DDP and non-soda drinkers

[mikana876]

Thanks so much for all the feedback. It sounds like there is a lot to choose from besides just soda or water. It makes me feel better about possibly choosing the dining plan.

 

[tinka-belle]

What can confuse is that for the included refillable mug there is no milk or juice on the self-serve. For the mug it's a few different sodas, lemonade, tea (iced or hot), coffee, and sometimes powerade depending on the resort. For the beverage at your CS or TS meals milk or juice and sometimes milkshakes are also included, you are not using the mug for TS or CS.

Well, you CAN use your mug at your resort CS to grab a drink and get a bottle of water for the parks as your meal beverage entitlement.

 

[POOHsie]

We discovered at our last visit, because it was the first time we stayed Deluxe for a few days, was that the refillable mug beverage stations at Deluxe had carbonated water you could select. We'd get that, plus a cut piece lime or lemon near the iced tea dispenser, and had a nice beverage. This was at Contemporary. I read from others who said it was also available at Grand Floridian CS, but not positive about the other Deluxe resorts.

 

[elaine amj]

We also rarely drink soda. Moreover, we rarely do juice either. Many times, we just drank ice water (TS places) or asked for a bottle of water to go(CS). Sometimes a choc milk. Regular soda/juice was not interesting enough to tempt us. That said we do enjoy special treats. Most restaurants either had interesting juice mixes (like Boma), milkshakes, or fun non-alcoholic drinks. At Turf Club, we ordered virgin strawberry daiquiris and virgin pina coladas. Le Cellier had really interesting virgin drinks too (we liked their ginger one). At our resort food court, we were able to get bottled coconut water (we brought home a few bottles) and also got the lemonade with the fun foam topping.

I should mention we've only done the free DDP so not as concerned about getting our money's worth. I don't know what we would do if we had paid for it.

 

[meek mouse]

As previously mentioned, the ages of children along with the number of character meals will determine whether or not you will save money. We are at WDW now and have two kids 9 and under and two adults. We don't drink soda and only get maybe half of the desserts. Because of the 4 character meals we are doing, we will save about $250 on the DDP this week. If my oldest daughter was 10, we would only break even as she would be $40 more per day.

 

[lauradis]

I know you can get a milk shake for your drink at whispering canyon, Sci fi, and 50s prime time.

Yes and no sometimes it has been reported that they sub out desserts for milk shakes.

 

[lauradis]

Thanks so much for all the feedback. It sounds like there is a lot to choose from besides just soda or water. It makes me feel better about possibly choosing the dining plan.

Op, I normally tell everyone that they should try the dinning plan of their choice at least once, if they want and can afford it.

People tend to order more when on the dinning plan, like as in eat more at buffet to get their moneys worth. Thats why they break even or make out a little better.

If you really want to try it for yourself, go for it, its only money.

I love the deluxe dinning plan, but only get it when its "freeish" offer. We order everything we can. (which makes the tips higher) Never clean our plates, but we do get to try more that is offered at that restaurant.

The draw backs to dinning plan arent just soda/ dessert, its the what ifs, as in what if someone is sick or not hungry.

 

[DCDisney]

We're not much of a soda or sugary drink fans either which has stopped my family from doing the DDP because it's hard to even break even without those. Plus 2 desserts a day for all 4 of us PLUS a snack was too much too. Yes we can sub fruit but it ends up just getting all banged up in the bag and not eaten. If it's free it works out for us well enough though. I recently did a few days of the QS plan since I was arriving before the rest of my group and knew I would get a lot of use out of the mug. I also ate 1 meal a day at my resort where I got a bottle of OJ and something from the bakery case I could use for breakfast instead of a dessert. Even doing that kind of stuff I still didn't save more than a few $$ though.

 

[prettypatchesmsu]

I also do not really drink soda/Pop very often but I love the resort mug. At the resort if we ate there I would get a bottled drink like juice, milk, V8 for later in the room and just use my mug for my dinner drink. I would typically use the mug for tea, powerade, lots of hot chocolate.
At counter services I normally would get tea or juice, or a lot of times a bottled water to take with me and a free cup of water for the meal.

 

[travelgirl06]

Have people been able to get coffees after dinner in lieu of soda? DH and I aren't big in soda, but do love having coffee (regular coffee or cappacino/lattes) with dessert. Would this be an option?

We're not currently planning DDP next trip, but may have to change plans and I want to figure out if free dining would be a good option for us IF it's offered

 

[wdw4rfam]

Have people been able to get coffees after dinner in lieu of soda? DH and I aren't big in soda, but do love having coffee (regular coffee or cappacino/lattes) with dessert. Would this be an option?

We're not currently planning DDP next trip, but may have to change plans and I want to figure out if free dining would be a good option for us IF it's offered

We have got coffee with dessert even when we did get a drink. I usually get iced tea with my dinner and I know I have got coffee MANY times after dinner at different places.

 

[SmallWorld71]

I really wanted to do the dining plan this time. I've researched it and did price comparisons and it looks like we'd barely break even. Plus I like the idea of having it be prepaid and of not worrying about cost while dining at WDW. But then when I found out that the included beverage is basically just soda, I was bummed. We just don't drink soda in my family. SS10 always chooses chocolate milk when we are out at restaurants and DS6 always chooses apple juice. From what I can tell, those aren't included? Or does it depend on the location? When I look at menus, it's hard to tell what's included as a beverage on the dining plan and what isn't. I don't want to be stuck drinking water at every meal or most meals because the choice is either water or soda.

My kids don't drink soda and I drink it very rarely. There are plenty of options for dining plan users; generally anything non-alcoholic is included. So, almost everything you'd be able to buy OOP you'd be able to get on the dining plan.
We were there in Dec. with the dining plan. Some of the drinks we got were: Lemonade or fruit punch with wildberry foam, regular lemonade, milk, soy milk (at the resort food court), iced tea, milk, bottled water and bottled juice.

The only issue is the refillable mug. There is no juice or milk for that. There is lemonade, iced tea, coffee, hot chocolate and at some resorts - powerade.