Annual Pass Analysis

But the comparison is with the AP discount, not no discount at all. We have to have an AP to get TIW, right? The AP gives us 10% off in most TS places, so that’s $450, not $500 out of pocket.

You’d have to spend $1000 to justify the TIW card as compared to the AP discount. At a $1000 spend, the AP would net a $100 discount, and the TIW would net a $200 discount, thereby paying for itself.

There are five of us, and we’d almost certainly hit that $500 mark in a week. But we actually have to hit $1000 for TIW to pay off, and that’s a lot more iffy, therefore I’m not buying it.

It’s the same thing with room discounts. I needed to calculate what the AP discount was compared to the general public discount, not no discount at all. So it takes a much bigger spend to pay for that pass. Although my room was pretty expensive, so it did work out. TIW just doesn’t.

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On our last trip, my wife and I had 14 TS meals, 7 of them signature, all with alcohol (plus some stops at various bars that also honor TIW) It definitely paid for itself… I had two additional short solo trips that year, which were icing on the cake…

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I have two observations:

First, that’s got to be at least $3k in dining, so definitely the TIW is going to pay off.
Second, that’s a pretty terrific dining itinerary! :smile: Good work!

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correct!

plus TiW now costs $150

but i almost always get it — it pays off for us

I’m a FL resident, so I don’t have to have an AP - but I did anyway during that trip. I think it was still $75 back when we did that trip. At $150, I doubt I would get it again.

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Ok, thanks. So the TIW break-even for us would actually be $1500. What’s an average meal at Disney run these days? I ran it by DH and he thinks we spend around $200 for the 5 of us normally, but maybe that’s an underestimate.

The kids have grown up so now 4 out of 5 of us can imbibe, dining probably costs a little more at WDW, and the whole family is only together a few times a year so not a lot of opportunity to calculate what our recent costs really are. On the other hand, I’ve only got 6 TS scheduled (one Signature) since we’re staying club level and snack a lot anyway.

Maybe I’d better go dig through iBank and see what we spent dining out at Christmas. Or maybe I don’t want to know! :open_mouth:

as you do the calculations, note that the AP and DVC 10% discounts do not apply to beer, wine, and other adult drinks. so that adds to the TiW savings

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It is probably needless to say this, but…

Disney and other amusement parks (and, well, businesses in general) don’t offer discounts to benefit you, the end customer. It is to benefit themselves. So, TiW is offered not because they want to give you an opportunity to save money, but because Disney sees it as a revenue-generator. They expect that a lot of people will put the TiW cost (initially, pure profit for them). Then, as a result, you will get your discounts…but they also know that for many people, now that you are getting the discount, you will more likely end up shifting more QS to Table Service and end up spending MORE than you would have without the TiW discount. Furthermore, even if you are going to eat at the same number of TS establishments, with a discount, you are more likely to spend a little more (splurge on a drink or dessert, etc., that you might not otherwise).

So, in the end, Disney is using TiW as a means to get you to spend more and you would have otherwise by offering you a “discount”.

That isn’t to say you can’t benefit from TiW or any other discount…but the calculation should be based on how you ACTUALLY would intended to eat, not modifying your eating habits because of TiW. If you find, based on your planned spending for food, that TiW ultimately saves you money, great! You beat the system. You become, to Disney, much like those who pay off their credit cards off each month to credit card companies.

I’ve seen the same at other places. Like, at Cedar Point, for example, you can “pre-pay” for food…but it is questionable whether doing so makes financial sense. CP limits what food you can get on that plan, and you may end up paying more than if you just waited and bought the food in the park.

Similarly, McDonalds sends out coupons. If you look, MOST of the time those coupons don’t necessarily save you money, but just allow you to spend MORE money than you otherwise would have by getting MORE food than you would otherwise order for cheaper than their regular price. (Oh, look! Buy one Big Mac, get one free! Except…well, I usually would just order a McDouble, so really I go from spending $2 for two sandwiches to spending $3.50 for two bigger sandwiches.)

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This is way too logical and makes sense. What’s wrong with you? hahaha…

We are also a family of 5 (only one kid is a Disney “adult” though), and the rounded numbers I budgeted for us (and seemed to hold pretty true in the end) were $50-$60 for QS, $100 for TS, and $200 for buffets (including tip). We did not get the most expensive things on the menu, nor did all 5 of us eat children’s meals the whole time. There was the occasional adult beverage at some of the meals, but not every dinner. I found these numbers to be in the ballpark most meals, and were easy to figure in the budget. If we spent less, bonus!

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That’s a good point. The DDP can be that way, too, and I do think a lot of people know that, but are okay with it. They know they’ll eat more (and probably spend more) than they usually would, but see it as a treat.

In general, DH & I are fairly difficult to sway with any “deals”. Somewhat counterintuitively, we’re just as careful now as when we were starting out, if not more so, because the constraints are much fewer. One learns to think very critically about purchases because it stops being about what you can afford, and more about whether it’s actually worth it.

That’s why the only new thing I’m likely to be bringing home is a single Christmas tree ornament, and most of our TS meals are lunch so we can sit down in a/c, otherwise I’m pretty sure we’d be just as happy eating a dog from Casey’s as we would a whole fish at the SKipper’s Canteen. But we’re not foodies, I’m sure the calculation would be much different if we were.

I much more value the family time together, so everything we spend on vacay is pretty much aimed at that. I’m all about convenience. Not having to do stuff we don’t want to do is as important as doing the things we want to do, and if I can score both that’s pretty sweet. Other people are (I’m sure!!) more patient than I am, so their calculation in this regard might be different, too.

Anyway, I have very well-defined ideas of how I’m going to spend my money so a 2-for-1 deal is not likely to sway me!