Yes, we will always get the DDP. No, we do not gain weight when we use it and no, I do not think it's too much food. How is 1 Ts and 1 CS meal a day too much food?? That always baffles me when people say that.
Even my 5 year old can easily eat that much food, especially with all the walking at WDW. We eat a resort/character breakfast most mornings. Some mornings we grab CS breakfasts. We eat a CS lunch almost every day-at MGM we do TS lunches. We eat a TS dinner EVERY night, and have ever since our first trip to Disney. So, the DDP does not force us to eat differently, we have always eaten this way at Disney.
We do not now or ever plan to cook on our vacations. We have the DDE card and we use it for resort/character breakfasts, a couple OOP TS lunches and alcohol. In 2006 we ONLY used the DDE, in 2007 we ate exactly the same and used the DDP. We saved a lot of money using the DDP, much more than using only the DDE. But, that's our family. We LIKE to make ADR's 6 months ahead, we LIKE to eat TS every night-including some signatures.
For our family the plan works, but it's not a perfect fit. I'd much more prefer a plan that gives two TS per day-similar the our old favorite the dreammaker silver plan. Disney dining asked me that question in a survey, so I hope that is something they are considering.
We'd use it for breakfast and dinner every day, and yes, I'd happily pay more $$ for it.
Disney does have the premium plan, but you can't do it with DVC. We are considering using it for our May 2008 non-DVC POLY stay, but it's not a perfect fit. We won't do all the tours and extras that come with it, and we do prefer CS lunches most days, so we can keep seeing the parks. (the premium plan gives 3 TS meals a day).
I know the servers union and Disney are working on some changes. The one change-adding auto 18% gratuity to DDE card-is not a big deal to me. We always tip 20% anyway. The other change-removing the included 18% tip from DDP..I suppose it makes it less of a value. However, I have read many, many posters on the dining board complaining about how they wish the tip wasn't automatic because they got bad service, and didn't think the CM deserved 18%, blah, blah, blah. People have actually gone to managers demanding the tip be removed (which was impossible with the DDP). Well, now those posters may get what they want-a tip at their discretion. Personally, I'd rather pay more $$ for the plan and keep the tip as is. I think the CM's will suffer if this goes through and that's a shame.