DDP - does it save you money?

[aoffhaus]

I am trying to wrap my head around this and see if it is worth it. If with the dining plan you get one CS, one TS and one snack....does that mean that at whatever participating restaurant you go too you can order whatever you want as long as it falls within the guidlines for that meal no matter what the price?

 

[debrapagliasotti]

For the most part...yes. Not all places participate, but many do. At a CS you get an entree/drink at bkfst and lunch/dinner is entree, dessert, drink. TS bkfst is a full buffet or entree/drink...lunch/dinner is full buffet or app/entree/dessert/drink. These are per person on the dining plan. So, each person gets an app...an entree...a dessert. As far as snacks, there are lots of things included...just varies on the place. You can find a list of snacks on here somewhere on the DISboard. Its a pretty extensive list.

My suggestion is to pull up the menus w/ pricing online somewhere and add it up to see if its worth the cost to do the DP or pay OOP. Some people really dont save money, and end up losing money...others save a good amount.

 

[ajleone]

For us the only plan that works is the QS plan. I feel that I break even on the plan itself but then it's paid for so one less thing to worry about while there. I love that it offers 2 snacks and the resort mug, as the snacks really make a difference (although that is changing for next year to one snack so I guess no more plan for us ). We do end up planning a few TS meals that we pay out of pocket for and still end up ahead of where we would be with a higher plan. I don't like the regular DDP as it only has the one snack and no appetizers included on the TS meal, and no resort mug(another change next year is mug included on this plan) plus I don't like having a sit down meal everyday. And the deluxe plan you can actually make out on if you do alot of signature restaurants it's just soooo much food and again you are really tied to having multiple sit downs a day.

 

[Nadjalu]

To answer your question....yes.

Any restaurant that takes the dining plan, you can order anything off the menu.

Now there is guidelines such as: You can only use a CS credit at a CS restaurant. Same with TS.

A couple TS restaurants have what is called a "prefix" item. This is an appetizer, entree/side, dessert and drink. You can use a TS credit for this as well, the only thing is you can't substitute anything (like your side item). You have to take it like it comes.

You also order off the same menu everyone else does. Meaning those paying cash get the same choices as you do.
There isn't a "shorter" menu for those on a dining plan.

As far as price...yes you can order the most expensive thing on the menu or the cheapest. If they accept the DDP it is allowed.
Example: Cosmic Ray's has a rib/chicken combo meal with half a chicken, half slab of ribs, a veggie, mashed potatoes. You can get that.
It also comes with dessert and your drink.
They also offer a burger and fries...the choice is yours. Even though the combo meal is close to $15 and the burger and fries is $9ish.

Hope that clears it up for you.

 

[sharonabe]

For the most part...yes. Not all places participate, but many do. At a CS you get an entree/drink at bkfst and lunch/dinner is entree, dessert, drink. TS bkfst is a full buffet or entree/drink...lunch/dinner is full buffet or app/entree/dessert/drink. These are per person on the dining plan. So, each person gets an app...an entree...a dessert. As far as snacks, there are lots of things included...just varies on the place. You can find a list of snacks on here somewhere on the DISboard. Its a pretty extensive list.

My suggestion is to pull up the menus w/ pricing online somewhere and add it up to see if its worth the cost to do the DP or pay OOP. Some people really dont save money, and end up losing money...others save a good amount.

You only get apps if you are on the Deluxe DDP. The regular DDP is only entree/dessert/drink for TS.

You CAN save money on the DDP, but as another PP said, you first need to decide how you want to eat on vacation. If you want dessert and soda/tea/coffee at EVERY meal then the DDP will be a good fit. If you have children who are still Disney children, the DDP will probably be a good deal.

The only way to know for sure is to peruse the menus and see what you might order and if that cost is less/more than the cost of the DDP.

 

[mousegear]

It depends on each family's eating habits and etc.
DDP works for our family so far. DS is still a child (7 y/o) so his plan is very cheap. It actually make even after one TS meal each day. For adults, it's pretty much close to the cost. We sometimes come out better or sometimes not. However, we like the fact that it's pre-paid and don't have to shy away from some of the higher priced entrees when ordering at a restaurant.
Each year, I go through menus and prices and what we possibly want to eat and see if DDP works. So far it does since we stick to mainly dinner at TS.

 

[SnipsNSnails]

You are more likely to save money if you have children on the plan, that's not to say you can't save money with adults only. The cost for 1 day of a child's dining plan is often less than the cost of one child's buffet or character meal. We have one child and love buffets so many days I'm saving about $4 off the price of the buffet and the CS meal and snack for the day are pure savings so I'm figuring we're saving $50+ on him. Even if the adults don't do as well, I think we'll at least break even as far as food eaten vs. price paid.

Then you come to the same old question: But could I save more by paying OOP? Absolutely, yes! Why? Because if I was paying OOP, we wouldn't eat as many TS meals, we would order the cheaper entrees, mostly drink water, rarely order dessert, and share some meals. Why don't I do it? Because on vacation I want to indulge a little. I want to order dessert, I want to pick anything even the most expensive things on the menus, I want to have a TS every day, etc.....I don't want to worry about price every time I sit down to eat. I admire those who can go into a restaurant and eat exactly what they want irregardless of the price. I can't do that. Price is one of the first considerations and it's hard to break that habit even when on vacation.

So the dining plan gives me the freedom to vacationt he way I want to vacation in a sense. The dining experience is much more enjoyable IMO. And if I get a discount by paying less for the same items vs. OOP then that's a bonus to me.

Now, we have free dining in Sept. It was a better discount than my 35% pin code, I'm paying about $200 less for the same things I had booked before + I get the photo book so to me that's a really great deal.

It's really all relative to how you like to vacation. Sometimes the best benefits of the DDP have nothing to do with saving money.

 

[Cafeen]

Here we go again (JK!)

There is lots of debate on this topic. As strange as that sounds.

Essentially, the answer is "Maybe". It relies on a few key pieces:

• If you already plan to eat the way the plan is designed (number of and distribution of credits), then it may save money
• If you already plan to eat the way each meal is setup (distribution of entitlements per credit), then it may save money (this includes eating desserts with all meals)
• If you plan to utilize the TS meals mostly at dinner and CS for lunch
• If you do not plan on sharing, using adult credits for kids meals, and the like
• And lastly, if you're willing to put the time investment in to get the ADRs when you're able and make sure to actually use them.

Yes, it sounds like a lot, but (especially in 2012) it's really need to make sure that you're coming out ahead. If the majority of those are "yes", then doing the math as a final check is pretty important.

So, it's certainly doable, and we have proven it here in numerous threads, it really does take doing your homework ahead of time.

 

[Winky65]

Short answer is: Yes, it saves US money. We are going in Nov-Dec for 10 nights and priced the places we wanted to eat, let our son pick the character meals he wanted to do, added it all up, and it came out better to do the dining plan. We are doing a split stay and doing the DxDP for the first two nights and regular DP the rest of the trip. It lets us eat at a couple signature restaurants, and our sons favorite character meal was Akershus dinner last visit. That one is the best value for one credit as far as I have seen. And we liked the food.

Whether it saves you money, only you can decide that after figuring out where you want to eat and how much it costs OOP.