Can U save $$ by not buying the DDP but still eat at Disney?

[Singinglizzie]

HI All, I am still trying to figure out how to afford another trip in Jan. Last year we did the DDP and it was so easy, but I also got a special rate/pin. My plan is to go for 6 nights, with myself, DS 14 and DD 9. Me and DD are moderate eaters, but DS can eat the hind leg off a cow and still be hungry! I'm thinking if we rented a car, I could make breakfast and a couple of meals in the room (take out, sandwiches) then still eat a few table service and a few counter service meals. We will stay onsite at a mod, so we won't have a stove or microwave. Has anyone done this and come out ahead? I thought we saved money last year by doing the DDP but honestly we dont need all the desserts and snacks, so maybe that would save us, plus if we had a car we could eat at burger king or steak n shake to cut the tab???? What do you think???

[Mrs. Charming]

I remember trying to figure out the same thing last year, but we too got a PIN. For us, we'd still be behind without the dining plan. By the time we rented the car for a day or paid the grocery deliver fee, bought the groceries, accounted for the few TS dinners, and then the CS meals, it actually made sense for us to do the DDP. But, every family is different. Some families really pull off not having the DDP, I'm just not sure how!

Best of luck, I hope you get it figured out and get to go!

[aka-mad4themouse]

I think that you could eat in the CS locations, skip the desserts and snacks and spend less than you would on the DDP. I don't think that you have to go so far as to make anything more than a quick breakfast in the room and carrying a couple of snacks into the parks for quick energy.

Just remember that in WDW, time is money. Do you really want to be running back to the room to make Ramen noodles for your lunch when you could grab a turkey leg and be on Space Mountain in 20 minutes?

Is it worth spending $200 or more for a rental vehicle so that you can go offsite in order to save (maybe) $200 on dining for the week? Again, there's the lost time in traveling plus the aggravation of driving to the offsite restaurant and then back to Disney.

You might want to look into using DME, having a grocery delivery service do your shopping for you to get the breakfast items and then pay OOP for some CS meals for lunch and dinner.

[BridgetBordeaux]

Part of this reply caused a stir a few months back...........

Everyone eat kids meals at least once a day. The portions are close to Wendy's value menu items and the cost is 5 dollars for burger/fries/coke.......plus I don't want to have a full stomach will riding some of the thrill rides in the afternoon!

We go to Kissimmee several evenings a week when we want a big, sit down meal. We went to the Golden Corral with 4 adults and the bill was 56 bucks with tax. That was a meal and a drink for each person.

[golden6911]

I think you can save money not doing the DDP. If you don't want to spend money on a car, consider getting an order from GardenGrocer.com. Just get some cereal, milk, bagels, donuts etc.... I don't like to spend time on breakfast at WDW and it certainly saves $$$$. Eat mostly CS and then have a few special TS meals.

[momof1princess]

we saved $200-$300 in june by not doing the DDP. we ate breakfast in the room (we drove down and brought a small box of breakfast foods and a cooler with milk, juice, drinks and natural pb) and had CS at the parks, except for 3 TS meals. this was for a full week and we spent a total of about $630 for 3 people, including the 3 TS meals and a few snacks.

[tigger51276]

Honestly, I would ditch getting a car unless you absolutely need it (meaning you are planning to go offsite to another park). That right there will save you a couple hundred dollars. Breakfast is easy enough to do in the room. I brought a toaster with me last time I went and we had toast and cereal in the room. If you go over to one of the timeshare resorts you can get groceries there and the prices are very reasonable on most items. Snacks you can bring with you. Pack a small bag with snack items in it to take from home with you. Then just do counter service meals and a couple of table service meals and you'll definitely save money. If you and your DD don't have huge appetites then you can most likely share your counter service meals and that will help you save even more.

[momof1princess]

as the pp said, sharing CS meals is also a good idea. DH and i shared a pizza combo at Toy Story Pizza Planet and Pinocchio Village Haus. i ate the salad and one slice of pizza, DH ate the other 3 slices and drank the drink (i had gastric bypass surgery 5 years ago and eat about the same as a normal person now, but can't drink w/ meals). we didn't really get much in the way of snacks all week. DH bought 2-3 drinks over the course of the week about mid-afternoon and DD got a frozen juice bar. ice water is free. at some places, they'll give you the ice and you get the water from a nearby fountain. if you don't like the taste of wdw water, kool-aid singles or crystal light singles will do the trick.

[Poohbug]

Yes-share your meals. Portion sizes are pretty good and some places are too much for even two people.

Childs meals can save money but to be honest-the selection is pretty bad.

Check out the menus on Allears.

At TS you can just get apps and dessert.

Bring your own breakfast and snacks. Use the resort gift shops-they sell multi-portion items. This works really well if your kids love milk-get a big bottle instead of the little cartons.

[momof1princess]

Originally Posted by Poohbug

Yes-share your meals. Portion sizes are pretty good and some places are too much for even two people.

Childs meals can save money but to be honest-the selection is pretty bad.

Check out the menus on Allears.

At TS you can just get apps and dessert.

Bring your own breakfast and snacks. Use the resort gift shops-they sell multi-portion items. This works really well if your kids love milk-get a big bottle instead of the little cartons.

i second this. i loved the bowls of pre-washed red grapes from pop century. they were at least 2-3 servings for me.

[Trixiezzz]

For us, the Dining Plan makes no sense. That's because I have 2 kids who are over the age of 10 -- and therefore have to pay adult price -- but they are very minimal eaters. They can hardly finish a small CS kids meal, so it is not worth it to us to have to pay for large meals. It's all wasted.

Now if we had burly teenaged boys, I'm SURE we'd go for it!!

[NeverlandClub23]

We never do the DDP and eat usually at two TS places a day and sometimes one CS place and one TS place a day. TS places are expensive but I don't need (or want) the $45 steak at every restaurant. Our typical day goes like this at WDW:

Breakfast: We don't eat breakfast at home so we typically sleep in a little and get to the parks about 10 a.m.

Lunch: Then between 12-1 we grab lunch at a TS place (which I generally average about $30-$35 for the two of us with tip).

Snack: Then we may grab a snack (maybe two or three times a week as we're usually so full from lunch). But I average about $5-$10 for a snack per day just in case.

Dinner: Also usually at a TS place. I save about $65 per day for dinner for the two of us including tip. We usually either share an appetizer and meal or a couple of appetizers and get salads. I try to limit the amount of meat I eat so we don't get the most expensive meals most of the time.

Snack: Sometimes we'll have a night snack and that's when I'll use the $5-$10 from before if we didn't use it.

So per person we average $55 per day (which is only about $15 more than DDP and really no difference considering the DDP doesn't include tip and we get to eat two TS meals per day). Over the past 4-5 trips we have found a 40% room code somewhere (personal PIN code, general public room code, or AP code) so we save a big chunk with that and get to enjoy where we eat.

[Dancemom03]

I haven't seen anyone mention it yet so I will. We save nicely using the Tables in Wonderland card. It used to be the Disney Dining EXperience but the name changed in the past few years. You have to have one person in your party with an AP to get one and pay for the card but it's good for 20% most TS and a few CS meals. With our standard party of 5, usually more, the card pays for itself in the first two TS meals or so - plus the AP gets discounts on rooms & other items onsite. For us, the TIW card is much more beneficial than the DDP (especially now that they eliminated appetizers & gratituity on DDP) and gives us more flexibility to eat what/where we'd like while still saving money.

I'd personally cancel the car rental - or rent for just a day or two when you need it by picking up at Swan/Dolphin/WDW Car Care Ctr -to cut costs but if you have a car check out CiCi's for a nice budget meal.

That's my bargain find for this year's trip. I'd seen the commercials touting "if you have $5, you gotta go to CiCi's" but had never eaten at one b/c there aren't any near our hometown. While we were parked at walmart getting water & snacks in FL though they left a coupon on my windsheild so it gave us the perfect excuse to give it a try. There are several in the wdw area and we ate at two of them - one on Rt 192 just down from OldTowne and the other in that little shopping center behind the Crossroads shopping center just past Hotel Plaza Blvd.

What a deal! 4 adults and a child's dinner buffet for under $21 total. The adult buffet was $5.99 there and they were handing out BOGO coupons. It wasn't the most gourmet meal we've ever eaten but they do offer to make your pizza/pasta to order if you ask, instead of just taking what's on the buffet, and we found it to be very friendly & pleasant. The kids (20/17/8) loved it. We also had BOGO coupons from our Entertainment book that we used to go back later the following week for another bargain meal, spending the money we saved on dinner at the nearby disney outlet on even more bargain wdw treasures...

[torinsmom]

There are lots of meals you can share and still have plenty of food for each person. DS and I would get the double cheeseburger meal and then cut it in half. Sometimes I would also spring for a second order of fries. We ordered ice water and brought in the little powder packs to flavor it. You can also buy kids meals--they have healthier choices for sides, or you can get french fries.

Get ice water in between meals as well. All the CS restaurants and kiosks will give it to you free. That saved us a lot. Also, bring snacks in. Things like the individual servings of pringles, whole fruit, and fruit snacks pack well.

I know Pop has toasters and microwaves in their food court. Just bring your own poptarts to toast or other foods to heat up. Or bring a cooler for milk(buy at food court if you don't have a car) and cereal.

Marsha

[jam217]

I brought along cereal and fruit in our carry on, and we ate breakfast in the room every morning. We also ordered water at every meal and carried a big water bottle from home for each of us. Even in the August heat, the water stayed cold because I filled the bottles with ice before we left, then topped it off with water.

We also purposely stayed away from buffets and ate a combination of some TS and CS meals.