DDP worth it for our family? 2 adults and 4 kids (9 and under)

[Stltaxgirl]

This will be our first trip WDW. We are 2 adults and 4 kids (ages 9, 7, 4 and 1). If we did the DDP, obviously we'd only have to pay for 5 of us (little guy would be free). I keep going back and forth on whether the DDP is worth it or if we are better to just pay OOP. A little background: My 9 year old eats like a full grown adult. The 7 and 4 year old typically share meals at restaurants today. That might change, especially as my little guy gets older and requires more food. Usually 2 kids meals will satisfy those 3. I definitely see us stopping for food often so that we can take breaks and it always seems like my kids are hungry.

Thoughts?

 

[sharonabe]

This will be our first trip WDW. We are 2 adults and 4 kids (ages 9, 7, 4 and 1). If we did the DDP, obviously we'd only have to pay for 5 of us (little guy would be free). I keep going back and forth on whether the DDP is worth it or if we are better to just pay OOP. A little background: My 9 year old eats like a full grown adult. The 7 and 4 year old typically share meals at restaurants today. That might change, especially as my little guy gets older and requires more food. Usually 2 kids meals will satisfy those 3. I definitely see us stopping for food often so that we can take breaks and it always seems like my kids are hungry.

Thoughts?

There are so many variables here. With that many Disney kids, chances are it will be a good deal for you, but you need to be honest about a few things.

How do you like to eat when you're on vacation? Do all of you like soda, tea, coffee, milk with your meals or are you water drinkers? Will the adults like having an alcoholic beverage with their meals? Do you want to do some of the character buffets? Do you want just one sit down meal a day or would you like more than one? The 9 yr old will have to eat kid's meals at the sit down places, but can order adult meals at the walk-up and order places. Are kid's meals at TS going to be enough for them?

The BEST way to decide on a plan is to FIRST go look at the restaurants and menus and decide where and what you WANT to eat. Pretend that money is no object. Pick your restaurants and then pick what you WANT to eat with no regard to price. Then do the math and see where you are.

 

[twoolle]

We also have 4 kids 9 and under! Back when we stayed with free dining I kept all the receipts and we came in lower than if we had actually paid for the DDP...meaning we didn't get our money's worth but it was "free". Last year we took our first trip without "free" ddp, did 3 TS meals, including mickey's backyard BBQ and spent $950 in food for 6 nights. That's was less than what the DDP would have cost us. Also, with kids as little as ours we prefer not to do a sit down meal every day. Just 2 or 3 per trip suits us just fine. It's hard having to manage them all and constantly be rushing to get to the next fastpass or meal so it's nice to take it easy on the sit downs.

And @sharonabe gave great advice!

For our next trip we have 2 rooms at Pop and booked QSDP for just 1 room. We will split those credits all week and do 1 or 2 TS meals out of pocket. We find that we are rushing around and too busy to eat 3 meals a day! But we do keep plenty of snacks in the room.

I also have a free dining trip booked just in case...2 rooms at Pop and I upgraded just 1 room to regular DDP for $200. We will split those TS meals throughout the week and do 3 or so TS. That's about perfect for me.

 

[Nancyg56]

This is how I would plan.

Book the meals you want. Do not consider them DDP worthy or not, just plan you dining. Look at TS and CS meals and think about how you want to eat on a WDW vacation. Make the list, and then go to the website and cost the meals out as best you can. Add snacks if you would buy them, don't add them if you do not usually eat in between meals. When you do the math, then you know what makes sense financially.

I generally purchase the plan, but I know my family.
I woudl not book any plan and then work backwards to make your dining fit.

 

[Dakota731]

Last trip we did tons of character meals so we came out ahead so depends where you like to eat.

 

[drdrowsy]

if you're planning on doing frequent character meals or buffets, DDP usually saves a lot when there are kids involved (price of one child's buffet can be more than the daily price of a kids DDP)

 

[lovewdwdvc]

I cannot imagine 3 sit down meals which I think are needed to make DDP worth while. It takes lots of time to eat that many TS meals.

 

[jvalic33]

I cannot imagine 3 sit down meals which I think are needed to make DDP worth while. It takes lots of time to eat that many TS meals.

We do it and we love it. We actually look forward to our sit down meals. They are our much needed breaks throughout the day, especially with all the kids. Yes, there are times when we feel a bit rushed because something doesn't go as planned but we no longer stress it. Also, when I was nursing, I could relax, in AC, nurse, hide behind a napkin and my little one would almost invariably take a nap while I got to enjoy a relaxing sit down meal.

We almost always do a table service breakfast or one of the few buffets that we love and we book it early and then head into the parks. BTW - I too have lots of kids but they LOVE to eat and no matter what most restaurants tell you, they WILL let you order off the adult menu. My 3 year old loves lobster and ate it at every single restaurant that would let her and she did finish the whole thing.

You can sometimes skip a mid day meal or breakfast and instead do a Signature dining reservation instead which I think many families with multiple kids avoid, but my kids are awesome in restaurants and where else can you go to a really wonderful and "fancy" restaurant totally guilt free with multiples.

Some of our favorite meals for our kids and my husband and I are the Disney Play and Dine in HS, the Brown Derby (Signature), any of the a la carte breakfast restaurants throughout the hotels (the food at those restaurants are AWESOME), if you go during food and wine you can use all your snack credits at the kiosks, Cali Grille (my 8 year old devoured my plate and her sashimi appetizer), Narcoosees - great lobster and crab cakes, Cindy's castle has a great breakfast, the dinner isn't as good as it used to be but a wonderful lunch break in MK, AK has Yak & Yeti and then we go somewhere else at night for a signature mean (don't get me started on Tiffins), and we love Monsieur Paul at Epcot for dinner. We find it works for us but we go to Disney to eat as much as we go to ride and play and relax.

 

[Nancyg56]

I cannot imagine 3 sit down meals which I think are needed to make DDP worth while. It takes lots of time to eat that many TS meals.

The dining plans cover two meals a night, not three per day. WIth the exception of of the DxDDP. With that plan we still only have two meals per day, using two credits for our dinner.

 

[senadler]

It really depends what you plan to do. With kids that age I would be planning a character meal nearly every day. The kids love it and it is a great way to meet characters without spending the time in the parks.

That said, do what others have suggested. Plan what you think you will do and check the cost OOP versus the DDP. With three kids on the plan you are probably in the sweet spot where the plan does make sense.