Did you decide yes or no on the DDP?

[stitchntiggertoo]

We started planning our trip in September 2006, so now we're *almost* to the six-month mark where we can start making our reservations. Yay! We were planning on using the DDP, but now I'm having second thoughts. It just seems like too much food. Two appetizers, two entrees, two desserts and X snacks per day (I'm not sure how many off the top of my head). Plus the portions are huge.

How good of a deal is the DDP, really? DH and I could get away with ordering one appetizer, one entree and one dessert and splitting it between us. Our three-year-old is a snacker so she wouldn't eat a full meal. She'd graze periodically during the day. How much money would it cost us to pay out of pocket for all our meals? We'll probably do very few table service meals anyway.

You kinda sound like what my DH and I (well me, I get a look of disbelief when I suggest it) have decided to do. At first we weren't going to get the plan, but I was talking about it to other people and that used it. They told me it was great to have all your food paind up front and they wouldn't go without it. I was still concerned because I am a light eater and on a good day there is no possible way I can eat that much food. But looking back at roughly how much we would spent on food previously and what we would roughly spend this time. The cost (40/day/person) the benefit was too much too pass up. I have pretty figured that I won't get an appetizer and probably dessert too often. I plan on sharing my dh's (yes that's where the look comes in) appetizer and/or dessert. Even without getting my share of the food we are still doing better than what we would be without it.

having said that, however, you did mention a small child who is a light eater. If one person is on the DDP all have to get it. And children also have to order off the child's menu and from what I read if your child adores nuggets and mac and cheese then your set. You might want to get a realistic rough idea of how much you would spend without the DDP. Because it really sounds like that you and your child might be able to share most meals and the plan my not be suited for you.

 

[Katiebell]

I'd like to just add that it can be a great deal if you have picky eaters over the age of 10 AND your family tends towards buffet meals. You need to pay the adult price for them anyway. It hurts a lot less to sign off on the DDP credit than it does to pay $30 for them to eat that single chicken strip or meat ball. .....

Oh yes, absolutely...even though you know you paid $30 for that meat ball anyway! Yep, I am a big proponent of the buffet if you have kids 9 and under who want to order off the adult menus, don't like the kids' menus, or the kids' menus don't give them enough to eat. For $11 OOP or 1 TS credit, they can eat whatever the adults do, and have as much as they want. I would really struggle taking a kid 10+ who would hardly eat anything to a buffet and pay an adult price for them -- except that it's Disney, so the vast majority of character meals are going to be buffets or fixed price family style meals So if the rest of the family is going, and you want to see the characters, and you'd have to pay the full adult price for the single-chicken-strip-eaters, then oh, well, might as well be on the dining plan and get the CS and snack credits, too. Helps to lessen the sting, and the overwhelming urge to force feed them a second chicken strip

 

[LizinSTL]

Oh yes, absolutely...even though you know you paid $30 for that meat ball anyway! Yep, I am a big proponent of the buffet if you have kids 9 and under who want to order off the adult menus, don't like the kids' menus, or the kids' menus don't give them enough to eat. For $11 OOP or 1 TS credit, they can eat whatever the adults do, and have as much as they want. I would really struggle taking a kid 10+ who would hardly eat anything to a buffet and pay an adult price for them -- except that it's Disney, so the vast majority of character meals are going to be buffets or fixed price family style meals So if the rest of the family is going, and you want to see the characters, and you'd have to pay the full adult price for the single-chicken-strip-eaters, then oh, well, might as well be on the dining plan and get the CS and snack credits, too. Helps to lessen the sting, and the overwhelming urge to force feed them a second chicken strip

Exactly!!! I know a lot of people don't see the "value" in the buffets for the ddp but we had buffets or fixed price meals for 5/7 meals (and 2 of those were breakfast and lunch) and we still came out way ahead on the DDP....) even if my older dd had been a year older , and therefore paid adult prices, we'd have at least broken even on it. After tax and tip- those character breakfasts are $24. And a dinner buffet is $32.... it's hard to say that you won't spend the rest of the $$ those days on CS credits and snack credits to at least break even.

 

[ktink]

We love DDP. We had free dining in 2005 and our meal receipts were over $1500 w/ 2 kids. So this trip we were able to book w/ a PIN and saved 40% off of the room and we added DDP to our package. Now our oldest DD is soon to be 11 and considered an adult but the DDP cost us $762 for the 6 days and it ends up being a good deal for our family. There is alot of food but we didn't feel the need to eat it all, we had a few CS and snack credits left over but all in all it saved us $$.

 

[xoprincessmomxo]

I've never used the DDP before but will be next summer. I am so excited about it!!! When I was a child, I was lucky if we got to do one Character Breakfast and the rest of our meals were off-site. To us, eating out is spending quality time with the family, and the TS meals will give my girls a chance to get out of the hot sun and get their little bellies full, while my husband and I can get away from the hussle of the theme parks for awhile. And planning my ADR's has been the hi-light of my planning so far....In my small town, eating out is the local lounge and we're lucky if the food isn't burned. So yeah, The DDP WILL BE GREAT!

 

[Colleen27]

We started planning our trip in September 2006, so now we're *almost* to the six-month mark where we can start making our reservations. Yay! We were planning on using the DDP, but now I'm having second thoughts. It just seems like too much food. Two appetizers, two entrees, two desserts and X snacks per day (I'm not sure how many off the top of my head). Plus the portions are huge.

How good of a deal is the DDP, really? DH and I could get away with ordering one appetizer, one entree and one dessert and splitting it between us. Our three-year-old is a snacker so she wouldn't eat a full meal. She'd graze periodically during the day. How much money would it cost us to pay out of pocket for all our meals? We'll probably do very few table service meals anyway.

It really depends on how you eat. We like it, but we like to have one long, relaxing table service meal each evening, and that alone makes the dining plan cost-effective. It is a lot of food. We had a few appetizers/leftovers that we took to go, which works for us because our TS is almost always dinner and because I carry a backpack with an insulated bag inside anyway, but others might not find it practical or desireable. We didn't use all of our counter service credits, because we often shared meals earlier in the day, and we had so many leftover snack credits at the end of the trip that the kids were able to get mouse ear rice krispy treats on our last day to bring home to friends. But it was worth it because 3 of the 5 table service meals we had on that trip exceeeded the meal plan cost without even figuring in the counter service and snacks, much less the less tangible benefits of having all the meals for the trip prepaid and the freedom to try new places without keeping one eye on the price lists.

 

[schmoopypoo]

We decided to do it because I heard personally from others that they loved it. Especially my sister who has three young girls (3, 6, & 8). Our family has always been into having a nice family dinner together so this will work out great for us and will give us time to wind down a little (it'll be DD5's first time to Disney, so I'm sure we'll need this). Also, looking at how much me an DFi spent just on CS & snacks everyday, we knew it was right. But like others said, you know your family and your budget and how you want to spend your time, just go with your gut and don't feel pressured to definitely do it. Just factor everything in (cost, time, picky eaters ??) and go from there. Good luck and have fun!

 

[princesstigerlilly]

We aren't a DP family (but that may change some day, so I never say never).

I cannot argue that the DP is a TREMENDOUS value if you eat the way the plan wants you to, but we simply don't eat that way

Last year before we left, I went over the menus and compared what I realistically thought we'd order with how much the DP cost and it was about even (oop being a little less). I didn't care that for about the same $$ and DDP we'd be getting desserts at lunch and dinner as well as an appetizer because we'd never order or eat that much food (we'd have just told the waiters to skip the appetizers and almost all of the desserts with the DDP).

With both DDP and OOP being more or less "equal" we decided we'd like the freedom to spend our money the way we wanted to and not feel as if we had to spend credits because we had already paid for them. As it turned out we spent less than I had estimated because a couple of days we changed plans and ended up canceling the ADRs we had made. We liked being able to do that without a second thought.

People love the DDP, and like I said, I can certianly see the value in it. It's just not right for our family right now

 

[kdkbrebel]

We decided to go with the DDP, simply because there is no possible way we can not save money with it. I did the research in comparison to our trip in 03 food reciepts. That was four years ago so I am sure the prices have went up alot, and we by no means were full and only ate about 5 ts meals, our total receipts for then was 1,100 something this time for 9 ts meals plus the cs and snacks it is only costing us 1,050. Last time I policed every meal and snack and had to say no several times to various things. Just the idea of not having to do that is well worth it to me. as far as scheduling the adrs to me it is no problem as I love to plan anyway.

 

[Merriwind]

We just spent six days at WDW. I agonized over whether or not to buy the DDP, doing analysis after analysis. In the end, we didn't and I am so glad.

A--we don't eat the way the DDP wants you to. Even though we usually do a TS, a CS and a few snacks a day, we NEVER order appetizers or dessert. Our afternoon snack is our lunch dessert. Also, DD and I almost always share one CS meal.

B--we shouldn't eat the way the DDP wants you to. DH is a Type I diabetic and does not need to be putting away an appetizer, entree and dessert at any meal. He would do so had we already "paid for it." DD9 has IBS flare-ups from time to time and overindulging is a sure way to get her GI tract unhappy. I am 5'1", 105# and want to stay that size!

C--we prefer to eat our biggest meal at lunchtime at WDW. The crowds are much smaller at lunchtime and we like to have the rest of the day to walk off our big meal. Lunches are less expensive than dinners, so that cuts into the value of the DDP.

D--We like signature restaurants and places not on the DDP, again cutting into the DDP's value. We have DDE, which can be used at these places.

E--We actually saved money not being on the DDP. Yes, I said we saved money by paying OOP--and we ordered and ate everything that we wanted.

Our meals included:
Tea at the GF Garden View Lounge
Lunches at Chefs de France, Brown Derby and Biergarten
Dinner at Boma
CS at Columbia Harbor House, Tusker House, Kringla, Main Street Bakery and some golf course food.
Snacks including Dole Whip Float, Schoolbread, a ton of water, some pretzels, a couple of sodas, jellybeans, chocolate covered pretzels.
The only item I wanted that I didn't get was one of those frozen adult drinks in France. We were in France only in the morning or when full, so that didn't work out, but it wouldn't have been covered by the DDP anyway.

Our total cost was $330 for food.
The DDP would have cost us $445, plus we would have had to pay for the Tea OOP, as it is not on the plan. We would have had to pay for something OOP anyway, as Brown Derby, Chefs, Boma and Biergarten would have used our TS credits up. The tea was $51 using DDE. So, our total DDP cost would have been $496. Not getting the DDP saved us over $150--nearly 50% of our food cost!

Would we have been able to get more food on the DDP? Absolutely! We could have added appetizers and desserts to each TS. We certainly would have had many more CS credits than we used and possibly more snacks too. But, in the end, we ate just as we like to, had a great time and saved money not having DDP.

Now, if we had a teenage boy, I am sure our calculations could have been very different! Each family is different. If DDP works for you, terrific! It can be a great value. If you don't see the value, then don't feel pressured to get it. It's not for everybody.

 

[Vickie46]

no to dining plan...

 

[LoriNSC]

DDP is the only way for my family! It's nice to have a sit down table dinner where we don't have to worry about what to order due to cost. I added up our TS meals only for last year- $790 & I only paid $624 for the DDP. That was TS meals alone. We estimated w/ counter service meals & snacks, it was about $1,000. That was enough to convince us to do it again. We ate at really nice places. Definate YES from my family!!!