DDP, TiW, or OOP for 3 Week Vacation??

[RobPickles]

You are fans of apps and will be in concierge level... DDP seems to make no sense to me. I'd definitely go with TIW. It is easy to figure out, though - if you think you will spend more than $375 in TIW eligible restaurants over the three weeks then the TIW card will pay for itself completely and you have full freedom of menu with no limitations of the DDP (though, yes, you could do both). Anything past that $375 point is free food. And I'm guessing that in 3 weeks you will easily spend more than $375 on TS food?

I understand how the TiW card will pay for itself, but how is anything past $375 free food? TiW entitles you to 20% discounts on the bill at participating restaurants with an 18% gratuity included, correct?

I was trying to decide which was more cost effective. The DP will cost ~$1850 for the 2 of us for the 3 weeks. So I am assuming you are telling me that the TiW card will be more cost effective even with the $75 fee and the tips? - I guess it all depends on how we order. I tried sitting thru the menu with my DW, figureing out what we would eat at each restuarant and comparing the two costs. Somehow I do not think my math was accurate... LOL! I will have to give it another go because I am positive we will spend more than $375 in 3 weeks.

 

[missycj96]

We faced this when our DD4 was born. We had previously enjoyed going out to dinner and had used DDP. However, with a baby you may not want to have to sit in a restaurant everyday. We went with TIW and found it to be the best when she was so small. Restaurants were hassles.

I would need to know where you are staying to best answer the question. If you are staying somewhere with a good food court, it may be easier to skip the table service/sit down meal and eat at resort CS for dinner (or even take something back up to the room depending on baby).

So, I would go with TIW. You don't want to be locked into having to sit through a table service meal every day. So TIW worked for us when she was so small. Now that she is 4 we have started to do DDP again because of the character dining.

 

[RobPickles]

I really had been fussing over this for some time now....

To eat or not to eat... that is the question....

I know the DP is A LOT of food to eat and you sometimes feel compelled to eat it all and not waste the credits before you vacation is up. (I have been dieting and am going to lose 30 lbs. just to gain some of it back on vacation!)

I actually spent a lot of time creating my own Excel Worksheet comparing the differences between OOP, TiW and the DP. We have already made our TS rezzies for the entire trip months ago, so we knew where we had planned on eating each night.

(Bear with me - this gets complicated!)

So, in the worksheet I added up how much each of our meals would cost us. We went thru the menus, picked what we thought we might want to eat, apps, entrees and desserts and any drinks, etc. - and I totaled the OOP cost.

In another column, I calculated what that cost would be with using the TiW card - all the discounts with tax and gratuity as discussed - exactly how it was said to work here on the DIS boards. Then I seperately added an estimated cost for any QS and snack meals. Also factoring in the cost of the card.

Next, I calculated the cost of using the DP **AND** using the TiW card for any apps/drinks we might decide to order with our TS meals. Also factoring in the card cost.

Conclusion: In the end, the cost between each of these over the course of our 3 week vacation is NEGLIGIBLE! Just a few hundred dollars difference over that stretch of time to me isn't worth the insanity I have been going through trying to figure out which is best.

So what have I decided? I am going to get the DP **AND** purchase a TiW card and not worry about my meals during this vacation. Having the ease of the DP to order meals whenever and wherever I can use them AND having the TiW discount for all those yummy apps I am dying to try out (especially in any places I haven't been before!) IMHO is the way to go.

I am pretty confident that my lovely (will be almost 9 months old when we go) DD with be okay with whatever we do. She can be fussy now and then, but for the most part is a REALLY GOOD baby. We are lucky!

So - wish us luck! And any other suggestions, ideas, thoughts, comments or anything yo ucan think of that will help us out with our first trip with our little DD would be greatly apprieciated. Thanks!