DDP or DXDDP, need advice

[allboyhouse]

Okay, I need some advice from some of you experts out there! We have reservations 05/27-06/02 at POR with free dining, me, hubby, DS 16, DS 12, and DS 9. I had a brief passing thought of upgrading and paying the difference for the deluxe dining but wondering if it is worth it. I have to say my boys eat everything but the dog.....our trip in 2007 we had the free dining and it was awesome...they said best food ever!!! lol If I figured right, to pay the difference would cost $852. I am not crazy about spending the money, but as much as they eat, I am wondering if it would be worth it instead of listening to them complain because I am too cheap to pay the prices in the park oop?? lol Thoughts?????

 

[GoofyGirl1717]

Not an expert at all...but I was having the same argument with myself conserning my DS who will be 15 when we travel. I figured I had two options...

1. Take breakfast items to eat in the hotel room before we hit the parks. This will leave a CS and a TS for each day plus a snack.

OR

2. Give in pay the difference and give them free reign to eat as much as possible. With the DxDP you will get app. and dessert both.

Since we are a big breakfast family and also LOVE the character meals we have decided to go with the DxDP. My son is soooooo looking forward to steak EVERY night! heeheehee



By the way welcome!!! be sure to ask LOTS of quesitons even if you think it is silly. You will find lots of answers that way!!!!

 

[catne]

The biggest problem with the deluxe is the amount of time it takes from touring, so factor that in to your decision....if you choose to do 3 table service meals a day on the deluxe, you're cutting out a minimum of 5 hours "touring" time (figure at least 45 minutes per restaurant and at least 45 minutes travel time & waiting to be seated. In actual fact, you could spend 60-75 minutes at your table in the restaurant and could take as much as 60 minutes back & forth for each of your meals - 3 meals a day could actually take you 6-7 hours in the worst case scenario.) If you don't go to Disney all that often, I'd stick with the free dining, to allow more flexibility in your time...look at it this way...that $864 you're thinking of spending to upgrade would buy a whole lot of extra snacks and the occasional extra burger. Chances are you would not spend all that on top of the regular dining, but put some $$ aside with the idea that the kids can supplement what comes with free dining. You could even put several hundred $$ on debit cards so it's already "spent" as your own pre-paid snack plan. Then you won't have the reluctance to let them buy extra food. I'd guess you'll still be able to keep them full without running your food bill up another $800 some. Another thing to remember if you go with DxDDP is you have additional cost with tips, too.

One change I would strongly suggest is registering your 9 yr. old as a 10 yr old. Otherwise he'll be on the child's dining plan and that's not much food for a 9 yr old who has a big appetite. If you list him as a 10 yr. old you will have to pay the difference in park ticket price, but that's not that much...however, it's a big improvement on the food quantity & type that will be available to him (not just limited to the kids menu everywhere.) If he can't finish, his brothers will help, right?

 

[Liltx]

Do you really think they will eat over $852 more than the regular ddp? Because really either way you are paying OOP. It's kind of now or later. I would bet though that they won't eat enough more to make the upgrade worth it. I would also ask them if they would rather have more ride time or be sitting so often to eat.

I would give them $20 extra a day to use on whatever extra food they may need. That equates to an extra cs, drink and snack. I am sure they will figure out to use the cash on drinks and the snack credits for real food. Let them keep whatever they don't spend for the arcade etc. But let them know you don't want to hear about hungry. That total would be $360 over the trip a savings of about $500.

 

[allboyhouse]

One change I would strongly suggest is registering your 9 yr. old as a 10 yr old. Otherwise he'll be on the child's dining plan and that's not much food for a 9 yr old who has a big appetite. If you list him as a 10 yr. old you will have to pay the difference in park ticket price, but that's not that much...however, it's a big improvement on the food quantity & type that will be available to him (not just limited to the kids menu everywhere.) If he can't finish, his brothers will help, right?[/QUOTE]


I didn't realize I could register him as a 10-yo!!! That is a good idea. He is a big eater and I have no doubt he could finish !!! Thanks!

 

[sunshineNJ]

I agree with Liltx. I think that is a good way to go. My son eats ALOT and the basic plan was more then enough. You do get dessert with every meal. We used alot of our snack credits for bagels and pasteries for breakfast. Bufftes are great for big eater boys. My son loves the Crystal palace. His favorite is the filet @ Lecellier. He eats a ton of prezel bread his steak and potatoes and dessert and he is full. He 15 and 5' 11''. We still had some snack credits left over at the end of the trip.

 

[catne]

One change I would strongly suggest is registering your 9 yr. old as a 10 yr old. Otherwise he'll be on the child's dining plan and that's not much food for a 9 yr old who has a big appetite. If you list him as a 10 yr. old you will have to pay the difference in park ticket price, but that's not that much...however, it's a big improvement on the food quantity & type that will be available to him (not just limited to the kids menu everywhere.) If he can't finish, his brothers will help, right?

I didn't realize I could register him as a 10-yo!!! That is a good idea. He is a big eater and I have no doubt he could finish !!! Thanks![/QUOTE]

yep, people do this often (some even register their 5 yr olds as a 10 yr old to get the adult plan for their little ones who won't eat nuggets & macaroni & cheese.) Anyway just call Disney up and tell them you want to change his age from 9 to 10. They make this change all the time. You will have to pay the difference between kid's ticket & adult ticket, but that's usually only a few $$ a day difference (for example, it's about $25 more to change a kid's 7 day base ticket to an adult ticket - $25 total, not per day. )

 

[disneymom06]

I have had this debate with myself as well. The tips were what persuaded me to not upgrade. The DDP was enough with my big eaters and I always found that we missed a few sit downs because we were too tired, in another place or just had a pizza. For any extras, the pizzas,or whatever, I paid OOP and felt that it didn't put pressure on my to use all that I had prepaid for with the DxDDP.

If the money is no object, I would say go for the DxDDP because the tip money won't bother you and you won't be mentally totaling to see if it was worth it.

Otherwise, I don't think that you will get to $852. But I would upgrade the 9yr old to 10. I have done that for my 8 year old. The kids choices are not great if you have a child who eats more than nuggets and mac and cheese. Please they get desserts like everyone else.

 

[PureTcrazy]

5 of us went in December, all of us except DM are serious eaters. We used 1 ts for breakfast and 2TS every night and we pure got to the point that we dreaded going to eat. Even with just 2 ADR's per day, it was VERY time consuming. We're glad we did it because we got to try a variety of restaurants, but we would never do it again!

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

The only reason I'm considering going Deluxe is because we have a split DVC stay so I wouldn't have to do if for the full 2 weeks and I'd do all our 2TS meals (CRT, HDDR, and a signature or 2) that week and do regular the next week. Also we'd be a BCV that week and CS options are limited.

 

[Colleen27]

We love the deluxe plan, but it is a lot of time and planning compared to the basic plan. Personally I don't think it is the best option if quantity is the only issue because three sit down meals per day take up so much time. I think the plan really works best for people who want to enjoy signature dining, rather than those who are thinking about 3 full meals every day.

I'd second Cathy's recommendation to up-age your youngest so that he can order adult meals. You have to pay the difference between a child's and adult's ticket, but that's only $40 or so and it is well worth it for a growing boy who isn't likely to be happy with the smallish kids' meals.

Beyond that, I'd place an order with WeGoShop or Garden Grocer to have some snack type foods on hand in the room without paying Disney prices for them. Nothing big, but just pop tarts or nutrigrain bars for the mornings, chips/prezels for evening munchies, and drinks. Remember you do have a fridge in the room so even things like string cheese work well, and if your boys are anything like my 12yo and his friends they'll love having it on hand. That frees your DDP credits to buy a quick service lunch, a full dinner, and a solid snack during the day.

You don't mention if you have dining plans in mind for your table service credits, but if you don't have that decided yet you might want to look for places that have fixed-price three course meals that are available on the DDP, as well as buffet and family style places that are all-you-can-eat.

I would also plan on a certain amount of OOP spending. Book a meal at Planet Hollywood to use the certificate that comes with your package, put some money on a Disney gift card for extra snacks and quick meals so that you aren't worrying over menu prices, and plan for the DDP covering most but not all of your dining expenses.

 

[havoc315]

I agree with Colleen. The DxDP is good for people who prefer TS over CS, people who want a lot of signature meals, and/or people who want 3 full meals per day.

But if it is merely an issue of quantity, there should be plenty of food on the basic ddp. Perhaps with some moderate oop costs, but less than upgrading. You can pay oop for 1 cs per day, for less than the cost of upgrading.

For us, we generally like to have 2 TS per day,including several 2-credit meals. So the upgrade made sense for us. But it really wasn't a quantity issue.

 

[lilandvisma]

Don't mean to hijack but a question about the child/adult issue. I have a 9 year old DD who isn't a huge eater but probably wouldn't be satisfied on just the typical nugget/fry option for children. Wouldn't I have to change her tickets to adult if I changed the DDP to adult? Or how does that work? TIA.

 

[allboyhouse]

Thanks everybody! I am definitely going to upgrade my 9-yo to 10-yo age because he is a big eater. I think I will just plan to take some snacks and spend a little out of pocket.

One question....can you tell me a little more about the 2 grocer sites? I have never head of these before.

You all area great!!!

 

[catne]

Don't mean to hijack but a question about the child/adult issue. I have a 9 year old DD who isn't a huge eater but probably wouldn't be satisfied on just the typical nugget/fry option for children. Wouldn't I have to change her tickets to adult if I changed the DDP to adult? Or how does that work? TIA.

Yes, you will have to change her park ticket from child to adult. Just call Disney (the regular hotel reservations number) & tell them you want to change your reservations to change the 9 year old to a 10 year old. They are familiar with this practice, because it's the only way to get your child off the child's dining plan. They will charge you for the park ticket difference because 10 for the dining plan will also have to be 10 for the park ticket

One note: if you are paying for the dining plan, you will also have to pay the difference between adult & child dining plan - think that's about $10 or so per night. If you're on free dining, you only pay for the ticket difference.

 

[ford91exploder]

Love the Deluxe plan but don't always use, DW and I always use it when doing the big family trip in may as we can do the 'Spirit of Aloha', CRT and other signature dining events which for us are just as important as touring the parks.

Example Aloha is approx $80/pp before discounts (AP/DVC/DV/TiW) so figure a check north of $400 for 4 before you are done and thats ONE meal, So with the deluxe plan we can have a TS lunch or Character breakfast and have the event as well for approx $320/day for all of us (Plus snacks and free drinks at resort)

Don't get me wrong this is a LOT of money but if you are staying on property Disney food is expensive with a capital E and there is generally a small delta from least to most expensive items on menu.

We are DVC and usually stay in a 1BR so we have full kitchen for breakfast, etc and we generally have Garden Grocer supply us with breakfast items.

You really need to look at what you want to do at Disney and plan accordingly but dont make the mistake that many do and think they can 'order the cheapest item' when mac-n-cheese is $11.95 and a steak is $ 17.95 'and and and' things add up quickly.

When we do a quick weekend getaway we usually use the regular dining plan as in these cases we want more park time and usually snack our way through the day.

If you have a AP you can get a TiW card for $75 and you will break even at 350 in food spending and save about 20% after that. One advantage of a AP is that you get discounts of 10-20% on merchandise just about everywhere so if you buy a lot of Disney Stuff you will benefit there, And there are discounted room rates for AP holders as well, I've had offers for the Value's as low as $39/night.

 

[Colleen27]

Don't mean to hijack but a question about the child/adult issue. I have a 9 year old DD who isn't a huge eater but probably wouldn't be satisfied on just the typical nugget/fry option for children. Wouldn't I have to change her tickets to adult if I changed the DDP to adult? Or how does that work? TIA.

Yes, you have to change the tickets to adult but the price difference between and adult and a child ticket is minimal - $30-40 if I recall correctly.

 

[Colleen27]

Thanks everybody! I am definitely going to upgrade my 9-yo to 10-yo age because he is a big eater. I think I will just plan to take some snacks and spend a little out of pocket.

One question....can you tell me a little more about the 2 grocer sites? I have never head of these before.

You all area great!!!

There are two options that I'm aware of for grocery delivery.

Garden Grocer has a website where you order what you want, at somewhat higher prices than you'd pay at a grocery store. They have a $40 minimum order but a lower delivery fee ($12? I think), and they waive the fee for large orders though I'm not sure what the threshold is. We haven't used them, so I can't offer any personal experience, but they seem pretty popular with DISers.

WeGoShop has a slightly different model. You provide your list and they shop regular grocery stores so the items are generally cheaper than through Garden Grocer. There is no minimum order. At the time of the delivery, you pay the receipt total for your order plus a slightly higher delivery fee based on your order total ($17 on orders under $50, but we've found the lower prices more than make up for the higher delivery fee). We used them on our first few trips, before the deluxe plan was introduced, for snacks and drinks and even now with the DxDDP and not needing any food, we still order diapers and sunscreen and other things we'd rather not pack.

 

[ppoe65]

One note: if you are paying for the dining plan, you will also have to pay the difference between adult & child dining plan - think that's about $10 or so per night. If you're on free dining, you only pay for the ticket difference.

Just to clarify...if you are paying to upgrade the DDP there is a $30 a day difference. If its free then no problem, but if oop then you have to decide if the extra $$ isworth it. If you do buffets there is no reason to upgrade.

 

[NMW]

I would upgrade. Just based on your sons ages, there is probably no way they will be fine with the two meals a day the basic dining plan gives. So, you will be buying extra food. Even if you just come CLOSE to the $800 or so dollars it would be worth it for me to have the deluxe plan and be able to do signatures, get appetizers, know that we will have a real breakfast every day, 2 snack credits instead of 1.

The basic dining plan was not enough food for our family. We bought breakfast every day and spent more than the difference in the 2 plans.