Dining Plans

Weather_Lady

Weather_Lady

Well-Known Member
crazy4disney said:
With how Disney basically forces you to book so far in advance again it just becomes simple math & a couple phones at most. get prices for said buffet/family style meal do a rough estimate of snacks per meal plan add in the free resort mug and if that number is higher than what the dining plan cost purchase the dining plan... if its cheaper simple pass on the dining option. Its pretty simple to me.
Click to expand...
You're right. The math is simple, but calculating it out -- especially for those with long trips -- can be a daunting and time-consuming task, and Disney doesn't always do a great job of keeping their menu listings and pricing information updated.

FWIW, I find this DDP calculator tool (link below) helpful, although it's important to read the "assumptions used for these estimates" section, which assumes, for example, that everyone at the table will order a drink, and that you'll tip 18%. If your family's dining behavior significantly differs from that, you'll want to adjust the totals accordingly. Other variables in your party's dining style, like whether you order appetizers and desserts and buy refillable mugs, can be selected and accounted-for.

Disney Dining Plan Calculator - Save money eating at Walt Disney World!

Determine if the Disney Dining Plan is financially worth it for your trip to Walt Disney World.
distripplanner.com distripplanner.com
 
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G00fyDad

G00fyDad

Well-Known Member
Weather_Lady said:
You're right. The math is simple, but calculating it out -- especially for those with long trips -- can be a daunting and time-consuming task, and Disney doesn't always do a great job of keeping their menu listings and pricing information updated.

FWIW, I find this DDP calculator tool (link below) helpful, although it's important to read the "assumptions used for these estimates" section, which assumes, for example, that everyone at the table will order a drink, and that you'll tip 18%. If your family's dining behavior significantly differs from that, you'll want to adjust the totals accordingly. Other variables in your party's dining style, like whether you order appetizers and desserts and buy refillable mugs, can be selected and accounted-for.

Disney Dining Plan Calculator - Save money eating at Walt Disney World!

Determine if the Disney Dining Plan is financially worth it for your trip to Walt Disney World.
distripplanner.com distripplanner.com
Click to expand...
distripplanner needs to update their calculator. It has missing restaurants.
 
Weather_Lady

Weather_Lady

Well-Known Member
G00fyDad said:
distripplanner needs to update their calculator. It has missing restaurants.
Click to expand...
It's concededly not perfect. I use it for what's there and if a restaurant I want to add doesn't appear on the list, I add it manually once I've printed it out (yes, I am that old), or simply select a comparably-priced restaurant for purposes of the calculations. The goal, at least for me, is just to get a ballpark idea of whether the DDP would "save" us money on a given trip.

I can say that since 2016 or so -- around the time my kids became "Disney adults" for meal pricing purposes and started to lose interest in character meals -- not purchasing the DDP has saved us 20-35% over the cost-with-the-DDP for every trip -- both according to distripplanner's pre-trip predictions, and according to my own post-trip calculations of what we actually spent. In each case, we've eaten whatever we wanted, wherever we wanted, which generally has meant a greater proportion of TS meals than CS meals, the selection of some signature restaurants, and a host of appetizers and lounge visits, that the DDP wouldn't have covered, or for which it would have "charged" us double credits.

I have tested distripplanner's numbers before, by comparing current menu pricing for a given restaurant with what their calculator spat out, and found them to be pretty reliable. On the other hand, it's been a couple of years since I've needed to do that, and I have no personal knowledge of how often that site gets updated. They may have stopped, given the mootness of such calculations right now. YMMV.
 
Last edited:
C

crazy4disney

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
Weather_Lady said:
You're right. The math is simple, but calculating it out -- especially for those with long trips -- can be a daunting and time-consuming task, and Disney doesn't always do a great job of keeping their menu listings and pricing information updated.

FWIW, I find this DDP calculator tool (link below) helpful, although it's important to read the "assumptions used for these estimates" section, which assumes, for example, that everyone at the table will order a drink, and that you'll tip 18%. If your family's dining behavior significantly differs from that, you'll want to adjust the totals accordingly. Other variables in your party's dining style, like whether you order appetizers and desserts and buy refillable mugs, can be selected and accounted-for.

Disney Dining Plan Calculator - Save money eating at Walt Disney World!

Determine if the Disney Dining Plan is financially worth it for your trip to Walt Disney World.
distripplanner.com distripplanner.com
Click to expand...

We can agree to disagree than... my trip is anywhere from 9-11 days. since my daughter has been born we do majority if not all meals for breakfast/dinner as character options. A phone call to Disney to obtain the prices for the booked meals is all that truly needs to get done... dining plan prices were always posted online but agree the official website gave ranges of a specific place so i would call to get an accurate as possible & then simply allocate $5 per snack & another $15 for the resort mug. Tipping isnt included in any meal plan anymore so its not a factor.
 
G00fyDad

G00fyDad

Well-Known Member
Weather_Lady said:
It's concededly not perfect. I use it for what's there and if a restaurant I want to add doesn't appear on the list, I add it manually once I've printed it out (yes, I am that old), or simply select a comparably-priced restaurant for purposes of the calculations. The goal, at least for me, is just to get a ballpark idea of whether the DDP would "save" us money on a given trip.

I can say that since 2016 or so -- around the time my kids became "Disney adults" for meal pricing purposes and started to lose interest in character meals -- not using the DDP has saved us 20-35% over the cost-with-the-DDP for every trip -- both according to distripplanner's pre-trip predictions, and according to my own post-trip calculations of what we actually spent. In each case, we've eaten whatever we wanted, wherever we wanted, which generally has meant a greater proportion of TS meals than CS meals, the selection of some signature restaurants, and a host of appetizers and lounge visits, that the DDP wouldn't have covered, or for which it would have "charged" us double credits.

I have tested distripplanner's numbers before, by comparing current menu pricing for a given restaurant with what their calculator spat out, and found them to be pretty reliable. On the other hand, it's been a couple of years since I've needed to do that, and I have no personal knowledge of how often that site gets updated. They may have stopped, given the mootness of such calculations right now. YMMV.
Click to expand...

I understand. I have a spreadsheet that calculates it better than that calculator that I use for our trips. The DDP has not been a good investment for us since 2006.
 
goherdibg

goherdibg

Member
G00fyDad said:
distripplanner needs to update their calculator. It has missing restaurants.
Click to expand...

I may have mentioned this before, but I work on the site in my spare time - which is always less and less as time goes on. Anyway, once Disney suspended the Dining Plans I decided to hold off on updating restaurants until I see a firm return date and a full list of restaurants to be included in the Dining Plans.

As for accuracy, I take the full list of prices for each restaurant category and average them to come up with the price per category (entree, apps, drinks, etc). I do try and pull out the extreme high and low items so they do not affect the average, but some restaurants just do not factor well to provide a good calculated average. We have had some users let us know of those strange calculations and I then perform the average calculation based on what I see the average guest choosing.

Reality is, the Dining Plan is not for everybody by any means. We have not received much benefit from it since our children reached the dreaded Disney adult age. When I do use the Dining Plan I put that cost (along with the package) on my Disney Visa and get the 6 month interest free time to pay off the trip. Why pay $2K-$3K now when you can pay $500 a month? :)

My guess is when Disney does bring back the plans, they will be different and require me to decide if I want to change the calculator and update the data or close up shop.
 
G00fyDad

G00fyDad

Well-Known Member
goherdibg said:
I may have mentioned this before, but I work on the site in my spare time - which is always less and less as time goes on. Anyway, once Disney suspended the Dining Plans I decided to hold off on updating restaurants until I see a firm return date and a full list of restaurants to be included in the Dining Plans.

As for accuracy, I take the full list of prices for each restaurant category and average them to come up with the price per category (entree, apps, drinks, etc). I do try and pull out the extreme high and low items so they do not affect the average, but some restaurants just do not factor well to provide a good calculated average. We have had some users let us know of those strange calculations and I then perform the average calculation based on what I see the average guest choosing.

Reality is, the Dining Plan is not for everybody by any means. We have not received much benefit from it since our children reached the dreaded Disney adult age. When I do use the Dining Plan I put that cost (along with the package) on my Disney Visa and get the 6 month interest free time to pay off the trip. Why pay $2K-$3K now when you can pay $500 a month? :)

My guess is when Disney does bring back the plans, they will be different and require me to decide if I want to change the calculator and update the data or close up shop.
Click to expand...

I wasn't getting that deep about it. I was just thinking about the missing Space220 option. LOL
 
Diamond Dot

Diamond Dot

Well-Known Member
I like the Disney Dining Credit I got for the last trip and will be getting for the next trip, very easy to use. I wonder if Disney will do a Disney Dining Credit where if you are staying at a Disney hotel you can buy for example, $1000 of credits to use anywhere at Disney and you pay $800, saving 20%, I think that would go down well, not complicated like the DDP was and extremely flexible. They could make up the money by not allowing tips to be paid for it for people dining at TS restaurants, so gratuities would be OOP, but, no one eats every meal at TS I should imagine, so you would still save. And no more of this getting 'more bang for your buck' nonsense which may persuade you to forego a snack option because it's cheaper than another snack credit item and you can have kids meals like I did. I genuinely loved the dining credits.
 

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