DDP any positives from recent exp?

[kdkbrebel]

Hello,

Our trip is 42 days away and we are staying at POP with the DDP for 10days. I did all the figures and can't see how we can not come out ahead on the plan, by the way we have a 14 year old son who eats like a horse. Anyway all I can see on these boards lately is negative posts about the DDP. I am asuming it is all related to next years no gratuity. As well as the non planners who are complaining. I am a dedicated overplanner, I love it, I had all of our ADR's booked by 7:15am on the morning of my 180+10 mark. So my question is this has anyone who has gone this year, and planned had positive exp? Boy that sure was long winded wasn't it

 

[Tink10]

We've used the DDP on our last 5 trips (the most recent was in Feb) and we loved it! It's super easy & convenient. Too many people suffer from the "Is It Worth It" syndrome and it really isn't worth worrying about. If you eat 1 TS, 1 CS and have your snack each day you really will come out ahead. Don't let all of the negitive comments get you down, it really is a great way to prepay your meals.

Go, Eat & Have A Magical Time!

 

[daisy112878]

My parents used it the first week of may and loved it. They loved it so much that we added it to our whole family (mom, dad, sister and fmaily, me and dh) trip for december. My dad kept up with the amount of money they would have spent on the meals and they came out a head. They did not experience any bad service or food while there. They went to le cellier, citricos, brown derby, o'hanas and others.

I think like anything on the internet/message boards you have to take everything with a grain of salt. You have no clue who is typing the response on the other end or their intentions.

 

[auntsister]

I used the DDP for the first time and liked it, so much easier when tips and taxes all included and prepaid. This made my vacation more of a "vacation".

I have a 9 y/o little gourmet and even on the childs plan he really enjoyed it. We loved Ohana, Boma, Cape May. I have been planning to use the DDP on my next 2 May vacation but probably won't if all the rumors about removing the tips are true. I tipped extra for good service, only had one server that was unpleasant but I still plan on returning there next visit because all the other staff were great!
I think your family will be pleased with the DDP this year. I am still hoping I can afford to use it next year if changes that are talked about occur I probably can't. I too am in a service profession( a nurse) and can't shell out a 18 or 20% tip for 200.00 meals for 6 or 7 days. If not on DDP we would eat more CS, eat offsite at the many great places in Orlando, and would never order all those apps and desserts. It was fun doing it this year though!

 

[tynesntx]

We used the dining plan in Aug of 2005 when it first began. There were not many threads on it. We are using it again for our trip this Aug. We have a teen, and two smaller kids. Our teen LOVED IT! If we did not have the plan there is no way I would order that much food or go to as many of the restaurants listed. It makes for a lot more fun trip! My DH would be so tired of me "economizing" ie. making the kids share things etc. As far as saving money, I am not sure. DH loves to dine out and loves the fact that it is all done and he just handed them our room card. I think the other great fact that people forget about is that you can book your vacation on the disney site and make payments for months ahead and have your trip all paid for at your own pace. That is like free financing including your meals! It is hassle free if you use it like it was planned. I think many people tried to hard to find ways to take advantage of it and there are some reprocussions being discussed on other threads.

Long Story short, We think it is great!!!!!!
Cant wait to try new places this trip. Just booked a week ago for Aug, so some places were full, but with so many to try we still got ressies.

*****always grateful when someone else does the cooking!********
________
tynes

 

[n2mm]

We have used it 5 times since our first time using it for free in September 2005. We love it and buy it for every trip (4 per year). However, we will have to reconsider in 2008 if the changes are signifcant as being posted. We are DDE holders too, so may just stay with that. But we do love the DDP and will used it again for our August 2007, October 2007 and December 2007 trips. We'll have to reevaluate for our February 2008 though.

 

[a1tinkfans]

We have used it and loved it. We are using it again this upcoming trip and likely WON'T buy it next year with the
no tip added and the price increase (per another post that confirms the "rumor" as fact based on a union contract)

My child LOVED the meal plan and depsite being a picky eater, always found a steak or burger to his liking (he's on the adult plan)


Have a wonderful trip!

 

[mommytothreeboys]

My family of 5 visited WDW the first week of May and we loved the DDP. The convenience of not worrying about paying for food was the best for me! It was great to just be able to eat whatever we wanted off the menu...something we never do. We also would never have paid OOP for character meals or TS meals. We would have eaten mostly CS which is fine, but it was nice to try new things! I too am a compulsive planner, so making ADRs was not an issue for me. We just planned which park we were in on which day and made ADRs accordingly. It was really easy to use and not confusing at all. We will definitely use it again on future trips!

 

[Wingedheart]

We used it in April 2005 when it was first out. For our party (me, DH, DD8, DS6, DS3 and grandma) and a trip of 6 nights, we figured out it saved us between $800-1000. We used it again in May 2006. We'll be using it again this July. Here are my pros: being able to plan meals, get ADRs, look at the menus ahead, dream about all the fabulous food, not have to cook, not worry about which restaurants are in my budget or if I can afford dessert, pay for it all ahead of time AND save money. To us it's all worth it.

 

[Dreamfinder2]

Since its inception, we haven't been to WDW without using it. So that should be a decent enough indication of how much we appreciate it. Easy to use, seamless transactions, no discernable slippage in service or quality. So, beloved OP, as a compulsive planner and with hearty eaters in tow, you can't help but come out ahead.

Use the plan. Don't let it use you. You will be pleased, methinks.

There y'are!

 

[rotlex]

We used it the first time for our trip this past April. Will I buy it again? ABSOLUTELY!!!!! I can't believe I even questioned it before - it's a fantastic deal, on great food, service etc. Saved us a TON by the time I figured it all out.

Getting it free for our late August trip is almost unbelievable to me!

 

[kdkbrebel]

Thanks everyone for your replies so far.

 

[PrincessTigerLily]

Just got back (May 29- June 3). We bought the DDP, and had the free DDP last September. We loved having everything paid for in advance, and we saved money overall. Everyone has their own opinon (those "I hate DDP" threads) but our family enjoys it! Lots of people complain there is too much food...I personally never complain about too much food! Throw it at me!!!

 

[BrooklynMomof4]

We used DDP last August 06 and we plan to use it now in August 07. We could not have been more pleased with it. We planned in advance and benefited, and even had some quick service meals left over!

As a party of eight, we ate at DPR Ohana, dinner in EPCOT, and had dinner in Magic Kingdom in Cinderella's Royal Court. We enjoyed breakfast in Animal Kingdom, and lunch at the Crystal Palace. For a party of eight with little ones and teens, it saved us a great deal of money and worries. The food was excellent (especially Ohana and Cinderella's Royal Table), and the service was classic Disney style all the way. I highly recommend it, and my husband and I wished we had done DDP on our first Disney trip!

 

[BCV23]

We've used the DDP on three of our last four trips. We only use it in the DVC portion of the trip but really enjoy it. I don't like QS meals for the most part but we use most of our QS credits for breakfast that we take back to the villa and that has worked well for us. We also have DDE and use that for wine, drinks and OOP meals.

Gratuity being eliminated does worry me though as it seems likely that the servers will be stiffed. But perhaps if it is apparent enough to people that tip is no longer included, it won't be a problem afterall. And I guess all we can do as anindividual family is make sure we tip appropriately.

It sounds as if the DDP will work very well for your family. Enjoy!

 

[qv09vvp]

We used the dining plan for the first time & I must say we loved it. We stayted at POP from Memorial day till this past Wednesday. Let me preface , however, we were DH, myself, DS13 & DD10...all "disney adults".. I too planned our meals to a "t"... It was a lot a food. Staying at POP, we bought only 2 of the refillable mugs. Anyway, although DS13 did some serious damage in the eating department, between DS13, DD10 & myself...we usually shared "2 meals" ....except at buffets of course.... this really "extended" our use of the plan...and I still gained 3 pounds...and I am a serious park commando....new hubby complained he has never been so tired AFTER a vacation. Now we are talking about joining the vacation club, so he must have loved Disney as much as we do!!!

If you have any specific questions, fire away...

 

[kdkbrebel]

We used the dining plan for the first time & I must say we loved it. We stayted at POP from Memorial day till this past Wednesday. Let me preface , however, we were DH, myself, DS13 & DD10...all "disney adults".. I too planned our meals to a "t"... It was a lot a food. Staying at POP, we bought only 2 of the refillable mugs. Anyway, although DS13 did some serious damage in the eating department, between DS13, DD10 & myself...we usually shared "2 meals" ....except at buffets of course.... this really "extended" our use of the plan...and I still gained 3 pounds...and I am a serious park commando....new hubby complained he has never been so tired AFTER a vacation. Now we are talking about joining the vacation club, so he must have loved Disney as much as we do!!!

If you have any specific questions, fire away...

Awesome, how did you like POP? we have only been once before in 03 and stayed at ASMO and loved it. I had it booked for this trip but got a really good code that wasn't avail there so we switched to POP. How were the buses?

 

[Amyrlin]

We loved it as wel, but you have to relax and ear where you want to rahter than try to get the 'biggest bang for your buck', as that can somewhat spoil it. It is great not having to worry about paying and gratuities etc. <akes the holiday more relaxing.

 

[kimberh]

I have used it 5 times, Only have good to say. Now, I do not know about next year. I will weigh in the new costs. We do try to eat at different places plus have to keep a few of the favs in. It has been fun trying the new places. Some have been so pricey, that we never would have ate their without the DDP. Enjoy your trip.

 

[GC&S]

We've used it three times and will use it again in Sept. No negative reviews here. But then again, we never tried to maximize it by figuring where we could get the most for our money. We ate where we wanted. Nor did we try to stretch our credits by sharing, or paying OOP for dd so we could save her credit. We just used it how it was supposed to be used. It was never a hassle for us, servers were wonderful and always very helpful explaining things. We always came out ahead by using the DDP and ate at some wonderful places.