Upgrade costs for dining plans 2013 and 2014

[TDC Nala]

2015

Quick Service to Regular

Adult: $19.02 per night
Child: $3.13 per night

Quick Service to Deluxe

Adult: $65.30 per night
Child: $13.76 per night

Regular to Deluxe

Adult: $46.28 per night
Child: $10.63 per night


If you observe math errors or are quoted something different, feel free to post. All prices are per person.

 

[wdwnut61]

Thank you so much for posting this

I was able to have Free Dining added to our current reservation and now I'm debating about upgrading from regular to delux so this really helps.

 

[TwoAtDisney]

Regular to Deluxe - Adult non-peak: $33 per night

Am I correct to assume that the $33 per night is for one adult. And with 2 adults in the room, it will be $66 per night? If so, Ouch!

 

[ahmo]

Thanks for sharing this! The upgrade from QS to Reg is reasonable but to Deluxe is OUCH!

 

[Cafeen]

Regular to Deluxe - Adult non-peak: $33 per night

Am I correct to assume that the $33 per night is for one adult. And with 2 adults in the room, it will be $66 per night? If so, Ouch!

Yes, each number Nala posted above is per person.

 

[Lumiere Lover]

Also, I believe the quick servicing dining plan from 2011 to 2012 took away one snack.

 

[TwoAtDisney]

Thanks, Cafeen. IMO, that's too much!

 

[angierae]

We were thrilled to upgrade from DDP to DxDP today under free dining. DxDP for less than the cost of DDP? Sold! $33-34 is a very small price to pay for three credits a day plus two snacks. We saved about $500 on our package even though we upgrade (we're staying Mod).

We could have saved $1200 by just going with the DDP but since we've already budgeted the money anyway we might as well take the DxDP. And now we've got an extra $500 in the budget to spend while we're there.

(Well, $400. We were going to spend $100 on an OOP meal which now we don't have to, but I added another $200 into our tip budget.)

 

[wdwnut61]

We were thrilled to upgrade from DDP to DxDP today under free dining. DxDP for less than the cost of DDP? Sold! $33-34 is a very small price to pay for three credits a day plus two snacks. We saved about $500 on our package even though we upgrade (we're staying Mod).

We could have saved $1200 by just going with the DDP but since we've already budgeted the money anyway we might as well take the DxDP. And now we've got an extra $500 in the budget to spend while we're there.

(Well, $400. We were going to spend $100 on an OOP meal which now we don't have to, but I added another $200 into our tip budget.)

Yes that's how I'm looking at it too. We saved over $900.00 with DDP and over $300.00 with upgrading to DXDP. I had already budgeted for DDP and have many signatures booked. Now I won't have to pay OOP and can enjoy many new places

 

[WISH3]

thanks so much for this upgrade cost info. This helps in making decisions!! Can someone tell me what the cost is per day for QS & DDP and Deluxe? I wish they broke down these costs but understand why they don't.
Thx

 

[TwoAtDisney]

I've not been involved in too many DDP discussions re: is free DDP a savings, but I have seen that it can be a touchy subject. So, let me preface my post by saying that I agree everyone obviously has the right to plan their own vacation their own way without a need to explain why or to justify their decisions - thank goodness!

However, when I see such high $ savings quotes, I don't get it. DH & I would eagerly pop for Deluxe if we could figure out how it is saving money when spending more?

I'm curious & I've never seen a detailed clarification of DDP savings -
1. Are the posted savings amounts computed from comparing DDP & OOP?

2. Is the cost of paying rack rate over a resort discount being included in the computation?

3. When DDP is compared to OOP, would you really spend that much money on food if paying OOP, especially in WDW where the food & service is not the best compared to other places in the area? If one wants to spend that much money on food, wouldn't one go to Shulas, The Palm, & other better dining places?

4. We've found that most of the portion sizes in restaurants are too much for 1 person; even most of the CS items. Because it is too much food for one person & we don't like to waste, we either split or if we want different menu items, we take half back to the room fridge & eat it another time or day (use food court microwave to heat it). Are many people on DDP just leaving food on the plates?

5. Is it only a savings if one has lots of kids?

6. Is DDP considered a savings because of flying vs driving & rental car prices incurred for eating off property?

Anyway, our experience is - we had regular DDP for the 1st time last year (it was "free" w/rack rate) & we just could not possibly eat all of that food. We had to buy 2 styrofoam coolers from Publix & take a whole bunch of QS & snack food home w/us! Even got 2 slabs of ribs as our last TS & took all of that home (just ate some of the fries & slaw at the restaurant because we were so stuffed!) Of course we had the free DDP for 20 days - OMG! It took months to take off the extra lbs!

This year we are only taking free DDP for 9 days. We'll do the last 11 days OOP dining & lodge offsite - now that is a real savings because we will have free breakfast at the hotel & much less hotel cost. Of course, we will have our own car so we avoid the rental car & flying costs. But even if we were staying at Disney, the OOP with resort discount would be a lot less than Disney rack rate with "free" DDP. I should add, that we are not staying offsite because we cannot afford to stay at Disney the entire time, we just don't see the justification for spending the extra money. Our car will take us whereever we want to go in Disney.

So, I wonder if free DDP and/or Deluxe upgrade is really a "savings" when compared to how one would actually eat without it?

Sorry, but the figures puzzle me & don't seem to add up. I'm really open to being enlightened with some detailed calculations.

I sincerely hope I did not offend anyone, because that is not my intention. I guess my curiousity is strong! I always like to figure things out!

 

[Granfan]

A lot of us who like FD don't stay anywhere near 20 days. We use all our credits mostly. 4 or 5 days is enough for me each trip-food, parks, being away from home, etc. I prefer 2 or 3 shorter trips ayear rather than one long one. But I know people who live far away have to take the longer trips fewer times.

 

[sharonabe]

TWOATDISNEY

I can't answer all your questions, and without knowing what they originally booked, no can except them.

I too have been skeptical at the high $ savings quoted, so did a little research for myself.

If you are paying rack rate for everything (staying on property. tickets, dining plan), the free dining is a no-brainer. You get your food for free and you pay less.

If you have a room discount, it depends on where you are staying and what type of room. On a standard MOD at POR, the usual room discount is 30-35%, so on a 5-night stay in the lowest priced room with a 35%, you would save a little over $278. I can't feed my family of four on $278 at Disney, so I would go with the free dining

If you're at a Deluxe it becomes a little harder. I checked Contemporary, with their lowest priced room and for five nights with a 40% discount, I would save $600. I can feed my family on that. It would be all QS and we'd be happy with it. If we go with free dining, I would have to subtract the cost of tips from that savings, but we MIGHT still do it.

I agree with you....I'd love to see the math behind some of these high $ savings, because I can't find it.

 

[TwoAtDisney]

Thanks for your responses.

sharonabe, I can see that the DDP would be worth $278 for a family of 4. Thanks for explaining.

granfan, makes sense that only 4 or 5 days may make the DDP worth while - not much resort savings on that length of time. As for our trip length, we are retired & can spend as long as we want & take trips as often as we want - retirement is soooo great! We used to stay at Sherwood Forest RV park all winter & had a Disney annual pass. We got our fill & now we only do 10 day tickets no matter how long we stay in the area; we are mostly there to get away from the Indiana cold winter.

I think I'm now understanding that the $1,000+ savings by taking free DDP is either "magical" computing , or some folks who would eat a whole lot of OOP food , or some folks have a whole lot of kids - maybe 10 ?

 

[sharonabe]

Bumping this back up since several people have been asking for the cost difference.

Thanks again to TDCNALA for figuring it all out for us!!!

 

[university]

Thanks for posting this. I've been racking my brain trying to figure out why my quote was so high. Of course they raised the rates.

 

[cybrkitn]

Deleted post. Found another thread that answered my question and cleared up my confusion.

 

[Pinkgirl]

Thanks for this. I'm now looking into upgrading my DD who will be 8 and is not a fan of the kids meals.

 

[theresamom]

If we decide to upgrade from QS to Regular, when can we do it? Is there a time limit for us to say "we wanna upgrade our dining plan"?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Cafeen]

If we decide to upgrade from QS to Regular, when can we do it? Is there a time limit for us to say "we wanna upgrade our dining plan"?

Thanks in advance.

3 days prior to check-in is the deadline.

Note that additional charges may be applied beyond the 45 day mark, though these are usually waived early on in that window if upgrading, the closer you are to the trip, the less likely they are to waive the fees.

For example, for 2011 I upgraded my DDP to DxDDP 7 days before the trip, I was hit with a $15 additional change fee (which I was expecting). Now, of course, this isn't consistent and it could be the $50 fee (their advertised change fee which is usually only reserved for downgrades, but has been charged for upgrades as well) or it could be nothing. It's pretty much up to the phone CM roulette game.