Anyone else think the DDP is NOT too much food?

[Blessed_wth_Triplets]

I'm always amazed at the number of people who think the DDP is sooo much food...really?!? I don't know about most people...but my family eats three, solid meals each day and snacks. Yes, I know there are some good snacks out there that can substitute breakfast maybe, but I found I had to order about $70 worth of food from garden grocer for our upcoming trip. Just my thoughts!...

*oh..and just in case you were wondering we are not an overweight family...just the opposite!

 

[goofy4tink]

Normally, we eat a light breakfast, lunch and a heavier dinner at home. While at WDW, we eat one TS meal, maybe a CS meal in there. If we have a late TS breakfast, we tend to have just CS for dinner.
I know that on our trip a few weeks ago, there were many days we had a nice, TS breakfast and a TS dinner, but nothing for lunch. Since we ate breakfast around 10ish, no need for lunch or breakfast. We looked at it at brunch each day.
I can't imagine eating a big breakfast, then lunch and then big dinner. That is too much food for our family, but that's our normal style. I have friends that go the deluxe dining plan when they go to WDW...3 big meals a day. Now, that is way too much food, IMO.

 

[amyr1]

I found that while we usually eat 3 meals here at home, the food we ate at WDW was much heavier and way more fattening than what we eat at home.

Add in the heat and we didn't eat nearly as much as we would at home.

Amy

 

[worm761]

I am right there with you. We bought enough OOP last trip to justify the DxDDP on our next trip. We are three meals a day family. I don't always order everything I am entitled to on the plan because I may not feel like it. But we still came out ahead with what the plan paid for. My problem is with portion sizes. They are HUGE! I don't think an appetizer, entree, and dessert is necessarily a bad thing on vacation but their portions are just too big. I find that with all restaurants though. One pasta dish at Olive Garden will feed me three times.

 

[KevGuy]

Hey when I am on vacation I want to be spoiled and think the DDP is just fine in terms of the amount of food. For us anyway we definately save money too. I like a previous poster am contemplating the DxDDP for our next trip. I personally can't stand all the "it's way too much food" crowd lol. When we're home usually we don't have dessert for instance, but when I'm at my home away from home I might just eat yours too if your slow lmao!! I also work out
3-4 days a week, but again when I'm at Disney on vacation I don't want to look at a gym much less a treadmill. We go to many signature resturants on the DDP too such as Narcooses for steak and lobster, which we probably wouldn't if we didn't do the DDP. So bottom line is there is definately not too much food on the DDP, heck they even took away the appetizer from a couple of years ago, sheesh...

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

I feel the same way as you do...we have 3 sit down meals when at home so why would I not feed my son a healthy meal while on vacation. When we went 3 years ago we went on DDP and I had to OOP for meals everyday. My son doesn't eat like most kids...he doesn't like fastfood (he doesn't eat chicken nuggets, PPJ, hot dogs). He loves grilled chicken and alot of veggies (my mom laughs b/c I'm a junk food eater and my son can't stand those fried food). He loves cooked breakfast so we are going to DxDDP.

 

[ReneeA]

The DDP is just right for us - we normally use all of our credits, and MAY have a few CS remaining our last day since DD7 and I share some CS meals. However, we aren't big breakfast eaters at home...DH never eats breakfast, I have to really push DS8 to eat anything and DD grabs a breakfast bar or a packet of oatmeal.

This trip, I bought a big box of Special K bars at Costco for breakfasts. We will be really hungry by 11am and will stop for early CS lunches. My ADRs are all for around 5:00, so pretty early there, too. We always seem to have a few snack credits left over at the end of our trip, too.

 

[disney1990]

The DDP is plenty of food for us. We sometimes buy muffins or a light breakfast to go with it. 3 sit down meals a day at Disney and we would come home 15 pounds heavier -- no way. Even with a counter service meal and a table meal, everybody gains weight.

 

[KathyK]

I agree with the OP. We do the DxDDP because at home we eat 3x a day. At WDW, we really work up an appetite with all of the extra walking.

Actually, even with the DxDDP, I found times on the last trip that we were trying to stretch the credits because of the signatures and the fact that it is credits/night, not per day.

And we generally find that the food available at the TS locations is healthier than what one would find with CS or even cooking at home. My kids ate more salads and veggies at WDW than they typically do at home.

 

[Dorisk3]

It all depends on what you are eating those 3 times a day. I just can't imagine ordering a full breakfast, lunch and dinner at a restaurant plus snacks every day. You can argue all you want, but 3 meals at home is not 3 meals out, nor is it prepared anywhere remotely how you would at home. To each their own, but I think the DDP definetly borders on glutony.

 

[PrincessBelle39]

DH and the kids eat 3 meals a day at home but not the sort of meals that the DxDP provides. Breakfast might be a bowl of cereal and lunch a sandwich with perhaps a piece of fruit as a snack in between. But not a 3 course meal. We wouldn't eat a 3 course meal for dinner at home. I'm lucky to eat 2 meals a day at home. I've tried really hard to work in buying the DxDP but cannot in anyway justify the amount of food it provides for our family.

 

[jlk806]

The DDP doesnt seem like it would be too much food, BUT it always is! We usually eat a light breakfast in room, TS lunch, and CS dinner, or vice versa. But we do have 2 character breakfasts planned, on those days we will have a midday snack and then probably an early dinner.

Even though we do usually eat 3 meals at home (though we are not always huge about breakfast) the food at Disney is MUCH more in terms of portion and such than what we usually eat. Especially because most of our planned TS meals are buffets and the portions are big at the non-buffet restaurants. So usually we fill up on our TS lunch, and are not hungry again until much later. So we have never ended up hungry while on the DP at Disney. To be honest, the thought of the DxDP makes me feel sick thinking of how much food that would be!

 

[Dorisk3]

I can see the DDP more for trying all the signature restaurants, that way you'd really only be eating 2 meals a day with snacks, still heavy, but a good way to try some new things. The main thing that always gets me though is when I factor in how much I'd have to leave for tips for week!

 

[worm761]

See, I don't include the snacks. We might eat a mickey bar one day but I am not a big snacker. I will use the snack credits for waters and other drinks. It doesn't bother me. I come out ahead of the cost of the dining plans with just the food portion. Just because they give you a huge portion, does not mean you have to EAT that huge portion. I will nibble on an appetizer, eat about half an entree, and maybe order dessert if I really want on. But I don't feel the need to eat everything put in front of me.

 

[Nadjalu]

The DDP is not too much food for us.

We usually split an OOP breakfast and have an extra snack each per person per day, but the DDP fits us very well.

 

[megrod74]

I can see the DDP more for trying all the signature restaurants, that way you'd really only be eating 2 meals a day with snacks, still heavy, but a good way to try some new things. The main thing that always gets me though is when I factor in how much I'd have to leave for tips for week!

I'm confused by this because the DDP IS only 2 meals plus snacks - per night. Also the DDP does not include an appetizer anymore, so they are not 3 course meals. Unless you were referring to the Deluxe plan. Granted the portion sizes are bigger than what we eat at home.
We are trying the DDP soon for the first time since they dropped the appetizer. THAT was too much food. But we get up at 5:30am every day (thanks to the 22month old) and even with breakfast at 6 we are starving by lunch (11:30). Maybe we just have long days but we at home also eat 3 (albeit not 3 course) meals at home.

 

[nursesandy]

Several members of our family are in the overweight category and we still found the DDP to more than enough food last year. We did not ever pay OOP for any food and had numerous snack credits left over at the end. Every family is different.

 

[mg10rb13]

Last year was the first year I did the DDP with my mom. It was her 2nd time around, so she was a little bit more aware of the food portions, where to go/get most bang for your buck. And that's what we just did. We looked into places that had food we normally wouldn't order out back at home. We also looked into places that had some yummy desserts because just like PP's said, dessert isn't always something they'd get back at home but while on vacation why not! especially if it's included. I would love to have the DDP be the TS, CS, and 2 snacks. I'd use 1 snack for a light bfast (pastry/muffin at MS Bakery for example) and then get a treat in between my CS and TS meals or a beverage on a hot day. I don't think it's too much food or to little, I'd say its probably just enough maybe a little more for some families on a majority scale.

 

[imLissy]

Usually we eat one or two TS meals a day. I did some calculations though and found the dining plan not worth it for us because we wouldn't use all of our counter service credits.
Why?
My family doesn't wake up early enough for breakfast.

 

[doryfan]

I did the deluxe last year. It was our first time doing the dining plan and I upgraded because I had 3 signature places reserved. There were some days that it was a lot of food but others were just right. My mistae last year is that I didnt want to "waste" snacks on drinks, so I would buy drinks. Well at the end of our stay I had alot of snack credits left, so we brought some snacks home. This year Im doing deluxe again. I like that the resort mugs are included and I like being able to order an appetizer if we want to and just not worrying about it. I will be using those snacks credits this year fo drinks though. BTW most days we didnt do 3 meals...we had signature meals 3 days out of the 6 days...and there was one night that we ate early, stayed up late and got pizza.