I was trying to calculate the new 2018 dinning plan to see if it was cost effective. I found that specialty drinks are included at the buffets If they serve them. So the $43 cost of Boma will then get you a special drink so you need to add the cost also. $43 + $10 beer or wine = $53. And don’t forget the tax. I’m not sure what the tax is though.
There are Dinning plan calculators out there on unofficial guide and elsewhere. The plans are expensive if you do not use your full allotment of meals and snacks. I did a couple of calculators and found I saved on one and not the other.
I was coming up short until I added a beer or glass of wine at boma, liberty tree, and biergarten. That was an extra $30 I was not adding in.
U mean if u r on the dining plan and go to biergarten , the beer is included?
As per the new dinning plan for 2018 you able to get one specialty drink or an alcohol beverage with dinner. So i asked if that included buffets and I was told if they serve them. We normally drink water when we dine out $3-$4 for a coke is a bit much, so if is included why not and if I can have a beer then I’m all for it.
In case people haven’t seen it, TP just put up a blog post that they have released an enhanced dining calculator:
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“To Dining Plan or not to Dining Plan” This has been a topic discussed constantly since DP came out. I can tell you from my experience that the last trip my family of 4 took in December 2015 we did not use the DP. After our trip ended, I added up everything we spent on snacks, meals, alcohol, tips & tax (for these items) for our entire stay (that’s including drinks we had at the pool at the resort and/or not during a meal). We did not spend as much as we would have if we had paid for the standard DP. And we didn’t hold back on anything. We ate wherever we wanted, including the very expensive CRT.
So, I’m sure you’ll see lots of opinions on this, but hopefully this will help you a little.
@RotR completely agree, I do the same thing on every trip. I include everything that we consume and still don’t spend as much as we would buying the DP. Granted we are fairly light eaters, not big dessert or snack people and will sometimes skip lunch if we eat a huge breakfast. I maintain that for our family and our eating style the DP never works but it may work for others who eat differently.
Yes, that is true. You must eat every meal and snack to make it work out. I think the thing is the convenance of the meal plan. No looking for money or credit card and no looking at your budget to see if you are spending more than you wish. We make sure we get out monies worth and use everything even if we give our deserts away.
Put it this way… “The mouse always wins”. If they didn’t make money on the DP, they wouldn’t offer it.
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LOL my wife always wins so if I pay for dinner now then i won’t have to worry if I have enough later. For us looks like we make out buy $30. If it was $30 loss the piece of mind to me is still worth it.
The thing is with the Dinning plan is just how much you pay for it. In the fall Disney has a FREE dinning plan. Of coarse that is deceiving as you pay rack rate for the rest such as room and tickets. You do however save money and sometimes quite a bit. In the spring there is the Stay Play and Dine package which saves you some on each component. Now here’s where the Calculator is off. It assumes that you pay full price for the meal plan and then adds in a tip. 10% is the least the Calculator will accept. Also how does it know what you ate and how much it cost. Meals are not all the same. Now if you wish to give more the calculator will figure it as a percentage. I give $10.00 and for good service $15. You may think that is cheap but why should your tip be calculated as a percentage of the meal? It makes no sense. Tip $100 if you wish but that’s up to you. The meal price should have nothing to do with it. So here is what I and my wife have found after totaling all the sales slips for every meal and snack including tips. We come out ahead every time and usually by $100 or more. The calculator says we are overpaying by $30. Here again it depends on what you pay for the plan and how much you feel you should tip. This time around we will pay for the meal plan and without discount because we got such a room deal it far out weighs the cost of the plan over the Play, Stay, and Dine Special. Bottom line is don’t go exclusively by the dinning plan calculator as there are so many variables it can not take into account. Once again check out what the travel agency, Magical Vacation Travel has to offer. They book at convention rates and save you about 50% on the standard room rate. This discount is NOT always available so if you are planning a vacation for a certain time you may not be able get this rate. Ask for a Quote! I use Darcy but there are many others that can help you as well.