DDP for 2 adults

[fitgirl36]

I was trying to decide on my own if we should add the DDP to our reservation in December, but I'm not sure it's worth it. What if we want to go to the Luau. That's 2 TS, so if it's at the end of the week can we charge other meals to our room key or do the credits automatically come off? Also, we want to use one of our credits for LeCellier and the CP package. That's $45.99/person so can I pay for another TS meal that's cheaper and use my credit on the dinner package? Thanks for your help in advance!

 

[Aimeedyan]

You can choose what meals you want to use your dining plan for and which you want to pay cash for. Just tell the waitstaff when the check comes how you'd like to pay. If you want to do the Luau but also want a table service each day, then you can pay OOP for that 1 table service meal and apply your credits to the Luau.

I know nothing about the CP package and how the credits work with that - even if they work at all. Hopefully someone else will chime in or you could call Disney Dining and just ask if DDP will cover the CP package and how many credits it takes. If it does take 2 credits, you can do the same as above and just pay cash for that table service you'll lose or just eat counter service.

I think the DDP is worth it if what you would normally eat adds up to more than the dining plan cost per day. Check out the menu's at www.allearsnet.com and just add up what you would order normally and see where it gets you. I think it's a great deal if you're already paying rack and buying tickets because I know we don't eat for less than $40 a day including tax and tip while at WDW but others are happy eating counter 2x a day and don't feel it's worth it.

Be sure and include tax and tip in your guesstimates!

 

[snyderla]

If you go to the dining plan forum, and read the FAQ's there is a link with some worksheets on getting the most out of the DDP. Using it for the Luau isn't really the best use of 2 table credits. If the DDP costs $37.99, and OOP for the Luau is only $50, well, you've used $76 worth of credits on it. DH & I are trying to decide if we want to get it for the first part of our trip. I don't think we could eat that much in the 5 day part of the trip. But we are still thinking about it.

Lori

 

[juligrl]

I could be off here, but I think I remember figuring that we'd have to eat $60 per person per day to justify the added expense of DDP when we were booking our trip in January. If you're eating/want to be eating fine cuts of meat and delectible seafood every day than it makes sense, but we don't and with a toddler, it just didn't make the most sense financially for us.

That said we ended up doing $30-$40 per day per person on food. Planet Hollywood, Rainforest Cafe and Whispering Canyon Cafe were our only TS meals, the rest we did CS. Would we consider adding DDP onto our package next time we go? We'll probably look at the numbers again and plan our dining a little more thoroughly and at least give it another consideration.

Hope this helps!

 

[kaybird]

We were able to use DDP for CP, we also think the convience is a great as the savings, even if we wind up paying OOP for a couple of meals, it's still great to have the luxury of ordering what we want and knowing it is already paid for. No one forces you to eat all the food you can, but you would never know it by the way we eat.

Have a great trip!

 

[Aimeedyan]

I could be off here, but I think I remember figuring that we'd have to eat $60 per person per day to justify the added expense of DDP when we were booking our trip in January. If you're eating/want to be eating fine cuts of meat and delectible seafood every day than it makes sense, but we don't and with a toddler, it just didn't make the most sense financially for us.

Maybe I'm completely dense but why would you have to eat $60 per person worth of food if the plan only costs $37.99 (INCLUDING tax and tip at each restaurant) per day? To me, that means you'd only have to eat $37.99 worth of food, even less if you're eating table service because you make room for the added tip, to justify it. I'm confused

 

[juligrl]

Oops! My bad. Not per person, but per day. At any rate we ended up spending about $250 for food instead of the $450 more it would have added to our package for the dining.
Like I said, on our next trip we probably will revisit the issue and plan our dining a little better (maybe even make some ADRs) and consider DDP.