Did the DDP save you money?

[Becky_Boop]

We are trying to decide whether or not we should get the DDP for our next trip. We don't need all the appetizers and desserts, plus one member only eats breakfast and dinner. Still, we like a lot of table service and character meals. Did the DDP save you money?

 

[bicker]

Unfortunately, it's no easier to tell whether the Dining Plan saved you money after your trip than before it. That's because, after your trip, you really don't know that much better what you would have spent without the Dining Plan. You really are as well-armed with information before your trip as after it, in that regard.

 

[Sammie]

I have to disagree with Bicker on this one. We definitely knew after we used it we saved money.

We know before we arrive where and what we will eat. Even before I purchased the plan, using the menus for the Disney restaurants and knowing what we would order, I had a ball park idea of how much the savings would be.

After we went I knew exactly. Certainly if one is a first time guest and does not know for sure where one will eat or what one might order it is harder to tell. For us it was very simple.

 

[bicker]

Sorry if I was unclear. I didn't mean to say that you wouldn't know whether you saved money or not, after your trip. I only meant to say that you wouldn't know better afterwards as compared to beforehand.

I think the distinction you're making, Sammie, is lost in the noise: Having the Dining Plan has to have an impact on your decisions (as long as you're human ), so knowing, after the trip, where you had eaten when you were on the Dining Plan doesn't necessarily provide that much additional insight into where you would have eaten if you weren't on the Dining Plan.

Having said all that, I have to grant that what I'm saying probably is true only for repeat guests. First timers are probably utterly unaware of where they really would eat until they've been there.

 

[Delaware Mike]

Sorry if I was unclear. I didn't mean to say that you wouldn't know whether you saved money or not, after your trip. I only meant to say that you wouldn't know better afterwards as compared to beforehand.

Sorry, one would know better after-the-fact. One can make an assumption beforehand concerning a cost savings. Only after-the-fact can one know their assumption was confirmed. The confirmation would not be lost in any white noise...

 

[pixiechick]

I'll let the men debate semantics and give you a straight answer.

Yes, we saved money. There were some desserts and snacks we would not have purchased normally. Even discounting those, we saved money.

The only gray area is that we occasionally eat sit down lunches instead of dinners. Lunch is typically much cheaper than dinner. So our savings would have been less.

We saved about $300 for three adults over the course of 6 nights. Taking the variables into account, at minimum our savings still would have been over $100.

 

[jdtopgun71]

I didn't do any calculations after we came home, but I would have to say you definitely save money on the plan. Could you save money by not eating on the plan? Definitely, because many folks might not choice to eat at a Le Cellier if not on the plan. The plan gives people a chance to experience more restaurants than they might normally.

 

[WAHMto5]

It saved us a bunch! We will never go to Disney without it!!

 

[BigDogMom7]

We were there on the DDP from 7/5 to 7/12/06. The plan cost the three of us $798 for 7 days. I saved every receipt and made notes of what the OOP cost would have been (yes, it's compulsive, but I'm an accounting professor, and I was curious!). In order to determine the OOP cost, you have to pay attention when they bring the bill, or when they ring it up if it is CS, because the final receipt you get often does not show the cost, but simply says "QSR package plan" with $0.00 by it. Anyway, when we got home I added everything up and it totaled just over $1,100. I do know that we made different eating choices because of the plan. We ate at Le Cellier (best dinner ever!), for example, and never would have if not for the plan. My summary is that we spent about what we would have spent anyway, but got to eat at more expensive places and had fun doing it. We'll do the plan again next time .

 

[Becky_Boop]

I'll let the men debate semantics and give you a straight answer.

Yes, we saved money. There were some desserts and snacks we would not have purchased normally. Even discounting those, we saved money.

The only gray area is that we occasionally eat sit down lunches instead of dinners. Lunch is typically much cheaper than dinner. So our savings would have been less.

We saved about $300 for three adults over the course of 6 nights. Taking the variables into account, at minimum our savings still would have been over $100.

 

[cdpa4d]

I've done the math for our upcoming October trip. We are actually going to save a bit more (not much at all) using the Disney Dining Experience vs. the Disney Dining Plan.

What makes the DDE even more appealing is the fact that it is more flexible than the DDP. We don't have to eat all of those table service meals. Let's face it the DDP is a lot of food. Using the DDE allows you to eat how much you want. Also, alcohol is included in the DDE.

 

[cvs2kids]

My summary is that we spent about what we would have spent anyway, but got to eat at more expensive places and had fun doing it. We'll do the plan again next time .

I agree. Without DDP, we'd be eating mostly CS, with only 1-2 TS meals. The DDP commits you to the better resteraunts.

 

[tricia]

When I go to WDW, or any holiday, I like to have TS for dinner just about every night. (Someone serves me, instead of me serving DH, and DSs). Breakfast is traditionally a muffin, or cereal from the Food court or grocery store. Lunch is generally CS meal (no dessert)


The DDP works well and saves quite a bit of money for me with this eating pattern. I have receipts from previous WDW trips, where dinner at Le Cellier alone was over $75 for 2 of us (7 years ago), no alcohol, 1 appetiser, 1 dessert.

The DDP would cost 2 of us $80/day, and would include that TS, a CS and a snack (or breakfast). Works very well for us, and we get a little more food than we would normally order. (Although we still do not always order what we are entitled to, last time we ordered 3 appetisers for 4 of us usually)

 

[#1 Pocahontas]

We haven't used ours yet, we leave in November. However I have sat down and done the math a few time per the menu prices on allears.

We are spending about $150 more than what we usually would spend. That is because we mainly eat CS meals with one or two character meals. However, we would be spending a lot more than just that extra $150 for all the TS meals we are getting if we had to pay out of pocket for them. So we decided to go ahead and enjoy TS meals for once during our trip. It's still more than we would normally have spent but we would never being doing all of these meals without it. So I guess in the end we are technically saving money.

I also like that you get to pay it off in slowly advance. No worrying about having enough spending money to take for food.

 

[jenr812]

We saved a LOT last July when we used it. I think it was just under $700 saved. AND we thoroughly enjoyed it! Without the DDP, we wouldn't have eaten nearly as well as we did and we would have been watching prices on the menu, etc. It was so nice to relax and order what we wanted (the kids too!) and desserts each night if we wanted. It was a nice opportunity to try different appetizers that I would never have tried without the DDP. We will use the DDP as long as its offered

PS We had 6 nights worth of credits, but we ate at 7 TS restaurants, including 1 (2) credit place, so we paid OOP for 2 buffet meals for our kids so they could use their credits at more expensive meals. We did NOT use those saved credits for adult meals. Just wanted to clarify since I know that's a hot topic here I believe the way we did things is perfectly acceptable to anyone but then again I could be wrong.

We used our TS at:
BOMA (paid OOP for 2 kids)
Ohana (paid OOP for 2 kids)
California Grill (2 credits)
Concourse Steakhouse
Donald's Breakfastasaurus
Crystal Palace Breakfast
1900 Park Faire

 

[Sammie]

Sorry if I was unclear. I didn't mean to say that you wouldn't know whether you saved money or not, after your trip. I only meant to say that you wouldn't know better afterwards as compared to beforehand.

I think the distinction you're making, Sammie, is lost in the noise: Having the Dining Plan has to have an impact on your decisions (as long as you're human ), so knowing, after the trip, where you had eaten when you were on the Dining Plan doesn't necessarily provide that much additional insight into where you would have eaten if you weren't on the Dining Plan.

Having said all that, I have to grant that what I'm saying probably is true only for repeat guests. First timers are probably utterly unaware of where they really would eat until they've been there.

Sorry but the only part I am understanding is the last paragraph. Not that it matters of course.

I know we really like the DDP, we know it saved us money.

Of course I guess what you might be saying is if one was not on the plan, would one eat the exact same meals and the exact same food.

For us the answer would be Yes. We are all creatures of habit. We eat at the same places year after year and unless the items has been dropped, order the same thing. I know boring, to some but comfort to us.

 

[Leigha]

If you care enough, it's easy to know if it will save you money or not. Just examine the menus and tally up what you would eat if you were not on the DDP. That includes breakfast in the room or none at all etc. Compare that to what the DDP costs and you have your answer. We too like a lot of character and sit down dinners so the answer was easy!

 

[Becky_Boop]

If you care enough, it's easy to know if it will save you money or not. Just examine the menus and tally up what you would eat if you were not on the DDP. That includes breakfast in the room or none at all etc. Compare that to what the DDP costs and you have your answer. We too like a lot of character and sit down dinners so the answer was easy!

We tried this, but we used the cost estimates for each restaraunt on the Disney World website. According to this, we'd save around $400, but it was very hard to tell.

 

[jenr812]

Don't forget that tax and tip are included in the DDP when adding up those meal costs

 

[Sammie]

We tried this, but we used the cost estimates for each restaraunt on the Disney World website. According to this, we'd save around $400, but it was very hard to tell.

You can go to Allearsnet and look at the menus and figure the exact cost and add the tip and tax.