DDP seems worth it for us?

[pixiedust33]

So hoping to get some thoughts from people who look at this to see if I'm missing something before I go ahead and book the DDP. I booked a long time ago for our March trip and was not planning to do the DDP. I booked all of our ADRs last month and made park itineraries that included specific QS places and researched the food we wanted to get. As I was about to go pay down the rest of our trip, I decided to run the math on the DDP versus what I had already planned, assuming it would not come out in favor of the DDP. But it actually did, by about $50 (not super significant but psychologically, my husband loves having the all inclusive feel - which I'm fine with, as long as I'm not losing money on it). Again, this was without any effort to maximize the dining plan, so I think I could now probably tinker a bit, particularly with QS and snacks (bc we are likely to order more food than just what I have listed as we have 5 nights but full days on each end), to get even more value out of it.

We have a 5 night trip, 2 adults and 1 2 YO (who does not need a dining plan but will get his own food here and there so that price is not included). So our 5 TS meals are Chef Mickey's breakfast, Crystal Palace breakfast, Kona dinner, Ohana dinner, Sci Fi Dinner. I priced out the QS meals we intended to get for Columbia Harbor House lunch, Docking Bay 7 lunch, Satuli Canteen lunch, Captain Cook's lunch, Captain Cook's breakfast. I assumed a $6.50 average for snacks, which I think we could actually beat with Epcot festival food because we're going during Flower & Garden. We intended to buy mugs anyway because we have a toddler and plan to be back at the resort midday every day for a break and will grab diet cokes, and we will fill up on coffee in the morning (I'm a caffeine addict so this is a needed expense). This does assume my husband and I both get cocktails for dinner, but only some lunches and breakfasts, which is what we would have likely done. It assumes some non-alcoholic options like shakes, smoothies and specialty coffees on the QS breakfasts, the CHH lunch since MK doesn't have alcohol at QS, and the Sci Fi lunch when we intended to get shakes.

Like I said, I didn't try to maximize this or pick the most expensive QS or most expensive menu item or always order alcohol. I just picked what we already intended to order, and I also am using quite a few credits for breakfasts, which I understand is seen as the least valuable meal to use them. Am I wrong to have included some $14-17 cocktails in this equation (this does seem key to coming out ahead?)? Am I right that both QS and TS meals come with alcoholic drinks? I know souvenir container are excluded and didn't include any of those. I know we had already intended to visit some of the more expensive character buffets and we do like cocktails, so maybe this is why it worked out without me really trying? Because we have our 2 year old who won't be on the meal plan, I am definitely not worried about not using all the snack credits because he can make a meal of some of those, too (and we are very prepared to spend more than just the meal plan, obviously know it doesn't include gratuities or all things we might want to eat and some kids meals for our son). But I do think we save some money and also get that "it's all taken care of" feel that my husband likes.

But again - am I missing something?

 

[Mle8308]

Did you figure in tips for the table service meals? That will be an additional 18%.

 

[pixiedust33]

Did you figure in tips for the table service meals? That will be an additional 18%.

I didn't include the tip in either calculation, if that makes sense? Like I know I will still pay a gratuity on top of what I pay for the meal plan, but the posted prices for the TS meals also don't include a tip, I don't think? So when calculating say, Chef Mickeys breakfast, I used the $54 price per adult, which notes "plus tax and gratuity" so I assume that also does not include tax and tip. So I think I'm comparing apples to apples....

 

[Mle8308]

I didn't include the tip in either calculation, if that makes sense? Like I know I will still pay a gratuity on top of what I pay for the meal plan, but the posted prices for the TS meals also don't include a tip, I don't think? So when calculating say, Chef Mickeys breakfast, I used the $54 price per adult, which notes "plus tax and gratuity" so I assume that also does not include tax and tip. So I think I'm comparing apples to apples....

You are correct, the posted prices do not include tax or tip. The DDP does not cover the tip, so that is something you will have to pay. So, for one person paying $54 for Chef Mickey's, it's a $9.72 tip at 18%. If 2 adults, that is about $20 in tips for one meal. And if you are at a TS meal and order a $17 drink, you have to add the gratuity to that, too. If you have more than 2 TS meals, the $50 difference will be close to gone in tips. If you would normally eat at those restaurants without the DDP, it might be worth it for you. And would you normally order an alcoholic beverage at EVERY meal? If yes, again, there might be value in the DDP for you.

 

[pixiedust33]

You are correct, the posted prices do not include tax or tip. The DDP does not cover the tip, so that is something you will have to pay. So, for one person paying $54 for Chef Mickey's, it's a $9.72 tip at 18%. If 2 adults, that is about $20 in tips for one meal. And if you are at a TS meal and order a $17 drink, you have to add the gratuity to that, too. If you have more than 2 TS meals, the $50 difference will be close to gone in tips. If you would normally eat at those restaurants without the DDP, it might be worth it for you. And would you normally order an alcoholic beverage at EVERY meal? If yes, again, there might be value in the DDP for you.

But I have to pay the tip on top of the price whether I have the DDP or not so it's not covered in either scenario and therefore doesn't factor into the comparison. Like, I will be adding something like $30 in tips at most TS meals, whether I'm paying a la carte or on the plan.

My math suggests I only have to order alcoholic drinks at about half the meals in my specific scenario to make the math work out in favor of the DDP (which I will happily do on vacation ), but that is why I'm checking my assumptions are right about all cocktails being included (excluding doubles or ones in specialty containers).

 

[EatMoreVeg]

In terms of whether or not the dining plan is "worth it", I think it depends on a few factors. If you are likely to:
- do character dining (particularly the 1 credit vs. 2 credit options)
- drink alcohol with most meals
- choose more expensive snacks (at least $6)
- choose the more expensive entrees on a menu
- get dessert at most meals
- eat a lot
- take advantage of the refillable mug

If you said yes to most of the above, then I definitely think the dining plan can be "worth it" if this is your typical eating patterns to begin with. Otherwise, it really does take a lot of effort to get the value out of the dining plan and you may be better off opting out of it, both from a financial and flexibility standpoint. Of course, if you like signature dining and the restaurants you want to eat at use up 2 credits, that will change this math.

I agree with not including tips in your calculations since those would be an additional expense anyways. One thing to consider though is that if you are trying to get your value out of the dining credits by choosing the pricier entrees, getting an alcoholic drink and dessert, that can really drive up your bill and therefore you might be tipping more than if you were just ordering a la carte.

 

[Lewisc]

I wouldn't do it if the projected savings was nominal. Too many times I cancel at least one planned meal. Not feeling great, too much to eat or don't want to allocate the time. I don't think I ever grab an adult beversge with a QS meal.

You did the math. It sounds like it might work for you.
Are you eligible for dining discounts? DVC, AP or Disney VISA?

 

[jo-jo]

We don't drink alcohol so we would lose out right there.

But I so understand your husband thinking, I have such a hard time, what a pretzel for $8 bucks? I can buy a whole box at home for that.

If you come out that close money wise, I'd say go for it just for convenience.

 

[kanerf]

I did DDP for my most recent stay and kept all the receipts so I could evaluate. I believe that I did very well, of course you do need to have an alcoholic beverage to make things come out positive. Keep in mind that many TS restaurants have a lot of adult beverage options. While I did a number of cocktails, I also enjoyed some very nice red wines in the $12-$18 range. You could also do a milkshake at some of the QS restaurants I believe.

 

[pixiedust33]

In terms of whether or not the dining plan is "worth it", I think it depends on a few factors. If you are likely to:
- do character dining (particularly the 1 credit vs. 2 credit options)
- drink alcohol with most meals
- choose more expensive snacks (at least $6)
- choose the more expensive entrees on a menu
- get dessert at most meals
- eat a lot
- take advantage of the refillable mug

This makes a lot of sense! You can see from my first post that we do meet most of those criteria! I don't think we do necessarily eat or drink a "lot" but maybe we do haha. I think we're helped in our scenario that we're two adults paying for a meal plan that our under 3 year old son can also eat off of, so he can take some of the snack credits and the three of us can likely share two QS meals. We did already have 2 character buffet meals included in our plans, plus Ohana, which are all decent value for us since my son is totally free (and we're paying for the character interaction more than value for the food). I actually do not normally order dessert, which was one of my hesitations, but we only have two non-family style/buffet meals where that would be relevant. One is on my birthday (so I will treat myself!) and the other is at Sci Fi, where I think my toddler will be happy to get my dessert as a treat. I have assumed each adult would each have a cocktail at dinner, and that we would get a cocktail a few of the times for lunch. I only assumed one breakfast cocktail (a mimosa for me for my bday!). I did assume some of the more expensive non alcoholic options (milkshakes, smoothies, specialty coffee). Anyone know if those are not included?

I guess I am just maybe questioning the idea that you do need to always pick the most expensive entree or more expensive QS meals because I made no effort to do that or otherwise game this. But that's also why I'm asking the question if I'm missing something about what's included because I do commonly see people say you really need to be purposeful to make sure you even break even, but that doesn't seem to be true for us, which is why I'm questioning whether I'm making bad assumptions. I am not at all tied in to the idea of buying the dining plan and only want to do it if we will actually break even or come out ahead, so that's why I'm testing my assumptions here.

 

[pixiedust33]

I wouldn't do it if the projected savings was nominal. Too many times I cancel at least one planned meal. Not feeling great, too much to eat or don't want to allocate the time. I don't think I ever grab an adult beversge with a QS meal.

You did the math. It sounds like it might work for you.
Are you eligible for dining discounts? DVC, AP or Disney VISA?

The loss of flexibility is a valuable point to consider for sure! I do not have any dining discounts, but I have actually been weighing the idea of getting a Disney Visa, which I know would give us 10% off at some (but not all) of the TS restaurants we picked (plus that $300 statement credit) Have been leaning towards the idea it's overkill to get a new credit card to save like $50, but I might do it! I know it's a separate topic, but curious if you have one and think it's generally valuable in terms of discounts on site? I was totally ready to do it when I thought it was ALL dining, but seems quite limited. We have lots of Disney years ahead of us, but I'm normally pretty loyal to my Chase card.

 

[pixiedust33]

We don't drink alcohol so we would lose out right there.

But I so understand your husband thinking, I have such a hard time, what a pretzel for $8 bucks? I can buy a whole box at home for that.

If you come out that close money wise, I'd say go for it just for convenience.

It seems so unfair to me that they don't have a "no alcohol" option for people who don't drink for one reason or another! It's honestly kind of shocking for a family company, especially when you consider kids above 10 are "adults" and a weird incentive to make people drink more.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

With the way we eat we can probably break even on the plan but I’m hesitant to pay outright for it due to the “what ifs.”

What if one of us gets a stomach bug or upset stomach and can’t eat much. You lose all those credits. I’ve read reports of this happening to people.

What if we’re just overly stuffed and eating lighter or skipping QS. This usually happens to us the second half of the trip. We’re just FULL by day 4-5 and start scaling back.

This keeps me from buying the plan. Now free dining I’m all for since the room discount (moderate resort) isn’t enough to cover our daily food expenses.

Maybe put the cost on a gift card and pay that way. It could feel more all inclusive that way since it’s not going on your credit card.

 

[pixiedust33]

I did DDP for my most recent stay and kept all the receipts so I could evaluate. I believe that I did very well, of course you do need to have an alcoholic beverage to make things come out positive. Keep in mind that many TS restaurants have a lot of adult beverage options. While I did a number of cocktails, I also enjoyed some very nice red wines in the $12-$18 range. You could also do a milkshake at some of the QS restaurants I believe.

Really appreciate you sharing the recent experience! Were you generally able to order the cocktails or wines you wanted or were you finding a lot of exclusions? I can't find good information on that online like I can on how certain entrees are excluded, but if the drinks I want are generally included, does seem like a good win for us.

 

[denecarter]

Having read your post, I agree with your assumptions. It will work for you with the plans you already had. Especially since you were already doing character meals and aycte meals with a 2 year old.

It will also work for me during Spring Break. I'm taking my 7 & 4 year old grandkids with the special package where kids tickets and meal plans are half price. With littles and going to character meals, it was already a win for the dining plan... at 1/2 price, it is even better.

 

[pixiedust33]

With the way we eat we can probably break even on the plan but I’m hesitant to pay outright for it due to the “what ifs.”

What if one of us gets a stomach bug or upset stomach and can’t eat much. You lose all those credits. I’ve read reports of this happening to people.

What if we’re just overly stuffed and eating lighter or skipping QS. This usually happens to us the second half of the trip. We’re just FULL by day 4-5 and start scaling back.

This keeps me from buying the plan. Now free dining I’m all for since the room discount (moderate resort) isn’t enough to cover our daily food expenses.

Maybe put the cost on a gift card and pay that way. It could feel more all inclusive that way since it’s not going on your credit card.

This is how I think too and is my main hesitation! It honestly applies to most of this Disney trip for me too though! Like I am terrified someone is going to get sick before or while we're there. We've had a lot of bad luck on that front. I DID buy trip insurance and I wonder if I could get any DDP money back if something did happen with us getting sick and missing out on credits....

 

[kanerf]

Really appreciate you sharing the recent experience! Were you generally able to order the cocktails or wines you wanted or were you finding a lot of exclusions? I can't find good information on that online like I can on how certain entrees are excluded, but if the drinks I want are generally included, does seem like a good win for us.

Yes, I did not find any real exclusions. I think one of the wines I ordered was $22 and it was covered.

 

[EatMoreVeg]

This makes a lot of sense! You can see from my first post that we do meet most of those criteria! I don't think we do necessarily eat or drink a "lot" but maybe we do haha. I think we're helped in our scenario that we're two adults paying for a meal plan that our under 3 year old son can also eat off of, so he can take some of the snack credits and the three of us can likely share two QS meals. We did already have 2 character buffet meals included in our plans, plus Ohana, which are all decent value for us since my son is totally free (and we're paying for the character interaction more than value for the food). I actually do not normally order dessert, which was one of my hesitations, but we only have two non-family style/buffet meals where that would be relevant. One is on my birthday (so I will treat myself!) and the other is at Sci Fi, where I think my toddler will be happy to get my dessert as a treat. I have assumed each adult would each have a cocktail at dinner, and that we would get a cocktail a few of the times for lunch. I only assumed one breakfast cocktail (a mimosa for me for my bday!). I did assume some of the more expensive non alcoholic options (milkshakes, smoothies, specialty coffee). Anyone know if those are not included?

I guess I am just maybe questioning the idea that you do need to always pick the most expensive entree or more expensive QS meals because I made no effort to do that or otherwise game this. But that's also why I'm asking the question if I'm missing something about what's included because I do commonly see people say you really need to be purposeful to make sure you even break even, but that doesn't seem to be true for us, which is why I'm questioning whether I'm making bad assumptions. I am not at all tied in to the idea of buying the dining plan and only want to do it if we will actually break even or come out ahead, so that's why I'm testing my assumptions here.

I think @Mle8308 makes a good point about the margin of savings potentially being eaten up by tips. If your projected savings is <$100, then that could easily end up being reallocated to tips from higher restaurant bills. But, again, on the flipside, if that "all inclusive" feeling is really important to you, you might feel it's worth it.

You probably could maximize your projected savings by choosing more expensive QS meals and snacks. Then that would certainly help with justifying that you're "saving" money on the dining plan. For example, looking at the QS meal options at Hollywood Studios for the most expensive entree and alcoholic drink, your "value" varies:

• Docking Bay 7 $35.99
• Woody's Lunch Box $27.29
• ABC Commissary $30.29
• Backlot Express $30.29

Also comparing the range in snacks, say for the Toffee Coconut Blondie $4.99 vs the specialty Blue Milk $9.99.

For 2 QS credits and a snack, that's potentially a $15+ difference depending on your food choices. If you do that consistently over your stay, arguably you're coming out ahead. The question is whether those are things you want to eat anyways or do you feel obligated to make those choices based on having the dining plan?

Eating "a lot" is somewhat relative too! But it is a lot of food. Partially dependent on the time of your year you are going. Sometimes with the heat, your appetite just isn't there! But you would know yourselves best in this regard.

 

[Lumpy1106]

If you were planning on those meals anyway and you ran the #s, then you are correct - I see no problem with your analysis. DDP is a bad value for us because we ordinarily would NOT eat so many sit-down meals, or even QS meals. When you find yourself booking meals because you have to rather than you want to and would have anyway, the $$ adds up really quickly. Don't forget to use your snack credits, especially on things that are a good value. A bottle of water, for example, is a snack credit, but is nowhere near the vale for you as the Venti-sized Latte at Starbucks. In before days it was not uncommon to see people on departure day raiding the store in their resort for QS snacks that would travel on the plane because they just didn't use all of their snack credits, and you can't take those with you.

 

[pixiedust33]

I think @Mle8308 makes a good point about the margin of savings potentially being eaten up by tips. If your projected savings is <$100, then that could easily end up being reallocated to tips from higher restaurant bills. But, again, on the flipside, if that "all inclusive" feeling is really important to you, you might feel it's worth it.

You probably could maximize your projected savings by choosing more expensive QS meals and snacks. Then that would certainly help with justifying that you're "saving" money on the dining plan. For example, looking at the QS meal options at Hollywood Studios for the most expensive entree and alcoholic drink, your "value" varies:

• Docking Bay 7 $35.99
• Woody's Lunch Box $27.29
• ABC Commissary $30.29
• Backlot Express $30.29

Also comparing the range in snacks, say for the Toffee Coconut Blondie $4.99 vs the specialty Blue Milk $9.99.

For 2 QS credits and a snack, that's potentially a $15+ difference depending on your food choices. If you do that consistently over your stay, arguably you're coming out ahead. The question is whether those are things you want to eat anyways or do you feel obligated to make those choices based on having the dining plan?

Eating "a lot" is somewhat relative too! But it is a lot of food. Partially dependent on the time of your year you are going. Sometimes with the heat, your appetite just isn't there! But you would know yourselves best in this regard.

Thank you for the very thoughtful reply and doing some research for me! I do hear what you're saying and I think I might be tempted to maximize in this way just to really feel I'm getting my money's worth, but I did at least start the exercise with no intention to skew things one way or another, just picking what I thought I would order. I could definitely see myself picking the most expensive cocktail just because it's "free" - but that is also sort of what I like about the DDP! I will say, and appreciating your user name, I can see that the DDP would generally be a terrible value for a vegetarian or even just people who prefer to eat more plant-based. We do try to be more plant-based at home, but tend to eat meat more when we go out to eat . I actually picked a lot of the fish options for myself, which tend to be pricier too. I think my projected Docking Bay 7 meal was the poke bowl and the vodka cocktail, which is a decent (though not fully maximized) value of about $33.