DDP too much food?

[Copperline]

We're staying at SSR (dvc owners @ BC) 11/13-11/16. I decided to purchase the DDP for our days there. I'm reading reports that everyone says they feel like there's too much food on the plan and you don't use up all the dining credits. I'm worried about the opposite. With one CS meal and one TS meal per day, that still leaves you w/out a meal each day. I doubt a "snack" will replace that.
So what meals are people skipping? DH eats like a tank. He doesn't gain an ounce on his ridiculously fit, hot body, and he loves going to Disney for the food. DS and I eat like birds and would do fine on one big meal a day.

 

[tinan]

We're not big breakfast eaters so we usually either skip breakfast, had a dessert left over from dinner or grab a small snack to tide us over til lunch. I'm telling you with the dining plan you should NOT go hungry! Don't forget that those counter services include the drink, meal and dessert for each person in the party. The TS includes an appetizer, meal, drink and dessert for each person in the party. You couple that with the portion sizes and there is plenty of food there! Normally when we go out to eat, if we get an appetizer we normally have one for the table to share so getting an appetizer for each person is not normal and neither is having dessert with each meal every day. We definitely gained a few pounds the last time we were there on the plan. Another thing you can do since your ds and you don't eat much is share some meals and then there will be credits left over for dh if he is still hungry.

 

[beth_cam]

It's only too much food if you make it too much. If it isnt enough food you can oop some and you probably would have had to budget more than the cost of DDP anyway if you need more food.



We went for 7 nights and ate without ordering OOP except a couple of beverages and one snack that at the time snack credits didnt cover for 8 days. Only when we overate at buffets which has nothing to do with DDP did we get overfull. We used all of our credits (getting a couple of sodas and 1 fruit for the road). We always ordered everything that came with the meal and never threw much away unless we didnt like it. We shared at every meal (the reason for a few OOP beverages) that we could. We only ordered 4 meals (family size) at buffets, pre-plated, or when I knew I could wrap up what was left for that late night craving or the inroom breakfast we always had the next day. Except one breakfast buffet we had granola bars etc in the room, but I used some would be left over credits from sharing to grab myself a waffle before everyone else got up. The first time we went we got a little tired of trying all the different restaurants and tried to stay more with what we knew this time with a bit of variety thrown in. By sharing I think I tallied up our meals ate as a family 8 cs's and 8t's(one of those being 2 credits so as if it was 9ts's) plus the cs's I used for breakfast would have made it another family meal (I did it 4 times)

 

[NARM Forever]

I have a family that likes to eat often but not necessarily lots. There certainly was too much food for us at the meals. We tended to have breakfast in our room before setting off early to the parks, I had brought some little cereal boxes with us. I also brought some snacks (fruit bars/crackers) for mid-morning snack, luckily my DH doesn't mind being a bit of a packhorse.

NARM

 

[Frantasmic]

We recently did the slight breakfast in the room and only ate CS and TS. We still left some CS meals because wife was on per diem from a business trip and paid separately for two meals.

The deal is that the TS meals are the killers. Appetizers, which, despite the reduction in size, are still quite large, main entre, drink and dessert will fill even the heartiest eaters up.

And what the resorts are offering as a snack these days will substitute for a meal in some cases.

I think it is quite easy for a family of four, with two children under age 12 (i.e., light to moderate eaters) to "live" on the Dining Plan, even with a heavy eater, especially if some of your meals are buffet or family style eating.

I ate so much at Ohana Saturday evening that I wasn't hungry for breakfast Sunday morning.

 

[DisneyMom5]

We would snack in the room before leaving in the am, then have a late brunch or early lunch TS, and then a CS for supper. We were barely hungry for the CS as we ate so much at the TS. LOL

We have also been known to have a big breakfast with a TS early, then a snack for lunch, then a CS for supper.

There is no such thing as too much food. It's all good. LOL

 

[disneymom06]

From my experience, I don't think that you will have any problems. Our family of 6, only 2 under 9, had more food than we could eat. With two teenagers and DH, who like to eat, I was shocked. Depending on where we ate we ordered 5 meals for 6 and once 4 meals for 6 when sharing. (Not at buffets, family style or character, pre plated where sharing is not allowed). Sometimes they just weren't hungry. Amazingly in the morning, a piece of fruit, or granola bar was all anyone felt like for breakfast. And these are steak and eggs breakfast people. When we ate breakfast out, I made sure that dinner was lite. Keep track of where you plan to eat and when you eat and you will be surprised with how much food is leftover. We had enough food credits left over for the 24 hour drive home, snacks, drinks and sandwiches. The plan is amazing for our family but you do have to plan wisely to maximize the plan. Dessert is nice but we would never pay OOP and allow dessert twice a day for everyone. It is just to expensive. But we did "take " the dessert and use it as a snack later in the room. If it was inluded in the plan, I utilized the plan to the best of our advantage and most CM's were more than happy to assist me. They even gave me some of the suggestions. Good Luck!!!!

 

[aviva5675]

We just got back and there was tons of food. It was me, DH and DD14. We started out using credits for each of us and by the end we were splitting alot of meals. We had 4 CS credits left oer and 2 Snack. We did eat at 2 signature restaurants tho and that used alot of TS we couldve used elsewhere...The portions I thought were quite large, I cant tell if theyre smaller now, because we've only been once before, 4 years ago. I thought the plan was great, especially if you eat at non signature restaurants.

 

[tlriv5]

I had read those reports too. Our family of 5 (three DD's 8, 8 and 11) used everyone of our credits. Sometimes my DD11 and I would share a CS meal since she could order adult portions. We did have two TS breakfasts during our week, but we decided we would not do that next time. We liked having our TS for supper. For breakfast we would get something from the bakery at our resort or they had small boxes of cereal for my younger two and they all counted as snacks. We were at WDW for 7 days and we didn't pay any money out of pocket for food at all. We loved the DDP. This visit we happened to have it for free, but if it's not offered in '08 when we go again we'll definitely purchase

 

[mamamary]

Our family (me, DH, DS (9) and DD (7) used up all our credits too. The first day we didn't use any snack credits and I thought oh so this is how they start piling up. But then we starting using them at Bkfst and DS and DD liked getting ice cream during the day. On our last day I wish we had some left because we had a 5pm flight out. So we paid out of pocket that day (back to sharing drinks and not getting a dessert). You get spoiled on the plan.

 

[thunderbird1]

I think the DDP would be a great deal for a family like yours. Here's our story: dh (who likes to sleep in and eat 3 meals a day), me (can eat 1 big, sit down meal a day, but would rather grab a snack and get to the parks in the morning), dd 9 (again, can pack it away, but is also happy with a snack) and ds 3 (seems to live on air most of the time). We did 1 TS meal a day, usually dinner, and all 4 of us ordered a meal (it was just easier than trying to split meals and then figure out where to use the extra credits). The kids and I wanted to hit the parks in the morning, so most days we grabbed breakfast bars and were there at park opening (you could also use snack credits for boxes of donuts from the food court or pastries in the parks). Dh slept in, then went to the food court and used 1 CS credit for breakfast. We met up for lunch, dh got his own CS meal, and the kids and I split the other 2. We all shared the desserts. With this plan, dh got his 3 meals a day, the kids and I were never hungry, but also weren't usually too full to move, and there were still more than enough snack credits for treats every day.

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

A lot will depend on your families schedule. For us, we tend to stay in the parks later at night (usually until closing) and then sleep in the next day. Because of this, we usually ending up with a lunch/brunch as our first meal of the day. I then tried to make most of our ADR's about six hours later. That combined with a snack each day was more than enough food. We honestly never had to pay for any meal or snack o.o.p during the entire week. You'll find that having appetizers and desserts included with the meal will sustain you for a very long time.

 

[Ethan's dad]

We just got back, and we also found it way too much food. I was worried it wouldn't be enough, but we were always full!

One suggestion if you are worried about breakfast and are at a DVC resort, at Saratoga Springs they had a lot of foods as snack options, like a 6-pack of bagels, or english muffins, or a loaf of bread, or a big box of mini-donuts. I imagine other DVC reports have similar options in their counter service/grocery stores. So you can get some of that stuff for breakfasts if you want, and then have your counter service and table service meals in the parks.

 

[eliza61]

I also have a family that eats a lot (teenage football players, all over 6 ft and DH). We also eat a bit differently, we always have a 2 TS meals a day so for us it wasn't that there was too much food we just found the cs tickets were wasted because we are not big fast food eaters. We ended up paying op for our breakfast or preparing them in the room (dvc members). We definitely had way to many cs credits left at the end of the trip.

 

[saschab]

We've just returned and although it was alot of food (mostly because of the desserts), it did work well for us.

We rented DVC, and used gardengrocer for water/soda/breakfast foods. We had a quick breakfast in the room, and used most of our snack credits for our annual snackin' round the world in WorldShowcase.



We used CS for mid-day meals in the parks or at a resort, and used TS credits for our preferred late dinner times.

We have healthy appetites, but tend to be natural grazers.
Having a small fridge in our room made the DDP more manageable for our eating habits. It was nice to have a refrigerator to take any decent leftovers (especially desserts) back for a later snack.

Depending on the restaurant and our hunger level, we sometimes used only 2 or 3 CS credits at the parks, then picked up another CS meal at BCV's store for poolside sharing later in the day.

We actually left with 4 TS unused, as a problem at ESPN turned into our TS carry-out meal being free of charge. Again, the refrigerator was great, as DS grazed on wings the next day, during our late afternoon break. Considering our dinners were anywhere betwee 8:00 pm - 9:10 ADRs, that refrigerator made life so much easier for him.

We had a 2TS signature meal for each of us one night, and we also dined OOP for a fabulous dinner at BlueZoo in the Dolphin.

I haven't added things up yet, but it did turn out to work relatively well for us and I know we at least saved a few bucks plus the gratuity. YMMV.


Edited to add:

Not all CS meals are created equal...in AK I got a salad at that McD's type place that was somewhat smallish....at BCV's store, for the same CS credit my daughter got a huge chicken ceaser salad....I really noticed that your experience depends on the restuarant itself.