DDE question

[NJ Kat]

I just saw that this year DDE began adding an 18% gratuity to all meals. Does this mean that if I am staying at a value resort & use DDE that there will be an 18% gratuity added? Thanks !

 

[Mom2Evie]

I just saw that this year DDE began adding an 18% gratuity to all meals. Does this mean that if I am staying at a value resort & use DDE that there will be an 18% gratuity added? Thanks !

The tip is added to table service meals, not counter service. The food courts at the value resorts do not add the 18% gratuity, you'll be fine.

 

[aribelle]

I just saw that this year DDE began adding an 18% gratuity to all meals. Does this mean that if I am staying at a value resort & use DDE that there will be an 18% gratuity added? Thanks !

Also, in addition to no gratuity in the food courts, the gratutity is NOT added at Flame Tree BBQ in AK.

 

[NJ Kat]

Thanks !!!

 

[shocker]

DDE is accepted at only a handful of CS locations and I don't think any of them are at the value resorts. So, not only will you not have a gratuity added but you won't receive a discount either. Someone speak up if you know otherwise.

 

[shoes99]

DDE is accepted at only a handful of CS locations and I don't think any of them are at the value resorts. So, not only will you not have a gratuity added but you won't receive a discount either. Someone speak up if you know otherwise.

DDE is accepted at the Value Food Courts. There is no table service restaurant...We use our DDE all the time at the Values. There is no 18% tip when you use the Value Food Courts.
There are holiday blackout dates for major holidays....

 

[TJA]

We were able to use our DDE card at the POR food court last April. We were shocked by this and in fact didn't use it until our 3rd day there when we noticed someone else using it so we pulled ours out too. We kept thinking each day someone at the food court would tell us "no," but everyone took it without hesitation. No 18% tip added in at the food court.

 

[TDC Nala]

DDE is accepted at the value food courts, POFQ food court, SSR counter service, and all counter service locations at AK park except Yak & Yeti. POR is not on that list, although a previous poster reported being able to use it at POR.

These are all counter service locations and no gratuity is expected or charged.

 

[candee0512]

OK, now I'm being swayed toward the DDE card again. I'm a first time AP holder, and for this trip we're also on the DDP. My brain starts hurting in trying to figure out if we would recoup the $65 price of the card. We're going to pay for The Plaza OOP, and we're eating TS every night and I'm sure my husband and I will have a beer/cocktail every night, and there's a slight chance we may want an appetizer at a meal or two with late reservations. But we were planning on bringing food-on-the-go for breakfast, so I wasn't sure if it would be a good value. We're going to be there 9 days/8 nights and it's during the F&W Festival.

What about CS at Epcot, as in "drinking around the world"?

Please someone with a bigger brain than mine, give me some advice.

Thanks,
Candee

 

[TDC Nala]

You can't use DDE at kiosks, beverage stands and CS in Epcot, only the lounges and table service restaurants. The only place you'd be able to use it to drink around the world (unless you ordered your drink in a sit-down restaurant) is the Rose & Crown pub.

The pub is considered a lounge, not a counter service. An 18% tip will be added to your drink order if you use DDE there.

Looking at Candee's post - all your table service is on DDP, except the Plaza, which is a relatively inexpensive restaurant. Do you have another trip you're planning within the year? Will you order $300 worth of appetizers and alcohol in sit-down restaurants or lounges on THIS trip? If the answers are "no" it does not look like you need DDE at all.

 

[BriarRosie]

OK, now I'm being swayed toward the DDE card again. I'm a first time AP holder, and for this trip we're also on the DDP. My brain starts hurting in trying to figure out if we would recoup the $65 price of the card. We're going to pay for The Plaza OOP, and we're eating TS every night and I'm sure my husband and I will have a beer/cocktail every night, and there's a slight chance we may want an appetizer at a meal or two with late reservations. But we were planning on bringing food-on-the-go for breakfast, so I wasn't sure if it would be a good value. We're going to be there 9 days/8 nights and it's during the F&W Festival.

What about CS at Epcot, as in "drinking around the world"?

Please someone with a bigger brain than mine, give me some advice.

Thanks,
Candee

I have the DDE, but I don't think I'd buy it if I were using the DDP as well. You can't use DDE off the drinks at the free standing drink kiosks, but you can use it at the Rose and Crown Pub. The break even point for the $60 cost of the card is if you spend $300 in eligible purchases.

But if you have another trip planned before your AP and DDE expire, and you know you'll eventually go beyond the $300 spending point, then I'd say you might want the DDE, especially if you're not going to do the DDP again.

 

[aribelle]

I have the DDE, but I don't think I'd buy it if I were using the DDP as well. You can't use DDE off the drinks at the free standing drink kiosks, but you can use it at the Rose and Crown Pub. The break even point for the $60 cost of the card is if you spend $300 in eligible purchases.

But if you have another trip planned before your AP and DDE expire, and you know you'll eventually go beyond the $300 spending point, then I'd say you might want the DDE, especially if you're not going to do the DDP again.

Yep totally agree with this post.

Disney drinks are definitely expensive, so I suppose if every night you and DH would have a couple of drinks each, plus an appetizer at each TS meal, you MIGHT hit the $300 break even point.....but you'd really have to be trying, lol. Now, if there will be future trips in the next year that won't be on the dining plan, then yeah, I'd get it now to offset this trips extras, and then use it full out for the next visit without the dining plan. But if there are no future visits, or you plan to do the dining plan for those as well, I seriously doubt that it would be worth the cost unless, as I said above, you're heavy drinkers and appetizer eaters!

Some of the menus at http://www.allearsnet.com/menu/menus.htm list SOME of the speciality drinks available, so that should help give you an idea of the cost of drinks. All the menus list appetizers. SO you should be able to calculate your approximate cost for these extras, to see if you're close to the break even point or not.

 

[candee0512]

Thanks to those who replied, I certainly hope we don't have $300 worth of drinking and appetizers so we won't be getting the DDE card.

Many thanks!
Candee