Back 7/24 - My ddp experience...

NEM

Mouseketeer
Joined
Nov 26, 2000
Hi there,

Here is a summary..DDP was easy. We asked everywhere and if what we got did not work for us then we ordered what we needed. We used the DDE on any extra items and alcohol. I just handed them both cards when the time came...no big deal, no trouble anywhere.

We are a party of 6 - My sister & myself and her 4 children ages 9,8,4 & 2.

We pretty much shared everything everywhere. We early decided that it was way too much food for us and we ordered accordingly. We took a friend of one of the girls to a character meal and had no trouble getting meals for more than the number of parties listed on our card. Maybe it is because it was another kid and not adult, but we were not paying attention to that. I handed my card...the waiter took the appropriate credits, but I was prepared to pay for her extra if need be.

With all the hullaballo on the board, we threw up our hands and said we were going, and going to order like we would without the plan (well, we did have dessert more than we would have normally) and pay for whatever else we felt we would need.

Never had a lick of trouble til the last day, when our credits got out of whack, but I noticed it right away and they fixed it right away...I did track our credits every night of our trip as we had 55 TS, 55 CS & 55 S - it was way too much...the last 3 days it was fun trying to use them all up and I have a dozen Earl of Sandwich sandwiches - all ordered at one time in the freezer (we love them).

We are DVC, so we had bfast in the villa most mornings or picked up bakery items with CS credits to keep til morning.

Here is a summary from some of my notes:
7/14
Lunch:
Hurricane Hannas (via the pool guy) -
Adults: burger, Diet Coke & Ice Cream
Kids: Lunch pails, water & Ice Cream
Decent and brought to us at the table. Waiter brough the ice cream a bit later when the kids were ready for their mickey bars & itzakadoozies...a great deal....

Snacks: Small Powder Pucker tube at the Beach Club Marketplace

7/15
Snacks: Water & Cotton Candy

Lunch: Pecos Bills
Adults:
• Burger, Diet Coke & Peanut butter mousse brownie (only dessert here, but very yummy
•*Chicken Wrap, Diet Coke and same brownies.
•*3 kids meals - dont have what it was

Dinner: Spoodles
Wow...our favorite of the trip - delicious. We went back another time and basically ordered the same
Adults:
•*1 med dips, 1 steak dinner, 1 creme brulee (the adults shared)
•*1 garlic shrimp, 1 steak dinner, 1 kids sundae - (given to one of the kids)
Kids:
• 1 fruit cup, 1 grilled chicken dinner, 1 kids sundae
• 1 grilled chs flatbread, 1 grilled chicken flatbread 1 kids sundae

The 2 little ones shared off our plates and we still had doggie bags to take home. At this point we were figuring out this was way too much food for us, so we ordered accordingly and shared without any trouble and tipped for the number of diners accordingly

7/16
Lunch: Tusker House
Adults: 2 rotisserie meals, 2 diet cokes, 1 carrot cake/1 Chocolate cake
Kids: 3 leg meals, water, milks & 3 more desserts
This is one of our favorite meals ever...with or without dining plan. Also ordered side of fries and paid for it.

Dinner: Chef Mickeys - 5 TS credits...yummy. I had no issues. Food was fresh, characters were great, delicious!!

Snacks: we realized here we were not keeping up with our daily allotments so we got 2 CS credits worth of MK Bakery items & caprese sandwiches for bfast the next day (2 items + 1 drink) and used 4 snack credits for other bakery items. Also got the girls each one of those super large swirl around lollipops for 4 more Snack credits... All was really good. Yum Yum. Love the banana bread pudding and the cherry turnovers.

7/17 -
Lunch - Beach Club Marketplace
Adults:
• Hot turkey sandwich, chips, coke & mickey bar
• Hot roast beef sandwich, chips, water & mickey bar
Kids:
•*2 kids turkey wraps, 2 chips, 2 mickey bars & 2 bottled drinks

Now it gets interesting, the 8 yr old is a huge chick caesar fan, so we figured it never hurts to ask and asked if they could make a kids portion of the caesar salad for the kids credit as they make the items to order...they said, and I quote there was no difference...it did not matter. If that was what we wanted then just order. Anyway, I knew better, but they insisted, so we got one of the kids the chicken caesar salad. If it had not been allowed, I was completely prepared to pay for it if needed...as I said we were on vacation, our plan did not include eating around the dining plan.

The counter girls also said that gelato was not a snack, and I ordered prepared to pay for it and when I got to the counter, I was pleasantly suprised that it is a snack (large size too!) It rang right up and thus began my habit of gelato for snacks...it was way yummy. Chocolate or lemon was the best. Pistachio had a bit of the sweet salty thing going on and I did not get around to trying mango, but there is always next time. We were also able to do 1/2 & 1/2 of flavors...so all in all a nice Dining Plan snack suprise...

Snacks:
1 box entenmans donuts
2 large gelato
4 cookies/brownies at Goofy Candy Co

We paid out of pocket for the special caramel apples at Goofy Candy Co that night. 2 of the girls had a blast making them. The others enjoyed a cookie. The cookies were a bit floury/lardy tasting...not made with butter. We had much better elsewhere. They look great, but the taste is not so great. The apples were delicious. Brownie - also just ok...I would not order these items out of the Goofy Candy Co again....yummier stuff in other places.

7/18
Lunch: Sci Fi
Adults:
•*1 onion rings, 1 burger, (we donated 2 shakes which they said counted as a dessert to the little people and they split them for us in cups 4 ways)
•*1 cheese artichoke dip, 1 burger, (again donated the shake - they were considered a dessert according to our waiter...no biggie...the kids wanted shakes and we were not interested in dessert)
Kids:
• 2 fruit & cheese plates, 2 burgers, 2 fruit cup desserts
•*1 fruit & cheese plate, 1 mac/cheese, 1 fruit cup

All was good. The kids shared our appetizers like they have at every meal since the day they were born and no one had a problem.

Snacks:
•*Ice Cream Cone at MGM - Mint chip - YUMMY
•*Itzakadoozie - 4 yr old loved it.
•*H20 - it was really hot
•*2 gelatos - when we got home

Dinner: Spoodles again....just as delicious...ordered about the same and paid oop for some pita bread for the little ones. Took 4 cookie and milk desserts home as we were too stuffed for dessert. The cookies were delicious...Goofy's candy co could learn something about cookie making from Spoodles. Had a late night cookie snack while working. Trying to figure out how to use all these credits....we are not keeping up....

7/19
Lunch: Wolfgang Puck Express -
Delicious!!!
Kids all had mac & cheese and by far this was the best mac and cheese on property we had all week. (a close 2nd was the Cape May dinner buffet with a bechamel sauce) The kids all had cookies for dessert & drink with their meals
Adults-
•*Rotisserie chicken dinner with Mashed potatoes, creme brulee & diet coke
•*BBQ chick pizza, white chock macadamia cookie & diet coke

All was really good, but the Mac & cheese was by far the winner on this one. It was really good. The cookies were also the best ones we had all week. I went back for more on our last day when we were trying to use up all our snacks. They were delicious! I would not order the bbq chick pizza again, but had the bbq chick quesadilla later in the week and I would order that again in a heartbeat...

Dinner: Crystal Palace....
Character buffet - with a 4 & 2 year old...what can I say? They love it. The 2 year old had just started warming up to the characters and it was great seeing her with them. Food was good, desserts were mediocre. We went for the characters, some air conditioning. In that regard it was perfect. All the characters came around at least 2x. A fun time...not about the food for us for this meal.

7/20
Lunch: (Sonic at Walmart) I know, I know....what a waste!!!.... all these credits that we have to use up and we decided to get sonic....I am addicted to the ice, what can I say? We left campus to get a presciption filled for my sis and ended up there on the way out. So, we got what was to be a snack and to put it in perspective when I managed to feed and water all 6 of us for a mere $23. A fraction of any Disney meal - which pricing is not based in reality. It was a weird perception...I am still working through how i felt about it. I soon realized we should have used up some credits...oh well - it was still really good.

Dinner: O'Hanas
We loved it. Had great cocktails! The Malibu Macaw was beautiful and a favorite. The Lapu Lapu pineapple thing was good, but way too strong. It was a fun thing to get anyway. We also ended up with a Backscratcher too...another too strong for my tastes...but the Malibu Macaw...now that is what I am looking forward to when I return.

The food was really good. Yes, the shrimp are messy, but our lovely waitress brought us as many hot towels as we needed. THey tried to pawn the kids meals off on our group...but they did not realize they had shimp eating freaks on their hands...our 4 girls went through 6 bowls....it was funny. My sister and I peeling as fast as they could eat it. It was fun and we did not mind. We both liked the wings...the potatoes were ok...did not like the veggies and liked the salad and dressing. We were mostly too stuffed for the meat when it was time, but our pork tenderloin was moist and flavorful and the beef was good too but a little drier. The best was the Bread pudding. My sister is a bread pudding expert and declared it one of the best. Not soggy and wet and the sauce and ice cream were more caramelly than banana....it was delicous. They girls all had ice cream and fun doing the hula and the limbo. We somehow missed the coconut races. They were off and running before we realized it was happening. We will be back.



7/21
Now we are in use up credits mode....we are realizing there is no way we would eat all of this before we had to leave. I did some strategic planning and got us on track to get to the finish line with not too many credits on the table.....

Breakfast: Cape May Cafe - again more characters, but supprisingly good. As a southern girl that doesnt see them often, I feasted on cheesy grits and biscuits and gravy. It was good....bad for the diet, but oh so yummy... Again, we were using table services up and the girls love the characters, so everyone is happy. I know bfast is not the best use of credits, but it is better than leaving them unused at alll...so to breakfast we started to go.

Snack: 1 Gelato - becoming a habit

Dinner: Beaches and Cream
Adults:
• 2 onion rings (shared among all), 2 burgers, 2 diet cokes, and the best part: 1 No Way Jose & 1 Brownie Fudge Slide with Mint Chip---WOW...so yummy.
• 3 hot dogs with fries ( and they opted to take their cookie desserts home and partake of the sundaes....smart girls)
So, IMHO Beaches and Cream is a bit overrated for those that say they have the best burgers. For the 2nd time, they were just mediocre. My sis and I discussed and decided that if you like fried burgers then you like B&C, if you like flame broiled burgers, then Sci Fi is the ticket. Our Sci Fi burger was far and above better than B&C. I have never had anything other than burgers at Sci Fi, but I do believe that the other food may be mediocre as well. But burger to burger, we prefer Sci Fi and will not do B&C again....

Now, on the other had the onion rings and the sundaes are off the chart. So, now this is a dessert place for us and we are fine with that. The sundaes were perfect and delicious and HUGE. The 6 of us managed to put a bit of a hurt on both of them....

Paid oop for a root beer float for one of the girls...

We waddled out of there.

A bit more to go....trying to get the credits used up...

Ok...so here we are 2.5 days left and dozens of credits to use...so here was our plan...

And dont worry about the sharing...just go, order what you like. Tell them it is too much food for you so you will be sharing and have fun on your vacation. I must admit, having just returned, I believe alot of the panic on the board is a bit of a storm in a teacup.

Anyway...off soapbox....

7/22
Sunshine Seasons - EPCOT
Adults:
•*Beef flatbread, Fruit Tulip & Diet Coke
•*Beef flatbread, lemon pie, diet coke
Kids:
• Mac n Cheese Cookie and drink
•*Chicken leg meal, cookie and drink

Snacks:
•*4 Norway pastries - YUMMY school bread...this will be a must have on all future trips. The sweet pretzels were dry and the cookies were good.
• 4 bags of candied nuts in America - they were going home with us
•*2 Waters
•*2 Frozen cokes

Late afternoon CS:
2 orders fish/chips with 2 cokes and 2 shortbread cookies split 6 ways...

Dinner
Beach Club Marketplace -
Again we used up 6 CS credits here...more than on the card to stock up some sandwiches, caesar salad, chips drinks and mickey bars. All very good. No mention that we were buying more meals than the number on the card at one time.

7/23
Breakfast: Again Cape May with an extra child. No problem using a credit for her.

Lunch: Disney Quest
We were so full by now...with so many credits left, but we just could not eat any more....

We shared 1 burger and fries and choc cupcake & 1 chick sandwich and fries and choc cupcake. Got one mac/cheese for a little one and called it a day. They were delicious. One of our top 3 counter service meals of the whole trip. I look forward to going back.

Dinner: Did Cape May again...it was in the hotel...we were packing up nearly 2 weeks of Disney settling and just looking for a place to get something easy and fast. I like it. Some things are not to my taste. Others are really delicious. None of us were impressed much with the desserts, so we stopped off again for BC Marketplace gelato for dessert.


7/24 - This is the day we left...we actually hit Cape May one more time for Bfast to use up the remaining table service credits....again good, but the grits were a bit runny for my taste this time...still I was so full from all the eating, I just liked seeing the girls have fun on the last morning with the characters.

We then went to Downtown Disney and stocked up on 14 Earl of Sandwich sandwiches and cookies and each got a drink. I brough them all home. I saved a few counter service to go to Wolfgang Puck and Patisserie Boulangerie as I had a night flight.

We let the girls all blow through another 12 snack credits left at goofys candy co and off they went.

I went back and got one more school bread in Norway and 4 pastries in France and then took them all with me home where I had them for breakfast with my roommate the next morning. All delicious. The lemon tart in France was my favorite. I went to Wolfgang Puck and had the BBQ chicken pizza and then waved the white flag...

So, with a bag full of lunches for the next week or so, I headed out.

My sister and I talked about it and we would have probably spent more, but gotten less had we not used the plan. I never had an issue sharing and I think it is a question that had been blown out of proportion. It is still a restaurant and you are a customer.

We have always shared our food. We are ones who order based on what the other is getting so we can have a taste. The girls have always eaten off our plates. Sometimes we ordered for them and sometimes not...but we did it as we would based on our hunger level, not to beat the system. If Disney changes to Kid/Adult credits, we would still do it and just pay if it did not work for us.

It did feel like we were always focused on our next meal and how to use up all the credits, but next time we are going to add in a couple of 2 credit places to help ease that feeling of so much to fit in. And we have always liked some of the 2 credit places...in fact I booked Flying Fish today and am very much looking forward to it. We did get alot of food. Alot we would never ordered...such as dessert at lunch AND dinner, but we also would have probably overordered as well as we were in the habit of getting the 2 yr old her own meal and this time we just let her share off of what we have. We tried alot of things we would not have just because we could...

I found some new favorites and found some other things I dont like. Now I dont have to wonder. It was fun. We are signing up again for the Oct trip and when the time comes, we will do what we would do if we were paying for it.

Really dont stress - once I let go and just said fine...I will do what I have to do to have fun on my vacation it was not so hard. I am sure you will be fine sharing with your daughter. Please let me know if you have any questions about anywhere specifically we went. As long as this is, it is a readers digest version of my experiences....i can elaborate futher if there is anywhere specific you are going....

Have a great trip...I am looking forward to our next one...

Michelle
 
Great report I am going to scrutinize my ADr's now and change some so we can relax and really enjoy our dining.

Hey Brat5063 I found you on here.
 
Thank you so much for your detailed and informative ddp dining review. Thanks especially for this reality check:

NEM said:
I must admit, having just returned, I believe alot of the panic on the board is a bit of a storm in a teacup.

I think you went into it with the right attitude--ordering what you want, planning to share, but more than willing to pay out of pocket (even when the CM's won't let you!). I know many don't like the uncertainty, but the least stressful approach seems to be yours--hope for the best but prepare for the worst. Thanks again!
 
Great report. I agree with Thunderbird in that you went in with a good attitude. That's what makes the difference in an experience. :thumbsup2
 
We need more reports like these to help quell the wave of panic that has been taking over these boards. I only wish I had so little to worry about that sharing/not sharing was a big to-do!!
 
Enjoyed reading your reviews ~ Thanx for sharing.
 
Thanks for the details!

I gotta ask though--did you take all the sandwiches in a cooler? I have this vision of you stuffing them in a suitcase! :teeth:

Thanks again for the info!
 
Thank you, Michelle!

Enjoyed the retelling in your review probably as much as you enjoyed all the treats!!!!

Bravo!!
 
Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed report. I am definately going to adopt your attitude about the DDP. I confess I was figuring and trying to work out our best plan and getting involved in the debate, but it really doesn't matter to me now. The worse case scenario is that we have to spend a little more money on something, but I am going to figure that extra amount in. If we don't use it, then all the better.
 
WOW very good ddp report! Thank you so much, I hope that your report clears up alot of questions for ppl! Your meals so delicious, I am craving gelatos now..lol
 
pixiechick said:
Thanks for the details!

I gotta ask though--did you take all the sandwiches in a cooler? I have this vision of you stuffing them in a suitcase! :teeth:

Thanks again for the info!

LOL...I did have a small softside cooler with me that I put them in, but they were fine and have been very tasty and a great reminder of the world this week. I dont expect they will last long around here....it was funny, but it used up the credits and I get my lunches for this week taken care of too!

Thanks to all for the kind comments...

Michelle
 
Thanks for sharing your experiences.
It seems like everyone had plenty to eat. :thumbsup2
 
lyzziesmom said:
We need more reports like these to help quell the wave of panic that has been taking over these boards. I only wish I had so little to worry about that sharing/not sharing was a big to-do!!

You can say that again! I think this board is becoming more about complaining about what others do/or do NOT do, rather than a board about information. Ofcourse, now I just complained about others complaining....... :rotfl: help! :rotfl2:

OP, you sure did go with the right attitude. We are going to do the same, especially since we are not paying for it. If I have to pay for something to make my family happy, so be it, no big deal.

And we have HDDR scheduled as one of our TS's. I'm glad because it takes away one day's TS meal. I think I'll be glad to have a day of all CS. :rotfl:

I agree with you about Sci-Fi and BC burgers. We thought SF was much better.

thanks for the great reviews and all the information. :thumbsup2
 

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