Dining plan cost OUTRAGEOUS for 2012

[angelmav]

Why are people so snitty with each other on here? We are discussing the happiest place on earth...at least for this disney family.
This thread does not even know for sure the cost of the ddp. We have at least 3 different quotes floating around. And we don't know if prices will go up since it is now 2012 so ALL we have is the past experiences, so GOSH, I did add up our receipts. Best way to figure out if it saved us money. We added and subtracted and got a total. Yikes. Shame on me...

Are you kidding me? They have raised the rates for 2012, this is not up for debate. They are quoting $55/19 on the phone, but those that seperate this out of the package for themselves get a figure a couple of bucks less. Whatever anyone paid in previous years is irrelevant to THIS discussion.

Love it when someone gets hurt and makes a snippy comment by asking why people are so snippy on the dis.

 

[angelmav]

It's unfortunate that the discussion about its merits or not, goes on and on and on. When this thread ends another will take its place, and so on and so on. Some people love the dining plan. Some people don't. Some people are on the fence and each side is trying to see who "wins" by convincing the on the fence people to see their way. It's all kinds of ridiculous.

Yes, unfortunate. Ohhhh the humanity of it all.

I forget sometimes why these forums exist. How terrible it would be to have this come up again in 2013 when we could just use the search button to see what the prevailing opinion was in 2006.

 

[TDC Nala]

This thread isn't about parenting and it's taking an off topic turn AND people are starting to get snotty. Frankly I'm surprised it took this long based on past threads where the anti-pro DDP groups got ahold of them. Only thing I remember causing more of a ruckus is tipping and we had to restrict that topic eventually. Please turn it down some.

 

[chmurf]

so let's talk about cost.

WDW international quote :

Disney Dining Plan: £33.99 per adult, £10.99 per child, per day 1 Table Service meal, 1 Quick (Counter) Service meal and 1 Snack per Guest, per day.

So at the current exchange rate, DDP stands at $53.17 / $17.19

According to DIS

Basic Dining Plan

Adults: $51.54 (regular season) | $53.54 (peak season*)
Children: $15.02 (regular season) | $16.02 (peak season*)

As far as europeans are concerned, the discrepancies in the different quotes are a matter of exchange rate at the time the quote is given.

The only figure we need is that 2012 prices ar up between $5 and $7 on average over 2011 prices.

That's roughly a 10% increase. All those who got that kind of raise at work, put your hands up ...

 

[eliza61]

It's unfortunate that the discussion about its merits or not, goes on and on and on. When this thread ends another will take its place, and so on and so on. Some people love the dining plan. Some people don't. Some people are on the fence and each side is trying to see who "wins" by convincing the on the fence people to see their way. It's all kinds of ridiculous.

Not always (not trying to convince you. LOL). Think of it from this perspective. If I'm a first timer, going to disney pretty much the disney line is to buy the ddp so I'm not going to get an objective review from them but if I come here and read this thread, I get way more opinions and a wider fishing pool.

I may read an opinion of why the ddp sucks that is from some one who's traveling style and family make up is very similar to mine and it gives me the opportunity to say "Wow, didn't think about that".

Whenever I go on any vacation I tend to research until the cows come home. I'm leary of any thing that gets 100% great reviews or 100% bad reviews. I want to here both.

I remember I wrote a really bad review of Ohana and after I posted it I got tons of replies saying "thank god, I thought I was the only one". I kept thinking well how come no one ever posted the criticism because I kept hearing how great Ohano's was. Now maybe nothing would have swayed me from trying it but pretty much the more varied opinions we get the better decisions I can make.

Now we do tend to get redoundant and that's ok but I love hearing both sides of the coin.

 

[eliza61]

This thread isn't about parenting and it's taking an off topic turn AND people are starting to get snotty. Frankly I'm surprised it took this long based on past threads where the anti-pro DDP groups got ahold of them. Only thing I remember causing more of a ruckus is tipping and we had to restrict that topic eventually. Please turn it down some.

Gotcha Nala. My apologies.

 

[indigoxtreme]

Basically it just boils down to if you like the DDP then do it if not don't. One needs to research and see if it is right for them. I went to all ears and looked at the menus etc for our plans and what we probably would order There is no cost difference at all for me or savings. So for simplicity sake I will go with the DDP. We would not order appetizers each time and we would not order desert, most time. The cost is the same for us with these things taken out. So basically I am getting desert free if wanted.

 

[Colleen27]

thank you for noticing.
It was just a "I think, in my humble opinion, that kids tend not to like that"

I get what you're saying, but some of your phrasing made it sound like much more than a humble opinion. Paraphrasing here, but "your kid might even lie and say he enjoyed it" sounds like you're claiming to have more insight than we do into our own kids' minds, and that's what tends to prompt flames - when a poster comes across as preaching an absolute truth or stating things in a borderline offensive way (like comments about guests who can eat their body weight in food). I do think you're right about many kids not caring one bit about the food, particularly for those on first trips, but your phrasing left something to be desired.

Besides, vacations aren't just about the kids and many parents (those less Disney obsessed than most of us DISers!) view better dining options as a nice compromise - run around all day riding Dumbo and Jungle Cruise for the kids, then settle into a nice sit down meal in the evening to unwind before starting all over in a different park the next day.

And then there are the kids that just don't fit that mold for whatever reason. I know my kids enjoy Disney dining as much as we do. You talked about getting things you can't get at home when you go offsite. That's exactly it for us - we live in a small Midwestern town with a McDonalds, a "homestyle" type diner, and a couple of bars with good burgers, but no ethnic or nicer restaurants. My older two kids happily sit at my computer and look over menus to make lists of where they want to eat before I start making ADRs, because our week at Disney and the week or two we spend traveling elsewhere are the only times they get to indulge in favorites like sushi or hibachi or try unusual new things like Moroccan food or ostrich. We're leaving in 3 weeks for the older kids' 7th trip (and the 3yo's 3rd), and we're long past grabbing chicken nuggets or turkey legs while running from one ride to another.

 

[gobo2]

Close er up, Nala!

 

[verdi73]

Where did you get this great perception from? My kids would have stabbed you with a knife at 7 years of age if you tried to rush them through a meal in 20 minutes and thank god we never ever gave our kids those nasty chicken nuggets. those things should be banned on every continent on the planet.

Sorry maybe I've got disfunctional kids but they love dinner time as much as we do. and I really must have weird kids because they love dessert and they manage to want it after every meal, but then even at 7 they were able to concentrate for more than 20 minutes at a time. Horrors of horros we even manage to take them to "adult" restaurants where the food actually took longer than 20 minutes to cook

could it be that you have to give your kids constant stimulation that they seem to not be able to make it through a meal longer than 20 minutes?

So by your analogy you never take your kids to a museum because ***gasp*** they actually have to look at stuff and read? no twirling teacups to keep the stimulation going so they don't get bored.

Sorry I have to add my voice to the choruses of "not happening with my kids". Even as babies they were used to long sit down meals with family. My dh's parents are European and meals are never ever 20 minutes. No italian worth their salt is going to allow a kid to get up from the dinner table 20 minutes into dinner LOL.

Kids learn what they are taught. If you teach them that Mcdonalds, chicken nuggets and fries are the extent of dining that's what they learn. If you teach them and expose them to sit down meals where you talk, laugh and go over the day, they get accostume to that also.

We had this exact conversation the other night while dining at Ruth Chris with our 9 DS for my birthday who commented how loud the table of adults were down from us in this "fancy restaurant" as he said. He sat there and enjoyed his meal for the 1 1/2 we were there as there was nothing left on his plate and it wasn't chicken nuggets, burgers, or fries, it was chop salad, filet, and lobster mac and cheese, but we did expose him to these things when he was young and practiced correct table manners at home.

 

[pilferk]

That's roughly a 10% increase. All those who got that kind of raise at work, put your hands up ...

Not me. I was happy for my roughly 4%.

It's around 10%-ish for adults....about 25%-ish (it was 11.99 last year) for kids.

That's a pretty marked increase, I agree. It pretty much eradicates any savings we had on the adult side (about 2 or 3 bucks a day), and SERIOUSLY cuts into the kids savings.

As I've said previously, it's no longer a good fit for our family.

 

[pilferk]

Basically it just boils down to if you like the DDP then do it if not don't. One needs to research and see if it is right for them. I went to all ears and looked at the menus etc for our plans and what we probably would order There is no cost difference at all for me or savings. So for simplicity sake I will go with the DDP. We would not order appetizers each time and we would not order desert, most time. The cost is the same for us with these things taken out. So basically I am getting desert free if wanted.

I agree.

It's worked for us in the past.

It's not going to work for us in the future, I don't think.

If we were still 2 adults and 3 kids....I think we might still be going in that direction, even with the cost increases. I'm not as sure as I was last year, when booking/planning our Oct trip, but I think it would still save us $$.

Adding the one "new" Disney adult, though, is the deal breaker. That, combined with the cost increases (which means I don't think we'd even marginally save on the 2 "real" adults) means it's no longer a good fit for us.

I'm sure it will still work for LOTS of families, though.

 

[pilferk]

And then there are the kids that just don't fit that mold for whatever reason. I know my kids enjoy Disney dining as much as we do. You talked about getting things you can't get at home when you go offsite. That's exactly it for us - we live in a small Midwestern town with a McDonalds, a "homestyle" type diner, and a couple of bars with good burgers, but no ethnic or nicer restaurants. My older two kids happily sit at my computer and look over menus to make lists of where they want to eat before I start making ADRs, because our week at Disney and the week or two we spend traveling elsewhere are the only times they get to indulge in favorites like sushi or hibachi or try unusual new things like Moroccan food or ostrich. We're leaving in 3 weeks for the older kids' 7th trip (and the 3yo's 3rd), and we're long past grabbing chicken nuggets or turkey legs while running from one ride to another.

You had me, right there, until you dissed the turkey legs!

We usually buy a couple, on the run, at AK and share them amongst the 5 of us. I LOVE those smoked turkey legs! I wouldn't even mention them in the same BREATH as the chicken nuggets (or the mac and cheese).

But, other than that, my kids are pretty similar. They'll eat just about anything, and really like to try new stuff. They're begging us to book Jiko's again this trip.....I have to check with SIL to see if it's in her budget, and, if not, if I can convince my wife that it's in OURS to treat her.

 

[Colleen27]

You had me, right there, until you dissed the turkey legs!

We usually buy a couple, on the run, at AK and share them amongst the 5 of us. I LOVE those smoked turkey legs! I wouldn't even mention them in the same BREATH as the chicken nuggets (or the mac and cheese).

But, other than that, my kids are pretty similar. They'll eat just about anything, and really like to try new stuff. They're begging us to book Jiko's again this trip.....I have to check with SIL to see if it's in her budget, and, if not, if I can convince my wife that it's in OURS to treat her.

Turkey legs were a rare Disney disappointment for us. We spend a weekend at the local Renaissance Festival every fall and Disney's aren't even close to as good as the ones we get there! Not that Disney's are bad, the ones at RenFest are just that good that we tend to skip turkey legs elsewhere now because they never measure up.

We dropped the DxDDP in favor of the basic plan for this month's trip to accommodate the budget of my mom & brother who are traveling with us, and my 13yo & 10yo were both more disappointed than I was. We'll be "supplementing" the plan, though... I have a Restaurant.com certificate for Kimonos, so we'll have at least the one dinner OOP, and then we're thinking Beaches & Cream just for dessert since that's not one I'm interested in on the DxDDP/DDP (because who has room to do those desserts justice after a DDP meal?!?).

 

[no capes darling]

You had me, right there, until you dissed the turkey legs!

We usually buy a couple, on the run, at AK and share them amongst the 5 of us. I LOVE those smoked turkey legs! I wouldn't even mention them in the same BREATH as the chicken nuggets (or the mac and cheese).

But, other than that, my kids are pretty similar. They'll eat just about anything, and really like to try new stuff. They're begging us to book Jiko's again this trip.....I have to check with SIL to see if it's in her budget, and, if not, if I can convince my wife that it's in OURS to treat her.

Stay away from the "what would you never do" thread in TPA&S.



Ultimately for the DP, whether we like it or not, it's good there's options- from not using it, counterservice plan; regular meal plan, deluxe and who knows what else. I like having choices. I'll leave it at that because I have nothing else to add here.

 

[leebee]

The one time we used the dining plan (usually stay offsite), we were at POP, it was just DD and I, and we were there for 10 nights. We know that there's no way we will be happy with counter service all that time, and as we only get to WDW once every two years, while we are there, there are certain TS restaurants we don't want to skip... like Boma, Kona Cafe, and CP. My calculations made me realize that doing the free QSDP and eating OOP at those three places would cost more than upgrading to the (basic) DDP, so it was a no-brainer. We even had one day at WWHP so we saved the TS from that day (too tired to have a sit-down after a day at WWHP in August's heat), so we treated ourselves to California Grill one night. It was a great trip, and we were able to eat at places we'd never before considered, especially as we usually stay offsite. A BONUS to this: When I made the package reservation, I asked for the dining plan upgrade, they gave it to me, but then didn't charge me for it. Disney honored their quoted package price, so we got the upgrade for free.. WAHOO! However... we are not normally appetizer and dessert eaters when we go out to dinner, so found the meal plan to be a LOT of food, especially as we weren't always hungry for dessert right after dinner (but I'd brought along some glad storage dishes for takeout dessert), and I don't think we EVER had dessert with the CS meals (the chocolate and carrot cakes were nasty!). DD and I bought a mug to share as we both drink coffee and iced tea, and of course there are no coffee makers at POP.

Our experience spoiled us... we found some Disney restaurants that we LOVE and will want to visit again. However, when we go again, I'll still sit down and do the math, to see if it's a deal for us or not. I ALWAYS plan our Disney vacations that way, so why stop now?

PS- edited to add that DD has always been a foodie... ever met a 3 year old who wouldn't eat chicken nuggets or fries? She would have disowned us if we'd simply fed her a kid's meal in her stroller so she could spend more time on rides!

 

[cmurray234]

Honestly, I wasn't trying to convince or un-convince anyone about the dining plan. I was in the boat of simply assuming that it was a good deal because it had always been in the past.

I know that the dining plan works for some people. Just doesn't for us.

 

[bledsoedoc]

Just an fyi...on our two week trip in october, the mugs were not included in the dining plan that had only 1ts, 1 qs and 1 snack. We were disappointed. And did not know that when I signed up. We bought them anyway for our morning tea/hot chocolate in the rooms. They told us only deluxe now gets them. I have not checked the pamphlet for 2012 yet.

 

[Colleen27]

PS- edited to add that DD has always been a foodie... ever met a 3 year old who wouldn't eat chicken nuggets or fries? She would have disowned us if we'd simply fed her a kid's meal in her stroller so she could spend more time on rides!

I've got one of those too. She's 3 now and has loosened up some, but from the time she started eating from our plates until right around her 3rd birthday she had the weirdest aversion to fried foods, particularly chicken nuggets or anything else breaded/battered.

Honestly, I wasn't trying to convince or un-convince anyone about the dining plan. I was in the boat of simply assuming that it was a good deal because it had always been in the past.

I know that the dining plan works for some people. Just doesn't for us.

Yeah, it definitely takes an annual recalculation as the plan prices & inclusions change, the menu prices at the restaurants change, and even the list of included restaurants changes. I often wonder how many people are buying the plan now because they saved a ton of money with it years ago and just haven't done the math on it at current rates.

 

[Colleen27]

Just an fyi...on our two week trip in october, the mugs were not included in the dining plan that had only 1ts, 1 qs and 1 snack. We were disappointed. And did not know that when I signed up. We bought them anyway for our morning tea/hot chocolate in the rooms. They told us only deluxe now gets them. I have not checked the pamphlet for 2012 yet.

2012 is the first year of the mugs being included with the basic (1ts/1qs/1snack) DDP. Prior to that they were only included with the deluxe and quick service plans.