Dining Plan vs. DDE card

[rholloman]

Hello, this is my first post, however I've been around for about a month absorbing the vast amount of information.

We are a family of 4, myself, DW, DS6, and DS4, going to WDW Dec 17 - 23. This will be our first trip. I have booked the dining plan for our stay. It added approx $700 to the trip. We enjoy eating nice dinners, however I do not believe we can eat 4 apps, 4 entrees, and 4 desserts at a TS. Our eating habits will probably be either a small b-fast, CS (burger, fries, drink) and TS meal per day. Or a character b-fast, snack, TS meal on a couple days. I see the TS meal consisting of 2 kids meals, 2 entrees, and either 1 app or 1-2 desserts. DW and I also enjoy a few adult beverages during our meals.

I have read about the DDE card. I believe it offers a 20% discount for ANY food or drink on the resort. (Please correct me if I'm wrong) Should I stick with the dining plan and work within its limits, or should I purchase the DDE card and have flexiblity on the quantity of food ordered?

Would I save money using the DDE, or would I only gain flexibility?

 

[Cheshire Figment]

First of all, DDE is only available to Annual Passholders and/or Florida Residents.

Basically the DDE is valid for almost all table service or buffet restaurants in the parks and resorts (except Japan). It is valid for counter service/food courts in Animal Kingdom and those resorts (value plus POFQ) tha do not have table service. It is also valid for the lounges in the deluxe resorts.

It giives 20% discount on all food and beverage, including "adult" beverages, as well as the related sales tax.

Of course, if youhave an AP or are a Florida resident at that time frame you can probably get a discounted room instead of paying full rate.

 

[robinb]

First of all,
Welcome to the DIS!!!

Here is a thread that explains how the dining plan works:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=820709

With two small children you may want to consider pooling their credits with yours and doing a 2 credit Table Service dinner show and then paying for one or more of their meals at a 1 credit TS restaurant. At 4 and 6, they may even be able to share a meal and your apps & dessert, cutting the costs even more.

Here is a complete list of where DDE is accepted:
http://allearsnet.com/din/dde.htm

I am an annual pass holder and I am planning to use both the dining (it was free when I booked) and my DDE card for 20% of kids meals and beverages.

 

[aubriee]

I'm an AP holder with DME. I used the DME card this past January when I took my son and GD to WDW and it easily paid for itself that trip. I went back solo in May and used it again, eating alot of TS, whereas if I hadn't had the DDE I probably would have eaten more CS. However I was also able to use my AP for those trips to get room discounts. In September I'm going back, but booked the room at rack rate in order to get the free dining. I'll also be using my DDE card for any extras we buy (extra food or alcoholic beverages). The AP rate for Sept was significantly less than it was last January, but if the dining hadn't been free I still would have used that and my DDE for our Sept trip, as there is no way we each eat an appetizer, entree, and dessert at every TS. I'm going back in Dec and hope to us an AP discount for the room, but then again if Disney were to decide to offer free dining again, I'd stay at a value resort, pay rack rate, and do the dining again. But again only if it was free, as there would be too much food for each of the TS meals. I wish they would do a different meal plan where each person could get a pastry and drink for breakfast, a CS for lunch, and a TS for dinner that included just an entree and drink. That I would pay for.

 

[rholloman]

Thanks for the responses. I misunderstood the requirements for the DDE card. Since I am not an AP holder, nor a Florida resident, the DDE option becomes mute.