Character Dining & DDP

[Bciris]

Can I make a reservation for a character meal before deciding if we are getting the dining plan or not?

We are going 4th of July week. I know it will be crowded and I don't want to delay making the reservations. We are going with my in-laws and their other granddaughter. It will probably be a while before we can sit and talk about if we are doing DDP or not.

 

[erionm]

Can I make a reservation for a character meal before deciding if we are getting the dining plan or not?

Yes, but if the location requires pre-payment of the meal you would have to pay that at the time the dining reservation is made.

 

[Kidanifan08]

You can book your ADR's at 180 days prior to arrival whether or not you have purchased the DDP. If you are staying on DVC points and you decide to use DDP, you need to purchase it for each person on the reservation in the villa and for each night of the stay at no less than 48 hours prior to arrival. Even if some guests are only there for part of the reservation, you have to buy the DDP for them for each night of the stay.

If you are using your DDP entitlements for a pre-paid event, such as HDDR or SOA, you will have to pay for the event in full at the time of booking, but I believe you will get a refund to your credit card at the time of payment with the DDP entitlements.

If you are an AP holder or DVC member, you may want to consider the possibility of using a TIW card instead of the DDP. It offers much more flexibility and would probably pay for itself given the size of your party. At $100 for the card, you would need to spend about $500 to cover the cost of the card, but then after that you would save 20% on the bill including alcoholic beverages. If you are not familiar with the TIW card, you can read about it here.

 

[rkold]

You can book your ADR's at 180 days prior to arrival whether or not you have purchased the DDP. If you are staying on DVC points and you decide to use DDP, you need to purchase it for each person on the reservation in the villa and for each night of the stay at no less than 48 hours prior to arrival. Even if some guests are only there for part of the reservation, you have to buy the DDP for them for each night of the stay.

If you are using your DDP entitlements for a pre-paid event, such as HDDR or SOA, you will have to pay for the event in full at the time of booking, but I believe you will get a refund to your credit card at the time of payment with the DDP entitlements.

If you are an AP holder or DVC member, you may want to consider the possibility of using a TIW card instead of the DDP. It offers much more flexibility and would probably pay for itself given the size of your party. At $100 for the card, you would need to spend about $500 to cover the cost of the card, but then after that you would save 20% on the bill including alcoholic beverages. If you are not familiar with the TIW card, you can read about it here.

While I love TiW, I could have sworn it had some blackout dates around the 4th.

Cinderella's is another restaurant that requires pre-paying, but you will be reimbursed if you end up using a meal plan. We got recredited when my in laws canceled out on us a month or so before we went to WDW.

I personally didn't like the DDP. You can save money, but only if you really planned to eat all the food on the plan and it is a lot of food!

 

[Kidanifan08]

While I love TiW, I could have sworn it had some blackout dates around the 4th.

Cinderella's is another restaurant that requires pre-paying, but you will be reimbursed if you end up using a meal plan. We got recredited when my in laws canceled out on us a month or so before we went to WDW.

I personally didn't like the DDP. You can save money, but only if you really planned to eat all the food on the plan and it is a lot of food!

The only blackout day in July for 2014 is July 4. Of course, in 2015 the first 3 weeks of June are blacked-out, which may be when we are there.

I agree with the DDP -- we haven't used it since 2009, when it was a much better value. At the current costs per adult, it is nearly impossible to "beat" Disney. Plus, it was way too much food for us. We aren't really dessert people. We much prefer to share an appetizer, get a salad and occasionally get a dessert. We almost always have an adult beverage at our TS meals. With that pattern, TIW works really well for us, particularly since we usually get two trips in on one card.