Does anyone NOT do the DDP?

[solstice621]

Just wondering if we were the only ones who opted to not do the dining plan? We are DVC members and can add on the plan if we want, but we have figured it to be much cheaper if we don't. We still do lots of restaurants that we love, but try to save money other ways. Just wondering if others thought this way too?

I guess I should say that we have done the DDP - and I LOVE it so I am in no way putting it down. We just have a toddler and have figured that it wouldn't be worth it to us. So nothing against the DDP....

 

[DisFam95]

We have a 2 and 5 yr old. we are not doing the plan. It did seem like a good value before the big changes but now seems like you will break even. To me time is money and we don;t like to stategize our meals months in advance. We always make a few ADR's and have never had trouble getting in where we wanted. We take a casual approach to our vacations. For us the flexibility w/ dining w/ young kids out weighs the small amount we 'may' save w/ the plan.

We never order desserts or appetizers..esp for each person! So it was not worth it for us.

We love the freedom of not having the plan!!!

 

[MissMagnolia]

The only time we have done the dining plan was August 06 with free dining. I loved it, but I enjoy TS meals. My DH said that he would not be likely to want to do it again because he felt so "locked" into our meal schedule.

 

[justcantwait]

We originally had it on our ressie for June, but just cancelled it. I had weight loss surgery in Nov. '07 and can't eat the amount of food I used to. DH is also dieting, so we just decided it wouldn't be worth it for the amount we would actually eat. And I'd feel guilty wasting that much food. I would have loved the convenience of knowing it was all paid for before we got there, but we just need to be diligent about setting that money aside now. It's the right decision for us, this time. To each his own!

Kathy

 

[libinatorsmom]

I think it depends on so many things... the the "worth" of it is put in the hands of each person... for us it makes sense... we are saving money and getting to eat at all the places we wanted!!!! Part of our vacation is to EAT!!! and we look forward to it... I really need to sit down and figure out the exxact amount we are saving based on what I THINK we will order...

 

[TisBit]

We do not do the dining plan...but we also do not eat three meals a day at Disney. Usually we eat a snack or very light lunch than a nice dinner. Eat breakfast in the room (or villa now!) and now we are definitely ahead. But we are also not an appetizer/dessert person either. If anything we will get one or the other and just split them.

Now, with all that being said, we are beginning to take our kids this year (twin 3.5 y/o's, the boy is extremely bashful and just hides around characters)....our next trip we will not be doing character meals and will be there for like 10 days, so we won't be doing the plan, because of the LOS. But Fall of 2009 we might be going back for like a 5 day trip and do some character meals, etc...so I might need to really look at it again.

 

[PrincessV]

I've never used it - in no way does it prove to be a savings for our use. Why? We eat breakfast in the room from items brought from home, plan or no plan. Sometimes we each eat a lunch, sometimes we share. Somedays we'll eat a TS dinner, some we won't. Looking at the total cost over a trip, the DDP could never save the money my DDE card does.

 

[Tricia1972]

It doesn't work for us for our upcoming trip. We figure we'll save a few hundred dollars by not doing the DDP. However, it works great for some families. I think every family needs to make their own decisions based on their own eating habits. Someone not getting the plan because we don't may be disappointed, but a different family who got the plan because another person recommended it to them may also be disappointed.

It doesn't work for us because:

*We would never order dessert for our entire group at TS locations. Occasionally we may order one dessert and share, but that occurrence is even rare.

*We really did not care for the desserts at the CS locations, so we absolutely would never ever order them for any of us. We'd prefer to have a dole whip or a Mickey Crispy Treat in the park to one of the nasty CS desserts we encountered in October.

*At some CS locations we'd share the food, it's too much for all of us to order an entree. (Pinocchio's and Wolfgang Puck Express are definite shares for us)

*Generally at CS locations we didn't find the meal options (chicken and ribs, etc.) to be very good, so we'd choose to order just sandwiches when we go back. Sandwiches are only about $7-$8 and soda's are $2.09. We can eat a CS meal for $10 or less.

*We eat Breakfasts in our villa, so we wouldn't use our extra CS credits (from sharing) for breakfast.

*We order appetizers, but one or two for the entire table and not at every meal. Those aren't included in the plan at all anymore.

*We qualify for DDE, and that 20% discount really helps us in saving.


So that's why it doesn't work for us, but I don't doubt that it works and works well for others!

 

[Pakey]

We also do not do the dining plan. We went on a deluxe type of plan once (where we booked the platinum package) and it was way too much food for us and then we tried the basic plan and also found that it didn't work for us.

Why it doesn't work for us:

We eat one sit down meal a day and that's at a signature restaurant for dinner. We do not do desserts. We may split an appetizer but cannot each do an appetizer and then an entree.

During the day we will either just have some sort of snack or split a counter service meal as we do not want to be tied to being somewhere at a specific time.

So the basic plan will not give us a signature each night and the deluxe plan is just too much food.

I can see where it would work for so many people and I'm glad they have something like this but nothing will work for everyone and we're in that minority where it is just not a good deal for us.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

We won't have it this time. We bought the plan twice when our son was still a "child" and we saved maybe $300 over 9 nights both times. Now that he is an "adult" we spend far less paying OOP and just ordering the food we want.

I agree that we would never order dessert at a CS.

Last year we had "free" dining. We would have been better off paying for our food and having a discount on our room! DS doesn't need adult portions and we were all absolutely stuffed the entire trip. By the end we didn't even want to go to our ADRs.

I just got off the phone with Disney to see about adding Deluxe Dining and by the time we factor in the park passes (which we don't need since we have APs) it would cost $242 per day! We can get by JUST FINE on less than that paying cash!

 

[mom2my3kids]

Nope we are not doing the dining plan, we had it free last year and it was great. But with my 14 year old and 10 year old I can't see paying adult prices for them. We are eating at three table service meals and the rest either counter service or eating a sandwich in our resort hotel. We are driving down and spending 3 days before at Daytona Beach so we will bring lots of drinks and snacks.

 

[LSchrow]

the 2008 DDP is advantageous for less guests than the previous plans were (which was seriously underpriced ~ DH kept asking if i was sure that we could order anything, if everything was included, etc ~ he felt that we were "cheating" ).
the "new" DDP still works for us, tho. we have DVC & APs, so there are no room or pass requirements. our stays are unstructured & extremelly relaxing (what some would probably consider catatonic ).
in the late morning/early afternoon, we will eat a CS b'fast or lunch in EPCOT, DHS, or BW bakery (we eat b'fast or lunch, never both, whether at home or away). during the day, we might go to a park for a little while, lay by the pool, have a pinball challenge, hit the outlets, etc. many days we will take a ferry to DHS just for an iced mochacino to drink while watching the "street performers".
evenings mean a change of clothes, & a nice dinner at one of the WS or DTD restaurants, followed by a "few" drinks in WS, at PI or on the BW.

the DDP saves us about $40-50 per night (significant savings over the DE as well), but more importantly helps us enjoy vacations the way we like to do them: no stress, no looking at menu prices, & just enjoying each moment (ADRs are needed at the vast majority of restaurants no matter what the payment form, so we do not feel "trapped" in any way ).
btw, i have also done the DDP on a trip with 23yo DD (which was a "shop til you drop" trip), as well as with my parents, DB & his family (somewhat park commandos ~ who enjoyed the breaks from the attractions, & felt the time & money was well spent ensuring a leisurely meal enjoying one another's company, at least once a day).
one day, the DDP might not work for us (we have had many configurations of trips including mostly CS, off site, OP, etc), but for now, it "fits".

 

[eliza61]

We tried the ddp one time and didn't particular care for it but we tried it not to really save money but more for convienence. We thought having our meals pre paid would be easier but that was not the case for us. Mainly because my kids are teenagers and we go yearly, we tour very much "by the seat of our pants". We were missing our adr's for one reason or another. At the end of our 10 day trip, we had 7 of our TS credits and many snack credits left over. The last 2 visits we did not use the plan and it suited us better.

 

[TDC Nala]

when the tip and the appetizer were included, it was worth it to use the DDP for short DVC stays and signature restaurants depending on what I planned to order. Without the tip included, I am better off just using DDE. Using the deluxe plan is too much.

 

[mom22boys]

We aren't doing the DDP because it just doesn't fit the way we eat. We are light eaters. We share a lot of meals and rarely get desserts. I have placed an order with gardengrocer.com. Our room will be stocked with fruit, cheese, yogurt, crackers, and so on. We plan on eating breakfast in the room and packing the kids lunches and snacks (I always take a small lunch box filled with healthy food into the parks with me and it works out great!). I know it is hard to believe, but we just really aren't into food that much. An occasional TS meal here or there is nice, but one every day is too much for us. A dessert here or there is awesome (I can't wait to hit the bakery in France!), but one every meal and I think we would all be sick!

Anyway, for some families the DDP fits them perfectly, but for us it just doesn't fit!

 

[aclov]

I've been debating about this for a family trip in September and I've decided to get a DDE card. I think now with the changes this will work better since the DDE covers alcohol beverages I did the DDP twice before and really liked it but it was definately alot of food. Maybe if we had a choice of appetizer or dessert since I rather have an appetizer it would work.

 

[ekmom]

We don't!

So many folks here talk about it that I decided to revisit the issue for our upcoming trip. I added up everything we spent on food for our last trip which was pretty easy to do since we charge everything. We ate only 2 TS meals, the rest were all CS. We pretty much ate whatever we felt like eating, we didn't skimp. Our food costs still came up to an average of only $120 per day for the 4 of us. Four adults on DDP would be $152 a day and then I would feel like we had to do a lot more table service to justify it. That's not really our thing, we prefer to spend our time doing rides and shows. We also don't like having to do so much pre-planning for the ADRs. We'd also probably be eating more than we really wanted to or should. Since DH has lost 75 pounds since last year and DS has lost 30, that's not something we want to do. Now if only DD and I could get on board with that!

 

[baileybelle]

We don't do the DDP either. We usually eat our TS meals at lunch with no desserts (5 TS meals planned for upcoming 7 nights/ 8 days trip in April). One of our TS meals is at Planet Hollywood with 2 $15 dollar vouchers that came with our package. CS meals for a late supper, no desserts or we eat on the fly especially in EPCOT.

I added up what I figured we would be eating and we would spend about $1100. including a light breakfast, snacks, water, CS and TS. The DDP would cost us $1330.

 

[sandybobandy]

My husband and I are the kind of people that plan our park days around our meals-we love to eat! lol

Anyway, for the first time in four years, we are NOT doing the dining plan for our September trip. After crunching the darn numbers, it's just not in our best interest this year with the gratuity and other changes.

 

[DebºoºS]

We've never done dining plans. Each trip I crunch the numbers and it doesn't seem to work to our benefit. I'll keep trying as part of trip plans for March.