Disney Dining Experience Card

[ddawg]

Is the Disney Dining Experience card worth the money? Is there anyone who regrets buying it? You have to spend $300.00 to get your money back. How many dinners is that if you don't drink?

 

[SqueakyMouse]

It has saved us a HUGE amount of money! In fact, we got the price of our card back within 3 days of our visit last May. There are 5 of us (although 1 was under 3 until very recently), and we enjoy one TS meal a day. We also have grown adept at maximizing our savings. Keep in mind that the DDE card is good at resorts that do not have a TS restaurant. Thus, we used it for drinks, snacks, and breakfasts during our stays at the values. When we were deciding whether or not to stay at POFQ or POR during our upcoming March trip, being able to use the DDE card at the food court POFQ finally tipped the scale towards this resort. Also, the DDE card is good at Tusker House, Flame Tree BBQ, and Pizzafari in AK. These all are restaurants we enjoy, so we try to have lunches there. No, I have no regrets about purchasing the DDE card and will renew it despite the price increase and reduction in number of courts per that price.

 

[Allison]

There's no way to say how many dinners that is.

It depends on many factors

# of people dining
# of adults vs children
how much do you eat? Appetizers? desserts? salads?
which entree will you pick? the lowest priced? the highest priced?
How expensive are the restaurants you would like to eat at? Are they at the higher range?
How many table service meals will you do?

The best thing to do is to have an idea of where you will be eating, take a look at the menus and come up with an estimate of how much you would spend.

 

[mom2alix]

Just to give an example, we are travelling with a party of 5 adults, 1 child and an infant. On the CRT breakfast alone, we already saved $27. That's almost half the cost of the DDE recovered in one meal. It really just depends on where you plan to eat. Spending $300 on food at WDW is not difficult at all.

 

[byoung]

Last year we got our money back in 5 days in Jan. In May with family of 10 saved over $600 in 5 days.

 

[DonnaL]

It really depends on your eating habits, the size of your group, and how many visits you will use DDE during the year. For our family it's worth it because we will use it for three visits ( 12/05 with four adults, 10/06 with four adults again, and early 1/07 with probably six adults and l child). I purchased the card a few days BEFORE we left for WDW in December and picked up our temporary card at Epcot guest services as soon as we arrived. That way the card will still be good for us on our visit in 1/07 since if you order the card after the 7th of the month (I think it's the 7th) you actually get 13 months use from it. For four of us in December we saved a little over $100 for the week (after deducting the then $50.00 cost) I will say it prompted us to try several places we probably wouldn't have without the card, but, we feel for us it was a good choice.

 

[MBW]

We'll easily spend $300 at Victoria and Albert's for our anniversary dinner. Plus, we decided against the dining plan because we have special needs children who barely eat at all, so the DDE is more flexible. I didn't know about the Tusker House, so thanks to the poster above for that information - it's our favorite restaurant in AK.

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

It also helps if you are staying at a resort where DDE is accepted at the food court. Just eating breakfast there everyday during our visit just about paid for the card. Plus, don't forget that all the CS restaurants @ AK are included!

 

[ufgator]

My only regret was that we didn't get DDE sooner. I don't know the amount of money we saved, but I know it's a lot.

 

[CoolDisneyCat]

I do not regret it at all.

If you can use it for more than one trip then the savings really kick in.

 

[T-i-double-g-err]

I think our DDE card paid for itself after the first two character meals during our trip last month (3 adults & 3 kids). By the end of the tip we had made up the difference between me getting an AP versus day passes.

We've got another 5-day trip scheduled in December where I will not need tickets as my AP will still be valid and where we can still use the DDE card for our meals. Already booked our HDDR ADR for that trip and was able to use the DDE for the $20 savings on the prepayment. We may also do a day or two in July depending on how schedules fall.

The DDE card definitely was worth it.

 

[Amyrlin]

On only one visist it paid for itself, V&A for 2 saw it pay for itself, we also used it at 'Ohana, Narcosse, POFQ food court and Nine Dragons and came out well ahead.

 

[eeyoreiscool]

We pay for the card easily throughout the year. It is quite easy to spend enough on food that the card will pay for itself.

 

[Dizholic]

There is just the two of us. We go to WDW two weeks in Feb/Mar, then again for a week in Oct. You have to figure a TS dinner for the two of us is at least $50.00, we save $10.00 with the DDE card. After six TS dinners the card is paid for, anything after that is all savings. I have six ADR for our upcoming trip, and I am sure there will be more once we get there and figure out what we are doing.(We have gone too many times to have our whole 14 days planned from morning to night)

 

[lillygator]

We love it and it paid for itself the first weekend we used it!

 

[suevee]

I ordered my DDE card on Feb 6, we are leaving March 1. Do you think I will have it in time????

 

[Diamond_Girls]

Can you let me know? It sounds interesting!

 

[islandbeachnut]

I ordered my DDE card on Feb 6, we are leaving March 1. Do you think I will have it in time????

That's cuttin it real close! I received mine about four weeks after I ordered it. I believe you are able to use a confirmation letter or get a temporary card from guest services if you don't recieve it in time.

 

[T-i-double-g-err]

That's cuttin it real close! I received mine about four weeks after I ordered it. I believe you are able to use a confirmation letter or get a temporary card from guest services if you don't recieve it in time.

I ordered mine on Dec. 7 and received it a day or two before we left on Jan. 1 for our trip last month. When I spoke to the folks at DDE, they assured me that I could pick up a temporary card at Epcot if my permanent one did not arrive in time. In fact, I had already planned to run over to Epcot to pick it up while the family hung around at the hotel, so I would have it in hand for our dinner at CM our first night...Thankfully it arrived before we left, and I did not have to put that plan into action.

 

[T-i-double-g-err]

Can you let me know? It sounds interesting!

DG - Here's allearsnet's write-up on it. Disney also has an official page, but I could get to this one quicker...
http://www.allearsnet.com/din/dde.htm