Disney Dining Experience Card for DVC Member Worth It?

[Mike&Kris]

Has anyone purchased a Disney Dining Experience Card? If so what are the benefits compared to the Dining Plan? Do you get a discount on the Dining Experience Card for being a DVC member? Is it worth it?

 

[extraredstuff]

I'm interested in this answer too..... I was able to purchase my DDE card for $50 since I have an AP. Most (but not all) restaurants give 20% discounts when you show the card/ID.

My card will be good through my next stay, but I'm wondering if DDP will save me more money in the long-run. I'll be watching this thread to see what others have to say.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

It is worth it to us. We saved enough to pay for the card from just one meal that our group had at the California Grill. We always eat dinner out while on vacation and the DDE card has saved us a lot of money over the past year by getting us a 20% discount on food and drinks at most disney restaurants.

HBC

 

[extraredstuff]

Check out this link, http://allearsnet.com/din/dde.htm, there's some updated info there about the DDE. It's still only available to Florida residents or annual passholders.

And it looks like the cost has gone up to $60 now for AP holders.

 

[mickeysbestfriend]

I've been a member of the DDE for seven years and it has definitely been worth it. When I lived in Florida it was a huge benefit since I was at the World 75 nights a year but just using it two weeks a year it is still a great savings. A lot of CM's buy the card even though they get a 20% discount already since the DDE covers adult beverages and is good for a large party. I use my card for breakfast at the golf course, after golf beverages and dinner. I used to go on the all inclusive Disney vacations and always felt to make it worth my while I had to eat even when I was not hungry. With the dining program I would still feel compelled to eat much more than normal and it does not include adult beverages.

Just my three cents (inflation adjusted)

 

[Chuck S]

As far as whether it will save you $$$ vs the dining plan...it did for us. It truly depends upon your individual dining habits. We normally have our TS meal for lunch, and rarely eat appetizer, entree & dessert all at one sitting. Our dinner is counter service. Opposite of most folks, but the crowds for the restaurants are much better this way. We saved about $150 with DDE vs what the dining plan would have cost us for a 9 day stay, 2 adults. Including a nice dinner at Cali Grill and a Candelight Pkg at Chefs de France. Sometimes we had 2 TS meals per day, and overall actually had more TS dining than the Plan would have allowed, and we still saved $$.

The DDE is not available to DVC members simply by virtue of being DVC members, the DDE is available to Annual Passholders and FL resident, nor is there a DVC disocunt on the DDE, there is a Annual Passholder discount. The price for AP holders is $60. Non-AP holder FL residents pay $85.

 

[unixadm]

We used it WITH the Dining Plan and it was WELL worth it!

If you drink alcohol then definitely!

We had wine or beer with dinner every night, paid for kids OOP for some meals, paid for some of our own meals OOP to save credits for signature restaurants, etc, and even had a night out without the kids and drank at the UK Pub....all of this got the 20% off.

We paid $50 for the DDE card last year and saved several times that even though we had the meal plan along with it.

Basically with 20% off, you get your money back when you spend $250 on food or drinks. Have a couple of bottles of wine, some beer, some kids meals, a few breakfasts, and you will hit that $250 (well, now $300).....then everything above and beyond that is real savings. If you are at WDW for 7 nights, you will most likely spend well over $300 on food and drinks, so there is a definite savings. If you have the meal plan, the savings depends on how you use the meal plan, if you do signature restaurants that use double credits, etc, if you drink alcohol, etc. In our case, we like some of the signatures, so we end up paying for some of the cheaper dinners OOP, or paying for the kids meals OOP to save on some credits. All of that gets the 20% off, so it adds up quick.

You basically have to look at what you expect to spend:

With $60 outlay for the DDE card, it takes $300 in food and drink to break even. Every $250 spent on food and drink after that will save you $50 OOP. If you got $800 in food/drink, then you would save $100 off of that in the end. (You would pay $640 for the $800 worth of food/drink, but have the original $60 outlay, so your end cost would be $700)

 

[MinnieGirl33]

We currently have the DDE card & think its been absolutely great! That being said, after our Jan. trip I saved all our receipts & did a fairly quick analysis to see if we would have saved more with DDP. When I compared apples to apples - places we paid OOP w/DDE that would have been DDP eligible - we were off by about $6 (in our favor).

That being said, you might want to consider:
1). How & where your family eats. Do you typically order appetizers & dessert or would you order them just because you were "entitled" to them w/DDP?

2). Do you like to go to places outside the world?

3). Do you like big breakfasts? If so I think you'd still end up paying OOP for them since you'd get more value from using your TS for dinner.

4). Are any of the restaurants you enjoy 2TS credits? (meaning you'd have to pay OOP for another meal)

5). Do you prefer to not have to keep track of anything while on vacation?

6). Do you enjoy adult beverages? (DDE discounts them but they are OOP on DDP yes?)

Everybody is different & has different needs. I think both are valuable.

 

[Mike&Kris]

How long is the card good for? Is it 1 year? Does the year start when you purchase it or when you first use it?

 

[MinnieGirl33]

Technically 1 year from date of purchase but when we got ours last year, we ordered ours on June 3 but have a July 31 expiration. Maybe to account for time to process the actual plastic card.

We ordered over the phone 5 minutes after we picked up the AP & picked up the confirmation letter at Epcot Guest Services that day (after 5) so we could use for dinner that night. FYI, if you are thinking of doing this remember that DDE is only open Mon-Fri.

 

[Mike&Kris]

So you can not use the card for discounts on Saturdays and Sundays? Is that correct?

 

[DisneyBaby!]

It's good for alcohol! Wah HOOOO! Bring on the wine. We are going to do the DDE, it seems to fit us better, and now it is an even BETTER deal. but want it to be good for next year as well. I read you could add it when you got to the parks or your hotel. We don't want to buy it now and have it expire before we go in '07 so we were going to wait. How do we do this.

 

[Glorydaz]

So you can not use the card for discounts on Saturdays and Sundays? Is that correct?

no, if I'm reading correctly, the card is good for one full year ( all days of the week) ..however, to ORDER the card, the DDE center is only open Mon-Fri..

...correct?

 

[JerJan]

So you can not use the card for discounts on Saturdays and Sundays? Is that correct?

NO, the office to order a card is only open M - F...you can use the DDE card any day of the week.

 

[Chuck S]

no, if I'm reading correctly, the card is good for one full year ( all days of the week) ..however, to ORDER the card, the DDE center is only open Mon-Fri..

...correct?

Correct, the card is good on weekends. There are some blackout dates for major holidays. Christmas, NYE, New Year's Day, Thanksgiving, etc.

 

[rinkwide]

We're sit-down snobs, we eat breakfast in the villa and then do table service for lunch and dinner (counter service is for tourists ). The DDE saved us a small fortune on our last trip, we got TS meals at a CS price.

I still can't believe it works on alcohol. That fact makes my visits extra magical.

 

[Mike&Kris]

Thanks everyone for clearing up my questions on the DDE. I think it would definately benefit us more than the dining plan. Now that we are DVC members we have to decide if we should trade in our 9 park days left that we had from previous vacations with no expiration for an annual pass? Should we do this for the benefits like getting the DDE? We usually go twice a year. Any thoughts?

 

[bobbiwoz]

As far as whether it will save you $$$ vs the dining plan...it did for us. It truly depends upon your individual dining habits. We normally have our TS meal for lunch, and rarely eat appetizer, entree & dessert all at one sitting. Our dinner is counter service. Opposite of most folks, but the crowds for the restaurants are much better this way. We saved about $150 with DDE vs what the dining plan would have cost us for a 9 day stay, 2 adults. Including a nice dinner at Cali Grill and a Candelight Pkg at Chefs de France. Sometimes we had 2 TS meals per day, and overall actually had more TS dining than the Plan would have allowed, and we still saved $$.

The DDE is not available to DVC members simply by virtue of being DVC members, the DDE is available to Annual Passholders and FL resident, nor is there a DVC disocunt on the DDE, there is a Annual Passholder discount. The price for AP holders is $60. Non-AP holder FL residents pay $85.

My question is about the Candlelight PKG at Chefs de France!! Do you mean we could have booked the package using DDE? I tried but was told NO!

Bobbi

 

[Muushka]

My question is about the Candlelight PKG at Chefs de France!! Do you mean we could have booked the package using DDE? I tried but was told NO!

Bobbi

We were also told no. Say it isn't so!

 

[Chuck S]

My question is about the Candlelight PKG at Chefs de France!! Do you mean we could have booked the package using DDE? I tried but was told NO!

Bobbi

No, the Candlelight Pkg could not be booked with DDE. The reason I mentioned it is that even paying full price at the highest tier restraurant for that meal, we still came out cheaper overall using the DDE during our trip than we would have using the Dining Plan. Actually, looking at the list, we saved about $100 vs. the Dining Plan, not $150.

It really depends on who makes up your party. If it is mostly adults with average appetites, you will most likely come out ahead with DDE. If you are large eaters, the DP may be for you.

For a complete list of what and where we ate (with prices) to compare, look here:


http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=980275&highlight=Chefs