Disney Dining Plan - Little Upside............Massive Downside

[jaklgreen]

If they earn there tips

I've never had an issue with service at WDW, except at Via Napoli(they just don't give a crap). I have had the free dining in the past so I have used it. We are always nice to our servers and they have been nice to us.

 

[bigrigross]

I used it for the first time in May of this year. My wife and I are not dedicated solely to the parks when we go. I like to relax and take it easy. I also enjoy eating at higher end restaurants when I travel. We got the middle tier DDP plan and we saved $180 by doing it. Not much in savings but the convenience it brings makes it worth every dime. I dont have to carry cash. I dont have to worry about how much I charged to my room. I eat what I want. Its not hard to hit the 35/15/5 marks for TS, QS, and a snack. Especially during food and wine or when I went, Flower and garden. I mean the savings alone from the "snacks" at flower and garden made it worth breaking down a few of the QS credits. And it will be worth it again when I go next September for Food and Wine.

Also yes, you have to schedule your time a little more to use TS credits. But so does everyone who pays in cash. If your family is big on character meals, good luck trying to walk into Tusker house at 8AM and expect to get in without a reservation. You have to book those 6 months out whether your paying with cash or credits.

Also the person who wrote its better to invest than pay for DDP. WHAT?? Really. I saved 180 dollars. I paid a little more than a thousand dollars for two people. You are not getting 180 dollars in interest in a year especially with fees and taxes on it. That did not make any sense.

 

[danyoung56]

So we are going in November with the dining promo, we are staying at the Yacht Club in a standard room, when I did the math we were saving over $500, and that is with the Park Hopper, so I am not sure where you came up with the numbers, and YES you could go to Target or any store and pick up food and drinks, keep them in the room, we did this our first time we ever went to Disney world, and yes it saved us money, but it definitely was not the same experience, if I was on an extreme budget and could barely afford to go, then I see where you are coming from with buying your own food ahead of time, but if you want the truly magical experience I don't think there is anything like it, it makes the trip like an all inclusive feel

Off topic, but the above gets the award for longest run on sentence ever!

 

[Dave B]

Sorry not in school or at work, I forget about punctuation lololol

 

[danyoung56]

Sorry not in school or at work, I forget about punctuation lololol

No worries - I just like to be picky!

 

[Tom P.]

since all character meals are 2 credits now they are not the money savers they used to be.

Very few character meals are two credits.

We just finished a WDW trip and we are big on character meals. On this trip, we did:

Chef Mickey's
Tusker House
Cinderella's Royal Table
1900 Park Fare
Be Our Guest (Sorta/Kinda a Character Meal)
Crystal Palace
Akershus

Of those, only Cinderella's Royal Table was a 2 credit meal. In fact, aside from dinner shows, I'm pretty sure that is the only character meal on property that is 2 credits.

 

[Dave B]

That is correct my man

 

[MickeyMomV]

since all character meals are 2 credits now they are not the money savers they used to be.

This is incorrect. Most all of the character meals are only 1 credit. There are a select few that are 2, such as CRT. this is one of the last things that make paying for the plan worth it. If you do a lot of character dining, in most cases, you will come out ahead with the DDP.

Otherwise like many others have said paying for a full price DDP is not worth the cost anymore. We do however find value with the plan if getting "free" dining or PSD. Although now that we are AP's we will be doing the TiW so the DDP does not come into play.

 

[drizgirl]

since all character meals are 2 credits now they are not the money savers they used to be.

It wasn't even much of a saver at 1 credit.

 

[MickeyMomV]

Its like plainning to go to a store to by a $50 pair of shoes and then they send you a coupon for $25 off a purchase of $100 or more, so you buy a $100 pair of shoes and save $25, bringing it down to $75. What a bargin, you saved $25. No, what you did is spend $25 more than you would have.

Here is the thing though.... I really want the $100 shoes but settle on the $50 ones because I cant justify the $100 ones. BUT if I can get them for $75 I can justify the costs and really enjoy them.

 

[MickeyMomV]

And now you are paying full rack rate for your room.

You do realize that most of the time you could save more money than the plan is worth by applying a discount to your room rate.

I've done the math on this one and unless you are staying deluxe I have not seen the room discount come out ahead with normal eating habits (not the most expensive items on the menu but not the cheapest either). The value and mod discounts are too small on a much cheaper room. I just have not been able to make the math to work with value and mod unless you are getting the cheapest thing on the menu and even then you may have to miss a meal or two.

If they earn there tips

No, No, No, No..... You can not bring feelings on tipping into a dining plan thread. I'm pretty sure the resulting actions my break the internet!!

 

[Dave B]

lololol

 

[Raineman]

For everyone who prefers not using the DDP and uses a credit card instead, purely because of the savings, consider this:if you use a CC for all the meals consumed while at WDW, and you are not paying off the CC balance quickly after your trip, the interest you accrue on that balance could either minimize or eliminate the perceived savings over the DDP and, in cases where the balance is paid off over a longer period of time, you could pay more than what you would have paid for the DDP. Even for 2 people, a week at WDW could run you $700-$800 or more for meals, which would accrue interest at close to $100 a month at an average interest rate, which would be even higher when your party is larger.

 

[jaklgreen]

For everyone who prefers not using the DDP and uses a credit card instead, purely because of the savings, consider this:if you use a CC for all the meals consumed while at WDW, and you are not paying off the CC balance quickly after your trip, the interest you accrue on that balance could either minimize or eliminate the perceived savings over the DDP and, in cases where the balance is paid off over a longer period of time, you could pay more than what you would have paid for the DDP. Even for 2 people, a week at WDW could run you $700-$800 or more for meals, which would accrue interest at close to $100 a month at an average interest rate, which would be even higher when your party is larger.

If you don't have the money to pay for the food OOP, then where are you getting the money from to pay for the dining plan?

 

[Raineman]

If you don't have the money to pay for the food OOP, then where are you getting the money from to pay for the dining plan?

From the same place I get the money to pay for the rest of my WDW vacations-cash, saved over many months. Not really sure what that has to do with my explanation of how using credit cards instead of the DDP could cost you more in the long run. I'm sure there are a number of people who take WDW vacations, that are still paying for it for some time after they get back home due to the fact that they used credit to cover some, if not all, of the cost.

 

[A.D.D. Boy]

Off topic, but the above gets the award for longest run on sentence ever!

Additionally, I believe the your/you're mishap has occurred 5 or 6 times this thread... #GrammarPoPoInEffect

 

[John park hopper]

I am so confused reading every ones posts: Correct me if I am wrong there seems to be 3 ways to pay for Disney meals
1. Pay up front Disney Dinning plan.
2. Use a credit card (possible cash back) pay off balance immediately.
3. Purchase Disney gift cards in advance at a discount
Have I missed any other methods? So what are the pros and cons of these?

 

[King Panda 77]

I am so confused reading every ones posts: Correct me if I am wrong there seems to be 3 ways to pay for Disney meals
1. Pay up front Disney Dinning plan.
2. Use a credit card (possible cash back) pay off balance immediately.
3. Purchase Disney gift cards in advance at a discount
Have I missed any other methods? So what are the pros and cons of these?

You forgot pay cash.

 

[John park hopper]

You forgot pay cash.

Thanks --the most obvious pay cash

 

[King Panda 77]

Thanks --the most obvious pay cash

Use a debit card?