Does anyone know if the Disney Dining Calculator at www.distripplanner.com has been updated to reflect the new food price increases? I don’t see anything on the site that indicates when it was last updated.
Basing it on one change I’m keenly aware of (an increase at Biergarten and elimination of a separate price for lunch), no, it hasn’t been updated lately.
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Thanks. I had a feeling that was the case. Seems like I’ve seen somewhere that most of the price increases were about 15%. Does that agree with what you have seen? Thinking just tacking on an estimated 15% more will be easier than trying to go through menus to determine prices.
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I would agree with that strategy. You never really know what you’ll be hungry for the day you go eat.
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Honestly, I’m not sure what the increase was, since I don’t think it was across-the-board, but I do know that when I checked the dining estimator when we first booked, we weren’t particularly close to breaking even on the dining plan, given how we expected to eat.
But when I ran the actual numbers last week from the menus, after the price increases, guessing on what I might eat at the ADRs we actually have, the dining plan is a significant cost-savings for a child (the entire daily cost is just about covered by a single buffet / character dinner) and probably a savings for adults, if you’re going to choose alcohol with your TS meals (I’m very close to breaking even before adding a single snack or dessert).
YMMV, of course, on the dining plan, and if you’re just using the planner to estimate costs, I absolutely think it would behoove you to add at least 10% to its estimates (more if you’re not a teetotaler).
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You and I are thinking along the exact same lines. We opted not to get the dining plan when we booked because of the significant difference in what we estimated to pay out of pocket and the cost of the plan itself. However, now that the dining plan cost has not yet increased but the out of pocket food prices have, it closes that gap some.
For our family it still doesn’t quite break even, but it is getting close enough that we might opt for it anyway. I’m trying to consider intangibles also. How much is it worth to me to have it all paid for in advance, to eat whatever we choose regardless of price, to not have to bat an eye when my kids order that $50 steak that they might only eat half of, to keep my dad from stroking out when he sees the menu prices, etc.?
Those thoughts have almost convinced me.
Ah, yeah, I think the dining plan is a pretty poor value for kids old enough to pay the adult price, adults who don’t drink, or groups who won’t be doing some of the higher-priced TS meals, but for me, if the price is close, the value of not having to think about the price of a $7 pretzel (!!!) at the kiosk is definitely something to consider.
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Yup! We have said from the beginning that if we could get the two options within what we considered to be a reasonable distance of each other monetarily we would choose the dining plan simply because of that. Our money for food is already set aside, so it’s not that I would be worried about spending too much, but when something is outrageously priced I feel bad spending the money even when I have it in my pocket! At least with the dining plan that pain is gone before I ever get to the parks.
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