DDP vs. DxDP

[persimmondeb]

We are planning for a trip next October to coincide with Food & Wine, and probably MNSSHP, and have been looking at various length-of-stays, dining plans, etc. We are likely to have six nights in Orlando (driving from PA), and are right now comparing spending all six at the beloved POR with DDP, and spending one night somewhere cheap off property (we'll leave PA at 3am and roll in somewhere about late dinnertime-completely fried), then four nights on DxDP, and the last night room only.

They're coming in around the same price, but I'm feeling the DxDP is probably a better value, since it gives me two more snacks, and the same number of meals but all TS, and including the appetizer. I understand that I can use them on check-out day until midnight, so I'm thinking I can spread them out for five days meals, and probably go for a signature or two. I'm trying to figure if the increase in value is worth the small amount of inconvenience. One of the members of the party is a teenage boy, so there really isn't such a thing as too much food, either.

 

[Faldred]

It sounds like you've done the appropriate legwork to figure out how things work out financially. It really does come down the issue of which method is better for the way you'd like your visit to go. If you prefer mostly TS (say, 2 per day with a couple of signatures/dinner shows thrown in), then DxDP would probably be worth the extra check-in/check-out hassle. If the 50/50 TS/CS split is more your speed, I'd stay with basic DDP and the single reservation.

 

[kmedina]

I love the deluxe plan and am doing it again this trip. The hassle of moving not once but twice on a short, six day trip coupled with many sit down meals (time consuming) will seriously cut into your park time. Not to mention that on your two non Disney hotel days (up until midnight on that last day), you will be on your own with dining. As much as I love the deluxe plan, I would choose the regular plan in this scenario. You will also save on tips and oop meals on the two non Disney hotel days.

I would not even choose the deluxe plan on any trip less than 7 days without a change in hotels. Taking 60-120 minutes per sit down meal out of your time, you almost need a week or more to make up for it. Do whatever suits your family best, but just remember even two sit down meals a day can take up to 4 hours away from your park time. If you did three (and I have), it can take up to 6 hours away.

 

[persimmondeb]

We aren't overly concerned about the time away from the parks, since while we do enjoy our park time, we had planned for only two park days, and possibly MNSSHP one evening. I had intended to do the last night room-only at POR, so while we do have to check in and out, we should not be driving all over Orlando in search of yet another motel room.

We would have to find ourselves dinner the first night, but what time we roll in is fairly up in the air anyway. The last day my only concern would be breakfast, since we are leaving pretty early to drive to South Carolina.

We also really like TS meals, and consider the dining a very big part of the experience. I am thinking likely one character breakfast, 5 dinners (at least one Signature), which gives me 4/5 credits to distribute between breakfast and lunch on 5 days.

 

[kmedina]

We aren't overly concerned about the time away from the parks, since while we do enjoy our park time, we had planned for only two park days, and possibly MNSSHP one evening. I had intended to do the last night room-only at POR, so while we do have to check in and out, we should not be driving all over Orlando in search of yet another motel room.

We would have to find ourselves dinner the first night, but what time we roll in is fairly up in the air anyway. The last day my only concern would be breakfast, since we are leaving pretty early to drive to South Carolina.

We also really like TS meals, and consider the dining a very big part of the experience. I am thinking likely one character breakfast, 5 dinners (at least one Signature), which gives me 4/5 credits to distribute between breakfast and lunch on 5 days.

We love table service too. If you are not concerned with park time and are not big fans on QS, it sounds like you already know what you should do. Have a nice trip with lots of table service meals! Since you only have two park days, I would advise against hoppers (to save money) unless you really want to see more than two parks this trip.

 

[persimmondeb]

Thanks! I am leaning towards that, but I had wanted to make sure there wasn't some disadvantage I had overlooked. DH really loves POR and had kind of wanted to spend our first night there, but it is SO much cheaper to stay off-property and we could be in quite late if we ran into traffic.

We don't really like to hop, so we hadn't planned on that. We had thought about water parks, and we might do that, but we do really like the pool at POR and would be happy to spend a day in it.