We went back and forth on this same issue for weeks before deciding to add a DDP. As you can see from the wide range of responses everyone has a different opinion of what works for their family.
This is our first trip to Disney and we finally came to the decision that the DDP is about 1) enjoying our dining experience on vacation (dessert!) and 2) convenience. We are doing three character meals and plus the BOMA buffet at our hotel (AK). In the "real world" we would never pay these prices for our child to eat out, but we are at WDW and we view it as paying for the character interaction.
My husband is a number cruncher and determined that for us it made sense on this trip because of the number of character meals and special events we are celebrating. However, on future trips, we will preload a gift card and just pay as we go.
Yes these are our reasons for the DP as well. I have an almost 13 yr old boy who CAN EAT! we love desserts with our meals (we DONT do apps, never have). And i love the fact that the meals are paid upfront! Bonus! Plus we love the snack credits.We are using DDP for the 3rd time in June. It works best for us because:
1. All meals... snacks... and desserts are all paid for up front.
2. We have a teenage boy and a preteen boy who eat a LOT!
3. Cupcakes are snack credits in the parks
4. My husband and teenage son tend to order steak in every restaurant which is normally.the most expensive item on the menu.
5. We always book DDP... if its free thats even better!!
goofyintoronto said:Yes these are our reasons for the DP as well. I have an almost 13 yr old boy who CAN EAT! we love desserts with our meals (we DONT do apps, never have). And i love the fact that the meals are paid upfront! Bonus! Plus we love the snack credits.
My advice, if you're going to look up the menus to see if it's worth it, try hard to not get caught up in that. Try to think about what and how much you'd really want to eat at any given meal. If you love steak and want to eat that at every meal, plus always have room for dessert, it might be a good plan for you. If you're a lighter eater or a salad and chicken fan, maybe not so much?
It's very much a "how do you like to eat" question. If you normally expect three meals a day, have desserts at lunch or dinner, and want/expect those meals to be all Disney every day, then the DDP could be a good fit for you. If you depart from that appreciably, say you eat lighter breakfasts and maybe only one other "sizable" meal the rest of the day while in the parks, paying OOP may be a better plan.
All I can offer is for my family, OOP works best. We're planning light breakfasts in room all but two days, and the heat generally keeps us from getting hungrier for two full meals later in the day, so we plan on a late lunch or early supper, and we normally don't do that many desserts. Add that up, and OOP is a fairly decisive winner for us.
All that is to say do some planning, add it up, YMMV, and have a good time
tinkerbella16 said:We love the DDP, but then again we have never paid for it since we travel during free dining. Not sure if they will release it this fall so I booked our trip with the Regular Plan anyway and will pay out of pocket. I do think it is worth it.. I like the idea of having everything paid for in advance whether I am paying for it or Disney is. We may not eat that much in "the real world" but dining in disney is part of the experience for us. We can go to restaurants that we may not go to if we didn't have it. We can do character meals without worrying about costs. We love Hoop Dee Doo so that is nice being able to just use our credits for it. Everyone feels differently about DDP so you will get a lot of mixed reviews.
danceintherain: I don't believe the people who claim the DDP saves them money actually tried to figure it out in a systematic way. I think they just look at the prices for steak and assume it does. I thought I needed the plan because I have three expensive restaurants reserved for my trip. The double point deduction actually makes these places WORSE to use on the plan! (You're wasting points by using your plan on a 2 point restaurant vs. two 1 point restaurants if the combined bills of the 1 point places are more than the 2 point one, and they usually are.)
I also think part of the logical fallacies going on in people's heads is the idea that they need the plan so they can pay for everything up front. There's a card game called "Let It Ride" where the players have to put up three bets and then have the option to take some away as the game progresses. You'd think it would be no different if the rules were put one bet down and add more bets as the game goes on, but it's not. There's something about the human brain that resists changing the initial bet. Similarly, even though it's cheaper to pay OOP, people want to give all the money up front because it forces them to buy meals they wouldn't have if they had to face the bill each time. This is crazy, because these people are willfully trying to trick themselves to spend beyond their wishes. This benefits Disney rather the customer but instead of balking at it, they see it as a feature of the "service." OOP purchases are done with your room key and list of payments is provided at the end of the trip, so I don't get the "sticker shock" claim. I honestly don't have an explanation about the cognitive dissonance about how the DDP is supposed to be easier. I don't understand how having to track your meals to use up points makes things easier.
If anyone has an itinerary that is cheaper with one of the dining plans, please post it. It would be interesting to see an example where the plan works and works to be significantly cheaper than OOP.