Day 12 - Departure, Dining Summary and Final Thoughts

So, day 12. Time to head out. Not much to say here. Got up, dropped the car off, checked baggage, got some Cold Stone Creamery from the airport (which wasn’t really Cold Stone Creamery), and flew away. Got a very disappointing burger in Toronto, got home around midnight, and went to sleep. Picked up our dog, Pan, the next morning, he was very happy to see us. He slept for about 4 days straight.

Dining Plan Summary

I’m only going to do a calculation for the Deluxe Plan, since the Platinum plan has too many things to take into account. Although I willl say we definitely got our money’s worth out of the Platinum Plan. I’m not sure I would do it again though, now that it’s a 3-night minimum.

Total Cost for Deluxe Plan - Rin and I upgraded to the Deluxe Plan during Free Dining, so it only cost us $33/person/night as opposed to the usual $78.99/person/night. Which totalled $396 for the 6-nights we were on the Deluxe Plan. With this plan, we got the following:

Narcoossee’s                 - $170.81

Tusker House               - $55.45

Yak & Yeti                      - $79.28

Raglan Road                  - $74.55

Via Napoli                       - $77.75

Le Cellier                        - $142.05

Crystal Palace               - $45.98

Cosmic Ray’s                  - $15.00 (A low estimate)

Mama Melrose              - $64.36

Artist Point                     - $146.95

Tony’s Town Square    - $63.42

Jiko                                   - $136.73

Grand Floridian Cafe  -$42.96

Plus around 15 bottles of water, a cake pop, popcorn, a couple of giant cupcakes, and a number of other snacks which I’ve probably forgotten about. The meals alone total:

$1115.29

For a total savings of:

$719.29

Even had we paid full price for the dining plan, at $947.88, we still would have saved money. Now, I know some of the naysayers out there will say we went to a lot of expensive restaurants, and bought really expensive food, but honestly, we only went to places we thought we’d like, and we only ordered things we thought would taste good. Never once did I look at cost when deciding whether or not to order something. There were a couple of disappointing moments, but that could have happened even if we weren’t on the Dining Plan (look at SeaWorld, that was easily the most disappointing meal of the trip, and I paid OOP for it).

Final Thoughts

Wow, this was a busy trip. But then, our trips always are. I learned one (major) thing this trip though: I’m happy just hanging out at Disney. Honestly, I used to have an urge to go back to SeaWorld, but that’s long gone now, and while US and IoA are cool, they’re just not worth it for me. The only thing that’s likely to draw me outside of the Disney bubble again is Busch. I just love their coasters. And possibly another ‘backstage’ thing at SeaWorld. I don’t like the park, but I love the animals. (And WWoHP! I swear, if he doesn;t take me back there, I’m out.)

While I love the Deluxe Dining Plan, I think next trip we may just do the Basic Dining Plan. There are two reasons for that. One, we’re broke, and it’ll save us money. Two, I want to see if I like it as much as the DxDP. I’m always advocating the DDP on the TA boards because of my experience with the DxDP, but I’ve never actually tried it. That, and we were so constantly full this trip, I didn’t get to try some of the snacks I wanted to.

I can’t wait for Splitsville to open in DTD. Just gonna throw that out there.

I think this is our last stay in a Deluxe accommodation again for a while too. Again, we’re broke. But, when/if we do start staying Deluxe again, I think I’d like to focus on a Monorail Resort. GF was just so convenient for some things. Speaking of, GF was amazing, and if any of you ever have the chance to stay there, do it, don’t even wonder if there’s a better option, just do it.

This was my first time renting from Alamo, and they’re now equal with National for my business. Pickup and dropoff were simple, and both have a good selection of cars, coming from the same fleet and all. I’m not sure if we’ll get a car next trip, but I think I’d always prefer to have one, even at a Monorail Resort like GF. Even if we only use it once or twice, it’s like a security blanket, knowing we can go anywhere at any time if we need to.

I think that’s it. Thanks for sticking with me through all of this. It was long, and probably dry. Next time, I’ll bring Rin in for more of it, if I do another. I hope it helped some readers plan trips, or at least gave you 1 new piece of information, and if (for some crazy reason) you want me to go more in depth into anything, just let me know!