Tables in Wonderland - Now What? :-)

Now that we have actually tried both Tables in Wonderland and the delux dining plan, I am convinced that cost wise there is very little if any difference. I used the delux dining plan pricing because that is the only plan we have ever had. I knew I would not be able to keep track of all of our receipts nor would I take the time to write all the costs per meal down so I took the cost of what the delux plan would have cost us and added what we usually spend on drinks and tips and placed that cash into an that envelope. Each time we were back in our room I would take enough cash out to cover our meals for the day. I did keep the cash seperate in my wallet.

We did pay for the TIW card out of that money. I also really tried to make sure all food and drinks came out of that money. When all was said and done, we had $350 left. Now I know that probably sounds like a big savings but I took into consideration that we only ate two signature meals this trip when usually we do 4 or 5. We also only had dessert twice where as when on the dinning plan we always at least share one and a lot of times we each order one. We also did not do a character breakfast and only did a table service breakfast 4 of the mornings where as we usually do several character breakfasts and room service for breakfast a day or two.

I am pretty sure had we eaten the way we normally do there would have been very little if any savings. There were a few different reasons for a change in our normal eating habits. The first being the heat. I never eat as much when it is hot. We did only have a few snacks. All I ever really wanted was a bottle of water. I also booked a lot of our meals in the resort. I always feel like AKL is so far away from the other resorts that I tried to keep us there for a lot of meals to cut down on travel time.

Bottom line for me, I do think if you get TIW to really try to save money you could. However, if you intend to eat the same way you would on the meal plan, I honestly think there is no savings. There are things about both plans I really like. I love the dining plan because it is prepaid (although you still do have the cost of tips and drinks). I also loved that with the TIW card and using cash, as soon as they bought the check you were free to go. I loved the no waiting around for them to bring back your room key and receipt to sign (again if you used a credit card instead of cash you would still be waiting around for them to return your card). Since we have the TIW card for a year, we will use it on our next few trips. After that, I would be just as happy going back to the dining plan.

I think it's worth the price. I usually take three trips for every TIW card I get, and it usually pays for itself during the first trip, so saving an extra $100 or so each trip after that is very nice.

For me it really works besides I really prefer TS to CS, and basically every TS restaurant is included now, and when I do eat CS, it's usually at my resort, and since I usually stay at the value resorts, TIW is good at those food courts.

Oh Lizzy, I think you will love it and save tons of money with it. I just think if you compare it to the dinning plan there really is not much difference in how much you end up saving. Then again, my numbers were only for comparing it to the deluxe dining plan and eating the way we eat when there.

We are visiting WDW this coming August for a birthday celebration and there will be 6 of us. Looks to me like dinner at the California Grill for 6 adults could be anywhere from $300-$400, with would be a savings of $60-80 savings with the TIW just for that one dinner. Thinking that would make it well worth the $125.