DDP vs DxDP?

peg110 · May 21, 2015

aaarcher86 said:
You don't save the difference. You have to pay oop for TS meals now since you don't get enough with the ddp.

And you have to pay for TS meal credits that you don't use in the DxDP. The DDP is adequate for me and my family. If the DxDP is adequate for yours, then by all means, enjoy. I could not possibly use 3 TS and 2 snacks a day for a 9 day trip with 3 adults and one 10 year old (who for purposes of the DDP is an Adult). Way too much food.

My whole initial argument was that the "VALUE" of the Deluxe Dining Plan is more in the Convenience then it is in the cost (for FULL PRICE PAYERS, Not for a Discounted plan). I am not saying the DxDP is not a good plan. I am not saying don't get it. I am not saying you can't get value out of it. I am saying, for the average person going to WDW, with average job, and average pay, with their average size family, that the DxDP is an above average plan that the cost value is hard to achieve without trying hard to get it. Throw in the fact that many folks have "Down Days" at WDW or chose to go to Universal or Sea World where they DON'T accept the Dining Plan from Disney, so those are EXTRA TS's you have to try and account for.

If you are the Foodie person who does Everything Disney, and maximizes the credits, and orders the higher end food, then it will work for you.
Great! I just don't believe that you are the majority though.

I am truly sorry I even open my mouth (so to speak).

aaarcher86 · May 21, 2015

Ok. You just seem really hell bent on your opinion if the DXDP when it admittedly isn't even workable the way you tour. You keep looking at eating 3TS a day and very few people use it that way.

From experience, it's not that hard to get value out of the plan monetarily, but you have to essentially plan the way you eat and then see if the plan works not get the plan and try to maximize it.

peg110 · May 21, 2015

Agree to disagree.

supersnoop · May 21, 2015

peg110 said:
My whole initial argument was that the "VALUE" of the Deluxe Dining Plan is more in the Convenience then it is in the cost (for FULL PRICE PAYERS, Not for a Discounted plan).

But that's the same argument for any of the dining plans. The "value" of the standard plan is lower than the deluxe, and the "value" of the quick-service plan is even lower than that.

peg110 · May 21, 2015

babesboo99 · May 22, 2015

Thank you for your help. We have sometime before we decide either way we are getting the dining plan i loved the ease of not worrying about paying. I guess I have to do more checking on what we want to eat and where.

babesboo99 · May 22, 2015

I do have one question may be stupid but here it goes. If you upgrade your kids to the adult plan why do you have to get adult tickets for them?

aaarcher86 · May 22, 2015

babesboo99 said:
I do have one question may be stupid but here it goes. If you upgrade your kids to the adult plan why do you have to get adult tickets for them?

Because the dining plan and tickets are tied to age. Upping the kid to a 10 year triggers the adult dining plan and tickets.

supersnoop · May 22, 2015

babesboo99 said:
I do have one question may be stupid but here it goes. If you upgrade your kids to the adult plan why do you have to get adult tickets for them?

We're talking about "free" dining. You can't just ask Disney to give you something that would cost an extra $40/day because you want it. You have to tell them that your kids are older. And the only way to do that includes buying an adult ticket.

If you were paying for the meal plan, I'm sure you could pay for the adult plan but buy a child ticket separately (as a "ticketless," annual pass, or DVC package). But it's the child prices that make the dining plan save money, so that would be a very counter-productive thing to do.

babesboo99 · May 23, 2015

thank you aaarcher86

Anomaly711 · May 24, 2015

babesboo99 said:
I do have one question may be stupid but here it goes. If you upgrade your kids to the adult plan why do you have to get adult tickets for them?

It is not a stupid question--we just did that for our child who will be 8 on our trip. She does not eat nuggets, uncrustables or mac and cheese so we upgraded the park pass at a cost of about $20 (the CM put her as a 10 year old) and now she is on the adult ddp and can order whatever she likes. Of course, we have FD so if you had to pay to upgrade the DDP it would be much more. Yes, this may be taking advantage of the plan a little bit, but I would rather my kid not be forced to eat the (sometimes) junk that is the kid's menu.

lauradis · May 24, 2015

If I could only pick one dining plan forever it would be Deluxe. Here is why.

1. We are foodies, we love all kinds of food, the experience
2. We love to order everything the plan allows and share it family style.
3. We don't have hang ups about not cleaning our plates and wasting food, while dining out.
4. The cost is not about saving money but the experience of dining.

Last but not least, really its a oxymoron statement to say "I saved money while on Vacation"

OP is your thinking purely in getting the "best bang for your buck" :rolleyes:

none of the dining plans really make financial since.

It would make better financial since to not pay rack rate, get discounted tickets, look at the menus do the avg of a full meal, buy discounted disney gift cards add 25% over the cost of planned meals. Save what is left over on gift cards for your next trip.

Unless you are going and got what you wanted for "freeish" dining time.

mgentry210 · May 27, 2015

Geez! With all that going back and forth I hope you got what you are asking. Here is my two cents. It's usually just my hubby and I and we have annual passes. We almost always do Deluxe dining and we also have Tables in Wonderland (mainly for the alcohol discount!). Having been many times, the restaurants are as much of the experience as the rides. We typically do our 3 fast passes and maybe one or two other attractions. As has been stated, we eat one late breakfast/early lunch at a 1 credit restaurant and dinner at a 2 credit signature restaurant. We will sometimes do something off the dining plan and use the extra credits to do lunch at Hollywood Brown Derby or Le Cellier. There are not many 2 credit lunch choices. We find it also works best during Food and Wine when we have plenty of snack credits. It works for us because we usually vacation in late September/early October.

Yep, its a lot of food. And I am not a big eater. I think its all the walking at Disney that gives me more of an appetite. I work from home all day and sometimes forget to eat! We are also OK with not finishing everything we eat. It's vacation after all.

Fast forward to our trip in 9 days (Woo Hoo!). We are taking our nieces ages 16 and 5. We are doing a ton of character dining and only 3 signatures. Plus our 16 year niece is the queen of chicken fingers. The little 5 year old loves steak and her and I can easily share an adult portion. It just doesn't make sense this trip. We are going to renew the TIW when we get there.

In summary, its just all about you and your family. As you have seen, everyone tours and eats differently. Pick what works for you, but don't be afraid to go against the popular opinion that it's "not worth it". It may be worth it to you. And like me, it may not work for you every trip. Feel free to ask me any questions. We've done deluxe 3 times over the last 18 months, so I've probably seen it or eaten it!

Nancyg56 · May 28, 2015

peg110 said:
Maybe the "Deluxe" Plan can save that much if you got a discount on it, but if you are paying full price for it at $109.53 per adult per day, 5 days is $547.65 and includes 15 TS credits and 10 Snack Credits (and refillable mug). 15 TS meals is A LOT of food. I just cannot eat that much food. If you use a counter service (instead of a Table service) you are getting a lesser (in cost) meal than you are with the TS and as such it makes it that much harder to make it "Worth It" Even with the snacks. The Snack Credit basically maxes out at $5.00 so your 2 snacks a day is (at best) $10.00. Using Fuzzy Math, that leaves $100.00 A DAY for meals (PER PERSON) You claim a savings of 25% so that means you get the "Value" of $125 out of the $100 remaining (over OOP). Even at Disney, a $100.00 of food is A LOT of food.

We struggled to use all of our Standard Dining plan (1 TS 1 QS and 1 Snack per person/day) for our 9 day trip in November/December. We did do character dining, Signature Dining, etc... We struggled to eat all the food sometimes. In the Hotter months, Most people eat LESS making it harder to get the value out of it. If you don't use it, you lose it (and it's value).

All that being said, I am not saying that someone cannot get (or find) value in the DxDP, but the value comes more at convenience then it does saving money more than anything else. Don't take my word, Check out http://www.wdwinfo.com/disney-dining-plan.htm as they did a nice analysis.

Under the Deluxe Dining Plan review:

Again, their conclusion: For anybody else, this plan is almost certain to be too much food, too much money and require too much time.

If you are saving 25%, then good for you. I think for the average Disney visitor considering the plan would never even come close to saving that, nor would most save 15% on the standard DDP. I am guessing (based on what I have read and my personal experience which is, albeit limited) that the "Swing" is plus or minus about 5% or less for most folks and that is on the standard plan.

I think that you are having trouble separating how you tour and dine with how others tour and dine. We do not buy the DxDDP becasue after having looked at all of our dining choices, considering the additional meals we booked, and the reasonably deciding what we would order for appetizers, we did not cover the additional cost. But we know our dining style. I figure that for most people who use this plan, they know what they eat, spend and how they dine. They know if it a value in fact for them.

peg110 · May 28, 2015

so it seems.

Nancyg56 · May 28, 2015

peg110 said:
so it seems.

Paul-the "value" debate has been going on for years. Back when the plan was $35 per day for adults, and $10.00 for kids, included an appetizer and tip with the TS portion, folks were still complaining that it was too much money for the cost. They would discuss the 18% tip and say they never tipped that much, that they never ate dessert, and thought it was too much food. For them, the plan was debatable. For us, it was a no-brainer.

Now the discussion is the same, but the factors are different. The plan is no longer a great deal under almost every circumstance, but it really is a value for some families (ours). The DxDDP may not be the best value for most people, but for many, after having analysed their dining plans and their ordering patterns, it offers a savings. You really just need to make an informed choice these days, but they all work for some, but all are a waste for others.

GillianP1301 · May 30, 2015

Not sure if OP is still trying to decide, so I'll throw in my opinion/experience. We have done both DDP and DxDP and I definitely prefer DxDP. My son is still under 10, so a Disney kid and we do about 7-8 character meals in our 10 day vacation. We also eat 3 meals a day. He gets very cranky if he misses a meal. He's not a big eater, but needs to eat at regular intervals, so where I (or many other adults) may stuff ourselves at a buffet, he doesn't. He eats what he would normally eat at a meal and is then ready for his next one at the usual time. We also travel at the end of August, so having 2 - 3 TS a day is a way to build in cool down time and with all the character meals, we don't have to carve out much touring time for M&G's.

Do we get financial benefit out of it? Depends on how you look at it. Based on what we order, we do come ahead. But we don't clean plates and we don't go back to a buffet 5 or 6 times, so some would consider that not getting monetary value. But, as I see it, most times I go out to eat at a restaurant I rarely clear my plate. Just because I have a huge serving (which most restaurants tend to do) put in front of me, does not mean I eat it all. So, while at Disney w/DxDP, I do pace myself and eat portions of each course so that I can enjoy more different types of food. Based on my style, then yes I due come out ahead $ wise.

Could I eat at Disney for less? Most definitely. If going to Disney as cheaply as possible was my priority, I would not do character meals, I would share meals and I would bring my own snacks. This approach would not be my first choice by a long shot, but if it was all I could afford, I'd do it to still be able to go to WDW. In my opinion, if you can afford DxDP, then go for it.

jacksgirl · Jun 4, 2015

I keep saying I'm gonna upgrade to the DxDDP for one trip -- maybe this time :smooth:

shortnsassy730 · Jun 8, 2015

We always use the deluxe plan. But we love the Signature spots. We do an early lunch and a Signature dinner almost everyday except on Hollywood Studios day and EPCOT day. On HS day, we do Brown Derby for lunch and Flying Fish for dinner. We use a 1 TS on arrival day and a 1 TS credit on departure day as we fly in early and fly out late. Since We never have left over credits, and we would eat this way without the plan as we enjoy the Signature options. Also, three courses at most signatures sits much lighter than three courses at some of the 1 TS credit or even entree/dessert at most QS.

Masonmj84 · Jun 8, 2015

I'm a big fan of the DxDP style of eating (as in 2 TS meals per day, one being a 1 TS meal and the other being a 2 TS meal (i.e., signature) and NOT 3 TS meals per day). Even with signature dinners typically taking over 90 minutes, I don't think two TS meals per day wastes too much park time, but then again, we are not park commandos.

We particularly love signature dinners, and find them very relaxing and enjoyable.

So the first question you have to ask yourself is: would we like the above style of eating (and vacationing)? If not, skip the DxDP.

The next question is whether to do the DxDP or pay OOP. Whether one or the other makes sense from a cost perspective, depends a lot, IMO on your party's makeup. For example, if you are traveling with kids who are under age 9 and plan to do a lot of character meals, it can be a better deal than paying OOP (for children under 9, one character meal can almost equal the cost of one day on the DxDP).

On the other end of the spectrum, the DxDP can be a better deal than paying OOP if your party is exclusively adults and/or older kids (i.e., teenagers) with big appetites and you plan to do mostly lunches and dinners (easier to space lunches and dinners farther apart when not traveling with young kids because you can schedule the dinners later). Along those lines, lunch generally provides more bang per credit than breakfast but it can ruin your appetite for dinner if the two meals are scheduled too close together.

Where I find the DxDP to fail to be a value is when you're traveling with younger "Disney adults" (i.e., kids between say 10 and 12) and/or any "Disney adult" with a smaller appetite. Especially if your party also includes a young child under age 9. In this scenario, you're paying Disney adult prices for someone who likely isn't going to eat a lot but you're also limited to doing mostly breakfasts and dinners because, with a younger child in tow, it's hard to space the lunches and dinners far enough apart to fully enjoy both meals. And even if you throw in a lot of character breakfasts to get better value for the child under 9, you're still likely to come out a loser versus paying OOP.

Sometimes we also like to do a relatively less expensive table service breakfast (i.e., Kona). But, from a cost perspective, this is not a good use of a dining plan credit regardless of your party's makeup or whether you are on DDP or DxDP.

Of course, you can throw all of the above analysis out the window if you mainly like the DxDP for psychological reasons (i.e., having everything paid for up front).

DDP vs DxDP?

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