Buying Groceries vs. DDP

[DISNEY180]

My DH and I are going on our first trip as DVC's owners in Jan and I am trying to decide whether to have groceries delivered or to do the DDP. We are staying at OKW in a 1BD. Are you able to make almost anything you want or are there limitations? Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Granny]

You'll have a full kitchen at your disposal, so yes you can make about anything that you want. The questions are:

- Do you want to cook on vacation?

- Do you think you will be in your villa enough at meal times or will you still be eating at parks since you're already there.

We don't get the DDP, but it's not because we have a full kitchen in the villa. We don't get it because we always eat breakfast at the villa and eat off-site a few times. So we'd get way too much food and end up wasting whatever savings we'd be able to get through the DDP.

For us, the DDE 20% discount is a much better deal. For many, DDP is definitely the way to go.

 

[mbhoxsie]

We have never done the DDP simply because we just aren't in the parks enough to make it worth it...

 

[chevyAZ]

Same Here. I'm currently at SSR. Staying for 16 days / 2 Adults 2 kids (3 & 5) = about $100 / day = $1600. A bit much especially considering the age of my children.

We didnt plan on eating breakfast at the parks. I rented a car for a day from the hertz at Shades of Green, and for about 300 stocked the villa with food and Disney souvenirs from Walmart.

The $300 I spent equates to about 3 days worth of DDP. We bring PB & J / ham cheese sandwiches for lunch, popcorn, chips and cookies for snacks, capri sun drinks for the kids and bottled water for the adults. We plan on eating dinner at the villa with the occasional night out.

I also agree that the DDE card will pay for itself after about 3 character meals for 2 adults / 2 children.

 

[bobbiwoz]

You mentioned having groceries delivered. We had a bad experience with grocery delivery, plus we found that we had to buy too much, meaning too large packages in some cases and we left/wasted lots of things.

For the December trip, because DDP "covers" Fantasmic dinner package and The Candlelight Processional package and DDE doesn't, we're doing DDP next week. However, in June, we're going to do a 1 day, 1 way rental car, airport to the Car Care Center, so we can do our own shopping, get exactly what we need.

Water, fruit, cereal, salad/sandwich, snacks and some wine are enough to make us happy.

Bobbi

 

[jaskemr]

I stayed at Disney (first time since a kid), in 2005.
I stayed at Old Key West and had the Disney Dining Plan (DDP).

We aren't big breakfast eaters, and wanted to have some donuts, coffee, etc for breakfast, some pop and snacks for the evening. (Although on the DDP, you aren't going to be hungry).

Anyways, we flew in and took the Magic Express and DID NOT rent a car, so finding a store to purchase a weeks worth of these items was difficult. What I did, was the day we flew in, and really too tired to go to the parks because of the length of trip and when we got there, was I called a cab, had them take me to a grocery store (I forget the name, but I looked it up on the internet to find the closest "grocery" type store). The cab was prompt, and took me to the store. The cabbie gave me a card with the cab companies number to call when I was done. I called from my cell when done shopping, and another cab promptly picked me up. (Less than 10 minute wait).

Cab fare was about $10 each way.

The savings I had well paid for the cab fare, as I had my wife and 4 kids, a couple teenagers that can eat, and I bought for the whole week. I spent maybe $100-$150 at the store, but that would have cost 3 times that at the little onsite store/gift shop at Old Key West. Plus I did buy some beer too, which is available on site for like $2/bottle/can, but again you can save big time at a grocery store.

I made 1 trip, and when it was gone it's gone, but actually we didn't use up quite all I bought - Mainly due to the fact we had the Disney Dining Plan, and we just couldn't eat much more.

I'm 5'10, 170#, and I just can't eat all the food they give you on the DDP.
I am also not a big "dessert" person, and I was ussually "Full" when it came to dessert, but ofcourse I tried some, and the teenagers had no problem.

Whether or not the Disney Dining Plan is a Good Deal for you depends all on your situation.

I liked it for a few reasons,
1) I paid for it when I booked the trip 6 months+ in advance, so when it came time to go, I didn't have to bring extra money for food, etc.
2) I didn't have to try to talk the teenagers into less expensive items.
3) Everyone could have whatever they wanted and price was not an issue.
4) Everyone could have dessert if they wanted and again price is not an issue.
5) Managing food costs was not an issue, and we could just have fun, eat whatever, and disregard the menu prices (Made me feel "rich" for once not having to watch prices)
6) I saved all the receipts and added them up, and I did save money. But I have to mention, we probably would NOT have had so many deserts if they had not been included, and never figured out the cost minus the deserts (which in hind site, I should have).
7) The food is expensive in Disney, for a family of 6, dropping $75+ for a lunch (hamburgers/hotdogs/drinks, etc was common), But it was included, so we did no food-money management.
8) Tips are included with the DDP
9) Table Service Wait Staff was pleasant and seemed pleased to find out we were on the DDP (probably the guarenteed tip)
10) You don't get so pissed when the younger kids don't eat all their food.
11) My wife did NOT want to cook on vacation, and having to use our credits made sure that this was not going to happen. A happy Wife = a fun vacation.

Certainly you can make it for less $, but it depends on you and your situation.
The DDP card is taken like an American Express Gold Card. I have only one experience and that is with it, but the wait staff we encountered made us feel they were thrilled to wait on us and ALWAYS pleasant.

We had NO Problems finding places that would take it. Even places we just happened upon took it. We did Not find ONE place that didn't take it, but that is our experience and I am sure you will hear other experiences to the contrary. Just reporting my experience (which is all I can do).

We didn't use a table service credit the afternoon we arrived, so we treated ourselves to a "2" tableservice resturant in the the middle of our stay.

 

[DISNEY180]

Thank you for all the responses. They are very much appreciated. Still not sure which way to go but really like the idea of Happy wife = Fun Vacation. I just know that either way we decide to go it will work out as we will be in Disney..