DDP - do you buy much extra food?

[torsie24]

Hi All,

We'll be on DDP for the first time when we visit in 2017.

Having 14 nights on site. DH, DD (who will be 4) and myself.

Do you find you need to buy much extra food or that regular DDP provides enough?

I will be getting a garden grocer delivery of water and some other snacks that we enjoy while in the US that we can't get at home (Twinkies, Pop Tarts etc) but am hoping that we can splut the credits well enough that we don't always need 3 meals per day.

 

[disney world dreamer]

i never buy anything extra.
that being said though my family is not big on eating early/big breakfasts.
we bring pop tarts and apple juice for breakfast then use the dining plan for lunch, dinner, and a snack each day.
if we want breakfast food we make a reservation for brunch (around 11am) and it becomes our lunch.

 

[happymommy]

We bought extra the one time we had the dining plan (my son has food allergies, so several desserts he couldn't eat at the counter service - we ended up getting prepackaged cookies thinking someone would eat them but eventually they got tossed, they were icky). We ordered soy milk and pop tarts, a few bottles of wine and some beer.

We ended up with too much! Next trip it's just my daughter and me with the quick service dining, and we won't order anything. It's just too much. You can get ice water free anywhere. If you're going to bring the pop tarts back home, then by all means get them, but I think many resorts have them in the shops? We don't eat 3 meals a day mostly, so the dining plan was a lot for us - I'm sure we had a couple counter service meals we didn't use (it was during a free dining period so I wasn't stressed - should have asked about getting a snack credit for them).

 

[jeepwreck]

We normally get the deluxe plan and that is way too much food for us.

But I think if you plan out your meal times with out to much time between meals you should be ok with out having to buy extra food. But then again DDP is only 1 QS and 1TB with a snack so unless you are 3 meal people you may have to buy some extra

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

We find we buy very little extra. I'll have waters in the room, which is a huge help. Then I do usually pack some quick, grab and go breakfast foods--packaged muffins, pop-tarts, granola bars, individual cereals, etc. We do split a lot of meals--usually getting 3 QS meals for the 4 of us to split. We also share snacks. Last trip I hit the gift shop before we left to use up our last 4 snack credits!

The one place we do run into an issue is needing to pay OOP for 1 TS meal. We tend to fly in very early on arrival day and leave very late on our last day. Both of those days, we like one TS meal, so that puts us over by one. (We use 1 every other day we're there) I just estimate which is going to be our least expensive meal of the week and pay for that one.

But if you use your credits wisely, there won't be much need for extras!

 

[Figmentmommy]

In all the years we have used the DDP we never find ourselves buying supplemental food - and we are pretty big eaters! The last 3 out of 4 trips we have driven so we bring along a case of water and road trip snacks. We also bring a package or two of sliced breakfast breads from our local grocery store bakery which we use a few mornings for breakfast. This is mainly because when we don't have set CS or TS breakfast plans we like to grab something fast while we are getting ready in the morning and get going! Occasionally we will pay OOP for an extra meal but that is because we want to try an extra restaurant- not because we are short food.

 

[knieves711]

I took my niece last year and we had 1TS, 1QS, and snack, we had a couple extra QS left and i used the rest of th snack credits at the gift shop at MK for snacks for the airport/plane home..

 

[torsie24]

Thanks everyone.

Glad to hear I'm not being unreasonable.

We don't eat much in the FL heat and was thinking especially with DD being so small that we can easily share 2 CS meals and share snacks etc.

 

[happymommy]

Bring an extra carry-on bag for your trip home! That way, if you have leftover snacks (twinkies, pop tarts) or extra snack credits to buy small bags of candy or rice krispie treats you can take them home!

14 nights is a longer trip, so with your DD being so young, I bet you will have lots of extra credits to use. My DD and I share many times a meal, especially in the Florida heat.

Depending on where you're staying, if it's a deluxe resort, one nice thing is if you're tired one night using 2 table service credits for room service (and the tip is included). We did that the one time we had the free dining plan. Our first night we were SO tired! It was great!

 

[DbleTheFun]

we never buy extras, and like many extras have posted, we normally have a few QS or snack credits left and use them for the bagged disney candies (Mickey Head Gummies are our favorites) and Rice Crispy Treat Mickey Heads on a stick to take home to friends.

 

[samsteele]

I buy very little extra. I use all of my snack credits at the Epcot Food & Wine booths (great use of your credits on the more $ items) and find I am absolutely stuffed with food by the end of the day. I use most table service credits for dinner and the counter service credits for lunch. I may have one extra counter service credit left over for a breakfast on my day off. I pack cereal & granola bars for most breakfasts (just buy milk in the resort cafeteria/gift shop) and find its my healthiest meal of the day!

 

[OurLaughingPlace]

We never buy any extra food except for milk from the resort store. We bring a case of water and juice boxes, dry cereal cups, bagels and a jar of peanut butter. A quick breakfast in the room is more than enough with 1 QS and 1 TS meal a day. We usually have a bunch of snacks left over to use to bring home souvenir snacks.

 

[Mikie]

At home we are pretty much 3 meal a day people. On the DDP, some of my family use a snack credit for breakfast pastry and get a drink in the refillable mug. Some of us eat a brought-along granola bar and coffee. When a snack time rolls around, we generall need around 3 for a family of 5 to share - not trying to skimp, just what we need. We occasionally need to buy a drink, or sometimes want a full QS breakfast and buy it out of pocket, but not often. With a small child who can share a lot, I doubt you'll buy much extra.

 

[squeegee]

I guess we're going to be the oddballs - we've got the regular DDP for two adults, one kid, and have plans to use all those credits plus pay about five or six more table services OOP. The trip is 10nights, 11 days, and we've sometimes got 2ts in a day, we're doing one 2Credit TS, and sometimes three QS in a day. At least for the adults,
This is a faux culinary adventure. Lol. We may not be able to make it back for another decade, for all we know, and while DDP doesn't have enough credits for us to eat everywhere we want, the DXDP would have way too much. I tried to make sheets comparing what we might eat under both plans, and I don't want that many signatures this trip,
Nor do I always want three TS a day. So , out own a la carte approach looks the best for us - buy the plan and supplement over with OOP's.

 

[Pinkgirl]

Last trip we went to Walmart on our way to Disney brought along bottled water and sodas, beer and wine. We also brought snacks and breakfast items from the Walmart instore bakery. They had packs of Cinnamon buns and banana loaf which had really good expiry dates.

 

[chloesmommy]

I typically pay oop for school bread because its too cheap to use a snack credit on for me. We have it for breakfast at least twice while at Disney.

 

[nalajms]

We don't eat much in the FL heat and was thinking especially with DD being so small that we can easily share 2 CS meals and share snacks etc.

Have you considered splitting your trip to that you don't have to buy the same DP for the entire 14 nights? We like to do 1 or 2 nights of deluxe and switch to regular or QS, or even nothing.

My kids need 3 meals a day, so on the regular plan I try to have breakfast in the room. You can use your snacks for come breakfast foods.

 

[torsie24]

Have you considered splitting your trip to that you don't have to buy the same DP for the entire 14 nights? We like to do 1 or 2 nights of deluxe and switch to regular or QS, or even nothing.

My kids need 3 meals a day, so on the regular plan I try to have breakfast in the room. You can use your snacks for come breakfast foods.

I hadn't. But the way we book with the UK deals means we have to get the 14 day tickets to get the DDP.

And I don't want to spend out for another 3 sets of 14 day tickets (£800/$1200)

Plus I'd like to spread the TS meals throughout the trip.

 

[Nancyg56]

I guess we're going to be the oddballs - we've got the regular DDP for two adults, one kid, and have plans to use all those credits plus pay about five or six more table services OOP. The trip is 10nights, 11 days, and we've sometimes got 2ts in a day, we're doing one 2Credit TS, and sometimes three QS in a day. At least for the adults,
This is a faux culinary adventure. Lol. We may not be able to make it back for another decade, for all we know, and while DDP doesn't have enough credits for us to eat everywhere we want, the DXDP would have way too much. I tried to make sheets comparing what we might eat under both plans, and I don't want that many signatures this trip,
Nor do I always want three TS a day. So , out own a la carte approach looks the best for us - buy the plan and supplement over with OOP's.

Nope, not oddballs at all! WE schedule additional meals as well because we like at least on TS meal a day, like a few signature meals, and want one or two TS breakfasts, mostly for the kids and a prepark entrey. We tend to share CS meals, giving us a light breakfast and lunch rather than one heavy meal at either time. We never have much left, maybe a snack or two.

I am in the process of figuring out which meals to pay OPP.

 

[sarahrdh]

We DID bc we all like breakfast!! I brought some breakfast foods, which was fine the first couple days but then my family wanted hot foods. That being said, we never spent more than $10-11 on breakfasts for all 5 of us. My 5 & 2 yr olds sometimes eat, sometimes don't. The biscuits & gravy were only 3.79 which my husband got a few times & liked. We had some QS to use up on the last day so I got 2 bounty platters and split it between myself & the kids, and asked for an extra waffle that I was not charged for.

We did also buy a few snacks out of pocket the first couple days bc we were afraid of burning through them! Once we got on a routine after about 2 days, we didn't di that anymore. I'd say we spent less than an additional $40.

We did have too much food also, and a lot got wasted.