Dining plan or not - what will YOU do?

[mefordis]

I have had the ddp for the last several WDW trips. Last time we had the deluxe ddp and we were able to use our kids cs credits for adult meals. I think the kids CS meals are very low quality (ex: chicken nuggets are those processed chicken ones, not like the adult ones with real breast meat).

This year I will not pay for the DxDDP and I am rethinking the ddp altogether.

What will you do on your next trip? DDP or not?

I figured out the cost and for the food we will get on the ddp it will be about break even. DDP would probably save $50 BUT we will have to pay oop for some restaurants that we lack enough credits for.

 

[mommyof3princess27]

I have had the ddp for the last several WDW trips. Last time we had the deluxe ddp and we were able to use our kids cs credits for adult meals. I think the kids CS meals are very low quality (ex: chicken nuggets are those processed chicken ones, not like the adult ones with real breast meat).

This year I will not pay for the DxDDP and I am rethinking the ddp altogether.

What will you do on your next trip? DDP or not?

I figured out the cost and for the food we will get on the ddp it will be about break even. DDP would probably save $50 BUT we will have to pay oop for some restaurants that we lack enough credits for.

We are getting the deluxe dining plan. I like having everything paid for already. It fits our family

 

[CatNipRules]

Another vote for the Deluxe Dining Plan. I too love having everything paid for in advance and my family can really eat. So it makes sense for us. I know that not everyone feels the same, but for us it's a no brainer really.....

 

[Maggie'sMom]

I'm paying OOP for dining this year rather than doing a dining plan. We barely broke even last time, and I agree with you regarding the quality of the kids' meals. I found myself sharing part of my meal with DD while hers went uneaten. Also, I decided I didn't want to do as many TS meals this trip. We will be there 10 days and I only have 6 ADRs scheduled. My plan is to buy a gift card in the amount that I would have spent on the DDP. It'll be interesting to see at the end of the trip if I have money left over on it or if I run out before the end.

 

[mefordis]

At the end of my last trip I vowed to do this -- buy a gift card for the amount. However now that I am going over my plans, it looks like we will need more credits than the regular ddp gives us, plus with the kids meals being lousy.... I'm now rethinking everything and I might go with the dxddp.

My husband will be joining us half way through the trip and we could spend some credits on him if we got the dxddp, too.

I'm paying OOP for dining this year rather than doing a dining plan. We barely broke even last time, and I agree with you regarding the quality of the kids' meals. I found myself sharing part of my meal with DD while hers went uneaten. Also, I decided I didn't want to do as many TS meals this trip. We will be there 10 days and I only have 6 ADRs scheduled. My plan is to buy a gift card in the amount that I would have spent on the DDP. It'll be interesting to see at the end of the trip if I have money left over on it or if I run out before the end.

 

[WillAustin]

We are going with the DxDP this summer. Most days we will do a signature dinner or 2 credit show and a TS breakfast or lunch.

 

[Colleen27]

We're trying a no DDP trip this time. We really liked the all-inclusive feel of the DxDDP but with my youngest now counting as a child despite not liking "kid food" and my middle child now an adult despite a tiny appetite I just can't make the plan work out any more. Even the basic DDP (free) wasn't a good fit on our last trip.

May is a semi-budget trip anyway, so we're skipping the plan knowing that we'll share some meals, just have appetizer & dessert, and otherwise eat a little lighter. We'll see how that works out.

 

[PaulaSB12]

I am staying at disney with the free dining plan upgraded to the deluxe for 14 nights. We currently have the same offer for next year so I am going to book it again for next year (apart from the fact of which hotel to choose (Wilderness Lodge, AKL or contemporary)

 

[honeymo78]

At the end of my last trip I vowed to do this -- buy a gift card for the amount. However now that I am going over my plans, it looks like we will need more credits than the regular ddp gives us, plus with the kids meals being lousy.... I'm now rethinking everything and I might go with the dxddp.

My husband will be joining us half way through the trip and we could spend some credits on him if we got the dxddp, too.

If you aren't getting the dining plan for your husband, you can't use your credits to pay for his meals. Getting the plan for him when he won't be there the whole time seems like a waste of money and credits. Once he joins you, If your card says 1 adult, you aren't going to be able to purchase more than one adult meal at a time.

 

[mefordis]

If you aren't getting the dining plan for your husband, you can't use your credits to pay for his meals. Getting the plan for him when he won't be there the whole time seems like a waste of money and credits. Once he joins you, If your card says 1 adult, you aren't going to be able to purchase more than one adult meal at a time.

Our rooms are linked on one reservation so it says 2 adults, 2 children. Once I add him for the entire time it will say 3 adults, 2 children. We will use some of his credits for sig meals before he arrives a few days later.

 

[goodferry]

We have gone both with and without the DP and while I like the freedom of having the TIW card and eating when and where we want, DH has issues with ordering what he wants without it being pre-paid. So this next trip we are using the DXDP again. We have never used a credit on the deluxe plan on a counter service location, though, that isn't a great use of credits and we prefer sit down meals. We usually do one signature and one regular sit down meal a day to use our credits.

 

[smiths02]

I have had the ddp for the last several WDW trips. Last time we had the deluxe ddp and we were able to use our kids cs credits for adult meals. I think the kids CS meals are very low quality (ex: chicken nuggets are those processed chicken ones, not like the adult ones with real breast meat).

This year I will not pay for the DxDDP and I am rethinking the ddp altogether.

What will you do on your next trip? DDP or not?

I figured out the cost and for the food we will get on the ddp it will be about break even. DDP would probably save $50 BUT we will have to pay oop for some restaurants that we lack enough credits for.

You are only supposed to use kids cs credits for an adult meal when there is not a kids meal available at that location. (I know the credits are not pooled that way for Deluxe, but that is the policy)

 

[minijeanie]

I just made the decision to not do dining plan. My reasoning is that this trip will be an all adult trip and we are renting a car. With a car we can drive to dinner or lunch outside the parks and get a good meal at a conceivably lower price than eating inside. We are not doing character breakfasts or dinners this trip either.

The rack rate for moderates and deluxe just doesn't warrant plan for me. In the past I have used ddp and enjoyed it but I did have kids with me and was easier to eat in the park.

Maybe I am getting old, but omg the rates seem so much higher for everything in disney lately.. Does anyone know the percentage the ddp has gone up since implementation?

 

[mommyrosa2]

We are getting the regular DP on our next trip in August. We were fortunate to get a nice 35% pincode so that discount really offsets the cost of the DP for us

 

[jmkrat]

I started out with the Deluxe plan, then I got a big discount for my room. That was nice. I then decided I would use that same discount and upgrade to club level. So I could stay within my budget ( trip was already paid off) I went to reg. Dining. Not sure it is worth the money, but most of my meals are paid for before I go and that's a plus.

 

[tzeitel]

We just got back from 10 days on the DxDP and will not do it again. I loved it and would have made it work for us but we went with extended family and they did not want to do many TS meals and ended up going to the food court for lots of meals - I booked many signature and dinner shows and they still left with 13 meal credits on their account! We did good though and had just enough credits to have lunch on departure day and get sandwiches at EoS for the trip home

Next trip we are doing the free QSDP and I am thinking of upgrading to the DDP but would not go further than that. Still working out the numbers - we might just pay OOP for the TS we want.

 

[mefordis]

We just got back from 10 days on the DxDP and will not do it again. I loved it and would have made it work for us but we went with extended family and they did not want to do many TS meals and ended up going to the food court for lots of meals - I booked many signature and dinner shows and they still left with 13 meal credits on their account! We did good though and had just enough credits to have lunch on departure day and get sandwiches at EoS for the trip home

Next trip we are doing the free QSDP and I am thinking of upgrading to the DDP but would not go further than that. Still working out the numbers - we might just pay OOP for the TS we want.

Did you figure out what you paid for the dxddp vs how much you would have paid oop? Did you lose all that much $$ by getting the dxddp?

Thanks for sharing your experience!

 

[SherriW92]

We have decided against the meal plan-unless some awesome deal comes out. Our girls are 15--so we would be buying it for four adults (one of our girls is a vegaterian). We are also traveling with extended family and I think it would be too much of a pain to coordinate each day. I also don't want to feel like I am a slave to my meals (same reason we aren't doing reservations). It worked for us last time to just grab a bite when hungry.
Also, when we are on vacation, we aren't big eaters. Breakfast, snack while back at the room in the afternoon and dinner.

 

[Bumble Giggles]

We won't be using the dining plan when we go in 2013....I love the idea of the dining plan and not having to worry about food cost it just wasn't practical for our family. We are a military family and to get the dining plan we'd have to give up the discount we can get for being military. Those discounts save us so much that we can't justify giving them up to just get the dining plan.

 

[Cuddlemama]

We're going to be doing the DDP again, for at least part of our next trip.

There are 6 people in our family (5 Disney adults, 1 Disney kid- but the Disney kid has food allergies/celiac), and each wanted to pick a restaurant.

When I added the cost of the 6 meals chosen (Cape May, Boma, Crystal Palace for Dinner, O'Hana, Coral Reef, and Garden Grill) paying cash, versus paying with TIW card, versus using the DDP it was kind of silly NOT to get the DDP.

The difference between the cash cost of those 6 meals and the TIW cost is under $40. ((We ALWAYS have automated gratuity, so gratuity is the same each way.)) The difference between TIW and DDP for 6 nights that include these restuarants is under $500.

That means that we get 6 counter service, 6 snacks per day and our mugs for under $100 a day. For our family, it's gonna cost more than that out of pocket so we're better off with the plan.

The trip is going to be 14 nights, though, so we're strongly considering a split stay with cash or counter service for 8 nights and the DDP for 6. We're lucky enough to be DVC, so that's still possible.