DDE -vs- Dining Plan

[IzzysMom]

Okay, so now that I know I can get a DDE card with a soon to be expiring AP - next question - If I'm not going to renew my AP, I will need to buy tickets to go in Feb. - which is better for a 4 night trip, for me, DH and DD 6 - the DDE card or the dining plan?

Anyone?!!

 

[TwingleMum]

I felt the Dining plan wasn't right for us. It seemed like you would be spending a large amount of time running from meal to meal. I have 3 small kids and DH and I aren't big eaters so DDE works out great for us. That said I could see the dining plan working out great if you wanted to use it to try high end restaurants and enjoyed eating alot.

 

[sue1013]

It depends on your families eating habits on vacation. The dining plan would not work for us because we don't eat CS. DDE card works for our family. I disagree with the above poster I don't see how having the dining plan uses anymore time unless you usually only eat counter service.

 

[arizonacolbys]

We have the DDE & we love it! It's great that it's good at most table-service restaurants, hubby can get a discount on his half yard at the Rose & Crown & we can use it on all our meals, snacks & drinks at POP Century's food court. We have definitely gotten our money out of the DDE & more & will be purchasing a new one before our trip next year.

I think the Dining Plan is great for some families, but not for us. I think it's a lot of food - with just the 2 of us, we never order an appetizer, meal & dessert at every meal - we would either split an app or split dessert. I think the families that benefit the most from the Dining Plan are the ones that can make all this food work to their advantage by sharing with everyone.

I'm sure either option could work - it just depends if you tend to eat more table service or counter service. HTH!

 

[slk537]

We changed our plans last September from WL using the Dining Plan to OKW on our DVC points. We were amazed at how much we saved with the DDE!

The dining plan intrigues me, but even though we heard DVC is planning to offer it in 2006, we have already decided to stick with the DDE. More flexibility for us. Just make sure you either know everywhere you can use it, or ask before you pay. We had lunch at Flame Tree BBQ (a tradition) and I had seen that they take it there...even though it's CS.

I think it boils down to what it right for your family - if you love to put time and effort into planning (I know I do!), have the patience to do it, don't mind less flexibility, and want lots of food, then the dining plan sounds great! Pay in advance, have tons of food...what's not to love? But if you would prefer to play it more by ear and get whatever you want, regardless of plan then I would go with DDE.

Either way, enjoy your trip!!!

 

[TwingleMum]

It depends on your families eating habits on vacation. The dining plan would not work for us because we don't eat CS. DDE card works for our family. I disagree with the above poster I don't see how having the dining plan uses anymore time unless you usually only eat counter service.

This is the consenus of opinion of 4 families that have utilized the Dining plan and what their experience was. On past trips (and these are all families that go at least 2x a year) they said they would do breakfast, hit a park, quick snack , sit down dinner and then back to the parks. Sometimes they would return to the resort for an afternoon break to swim and relax. They felt a little pressured to get every cent worth of the plan. No quick hot dog & drink on the run at lunch. But they also said it was a good way to try a restaurant that normally you wouldn't. They said they wouldn't do the dining plan again but it was fine to try once. I don't think there is a right or wrong. It depends on what type of trip your looking to do. Have a great time.

 

[shellybaxter]

Like everyone else has said, it just depends on your family. Dh and I wouldn't do well with the dinning plan. We don't like CS and do like signature dinning. We have a 10 day trip planned soon and are eating at signature restuarants five times and one night at Victoria and Alberts. We also like to have drinks, wine, and/or beer with our meals. The DDE is a better choice for us. If we were taking our Dniece the dinning plan might be a better plan since we did have CS breakfast everyday at the resort and lots of character breakfasts.

 

[julznjess]

We just got back from WDW 2 weeks ago and used the Dining Plan(DH, me and DD4.5) I agree with previous replies that it really depends on your style. We used it to eat an early lunch and late dinner. My DD is used to eating late, so we could do a 9pm+PS. That way we really didn't need to buy anything. Brought little cereal boxes and fruit from home in case anyone wanted breakfast, and DD did eat cereal while waiting for the bus a couple of mornings. We loved the ability to sample stuff we would never order if we were paying full price, and getting multiple appetizers and desserts to share was awesome. My DH says the food was his favorite part of the trip and he is not normally one to try new things or spend much time on meals. We would definately do it again.

 

[battricia]

we used the dining plan in june and really enjoyed it. It's nice to not have to worry about how much you want to spend on a meal and just order what you want. I love to taste dessert after dinner even though I can rarely eat the whole thing, and that was possible with the plan, without having to spend an extra 5 dollars a meal. Some of the appetizers were amazing and I'd never consider ordering an appetizer if i was paying for the meal, probably for the same reason, I wouldn't eat it all. also the counter service is really nice, if we didn't use it for lunch we used it for breakfast the next morning. We still got our moneys worth, since we 'spent' so much at table service restaurants. And finally, while we didn't use the snack option for snacks most days, it was nice to grab a soda or bottle of water with those credits, especially in the summer months when you drink a ton to keep hydrated.

But it does depend on your eating style on vacation, if you NEVER eat counter service meals it might not be worth it.

maybe you can write out a test 'day' of meals, what you would have for breakfast, lunch and dinner, where you would eat for each or if you would have all the meals. Then add it up and see if it's worth it with the meal plan.

tricia.

 

[indigoxtreme]

We used it the Sept and will again in February. We loved it. The only time constraint we had is the time I picked for our ADR's for or TS, for the snacks and counter we used anywhere we wanted. I have never been able to have a tabel service meal at the world because it was just too expensive. However with the dining plan we were able to and did 1 signature dining at HDDR. There is no way we could eat for less unless I brought a lot of food from home. I am on vacation and I refuse to cook. We did not maximize the plan, we simply chose what we wanted and if only 3 of the 6 wanted app or desert then we ordered it. We still came out way ahead on cost. (I did not pay for Sept but will for Feb) I did have it orginally in my res for Sept then the free dining came out. We had already decided it was well worth it....