DDP is soo much worse!

[Twilghtsprkle]

I believe it is just for Disney+ subscribers at the moment.

Not a high bar to prevent getting the offer. Couldn’t a person sign up for 1 month of Disney+ with ads for $7.99 and then call & book the offer?

 

[Sfof1263]

View attachment 824510

Just taken. Will concede that MDE is showing it as accepting. But there is confusion.

Yeah, very confusing. I can't see the Tusker House web page, but on Disney dining page with dining plan filter it is listed. Sorry I can't show a screenshot, not sure how to do that.
Hopefully it is indeed accepted, it is my son's pick for our trip in April.

 

[Lesverts]

Yeah, very confusing. I can't see the Tusker House web page, but on Disney dining page with dining plan filter it is listed. Sorry I can't show a screenshot, not sure how to do that.
Hopefully it is indeed accepted, it is my son's pick for our trip in April.

I would think the MDE is correct just because why would every other character meal not involving princesses be included and 1 credit but Tusker House not be. It is by far my favourite character meal at the parks. I have gone almost every trip.

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

I won’t judge H&V! We like that place for the food and the terrific characters.

It’s just that today's DDP gets little mileage without the buffets and AYCTE. Regular table service in the parks and your resort is a challenge to come out close or ahead. Slim pickings now, very repetitive menus, lost a bunch of good 1 credit places that’ve turned to 2 credits, and boy the loss of appetizer with the onset of repetitive menus made a big impact. NY steak, short rib, pork dish, chicken dish, and string beans almost every time. DDP lost its shine over time.

One year, with free dining, we were able to use 1 TS credit for the Fantasmic VIP seating package at H&V, which was a good deal more than the regular meal. But those were also the days when you could use a child's QS credit to buy an adult meal (handy when you've got a vegetarian but hungry kiddo who doesn't want to subsist on mac & cheese) and when you got 2 snack credits per person, one to be used on a Starbucks Venti in the morning, one to be used at World Showcase Food and Wine Booths in the evening.

As previous posters said, it's really hard to come out ahead on the DDP plan now unless you're hitting one of the remaining character buffets that still take only 1 TS credit every single day. At the end of 2019, you could have booked Storybook Dining or Topolino's Terrace with 1 credit. Not true anymore, which, ironically, might make them easier to book, at least. Frankly I hope Space 220 never accepts it.

 

[Lesverts]

One year, with free dining, we were able to use 1 TS credit for the Fantasmic VIP seating package at H&V, which was a good deal more than the regular meal. But those were also the days when you could use a child's QS credit to buy an adult meal (handy when you've got a vegetarian but hungry kiddo who doesn't want to subsist on mac & cheese) and when you got 2 snack credits per person, one to be used on a Starbucks Venti in the morning, one to be used at World Showcase Food and Wine Booths in the evening.

As previous posters said, it's really hard to come out ahead on the DDP plan now unless you're hitting one of the remaining character buffets that still take only 1 TS credit every single day. At the end of 2019, you could have booked Storybook Dining or Topolino's Terrace with 1 credit. Not true anymore, which, ironically, might make them easier to book, at least. Frankly I hope Space 220 never accepts it.

Toppolino's is 1 for breakfast.

Storybook is a bit weird. It is 65 dollars, yet Chef Mickey's is a single credit at 66 dollars.

 

[DisneyQuestLover]

Toppolino's is 1 for breakfast.

Storybook is a bit weird. It is 65 dollars, yet Chef Mickey's is a single credit at 66 dollars.

Yeah, it seems like buffets/family style dining are the way to go in terms of getting the most "worth" out of the current plan

 

[Future_WorldPhonencian]

I just did the math for the dining plan for our upcoming trip and it might be worth it for us this go around even if we don't plan every credit obsessively. We have never purchased it in the past, but our 3 kids are at peak princess/ character age right now, and the price increases on character dining make it worth it for that purpose. The pricing for "Disney Kids" is pretty reasonable, but if we had an 11 year old we wouldn't consider it. If we were taking a trip of 6 days plus, I also wouldn't consider it to be worth it, it's just to hard to optimize every purchase instead of just buying what you want.

If you have access to any discount like AP/ DVC it also isn't likely worth it. Or if you are staying in a villa type room with a kitchen a quick grocery delivery or a trip out to the store will save some serious money.

On another note, has any one seen reports on how Disney handles child QS credits at counter service locations with no kids menu?

 

[Peterpan2006]

looking at the dining plan and the options for table service have either been removed or doubled up. Akershus now two credits????? Tusker house not part of dining plan anymore. I don't understand these changes. Unless your getting a deal, definately not worth it.

Tusker House is part of the plan.

 

[kanerf]

I did a chat last night with a CM and she assured me that Tusker House is indeed in DDP. I told her that IT should get it's s**t together and fix the various apps, little chance of that happening any time soon. I have a reservation there Sunday and plan on using DDP. Will report back.

 

[Lewisc]

Not a high bar to prevent getting the offer. Couldn’t a person sign up for 1 month of Disney+ with ads for $7.99 and then call & book the offer?

A PP said previous D+ offers required D+ at time of booking and time of stay. YMMV.
Be careful. You don't want a rack rate with free dining changing to rack rate package without dining at check in.

 

[Mle8308]

Not a high bar to prevent getting the offer. Couldn’t a person sign up for 1 month of Disney+ with ads for $7.99 and then call & book the offer?

Yes, but you have to add it back for the month you visit. Still worth doing!

 

[Mle8308]

I just did the math for the dining plan for our upcoming trip and it might be worth it for us this go around even if we don't plan every credit obsessively. We have never purchased it in the past, but our 3 kids are at peak princess/ character age right now, and the price increases on character dining make it worth it for that purpose. The pricing for "Disney Kids" is pretty reasonable, but if we had an 11 year old we wouldn't consider it. If we were taking a trip of 6 days plus, I also wouldn't consider it to be worth it, it's just to hard to optimize every purchase instead of just buying what you want.

If you have access to any discount like AP/ DVC it also isn't likely worth it. Or if you are staying in a villa type room with a kitchen a quick grocery delivery or a trip out to the store will save some serious money.

On another note, has any one seen reports on how Disney handles child QS credits at counter service locations with no kids menu?

If there is no kids meal, they order from the posted menu.

 

[LuvinTheWorld]

looking at the dining plan and the options for table service have either been removed or doubled up. Akershus now two credits????? Tusker house not part of dining plan anymore. I don't understand these changes. Unless your getting a deal, definately not worth it.

I agree. I'm surprised Roundup Rodeo is on there because it is so new. Honestly, since we are getting FD, it might be better for us to keep the QSDP instead of paying to upgrade to DDP, and pay for any for our 12 TS credit meals OOP because then we won't have to deal with any restrictions. Plus, I think with AP discount it might come out cheaper than paying for the upgrade.

 

[LuvinTheWorld]

Last time we used the quick service dining plan you were allowed to substitute a desert or some type of snack item instead of a beverage…we already had the refillable mugs and don’t drink alcohol but I don’t think thats allowed now…I just don’t see how you can break even if you don’t drink alcohol

We also don't drink alcohol, so my plan for the drinks at the food court is to get bottled beverages to save for later or bottled water as we always run out of that and end up buying several bottles from the gift shop. We are doing free dining though so don't have to worry about breaking even.

 

[LuvinTheWorld]

Even the current free dining promotion doesn’t always save money. For some it will, especially a party of 4 at a value. For me, it doesn’t. It’s nice to have options!

We have 6 people who will be on the plan so we have a party of 3 in each room. Even with a party of 3, the math still works out to paying $158 per day for 6 of us on QSDP when compared to getting AP room discount and buying BASE tickets from UCT. We were paying more like $250 per day for food for 7 people when we went in December, so we are still saving little money plus getting hoppers for free. We don't usually hop, but it makes upgrading to WP&M only $21.50 per ticket, and we will use that for sure.

 

[Guzzy818]

It's all about the convience of pre-paying(for the most part) your entire vacation. I use it strictly for budgeting, not to save money.

Me too

 

[disneyseniors]

We used to do free dining when it first came out. They started it in September one year to try and increase attendance. It worked,, apparently, LOL.
However, we quit using it when it changed. We did a comparison between the free plan and just paying out of pocket. We found that we ate less and ate what we actually wanted. We always felt like we had to eat everything on the planned restaurant to get the full value of the plan. We never were hungry enough to just get a dole whip or mickey bar or be spontaneous.
It was also cheaper for us to just pay as we go.
I put everything on my credit card and just used it everywhere. No problem. We just paid it off when the bill came in.
It's the same as using the dining plan to me. We could eat when and where we wanted and just swiped the card and saved money to boot
I know it's not the same for all people, and probably is good for some families, but I just wanted to give our experience of not using the DP anymore.

 

[bbak30]

Years ago, I loved the dining plan. But once my kids became "Disney Adults", it was no longer worth it. I'm sure even less so now. I usually put together a spreadsheet of possible meals and then round up to include some snacks. We NEVER go over that budget. I can't imagine that the DDP saves money any longer. It's just about the convenience of having it all paid for.

 

[ForceofWill]

I'm here with more numbers since the thread is filling up with conjecture about whether it's worth it or not. Here's gonna be our use case.

12 Nights AKL Jambo resort view is the trip for July(3 Disney adults/1 Disney child) Kids are 11 and 6
Best discounted rate is - $4213
Military 10 day hoppers - $2691.25
Total Resort/Tickets - $6909.82

Package for the room, 10 day hoppers and "Free" Dining Plan - $9943.11

This gives us a cash food budget of - $3033.29 if we took the best discounts without the free dining, or $252.77 per day.

Staying at AKL, a Boma/Mara day with alcohol for us plus $7 snack usage(We always get quad venti iced coffee or Epcot booth) is a $350.83 day.
Swapping Boma for Garden Grill, Tusker House or 'Ohana adds $25, Chef Mickey's adds $34 to the day. Other quick service we will be enjoying also add more money than Mara to the day.

So staying with the conservative Boma/Mara day, we're at a trip cost of $4209.96 in food/drinks excluding the cost of the mugs which I didn't even bother to factor in.

We can look at this in a couple ways. One is that I'm "saving" at minimum $1176.67 with my dining as currently planned. However, as normally I would not be willing to shell out the money for these experiences because my 11 and 6 yr old do not eat $90+ in food for just them two, we have never been to any of these places and generally get away with eating at a signature table service for what would have been the same price because they only split a ~$15 kids meal.

As such, I would consider this instead of "saving" a minimum of $1176.67 from what I would have originally planned, it's affording us as a family an opportunity to experience these Buffet's/Character Dining's at a price I can stomach ($3033.29) for the trip.

In this way, for us I believe we will get a pretty great deal and have a memorable experience for us and the kids. They could honestly care less about the signature places lol, they're splitting a chicken fingers anyway. Now they get to do some solid character meals, even though I would prefer Boma every day!

 

[Mle8308]

I'm here with more numbers since the thread is filling up with conjecture about whether it's worth it or not. Here's gonna be our use case.

12 Nights AKL Jambo resort view is the trip for July(3 Disney adults/1 Disney child) Kids are 11 and 6
Best discounted rate is - $4213
Military 10 day hoppers - $2691.25
Total Resort/Tickets - $6909.82

Package for the room, 10 day hoppers and "Free" Dining Plan - $9943.11

This gives us a cash food budget of - $3033.29 if we took the best discounts without the free dining, or $252.77 per day.

Staying at AKL, a Boma/Mara day with alcohol for us plus $7 snack usage(We always get quad venti iced coffee or Epcot booth) is a $350.83 day.
Swapping Boma for Garden Grill, Tusker House or 'Ohana adds $25, Chef Mickey's adds $34 to the day. Other quick service we will be enjoying also add more money than Mara to the day.

So staying with the conservative Boma/Mara day, we're at a trip cost of $4209.96 in food/drinks excluding the cost of the mugs which I didn't even bother to factor in.

We can look at this in a couple ways. One is that I'm "saving" at minimum $1176.67 with my dining as currently planned. However, as normally I would not be willing to shell out the money for these experiences because my 11 and 6 yr old do not eat $90+ in food for just them two, we have never been to any of these places and generally get away with eating at a signature table service for what would have been the same price because they only split a ~$15 kids meal.

As such, I would consider this instead of "saving" a minimum of $1176.67 from what I would have originally planned, it's affording us as a family an opportunity to experience these Buffet's/Character Dining's at a price I can stomach ($3033.29) for the trip.

In this way, for us I believe we will get a pretty great deal and have a memorable experience for us and the kids. They could honestly care less about the signature places lol, they're splitting a chicken fingers anyway. Now they get to do some solid character meals, even though I would prefer Boma every day!

It can absolutely work for some families, especially if there are more than 2 people in the room. For a party of 4, especially in a value, it does tend to be beneficial. For 2, it’s questionable. It did not work for me, and that’s fine! Have a great trip and enjoy the time with your family!