DDP: Which one?

[d0naldduck123]

Hello!

I'm a current grad student that's graduating in December of this year. So, for a graduation trip, I am planning a Disney World trip with my boyfriend. He hasn't been to Disney in 10+ years, so I'm managing most of the trip planning, but I wanted some advice on which dining plan to do.

Dates: either Dec. 21-25 or Dec. 24-28 (this is probably one of THE most crowded times at Disney, but this is the only time that both of us are available)

Resort: All Star Movies or Sports

I guess one of the biggest factors for this trip is cost seeing as I have loans to pay off once I graduate and whatnot. We'll be flying in, so we plan on staying on-property rather than offsite and renting a car. We're probably going to do 4 days in the parks including the day we arrive (1 day for each park). Since it's the holidays the parks will probably all be super crowded, so my dilemma is whether we should do the quick service dining plan or do the standard. I know the budget-managing side of me is telling me to do the QS, but the Disney-loving side of me says I've never done Character Dining before, so really want to try it out.

One thing I'm concerned about is that if we do the standard DDP we'd be more focused/allotting our time to dining, which takes away from time at the parks compared to doing a QS.
If we were there longer I'd be perfectly fine doing this, but since we're only there for 4 days AND since it's my BF's first time at the parks in over a decade, he wants to experience the parks/rides. I figured it's going to be a crunch trying to do all the parks in four days at Christmastime without worrying about dining...

If we do the QS plan, we'd be able to spend more time at the parks...and since BOG takes QS for breakfast and lunch that would be a nice special experience to have at MK, so I could do an ADR there for breakfast or lunch. Are there any other restaurants like BOG that can be reserved ahead of time and also take QS credits? Only BOG came to mind but I was wondering if there were any others?

And I guess the third option would be to forego DDP altogether and pay for meals out of pocket, which would let us do one (maybe two) character dining and budget the rest of our meals accordingly.

I was hoping to get some advice as to what the DISers thought! Any thoughts would be welcome!

 

[mamamelody2]

I would go with the third option of no dining plan as it is rare to save money with a dining plan, and those table service meals do take a lot of time out of the day. With only being there a few days, I would just do one character meal, and try to keep it in the parks so it doesn't take even more time out of the day for transportation to/from.

My husband and I are going on November and we will only get a dining plan if it's free. Otherwise, it just doesn't make financial sense for us. And we are going value, so it would be quick service. This will be out first time without the regular DDP, and are looking forward to not being tied to a certain place and time due to ADRs, and not taking so much time in restaurants.

 

[Faldred]

Two adults? I'm going to echo the recommendation to pay OOP vs. QSDP or basic DDP. Deluxe is the only plan that makes sense financially for adults-only, unless you're really working hard to optimize every credit.

Don't worry too much about table service taking away time from your trip, though, especially if it's once per day (at most). It's a chance to sit down and take a break during the busiest time of year, and even in late December, the air conditioning might be appreciated. (Depends on the day.) Plus, especially if you're doing character meals, it's all part of the "Disney" experience.

 

[uccats97]

I agree with both pp. Skip the dining plan altogether. You can eat QS when you want and if you want to make a few ADRs, like a BOG lunch and a character meal, you can do that at 180 days out even without a dining plan.

 

[uccats97]

Also, BOG breakfast is ridiculously expensive for what you get. I would suggest lunch there as it's much cheaper.

 

[d0naldduck123]

Thank you for all the replies and the insights! I'll definitely look more into dining costs OOP and skip the dining plan. It'll definitely give us more freedom planning our trip! I love having the disboard to help me plan trips

 

[GillianP1301]

For your situation, I think I would go with the OOP option as well and do a couple of TS restaurants. That's a good compromise between all QS and a TS every day. You'll still get to try a couple of character meals out, if that's a priority for you.

 

[tyandskyesmom]

I am a DxDDp lover but for only 4 days at a busy time when you have not been in a while, maybe not. However, I would absolutely not make dining time a factor in deciding necessarily. We were there over Christmas and New Years in 2015 and I will venture a guess that CS places from the time you walked in to the time you walked out were not much quicker than a TS with an ADR. Lines just to order were crazy long! We have all TS meals but once in a whole we'd head over near a CS for a bathroom break or to grab some ice water set out and it was a mad house in there!

With only having one day per park, you might be better off though, getting a good plan of CS you want to eat and actually plan times so you are getting in at off times...like as soon as lunch begins.

 

[d0naldduck123]

Thanks for pointing that out!