DDP won by a lot for us...

[ckmommy]

Just got home and added up our receipts. We saved $274 by eating on the dining plan. That was even by not maximizing all the credits--using snacks for water and buying inexpensive CS breakfasts. Now, if paying OOP we would not have gone to all the restaurants or eaten near the amount of food we did--plus we brought home snacks from Goofy's Candy store for our neighbors. For us it was a win to not have to think about what we were eating or asking the kids to only eat certain inexpensive things.

 

[Lisa F]

Just got home and added up our receipts. We saved $274 by eating on the dining plan. That was even by not maximizing all the credits--using snacks for water and buying inexpensive CS breakfasts. Now, if paying OOP we would not have gone to all the restaurants or eaten near the amount of food we did--plus we brought home snacks from Goofy's Candy store for our neighbors. For us it was a win to not have to think about what we were eating or asking the kids to only eat certain inexpensive things.

the burning question is what is the profile of your family (how many adults vs. disney kids) and what kinds of places did you eat? I am doing the same calculus. I will save around $250... if I watched my spending carefully I might spend a bit less but not $250 less, so I am getting a lot more for what I would have spent anyway.

 

[Huff]

We generally save with DDP as well. The only buffet we eat at is Boma's. Typically we eat at Ohana, Kona, Coral Reef, San Angel, Wave and then vary from trip to trip on the remainder nights. Steaks and Seafood dishes are the most common ordered for us. That said, savings are not nearly as much as years back when DDP included appetizer and tip.

 

[Nancyg56]

There was a time when the DDP was a "no brainer" in terms of savings, but no more. But is it not the outrageous Monty pit that some people make it out to be either. TOday, families need to put time into their discount choices to be sure they make the appropriate decision, but depending on the family dynamic, you can still save using the DDP.

WE do not try to max our credits when we choose the DDP, and we still end up doing okay.

 

[ckmommy]

We have a big family. All of the kids are now considered adults, so we had 8 adults on the DDP. Being such a big family, we were only able to be there for 4 nights. Our TS credits were used on Cape May dinner, Chefs de France dinner, Ohana dinner and Chef Mickey's dinner. So, using these credits for dinner maximized the value. We ate at BOG for lunch, and 3 counter service lunches at our resort--Beach Club. The rest of the CS were used for breakfast at Beach Club marketplace and the last day at Earl of Sandwich. I paid $1920 for the DP and we spent $2194.52 after adding up all the receipts.

 

[loves to dive]

It does work for some people, for others not, but that's the great thing about it, there are choices. For us it doesn't work because we just don't eat that much food in a day, I'm a little woman and normally eat a kid's QS bfast and lunch and when we do TS I usually eat an appetizer and a salad or another appetizer for supper. Sometimes I may have a dessert but most times not. I rarely snack between meals, not anything about money or even being healthy, I just don't eat that much. My son, grown, is more of a muncher during the day. He rarely eats breakfast and likes to just grab a quick something most of the time, now he can eat like a horse and does when we eat TS but he also is not a dessert eater and prefers to have an appetizer, non salad type thing. For us it isn't even about saving money, we don't look at prices on menus and just order what we are in the mood for. We are not rich but I figure if I'm going out to eat, I'm eating what I want.

 

[VACamm]

My family always comes out ahead too... we are a family of 4. We always use up every single credit to the fullest!