Originally posted by bhg469
thats what i was hoping for, i used something liek that years ago but it was only one item off a list for the whole trip, i remember using it for breakfast at rainforest cafe, the breakfast for 2 came to $50 so we made out. they actually made us order more food than we could eat so we would getting the most out of the points. im looking forward to using you strategy though.
At todays cost it's $68 a night per person for 2 points. So that's $34 a point. And if you think you will spend more than that per day on food, then it's worth it.
If you can get a discount on top of that, even better.
I think the price per point (and Pam from Kingdom Konsultant can correct me if you know the number) was less last year (and the years before). So you should work out the costs before to see if it's worth buying into the plan. I figure "normal" dinners are around $35-$45 a person, and a good breakfast or lunch is around $20. So $65 a day would almost break even. Throw in a tour or two (at 1 point for a $50-$60 tour), and you can break even or make out a bit.
Nothing shocking about not being a hugh savings, I'm sure Disney's bean counters worked out the numbers over and over before they announced them. :fork:
One thing that will deffinatly make it "not so good" is children. Even though they drop the price to $55 per night, most kids are not eating $55 worth of food every day.
And the really expensive places cost 2 points, thus you better be eating a $68 dinner by yourself or you're just waisting you money. Now at a place like Narcossess, it wouldn't take much, but Jiko or Artists point, while expensive, probebly wont come to $68 a plate for most people. And remember, alcohol is NOT included as part of the point system.
My recommendation is once you've planned where you're going to eat (we make our PS months in advance), I look at the menues, work out the costs, figure out where I'm spending all my points, then see what it would have cost me cash.
On our next trip, we are staying for seven nights. I figured $20 for breakfast 6 out of 7 days, $45 for dinner, and 1 tour at $50. So for Silver Plan it will cost $476, and paying cash would cost $485. So we could save $9 on the plan,.
Not really a big deal, but the plan does make it a bit worry free. You don't really care about the prices when ordering food, which is one more way to make your vacation even more pleasant.
It all comes down to planning for it. You can also say that there is a cost/value attached to using the wishes, thus even if it costs more than cash, it was still valuable. Just know that the plans usally don't give huge savings over cash, it's more of an worry free package than a cost saver overall.
Have fun!
