DDE Help!!!

[gianna2006]

I'm seeing threads about the Disney Dinigh Experience. Am I right in thinking it will give you 20% off at most DIS restaurants?? How do you get this card?/
As we are DVC members and usually eat most of our breakfasts and about half of our lunches in (we are going for 12 days and are only planning on spending 5 days in the major parks). Dinner depends - sometimes counter service, sometimes we order in, sometimes we do a nice sit down dinner at a restaurant. I think DDE is a better option for us than the whole dining plan. Any advise?

7/90 off-site
9/96 off-site
7/99 off-site
7/2000 off-site
4/01 off-site
5/04 off-site
5/06 finally going DIS all the way at Saratoga Springs!!

me
DH
DS (7)
DD (3)

 

[erikthewise]

It doesn't sound like the MYW Dining Plan is for you. It expects that on the average you eat one Counter Service and one Table Service meal per day. You might still save money if you skip a few meals from that schedule, but it sounds like you're not even close unless you change your eating habits. (And why do that?)

A DDE card is available only to annual passholders ($60) and Florida residents ($85). If you already meet these qualifications, you may want to get one. You only have to spend $300-$425 to break even, and they're good for a year. But if you only expect to roughly break even, why bother? I'd say don't bother unless you plan to spend at least $500-$600 on eligible meals, which generally don't include counter service. So again it's not clear this will work for you.

If you're thinking about getting an AP just to qualify for the DDE card, do your math carefully. It doesn't sound like it would pay off for you unless you are planning several trips in a year. On our 9-day trip last year we ate at 13 table service restaurants, and received $158 in DDE discounts, for a net savings of $108 (the card cost $50 last year).

 

[gianna2006]

Oh man!!!!! I'm not a Florida resident and we don't plan on getting the annual pass....at least not this year !!! I'll have to think about this some more . We are planning on visiting Blizzard Beach, Typhoon Lagoon and Disney Quest...and probably buying counter service at these places. The other thing I'm concerned about is how crowded the table service restaurants will be...is everyone flooding the restaurants now with the new dining plan where before they may have done more counter service?? Oh, and one more question...our stay is 12 days...do we have to buy the dining plan for all 12 days or can we only buy it for say 7 days and be on our own for the rest???

 

[n2mm]

Yes, when you buy the dining plan it must be for the entire length of your stay and for ALL members in your party.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

You can do Dining Plan for part of your stay if you make 2 separate reservations - one for 7 days, another for 5 days.

The way I understand the DDE card is that it is 20% off most table service meals. The majority of counter service places do not accept the card. The exceptions are the CS food courts in the Value resorts because they do not offer table service, and the CS places in AK because they also do not have TS at this time.

We are getting a DDE card in August because the dining plan won't be a good deal after DS turns 10. We were buying annual passes anyway, so the DDE card makes sense for us. We'll save money on meals and we won't have to buy park passes for each trip.

 

[kcashner]

We bought annual passes with the DVC discount. For trip #2 on the passes, I bought the DDE card. I did some quick math and figured that we would break even on it on that one trip as we took a guest along and I knew we'd eat out more than usual. For trip #3 (yup, we are maxing out the annual passes), I've figured out that the dining plan will still be a good deal for us--the DDE is basically good on sit down restaurants, not counter service.

Given that you really don't eat out much, the DDE probably isn't a very good deal for you. It won't do you any good at the water parks or DQ.

Yes, the price of the dining plan did increase (but some of the restaurants changed also)....but it will make a nice change to our trip. We're going to take advantage of it to try some new restaurants! I wish it could be purchased for only a certain number of days, but....they do have to make their $ somehow.

 

[gianna2006]

You can do Dining Plan for part of your stay if you make 2 separate reservations - one for 7 days, another for 5 days.

The way I understand the DDE card is that it is 20% off most table service meals. The majority of counter service places do not accept the card. The exceptions are the CS food courts in the Value resorts because they do not offer table service, and the CS places in AK because they also do not have TS at this time.

We are getting a DDE card in August because the dining plan won't be a good deal after DS turns 10. We were buying annual passes anyway, so the DDE card makes sense for us. We'll save money on meals and we won't have to buy park passes for each trip.

We actually are planning a split stay - the first 5 nights we will be at Old Key West, and the remaining 6 nights will be at Saratoga Springs. Can I book the dining plan for the Old Key West stay for my entire party and use the credits throughout my 12 day stay the way I like? Or do they expire after the 5 days is up? So sorry, so many questions....this is my first on-site trip !!

7/90 off-site
9/96 off-site
7/99 off-site
7/2000 off-site
4/01 off-site
5/04 off-site
5/06 finally going DIS all the way!!!!

me
DH
DS (7)
DD (3)

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

The credits expire at midnight the day you check out, so they could not be used over the remainder of your stay.

How much you save with the plan really depends a lot on where you eat and what you order. Over 8 days with the plan in October (2 adults, 1 child) we saved less than $300 and came home with unused CS credits. We paid out of pocket for a couple TS meals because we planned more table service meals than we had credits for. In the future if we can save more than $300 on our room with an AP discount we will come out ahead with the DDE. DS eats like a bird, so if he is required to order from the adult menu we will certainly not be ordering appetizer, entree, and dessert for him. And truth be told, DH and I don't need our own appetizer at every TS meal, either! With DDE we can just order items we really want and save 20% on the total. We'll come out better that way than we would have at $38 per day, per person for 2 meals and a snack. We found that we were so full on the days we ate 2 TS meals we never wanted a third meal, which is how we ended up with unused CS. Some people report enormous savings using the dining plan, but for us I think it will be better to pay as we go.