DDP: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly (long)

[Zoom]

Also, IMHO, think that so many TS meals really sucked away our time in the parks. If you are doing TS, expect to spend 1 1/2 to 2 hours away from your "play time" (and we went during off season!)

Hi! I'm just curious about the reservation time, did you have to wait long before you get seated?

 

[LizinSTL]

Okay, I'm sure this has been asked, so dont shoot me for asking again, but we are going in 2 weeks. We had the dining plan in October of 2005, and loved it. This time, we're paying 700.00 for 7 nights, out of pocket for our family of 4. DID THEY CHANGE the plan? I keep hearing about the children's menus... can someone please tell me about this, and what exactly it means?

For instance, we're doing Chef Mickeys breakfast,Polynesian Resort character breakfast, Cape May Cafe breakfast, princess breakfast at epcot, play and dine at hollywood and vine lunch, basically, all character breakfasts, lunches, or dinners, like crystal palace for dinner one night.
Aren't all of these places buffets???

What places seperate kids from the adults?

Please warn me ahead of time...my trip is fast approaching!

THanks in advance!

No, you'll be fine. All members of your party can choose anything from the entire buffet, though there will be "children's" sections that have kid-friendly foods.

You won't see the enormous savings that some people get because of the fixed price breakfast/lunch buffets being most of your meals but you won't lose money. (The 6 meals you mentioned would be over $500 - inc tax and tip!!! plus you'll have another TS meal, 28 CS meals and 28 snacks to "make up" the other $200) You will have paid ahead, not freaking out when your child eats a strawberry at Chef Mickey's because she/he's too excited to eat anymore than that

Have fun and enjoy your trip!

A little unsolicited advice??? Share counter service lunches/dinners on the days that you have big buffet breakfasts. You probably won't all want a full meal each time and you'll be spreading out your CS credits that way.

 

[OurDogCisco]

Also, IMHO, think that so many TS meals really sucked away our time in the parks. If you are doing TS, expect to spend 1 1/2 to 2 hours away from your "play time" (and we went during off season!)

I liked your review... and I totally agree it is way too much food.

I can see why during off season dining would take away from playtime because the parks aren't open as late as during peak or summer times. So you brought up a really good point on park time especially during off-peak time. People would need to take that into consideration for making dining plans.

When we went in December during peak time our sitdown meals usually lasted about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Some of it may have been to our doing but usually we look at the menu right way and order quickly. We had our room key out when they brought dessert so we could leave shortly after dessert. We like to dine this way so we didn't feel rushed. Only two places took forever and that was 1900 Park Fare & Artist Point.

 

[la79al]

All this talk about too much food, if we are on the DDP, can we get our appetizers and/or dessert to go? I figure this would cut back on using our snack credits for late night snacks.

 

[Susan555]

I kept debating with myself about whether DDP was right for us, and I finally decided that while I'd like to try it, I simply CANNOT justify having the DDP for our full 10 day stay. We're now using DDP our first 3 nights, then moving over to a timeshare unit. We will DEFINITELY spend a lot less than $100 a day (cost of DDP for us) on food, as we'll probably have one light CS meal at the parks, then eat our other meals at the timeshare. I just rebooked everything, and I already feel a wave of relief - both from having a nice 1200 square foor timeshare unit for 7 nights, AND for not having to deal with all these ADRs for table service meals. With the parks closing at 7 to 9 PM, it wold just take too much of our park time away to have to have 7 more TS meals. I also feel better knowing that if my tentative itinerary gets totally changed as we go, I don't have to stress over changing ADR's, getting from one park to another for dinner, etc. For us, the DDP just doesn't seem like a good idea for the full 10 day stay - not just because it's too much food, but also because it's too much hassle. We'd rather play than eat, and that's probably the biggest reason NOT to go with DDP in my opinion.

 

[Harvest02]

I am one of those that has never used the DDP on our family trips to the World. We went in June and paid OOP for all our meals and averaged about $100 a day, some days less some more. We ate at mostly CS, but a few TS too. We always do a character breakfast at Chef Mickeys. We are going down to Disney in October again, and my husband and I decided we will stick with OOP for our meals. I am figuring about $150 a day this time since we want to try a few different TS places this time. Because we already have our park tickets through Ticketmania, our package with dining plan would cost us about $163.00 more. Plus, I just don't think we would eat that much food!!! We never ordered appetizers on our last trip, but occasionally a dessert. We just put each days food money in an envelope and take that with us and leave the others in the room safe. That way we don't have so much cash. Plus, I think it would be nice not to have to plan around all our meals and take so much time away from the parks.

 

[Barbers2005]

Hi! I'm just curious about the reservation time, did you have to wait long before you get seated?

Not really, we usually were seated within 5-10 minutes, even when we arrived a little early. We did have to wait awhile at Le Cellier though- about 25 minutes- so we explored the little park next door while we waited. It does take quite a bit of time to eat a full meal with appetizers, entree and dessert, so 1.5 hours is about right for TS.