Don't get the raves about DDP

[pigletto]

The convenience is a HUGE plus for us. It really depends on your party and spending habits.

We love it because it ends those agruments with the kids over choices. We don't have to encourage them to get the cheaper menu items, or split a drink, etc.

My kids think the DP is the best thing about their Disney vacation! We never order desserts at a restaurant back home....at Disney they get them at lunch and dinner.

This is big for us too. We rarely even eat dessert at home, so it's a huge treat for the kids to get it every night on vacation. And I don't want to worry about a meal budget on vacation. It's so nice for us that it is already paid for and we can order whatever we want off the menu without thinking of what it is going to cost.

 

[Suz D]

I have figured out the following: If i get a full meal at Cosmic Rays, $7; Another meal at Casey's Corner, $7; i get oatmeal at the resort in the morning, $3.00; 2 waters during the day, $4; Mickey's Premium Bar and Popcorn during my day at the park, $7. I have only spent 28. This is less than the DDP. We usually eat counter service when we go to Disney. Does anyone see how the DDP would work for me?

I'll tell you why it works for us and you can see if it makes sense for your family. First, we've done both the quick service and the full service dining plan. We did the quick service for the first time on our last trip and will probably do that from now on.

Here are the reasons it works for us and how we do our dining at WDW.

1. We usually buy the refillable mugs which are about $13.00 each. We don't drink coffee so I usually have a diet coke with breakfast. You can also get hot chocolate in your mug. **on the QS dining plan, the mugs are free**

2. When we used to just pay per meal, we'd order the cheapest filling thing on the menu which is usually not the healthiest choice. Now, we order what we want and usually make healthy choices which leaves calories for dessert(although the occasional burger and fries does creep in). At the Sunshine Seasons in The Land at Epcot, we can order grilled salmon, veggie and a side plus a DELICIOUS dessert.

Another example is at Cosmic Rays we order the 1/2 rotisserie chicken/rib combo with mashed potatoes and vegetable with a drink and a dessert. Two people can easily split that which brings me to the next point.

3. Because we usually eat breakfast in our room with food we bring along (oatmeal, bagels & peanut butter, breakfast bars etc.) having breakfast at our hotel on the last day is a nice treat. When you split several meals along the way (and most meals are huge), we save enough dining credits to have breakfast on that last day. You also bring up a good point about using a snack credit for breakfast and we do that on occasion as well.

4. With the quick service dining each person gets 2 snacks per day and as you pointed out, one could be used for breakfast and one for later in the day. A snack credit will buy you a delicious dessert at The Land, or a nice bowl of fresh fruit, a dole whip, and many other fun treats that we wouldn't otherwise purchase if we were paying on the spot). The other fun thing about the snack credit is that we rarely use all of them because we're just eating so much at meals that we don't snack. We have used our leftover snack credits at Goofy's candy store at DTD to bring back a big box of fun treats for our house/dogsitter, friends, family, etc.

5. The biggest reason we like the QS dining plan is that it really makes us feel like we are on vacation. With your touring style you are spending about $28.00/day. For another $4/day you can make healthier choices, order anything on the menu, have fun snacks, buy "souvenirs" in the form of food items to bring home, and generally not worry about the cost as you've paid it upfront.

6. A final, and not so important, reason we like the dining plan is that we can put the whole vacation including food on our Disney Visa and get 6 months to pay the balance. We keep our $ in the bank as long as possible.

Hope these points help you a bit.

 

[Justsyd2]

We used the QSDP on our June trip. Our lunch at Wolfgang Puck would have cost us $44.00 OOP, but with this plan it was covered, and we each still had another CS meal, plus two snacks left for the day. Someone mentioned eating hamburgers and hot dogs each day with this plan -- not true. We were on it for 7 days - DH had a burger one day, and we shared a Casey's hot dog another day. The rest were great, healthy meals!

 

[bmartin1206]

You are definitely eating on the cheap if you stick to that budget and not a lot of variety. Of course length of stay would play into it. I could do it for a couple of days maybe but any longer I'll need variety. We always make reservations for a sit down at some point during the day and don't mind the counter food but when I did the math it was about even...until they offered free dining. So we tried it. I can see the appeal but if I had to pay for it probably wouldn't do it. Not so much about the price but more about the lack of flexibility and cancellation policy if everything else is about even I'd prefer to be in control of my own choices.

 

[windycitymom]

How has the DDP planned since it was first introduced? We were lucky enough to do it the first two years for FREE. It was wonderful to try out a new TS meal everyday. The free plan included the appetizer, beverage, entree, dessert and tip. We ate like kings on those trips Our kids were old enough so they could sit for a 1-2 hr. meal and my husband loved having one great meal to look forward too. I could see how it would be hard if you had toddlers. Our best meal was at Kona. We are budget people so I NEVER would have paid that much for a meal out of pocket. Are the menu prices cheaper or the portions smaller?

 

[disykat]

I agree with the OP. I sometimes think there should be two different budget boards. One for people like me who go the cheapest way - period. Another board would be people who like to vacation in a deluxe fashion but like to find ways to pay less for a luxury vacation.

I think putting the "Is $100 a day enough for souveniers" people with the "I only need to save a napkin with a logo on it" (that would be me!) people is a strange mix!

 

[wtrmlnlabs]

How has the DDP planned since it was first introduced? We were lucky enough to do it the first two years for FREE. It was wonderful to try out a new TS meal everyday. The free plan included the appetizer, beverage, entree, dessert and tip. We ate like kings on those trips Our kids were old enough so they could sit for a 1-2 hr. meal and my husband loved having one great meal to look forward too. I could see how it would be hard if you had toddlers. Our best meal was at Kona. We are budget people so I NEVER would have paid that much for a meal out of pocket. Are the menu prices cheaper or the portions smaller?

Now for a TS you get meal, dessert, drink... no tip or app included. It was nice, we had it all the first trip too, what a deal! I know the kids meals at some QS places are less, the pizzas are much smaller anyway, a few of the places didn't know who got what, tried to tell us the kids didn't get dessert... our last trip it was confusing at times. I think the pizzas were the only problem we had with portion sizes... not sure about TS meals since we chose the QS plan. Service all over has declined, best I could recall regular menu prices weren't up down, Cosmic Rays meals were the same as our previous trip at least. We did 8 nights/ 8 days and this was too much for our boys, 6 & 3, by day 5 they were asking for peanutbutter sandwiches and mommys spaghetti! Made me feel appreciated anway

 

[wtrmlnlabs]

I agree with the OP. I sometimes think there should be two different budget boards. One for people like me who go the cheapest way - period. Another board would be people who like to vacation in a deluxe fashion but like to find ways to pay less for a luxury vacation.

I think putting the "Is $100 a day enough for souveniers" people with the "I only need to save a napkin with a logo on it" (that would be me!) people is a strange mix!

I'm with you!!! I gotta cut ends everywhere to afford a trip let along worrying about $100 a day spending And although I haven't read the thread at all, I love the title, something like "Is it cruel to kids to not go on vacation", this cracks me up, we NEVER did vacations when I was growing up, I think there were 3 total, and my boys have been LUCKY to get 3 Disney trips (that's all ending, can't scrape up the $$ anymore!), now we're settling in to camping

 

[brymolmom]

I agree with the OP. I sometimes think there should be two different budget boards. One for people like me who go the cheapest way - period. Another board would be people who like to vacation in a deluxe fashion but like to find ways to pay less for a luxury vacation.

I think putting the "Is $100 a day enough for souveniers" people with the "I only need to save a napkin with a logo on it" (that would be me!) people is a strange mix!

I'll jump on your budget board! I always cringe with the 'How much should I give my 5 year old to spend - $50 per day'?? I feel like a very cheap-o parent at those times. My kids get about that for a whole week - and at least half of it they earn themselves.

 

[kymma]

I really like using the DDP when we go to Disney with a large family group. This saves us a ton of money since the in-laws like to do the "we will pay for this meal and you pay for the next" thing and we usually get stuck with the expensive meal. This way we just say "we are on the dining plan" and hand over our cards.

 

[jadyson]

I didn't read through every reply so someone else may have addressed this, but on our last trip we were told (two days before we left) that my son who's 7 could use his CS meal for any meal--it didn't have to be a kids meal. Only TS required him to buy a kids menu item. Boy was he in heaven when he could order ribs at Cosmic Rays instead of that yuck hot dog or greasy nuggets. Just another way to look at it for savings. wish we would have known earlier though. But now we know for this year.
I ♥ free dining!

 

[wtrmlnlabs]

I didn't read through every reply so someone else may have addressed this, but on our last trip we were told (two days before we left) that my son who's 7 could use his CS meal for any meal--it didn't have to be a kids meal. Only TS required him to buy a kids menu item. Boy was he in heaven when he could order ribs at Cosmic Rays instead of that yuck hot dog or greasy nuggets. Just another way to look at it for savings. wish we would have known earlier though. But now we know for this year.
I ♥ free dining!

We heard about that on here, too, but it didn't go so well when we were in Dis in December. I tried it one morning for breakfasts, they complained, said it is right on our KTW cards, and it was, that we get 2 adult, 2 kids. And anywhere we went that we got more than that, they made us sign a slip at check out. We did this maybe 4 times. Our last day we were getting a bunch of stuff to use up our left overs. The guy working with us said he didn't know anything about the signing slips, let us get all adult pizzas, and when we checked out, there was the slip to sign. He threw it away so I'm not sure what all that was about, but maybe they've figured out the whole loophole and they're working on fixing it?

 

[brymolmom]

I didn't read through every reply so someone else may have addressed this, but on our last trip we were told (two days before we left) that my son who's 7 could use his CS meal for any meal--it didn't have to be a kids meal. Only TS required him to buy a kids menu item. Boy was he in heaven when he could order ribs at Cosmic Rays instead of that yuck hot dog or greasy nuggets. Just another way to look at it for savings. wish we would have known earlier though. But now we know for this year.
I ♥ free dining!

This, actually, isn't allowed. Kids on kid credits on the DDP are required to order off kids menu. Although you are correct that the credits aren't separated, so it is 'easy' to do.

We use our kids' credits at the resort food court (TONS of options), World Showcase, Sunshine Seasons, Main St Bakery and a few others. We also share our adult meals - so that they can have some ribs too. There are ways to keep the variety with kids credits, with research - it doesn't all have to be nuggets and mac n cheese!

 

[jadyson]

well it will probably be taken care of by September then! oh well--we ordered him extra stuff at the beginning of the trip anyway. I don't understand the signing of the slips--what?? they didn't do anything with them, so what was the point? why would they have told us that when we ordered at ABC Commisary and CR? it must be so confusing for all the CM's!
how would they know when you ordered that it was a meal for you or your child? we don't always order together-we split up kids and separate sometimes. I guess it's something for them to work out-kinda like the resort mug issue. I was so mad when I saw people using halloween mugs from MK from 1996 at Pop Century! last year! UGHH!

 

[budbeerlady]

The basic dining plan is a huge saver for my Dh but not so much for me. As a vegetarian most of my meals are the cheapest thing on the menu. Dh is a meat eating steak machine. His meal at Le Cellier is New York strip at $34.99, plus dessert at $7.99 plus a coke at $2.19. His 1 ts meal was $45.17. Plus a Cs at Seasons he eats the grilled salmon at $9.99 plus a coke at $2.19 and dessert short cake at $3.99. That cs was $16.17 plus tax. Then his snack at a cart, pretzel at $3.79.

Dh's 1 day of food on the plan was $65.13 plus tax. Much more than the adult dining plan 1 day cost.

We also like that its prepaid (wish it didnt have tips seperate, I always need to keep bills on me for tipping.) and when I am not laying out the cash I dont worry about the $$$$.

 

[SandrA9810]

Prices have actually gone up recently.
So a bottle drink is now 2.50, a 22oz soda is 2.50 (with tax) and the 32oz soda is like 2.80 now.

You can spend 7$ on a cheeseburger, or go with a larger platter meal that cost 14-16$. And almost any park has a place with large meals, like Sunshine Seasons at Epcot, Cosmic Rays at MK, Flametree BBQ at DAK, and my mind is drawing a blank for Studios.

But you can easily outspend the cost of the DDP if you do it right. And as well, most people don't always get dessert when they're paying OOP, which could easily add another 2-3$ to the total.

 

[Swimalie]

but one has to realize that is a personal preference for you and doesn't fit everyones vacation.

A HUGE part of my vacation is being able to sit down at a meal, order ANYTHING I want and not have to worry about the price of it. Its very relaxing.

That's me. Normally, I wouldn't eat at Cinderella's Royal Table but since I've pre-paid for my dining plan, I will eat there and enjoy it. This next trip in 2 weeks will be my first since 1996. Back then, we did the "food and fun" package and we ate at places that we normally wouldn't have and we loved it. So for us it won't save money but it makes for a more unique, memorable trip.

 

[Goofy'slady]

We love the basic DDP and this will be our 2nd year having it. My husband just remarked to me a few days ago that he's looking forward to the freedom of ordering pretty much what he wants without having to worry about the cost of it all. If our girls want the desserts that come with each meal great if not then either they can save them for by the pool snacks or not eat them but they have that option. With paying OOP then we would be on a more stricter budget.

Our vacation motto is "If you're gonna do Disney than do it BIG". We like to save money just as much as the next person but we save all year long to be able to do it the way that works best for us and the way we like to vacation. The DDP works for us and it's that cherry on top of our Disney sunday.

T.

 

[WINTER]

Thanks for your comments! Actually, no we don't eat hamburgers and fries our entire trip. I was just thinking that if you get a CS and a TS and 2 snacks, do those of you who get the DDP ever have to purchase outside the DDP? I would think you would if you eat 3 meals a day. Just curious. We usually don't get into all the dining experiences while at Disney but maybe sometime we will.

 

[WDWAtLast]

We were on the DDP for our first family trip last August. It really worked for us becase we planned on a character meal everyday and our girls were 6 and 8 - so it was only $10.99 for each of them per day. And right now, they prefer the children's menu and got full on the amount of food! Plus it was nice to not worry about how much meals/snacks cost. If we wanted a snack at the parks - or even an overpriced bottle of water - we just got it! And even had about 4 snack credits left over that we had to use up on the last day. I know it is not for everone, but it really worked for us!