So after calculations, the Disney Deluxe Dining Plan is cheaper

[Dave B]

No it doesn't, as the meal program does not include tips and that definitely can add up. Even the OP realized the error of his way.

Yes it does, every single time, 100%

 

[DarthVader]

Yes it does, every single time, 100%

Maybe for you, but not everyone. One size does not fit all and I've run the numbers and found that I'm better off paying cash. Sites like Disney Dining Calculator are quite invaluable in determing whether you're coming out ahead or not.

 

[bigrigross]

Thanks So maybe with the snacks and the refillable drink it becomes "close" to a wash in price.

Depends on what time of year you go. If you go during Food and Wine or Flower & Garden festival, those snack credits become super valuable. I always get the middle dining plan when I go during those time. You usually do well when you choose snacks that are 5 dollars are above. Most of the time, the food at those festivals are around 8 to 9 dollars and almost all snack credit eligible.

I will say, I was happily full from the Disney Dining Plan. I could not ever justify buying the deluxe. Although I will do the math soon when I take my wifes family next year and have two rooms. We looked at adding the Deluxe to one of the rooms and then sharing the credit for table service. But I dont know how much of a pain it will be.

 

[durangojim]

Something else to consider is that depending on what hotel you stay in, if you buy an AP and use a discount for the hotel room, and then add the 10% discount on dining plus the 20% discount on merchandise you might be able to save even more than you would have normally, especially if you're staying at a deluxe. Also sometimes AP discounts are available while general ones aren't or vice versa.

 

[Master Yoda]

Something else to consider is that depending on what hotel you stay in, if you buy an AP and use a discount for the hotel room, and then add the 10% discount on dining plus the 20% discount on merchandise you might be able to save even more than you would have normally, especially if you're staying at a deluxe.

If you can justify an AP by admission alone, absolutely get one, but relying on the perks to make you break even can be a little risky.

Dining and merchandise discounts with the AP change pretty frequently and are not guaranteed. When and where they are offered can also vary quite a bit as well.

You run into the same issue with room discounts. To make matters worse, AP room rates are not all that better than the general public rates. That effectively turns that 35% room discount into what is effectively only a 5% discount vs what you can get without an AP.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Easy fix. Declare "convenience of not having to sort thru the menu = $500" and call it a victory.

Minus "inconvenience of not feeling like dinner at California Grill because we're still full from Boma lunch but we have to go and spend our credits anyways even though we're going to over-stuff ourselves and/or waste a ton of food" = $500.

If you can justify an AP by admission alone, absolutely get one, but relying on the perks to make you break even can be a little risky.

+DVC

 

[durangojim]

If you can justify an AP by admission alone, absolutely get one, but relying on the perks to make you break even can be a little risky.

Dining and merchandise discounts with the AP change pretty frequently and are not guaranteed. When and where they are offered can also vary quite a bit as well.

You run into the same issue with room discounts. To make matters worse, AP room rates are not all that better than the general public rates. That effectively turns that 35% room discount into what is effectively only a 5% discount vs what you can get without an AP.

I agree to a point. It depends on how many days you go to WDW a year. We average about 12 so for a park hopper ticket which we always purchase, staying at a deluxe resort usually with some kind of water view (YC, BC, GF) we're definitely coming out ahead. If we're only going to be at WDW 7-8 days out of the year then we skip the AP, hence your statement about the justifying the AP by admission alone.

 

[DarthVader]

Yes it does, every single time, 100%

Let me just add, that I re-ran my numbers using two online calculators. Both are not perfect, they seem to have their own idiosyncrasies but I think it does give me a good ball park estimate.

I'm staying 9 nights, we have a family of 4 adults (well two 12 year old kids who are considered adults by disney )
Assumptions: 18% tipping, disney mugs, and 2 snacks a day for each.
As you can see by the exhibit below, cash only, no plan is 3,011.35, the deluxe dining plan is 4427.37. Clearly i'm better off paying cash
The regular dining plan and QS dining plan is closer as the difference is about 400 dollars.
I used this site to calculate the plan: https://dining.ericconnerapps.com
I also used this site and the numbers were fairly close to what I show below: www.distripplanner.com

I am showing some left over credits and that will alter the savings a bit, but I used what I have for reservations and my itinerary.

 

[Phonedave]

To make a long story short, it's cheaper for me and my better half. Don't want to read, skip straight to bottom for the breakdown.

One of the things she mentioned to me is, "I'll go on all the rides you want as long as we get to dine in style." So then I had the dilemma of deciding whether to use cash or the dining plan for meals. So we went through every UP TO DATE menu of the restaurants we made reservations at, and picked what we would most likely order from apps to wine to desserts.

Little side note: The menu's on Disney's site are out of date. This site and Touring Plans are best IMO.

So for an 8 night stay, the Deluxe Dining plan gives 2 people a total of 48 dining credits and works out to be $1859.92 and we're using mostly signature restaurants with the other table credit for either breakfast or lunch. We're also doing 3 counter service and have it spaced out and worked out so it would fit our schedule in the parks.

Also there were some modifications. For one, if we were paying cash, we probably wouldn't order dessert alot because I don't normally eat it after a huge meal. Maybe a few meals. Also I did not take into consideration the refillable mug for two and all the snacks. I did not include those.

The breakdown for 2 people for 8 night stay:

Paying with cash: $1942.50 including tipping 20% at ALL table service restaurants

Deluxe Dining Plan COST for 8 nights: $1859.92 <- This is how much more you pay in the Disney World package price whether you get the Deluxe Dining Plan or not. For 8 nights that is.

Deluxe Dining Plan bill: $2137.50 including tipping 20% at ALL table service restaurants (This is the receipt or bill the waiter gives you while using your table credits to show you what you WOULD have spent including tip)

I mean it's not much savings but it's savings and when you add in the snacks and refillable mug drink, it's worth it by a mile.

Edit: Sigh, so I messed this up because I forgot to add the tips onto the DDP package cost ($1859.92). Tips add up to $336 additional which makes this post kinda moot. Sorry guys.

Thank you - this is an excellent post. You made a almost perfect comparison - You compared what you WOULD have ate with what the DDP costs. Not comparing what the food on the DDP would have cost you compared to the cost of the DDP.

As I have said over and over again. If you normally eat what the DDP gives you. Dessert, sodas, snacks, table service, and the top most expensive 2 or 3 entrees, then the DDP will save you over what you normally pay out of pocket. However, if you don't normally eat like that, then no, it does not save.

You have pretty much shown that if you normally don't eat desserts, then it's a wash.

-dave

 

[DarthVader]

As I have said over and over again. If you normally eat what the DDP gives you. Dessert, sodas, snacks, table service, and the top most expensive 2 or 3 entrees, then the DDP will save you over what you normally pay out of pocket. However, if you don't normally eat like that, then no, it does not save.

I found when we did the meal program before, that we got too much food, my girls at the time were much younger and they, even as kids, just didn't much. My wife and I in the Florida heat just wasn't up to large meals as well. I actually forgot about that until you mentioned desserts and what not.

 

[Bartledvd]

We only go during free dinning we would never pay directly for dinning plan cost of staying outside of free dinning offers plus paying for dinning plan is way more expensive than during free dinning offer period and if by some miracle we found a bargain to stay outside of free dinning offer we would dine offsite uber or lyft is so cheap and when handing over cash for my meals i expect better quality if paying $30-50 a head than disney can offer. Need to not worry about what anyone else does and do what makes you happy

 

[eliza61nyc]

Ugh I forgot to add the tips in. It's $336 additional. Sigh.

So it's $1859.92 for the DDP + $336 for tipping all the meals.

$2195.92. I'm an idiot. I thought I had this in the bag. The only thing is I didn't count the refillable mug and the 2 snacks you get every day but you guys are right. It's about $250 more expensive to use the DDP for me over paying cash.

lol,
No worries Joe, you did the legwork and that actually is a huge value.

First, recognize having an idea of what the meal spending will be is great IMO, The worst thing while on vacation is to have that ling feeling in the back of your head that your budget is leaving the station faster than the runaway train!! looking over menus and comparing cost alleviates that.
Also I find that some times when we are at the world, our best made plans can shot. lol. Having an idea of the menus or restaurants always made our last minute change of plans easier.

Well done

 

[eliza61nyc]

Yes it does, every single time, 100%

Have to politely disagree Dave and I have every last receipt from my May 2017 trip. Last year the regular dining plan for 3 adults would have cost me $1,040.25 for a 5 night stay (no tips). We spent 867.32 in food/snacks and that was including tips.

Now I did take advantage of my DVC membership so got 10% off a number of the meals. That totally also included two days where we went to I hop for breakfast.

For the way my family eats, the DDP has never ever been cheaper than oop. which is why I encourage folks to think about how they really eat. we don't do desserts at meal time so that's a waste. we like appetizers which I would have to spend oop on the plan. We don't do refillable mugs.

 

[DarthVader]

We only go during free dinning

We did that before and really enjoyed the benefit. I was trying to make it work for 2018, and while I don't beleive Disney has come out to detail when the 2018 free meal plan is, the time we were going to stay in WDW was falling out of the date range they used last year. They seem to continue to shrink the window of when they offer this, and now it seemed we couldn't take advantage. Other circumstances also led us to abandon the November time frame and we're going this April. That's of course good news/bad news but life is all about dealing with challanges.

 

[Bartledvd]

It is a lot easier being from the uk only dates the black out are easter holidays and december and the length of time offer is avalible is much longer normaly from april untill november downside is often you are booking over 12 months out we will be booking this next event for August-September 19

 

[Dave B]

Have to politely disagree Dave and I have every last receipt from my May 2017 trip. Last year the regular dining plan for 3 adults would have cost me $1,040.25 for a 5 night stay (no tips). We spent 867.32 in food/snacks and that was including tips.

Now I did take advantage of my DVC membership so got 10% off a number of the meals. That totally also included two days where we went to I hop for breakfast.

For the way my family eats, the DDP has never ever been cheaper than oop. which is why I encourage folks to think about how they really eat. we don't do desserts at meal time so that's a waste. we like appetizers which I would have to spend oop on the plan. We don't do refillable mugs.

Did you use all your QS credits and snack credits as well?

I would be curious to what you guys eat and where?

 

[Dismas]

I use the regular DDP almost every time I go (1 TS, 1 QS, 2 Snacks, and a mug), and I go with the wife and a toddler/almost elementary school. If we eat at the places we want to eat at regardless of the plan or not, we'd spend roughly the same money, we just get more food. By that I mean, everyone uses 1 TS credit at all the places we go, and we can usually use 2 QS meals between the three of us for other meals. That leaves us using 1 sometimes 2 snacks a day and then on the last night converting QS to 3 snacks and using up other snack credits for fudge and other stuff that you can freeze to snack on in moderation until the next Disney trip.

 

[DarthVader]

I would be curious to what you guys eat and where?

What we eat is typical to what's available, that is, at the Libertry tree tavern, it will be turkey, at the Rose and Crown, I love the Bangers and Mash. Chef Mickey is a buffet and so my family gets all sorts of stuff, and of course and Mam Melose we'll probably get a healthy portion of pasta.

I will say that my kids are 12, but much of the time can still get child portion meals, which we'll do at the various quick service locations, that in of itself will save me even more money, which isn't shown in the computations in my prior post.

Here's what I expect for my meals. All the sitdown restaurants have resevations and we're locked and loaded.

Breakfast:
8 Quick service breakfasts
O'Hana character meal

Lunch:
Mama Melose
8 Quick Service meals at the various parks

Dinner:
two resort QS dinners
Whispering Canyon Café
Hoop Dee Doo
Be out Guest
Rose and Crown
Sci-Fi Diner
Libtery Tree Tavern
Chef Mickey

 

[Andrew M]

We did the deluxe dining plan back in November and saved well over $350 over the course of our 7 night stay with paying for 2 adults and a 4yr old. We took advantage of this with loading up on Character buffets so our 2.95yr old and 1yr old ate for free almost everywhere.

However I don't think we'd end up doing deluxe again. My wife and I love WDW restaurants and consider them just as much as an attraction as the rides, but it was just way too much food, and exhausting keeping up with all the ADRs with a large group (we had up to 14 people with us at times). Plus now having a 3yr old throwing off the free meal benefits and realizing that we probably wouldn't have had as many meals (or atleast big meals) as we did if we didnt have the plan add into it. But anyway it can be done, so good luck!!

 

[unarmedmusic]

Its so much food, it got to the point where we felt like we were going from meal to meal due to the reservations and it was just so much food