely you would not buy refillable mugs. You would average 2 appetizers per meal for the table to share (as opposed to 3), and average 2 desserts per meal. And, I think 1 snack per person/day on average is probably more reasonable.

With these assumptions, the planner comes up with OOP being slightly cheaper, but only by $68. Therefore, it's a virtual break even either way.

So, now, assuming my assumptions are correct, you would take a look at the menus for the restaurants that are not fixed price, and guestimate what you would order. If you would tend to order the priciest items, then DxDP would be for you. If your family would more likely order the cheaper items, then OOP would be less expensive for you. If you would average out to averaged priced entrees, then might as well get the DxDP, and bring home a sack full of rice crispy treats.

However, if you would enjoy each adult having their own entrée, and each adult having their own dessert at each meal, then get the DxDP. Even if there are double the snacks than you need, and never touch the mugs, you'll most likely come out ahead with the DxDP.

I hope this helps you go back and play with the distripplanner. I've found the numbers on there to be close enough to my own estimates that their prediction has the same chance as mine as being the more precise.

Awesome analysis!!!
 
With the plans you have, you would almost certainly come out a bit ahead with the DxDP. You could even skip some appetizers and desserts and still come out ahead. The break even point for an adult on the deluxe plan is somewhere around $32ish per credit or $64 per signature meal, which is really not that hard to get up to, especially with 3 courses. Your children are young, so you likely won't benefit from the 4 yo ordering off of the adult menu, which really starts to sway the benefit in your favour. My son is 9 and the last 2 years he's order more times off of the adult menu than the kids menu so it's a great savings.
 
I did a mock booking for CRT breakfast in mid january, and it came to $236. Distripplanner came up as $217. That $5 per person is probably a price increase that distripplanner didn't put in yet, but I think it's close enough for planning purposes.

I did the distripplanner for your entire itinerary.

Assuming you order 3 appetizers and 3 desserts at every TS meal (where applicable), have a total of 40 snacks (2 pp per day), and bought 4 refillable mugs, your oop costs come up as $2549

If you get the DxDP, you would save $239. It recommends paying for The Wave OOP (as suggested above). It estimates tips to total $308.

But, if you were to pay OOP for your meals, I think it more likely you would not buy refillable mugs. You would average 2 appetizers per meal for the table to share (as opposed to 3), and average 2 desserts per meal. And, I think 1 snack per person/day on average is probably more reasonable.

With these assumptions, the planner comes up with OOP being slightly cheaper, but only by $68. Therefore, it's a virtual break even either way.

So, now, assuming my assumptions are correct, you would take a look at the menus for the restaurants that are not fixed price, and guestimate what you would order. If you would tend to order the priciest items, then DxDP would be for you. If your family would more likely order the cheaper items, then OOP would be less expensive for you. If you would average out to averaged priced entrees, then might as well get the DxDP, and bring home a sack full of rice crispy treats.

However, if you would enjoy each adult having their own entrée, and each adult having their own dessert at each meal, then get the DxDP. Even if there are double the snacks than you need, and never touch the mugs, you'll most likely come out ahead with the DxDP.

I hope this helps you go back and play with the distripplanner. I've found the numbers on there to be close enough to my own estimates that their prediction has the same chance as mine as being the more precise.

WOW - thank you for the awesome analysis. I think I was using the wrong input for appetizers and desserts. Its a little confusing.

@GillianP1301 I think you are right - probably the best deal to go the deluxe dining plan. It will be even more worth it when the kids get older!
 
is it possible for a party of 4 at a signature restaurant to pay half with credits and half oop? My plans have us down to 4 Ts credits by the time we are to get to our ADR at Paddlefish.
 
is it possible for a party of 4 at a signature restaurant to pay half with credits and half oop? My plans have us down to 4 Ts credits by the time we are to get to our ADR at Paddlefish.

Yes you can. The two who order the more expensive entrees use the credits, and the other two pay OOP. But tell the two using the credits they have to share the dessert!. :tongue:
 

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