Anyone use the 2008 DDP yet

[libinatorsmom]

After reading this thread I think we'll steer clear of the DDP. I can't handle having to gorge myself just to get all the bang for my buck. Right now I am trying to lose weight, not gain it and if I'm eating 2 full meals w/ dessert and a snack every day, I will gain weight not lose it.

This reasoning really bugs me... you do not have to eat every last morsole on your plate... including the app and des... the plan gives you options to get what you want no matter the cost, eat where you want, try new things, share with your friends/family.... and there is a savings... there is no need to gorge yourself ever at disney or anywhere...

Granted each person has there own ideas of food and what they want there WDW vacation to include.... to us trying the signature resturants and a ton of character meals is worth it totally!!!!! we are now able to eat at several sig resturants that wer would have NOT have the chance to before...

 

[libinatorsmom]

After reading this thread I think we'll steer clear of the DDP. I can't handle having to gorge myself just to get all the bang for my buck. Right now I am trying to lose weight, not gain it and if I'm eating 2 full meals w/ dessert and a snack every day, I will gain weight not lose it.

This reasoning really bugs me... you do not have to eat every last morsole on your plate... including the app and des... the plan gives you options to get what you want no matter the cost, eat where you want, try new things, share with your friends/family.... and there is a savings... there is no need to gorge yourself ever at disney or anywhere...

Granted each person has there own ideas of food and what they want there WDW vacation to include.... to us trying the signature resturants and a ton of character meals is worth it totally!!!!! we are now able to eat at several sig resturants that wer would have NOT have the chance to before...

 

[rotlex]

This reasoning really bugs me... you do not have to eat every last morsole on your plate... including the app and des... the plan gives you options to get what you want no matter the cost, eat where you want, try new things, share with your friends/family.... and there is a savings... there is no need to gorge yourself ever at disney or anywhere...

Granted each person has there own ideas of food and what they want there WDW vacation to include.... to us trying the signature resturants and a ton of character meals is worth it totally!!!!! we are now able to eat at several sig resturants that wer would have NOT have the chance to before...

This is exactly our reasoning for getting the plan again for our April trip. We do at least one character meal per day, and frankly, that alone makes the plan worth it! Not to mention the CS and snack. Heck, for us, even though I agree it's not as GOOD of a deal as last year, it's still a bargain, IMO of course.

 

[livie1205]

we het it for the character meals...we are a family of five so it saves us alot of money, we get a charater meal like 1900 park fare (that has great food) and it covers our lunch in the park with a small snack...we would spend about 204.00 a day doing just that but with the meal plan it is around 82.00 for 2 adult meal plans and 2 kid meal plans and since we go to charater meals they dont have to eat those nasty kid meals....it saves our family a ton of money (even without the tip) even though I dont agree with cutting the tip out.

 

[soontobewed07]

We use it so we don't have to carry as much cash or budget for food. It is just easier for us. The cost of the tip isn't too bad usually and I don't mind charging that to the room. I also like that it forces me to plan my meals out. Most people don't like that, but if I asked my DH where he wanted to eat we would never get to dinner because he couldn't make up his mind.

 

[lordnamis]

I agree with the last 2 posters, if you have children it is still a great deal(not as good as before though). When my son and I go he wants the Character Meals which are buffets or family style so the app being taken out is no big deal and he gets better selection than those kids menus. The tips and the new snack rules do suck though. However for a child(DS8) 9.99 for a day is a great deal, he eats that at just the CS. When he becomes 10, I doubt i will get it.

 

[lordnamis]

One more comment, sorry, However with everything becoming more healthy and people with health issues or diabetics and such, I am dissapointed that they dont allow people to choose app OR dessert, because when my parents go they cant have dessert and when I go(im a firefighter) I dont eat dessert as well, the choice would have been better.

 

[AlexWyattMommy]

I agree with the last 2 posters, if you have children it is still a great deal(not as good as before though). When my son and I go he wants the Character Meals which are buffets or family style so the app being taken out is no big deal and he gets better selection than those kids menus. The tips and the new snack rules do suck though. However for a child(DS8) 9.99 for a day is a great deal, he eats that at just the CS. When he becomes 10, I doubt i will get it.

This our problem too. Our eldest will be 10 when we go. I really DON'T want him to eat $38 worth of food a day. And if we aren't getting $38 worth of food, why do the plan? It seems like it would be better to plan it out ahead of time and budget that money to be paid at the end and use the "charge to room" feature. No extra cash to try to handle. It's the same card. So it is just as easy.

I need to get my self off the boards and go do just that, plan out where we really want to go and then compare the prices vs possible savings. For us. My numbers won't work for any one else.

Thank you to all who have been there and are posting about it.

 

[becca011906]

This is exactly our reasoning for getting the plan again for our April trip. We do at least one character meal per day, and frankly, that alone makes the plan worth it! Not to mention the CS and snack. Heck, for us, even though I agree it's not as GOOD of a deal as last year, it's still a bargain, IMO of course.

we het it for the character meals...we are a family of five so it saves us alot of money, we get a charater meal like 1900 park fare (that has great food) and it covers our lunch in the park with a small snack...we would spend about 204.00 a day doing just that but with the meal plan it is around 82.00 for 2 adult meal plans and 2 kid meal plans and since we go to charater meals they dont have to eat those nasty kid meals....it saves our family a ton of money (even without the tip) even though I dont agree with cutting the tip out.

I'll third these opinions... we wouldn't be able to do it the way we are w/o the dinning plan having it pre paid is great we are getting to do character meals that we haven't been able to do b4 mainly b/c we didn't want to fork the money over for dinners are we as a family just aren't b'fast eaters at all, so doing the money saving charecters b'fast just wouldn't work so well. Also now that i see we will also get hit at 2 of our meals with the price inflations for "holiday sessions" i'm glad we won't have to come up with that extra $4-5 a plate!!!!

Adding that we also have 3 kids so they would definatly eat more then $30 worth of food a day while at the parks!!!

 

[rcraw45425]

We paid for 4 adults, since Disney conciders my 10 & 12 year olds adults. Every time we ate they were told that they were to do the kids meals, I ahd to explain that they were on the adult plan. I mean if they look like kids, why can't they be charged as kids? At Yachtsman they had the chateaubriand for two at $80! The portions were large, they each had three filet medallions and were allowed to substitute a baked potato for the mashed potatoes, and they also had a huge plate of sauteed mushrooms (this is the regular meal) that we all shared. I had the ribeye at something like $40 and DH had the 24oz Porterhouse (bone in) with a baked potato. We each had dessert, the girls were allowed to get the kids paintable chocolate puzzle with cupcake, I had creme brulee and DH had the Grand Marnier strawberries (similar to shortcake). The meal was delicious, we will definitely dine there again OOP, it was that good. Server was attentive without being condescending or snooty. Meal took almost two hours from ADR time to walking out the door. Didn't seem to drag though.

One thing I noticed was that we were told that we could have iced tea or soft drinks, if the kids wanted milk or juice there were no refills, which seemed strange to me. Has this always been the case or is it a DDP thing?

Our main reason for getting the DP was the holiday surcharge, $4 each for 'Ohana and Cape May, which we wound up skipping any way. DH said he didn't like the DP would rather pay OOP and not feel like we were forced to get 4 CS meals and desserts when we could have shared three and no dessert, so I guess we won't do it again.

 

[TapCat]

I want to thank all of you for your honesty about the DP. We are going in July and are so confused as to whether we want the DP. After reading all these reviews, tip problems, CS problems and snack change, I feel so much better about chosing not to get the plan.
We will make some ADR at the choice places and leave the rest of the days spontaneous eating. thanks again.

You've summed up my thoughts perfectly! I was on the fence, but this sounds like way to much work and very little flexibility. Thanks to all the posters.

 

[becca011906]

Also i think things will most likely smooth out soon, it's a whole new thing, system and stuff so it's going to take some time for everyone to 'get' it. I have faith that by the time we go in March there will be better reports of it going much soother, i hope anyways!!!

 

[Native NYer]

For the regular dinner plan, Set down, so you don't fall down. The price was reduced, OK here we go now, from $38.99 to $37.99 and they took away the tip and appetizer

Not much of a deal!

 

[llmurphy17]

We are going to try the DDP again, with 3 kids it works out better. We are also going to try to do more character meals.

 

[soontobewed07]

We decided to go with it again too. I am sure the kinks will get worked out before our end of March trip. It is just easier to have everything planned out for us.

 

[fairestoneofall]

I will probably add the DDP to our package in November. As it is, we have three TS already planned, and then DD and I want to go to CRT. Also, we'll be splitting our stay with five nights at a Mod, and two nights at CR MK view. So, I'll just get the DDP for our Mod stay, knowing I can spread it out to use that last day when we switch resorts. That leaves me one day to pay OOP, but that's fine.

I just like having most of it pre-paid. And it still is a good deal if you have young children (ours will be four and six).

 

[girli565]

So you can charge the gratuity to the room instead of having to carry cash. If it's not a group of 6 or more is it still 18%? I usually tip that anyway but I just want to be sure.

 

[caroline1851]

After reading this thread I think we'll steer clear of the DDP. I can't handle having to gorge myself just to get all the bang for my buck. Right now I am trying to lose weight, not gain it and if I'm eating 2 full meals w/ dessert and a snack every day, I will gain weight not lose it.

I've also heard many stories from those who have used the DDP in the past and says the new DDP starting this year is nothing compared to what it used to be. The old plan was WAY better.

Eating 2 meals a day and a snack doesn't mean you're gorging yourself. At home, i have breakfast, lunch and dinner and 2 small snacks during the day (banana or whatnot). So how is 2 meals a day gorging yourself? If is if you go to the buffet and stuff your face w/ food until you feel like you're going to puke, but what normal person does that??

I agree with a pp that said it would be nice to have a choice between the appetizer and the dessert.