[gingles]

Originally Posted by Dopey

OMG, are you kidding? That is terrible. It's not a boarding house, it's a hotel. I hope you plug your crock pot into your cigarette lighter in your truck, so not to offend the other guests with cooking aromas

I hear what you're sayin' DP, and can't complain about it much, but my parents (who could never afford expensive vacations when we were kids) were famous and expert at motel room cooking! Without it, we kids probably would not have had vacations!

[mickaholic4077]

I love to come back to this thread from time to time to see if there are any new tips. Thanks,Gingles,for starting this thread!!

[gingles]

Thanks.

[disney1]

Dining plan vs roaming. Being the anal person that I am (ask wy wife) I kept the receipts for all our meals and still have them from 3 years ago. I compared what we ordered (checking prices against updated on-line menus) vs what we might order on the dining plan and even factoring in tips it was almost a wash. I'd have to see some significant $avings before I'd bother with it.

I'd love to hear more pros & cons on this.

[Boss Mouse]

One of the pro's (for Us) is our teenagers. The boys eat like locust. So if DW and I didn't use the snacks, they will. Feeding 7 adults a day for under $300/day is worth it. We've done the breakfast and /or Lunch in the rooms etc but the freedom of the DP is too good to pass up.

[jaljayjar]

I second that bossmouse....
The pro's for me are the convenience of knowing it is paid for (tip, tax, everything) and not having to worry about budgeting any money for meals. Also, the meal experience itself using the DDP...I would NEVER go to any restaurant and order appetizer, entree AND dessert...EVER! and it is all included in the package. We spent 100 bucks a day on the plan itselt and our meals/snacks totaled between 125-175 a day! Couldn't beat that!
We could save money by just ordering the entree only, but the disney experience was that much better by eating like kings all week!

[gingles]

Originally Posted by disney1

Dining plan vs roaming. Being the anal person that I am (ask wy wife) I kept the receipts for all our meals and still have them from 3 years ago. I compared what we ordered (checking prices against updated on-line menus) vs what we might order on the dining plan and even factoring in tips it was almost a wash. I'd have to see some significant $avings before I'd bother with it.

I'd love to hear more pros & cons on this.

Here's how I see it (for adults, we don't have small children):

Price of DDP $39

Avg. Snack $ 3
Avg. CS Lunch $12
Family Serv. or
Buffet TS Rest
(w/tax/tip) $35

Total $50 =$11 savings X family of four $44 savings per day

-or-

Avg Snack $ 3
Avg. CS Lunch $12
Nice Sit-Down
TS Rest. Coral
Reef or LeCellier $57 =$33 savings or Family of Four $132 per day

As an actual example, summer before last when we went and paid for the DDP, we saved almost $700 over 8 days.

Having said all this, those who eat light at WDW will not do as well on the DDP, and perhaps those with small children (I'm not sure).

[col19]

I definitely reccommend bringing snacks for the kids--you will save a lot of money that way!

[interfx]

This will be our first year doing the DDP. We have 3 kids, 11, 9 and 6. We haven't taken them for 3 years. When they were younger, it didn't make much sense for us.

Now that they are older, I think it will be a good deal. Plus, only one is paying the adult price this year, so hopefully that will work out well.

When the kids were little, we stayed at a conceirge level. That was nice because we had something for breakfast every morning and snacks/lemonade, etc. throughout the day and at night (we don't drink alcohol, so we didn't pay for that level of concierge) and this was nice because we didn't have to leave the hotel to get it (i.e., we didn't have to walk to a snack bar area, etc.)

This year, the plan is to have some water bottles of our own and regular food in the room for breakfast. We eat breakfast but pretty light, so I'm hoping it will work well for us. I'm thinking we will go to the store before our arrival and stock up on muffins, granola bars, waters, etc.

Any other suggestions? Thanks!

[mowgli's mom]

We went in Feb 07 with two boys age 10 (almost 11) and 8 who eat a lot, plus a 4 year old that can sometimes eat more than the boys! I didn't do the dining plan b/c I was not sure we would do that many sit down meals -- kids don't want to sit down and wait for food, its go, go, go with us!

I was surprised at how little we did spend on food -- I mean its expensive, but that was not alot of snacking in between meals. maybe my expectation was too high - planned on spending a lot, but found that we didn't.

Breakfast was costly if we let the kids order everything they wanted -- ie eggs, bacon, sausage and the mickey waffle plus oj. . . - they never eat that much for breakfast, so just watched it a little -- they did do that a few days (DH did too!)

I found that most restaurants would give us a small cup or two so we could split the sodas - they were huge.

[XQIXX]

Now that the Dining Plan is not so attractive, I suspect this thread will come back to life!!

[brebre_51]

We are taking a short trip to WDW in Sept. We can drive to it in 4 hours. We got our 2 day-park hopper, 4 adult tickets, 3 nights @ the all star movie resort AND 3 days of free dining (that's 3 counter service meals, 3 sit down dinners & 3 snacks EACH) for $1,111.26.

Plus, I have a Disney Visa (we only have ONE credit card) which collects Disney Reward Dollars. I used my Reward Dollars so that my package ended up costing me $995.26 which I paid off in monthly payments. I still have 30 Reward Dollars on my reward card that I can use inside Disney to buy whatever.

We usually get a refrigerator. We carry milk, cereal & bananas. We, also, carry our own water. Now, all we have to have money for is gas coming back home & anything extra we buy inside WDW.

I don't call it cheap. I call it being thrifty. The more money I save just means that I have more money to spend on whatever I want to buy without going in the hole. We don't charge vacations either.

A couple of months ago, we bought a small camper. Next time we plan on staying at Ft. Wilderness. We will still get all the privileges that all the other resorts have. The characters come to FW. There is a Disney movie shown every night. We can get into the parks an hour or so before the public. It has a pool(s). We can go back to rest when need be. AND, we can stay there for $50.00 or more depending on the season. So, our next trip will cost us even less! That's even more money to spend on whatever!

We have been going to WDW since the early 1970s. I went to Disneyland when I was 12. It was my birthday present. The longest we stayed inside WDW was a week. The shortest was one day. Disney & the mountains of NC & TN are our favorite places to visit.

[nicolemm]

I have asked family members and friends to limit the number of toys and clothes that they give my kids for Christmas, bday, easter, halloween, etc and replace them with disney dollars. So when we go the kids have a rather large stash of spending money. Plus it has somewhat controlled the clutter in the house!!

[jlovesmickey]

I am guessing this would qualify as cheap, I do like the term money saving tips better, but my best friend and I are AP holders, we go off season every year, about 5-6 times a year, our room rate at pop century is 49.00 per night, we have the refill mugs, the dining plan discount a card for AP holders you get 20% off most the restaraunts and counter service meals.
We like to save our money for good meals, and souvineers and I do like the buying your own 6pack idea! it is cheaper than the pool bar.
Being an AP holder we also got discounts to the DTD World of disney, and the park tours.
I have brought my own snacks from home in my luggage, but end up not eating them anyway.

[nitaworm]

I hate to sound snotty guys but the thought of me and my 4 kids craming in a hotel room and packing extra stuff to save money sounds miserable. Take my advice, rent one of the DVC Villas from Timeshare Rentals, Timeshare Resales, Timeshare Ratings, and Timeshare Reviews - RedWeek.com and cook your breakfast (we usually go grocery shopping and save a ton of $$ on food - we eat out to sit down dinner 2 times). Our kids actually prefer the food we cook in the room, and so do I for the price. We pack lunches - we freeze peanut butter/jelly sandwiches and ham and cheese, and by the time we are ready to eat its fresh and thawed. If you rent a villa you can sometimes negotiate on price, get the same benefits as an owner and not feel cramped and try to squeeze things into a hotel room. I am telling you its hard to go back to the hotel room stay when you rent a villa.