DVC and DDP, our recent experince.

[Dean]

As many of you know, I'm not into trip reports or the like so I'll make this short and likely, cryptic. We were at BWV on an exchange and got the DDP for the 2 of us. There was some question as to party size but it ended up being what we had arranged on the DDP so I don't have any info as to how changes might have been handled at check in. Had we paid cash and made the exact same choices our costs would have been around $825 compared to the DDP of $531 for 2 for 7 days. Had we ate at the same locations but been paying OOP, I'd estimate we would have spent in the range of the cost of the plan, around $525-550. Had we not had the plan though, we would have made different choices and I'd estimate we would have spent about half what we did on the plan or just slightly more had we gone with about 50/50 TS vs CS. Based on our past experiences, we would likely have actually done more TS and less CS without the plan and would not have left out some of our usual favorites of ESPN and Beaches and Cream and I'd estimate would have spent about the same amount as we did or less. We would also have not done 3 signature options, likely only one.

We are not big eaters and generally about the most we'll do normally is a soup or salad each and split an entree. We also tend to order pasta and chicken dishes, which are usually less expensive. We did Japan and O'hana Character B'fst using 2 credits and then shared an entree at all other options. Even then with the appetizer and desert, it was too much food in almost every situation. We struggled to use out CS and snack options but managed to do so.

I'm glad we did the plan but I would not do it over in the same situation. I am hopeful that our Dec trip with multiple rooms and a couple of children/young teens will make it feasible to get more value with less constraints but we shall see.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Thanks for your thoughts on the DDP. I think for us, it's the DDE that will be more practical for the way we eat. However, because the Fantasmic Dinner package and the Candlelight Processional package aren't on DDE, we figure that our December visit will be a good time to try DDP.

Bobbi

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Dean,

Thank you for the report. Your experience reinforces my thinking about DDP. I had originally planned on DDP for two of our upcoming Disney trips, but the more that I did the math and though about our dining pattern, the more that it seemed better to go with DDE instead.

With DDE, we'll have more flexibility. At table service meals, we won't feel the need to order three courses every night to get out money's worth. With DDE, we'll get a discount on wine. With DDE, we'll probably eat less and spend less, but we'll still enjoy many different WDW restaurants.

I think that DDP could be a great value for guests who love big counter service lunches and big three-course table service dinners every day.

 

[Dean]

Dean,

Thank you for the report. Your experience reinforces my thinking about DDP. I had originally planned on DDP for two of our upcoming Disney trips, but the more that I did the math and though about our dining pattern, the more that it seemed better to go with DDE instead.

With DDE, we'll have more flexibility. At table service meals, we won't feel the need to order three courses every night to get out money's worth. With DDE, we'll get a discount on wine. With DDE, we'll probably eat less and spend less, but we'll still enjoy many different WDW restaurants.

I think that DDP could be a great value for guests who love big counter service lunches and big three-course table service dinners every day.

Of course many will have different circumstances. I did think about the DDE vs DDP vs no plan and possibly concentrating more on options where DVC gets a discount. Based on our situation and the increase in cost, I felt like the DDE was little more than a break even for just the two of us. Since the DVC discount tends to be more for lunch and we generally do our large meal at lunch where feasible, that actually might have been our best and cheapest approach. My initial feeling haven't changed. I feel the DDP is best for those with large appetites, multiple rooms where one can share somewhat, kids in the 3-9 range and shorter stays (or where one is changing resorts). But I now feel that more people can at least break even than I initially thought though it does require a certain amount of planning to get true value from the plan.

On a related note, my wife lost a crown during out stay. This emphasizes the point I made in a previous thread that things can happen that will affect one's usage and therefore, the value. She was bummed because she was really enjoying those daily Mickey's premium Ice Cream bars.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Thanks for the report, Dean. Your comments fall into line with what I would expect for us as well. We are trying the dining plan for 5 nights of our December stay....The 5 nights in the 2 bedroom when we have guests with us. That was their choice, so we are "going along for the ride" this time. Since we will continue to use the DDE card the other 6 days/nights it will be a good test.

 

[BCV23]

Interesting report, Dean. Sorry to hear of your wife's crown.

I still haven't decided whether to add the DDP to our next trip which is rapidly approaching. IMO, signature restaurants are not a good use of the plan yet we do enjoy them so. Last trip, we did our signature dining during the non DVC portion of our trip but I'm not sure we want to miss so many of them again.

But just wanted to note that DDE and DDP are not mutually exclusive. We used our DDE to pay for wine at meals and also for OOP meals like Beaches and Cream. And of course, used it all the time for meals during the other portion of our trip. The DDE does lose a little value for every DDP meal but we will get great value from it even if we do choose to do DDP again this trip.

I think group size is a much bigger factor in determining the worth of DDE than it is for DDP. We can have from 3-6 adults for our meals on any given trip so DDE is great for us. But so is DDP.

Lucky for DVCers that we do have that choice.

 

[Kick Save]

On our most recent trip, we took the plunge and went for the DDP, also. It was for 5 nights for the four of us, two adults, two kids, so $489. We typically eat a TS meal each night, so we felt we came out ahead, mainly on the lunches as we rarely at CS meals. I didn't fully figure it out yet, but with just doing the math on the spot it seemed to work for us.

In pre-trip planning I had us using the DDE, as we did on previous trips, and had just our dinners coming out at $456 before tax and tip.

It seems to me in most discussions here, the DDP should be accompanied with "Your milage may vary." It really does depend on your eating habits, for us it fits.

Of note, we did get the DDE card again as we had a couple meals before our DVC stay started, so we used it there. Also a couple of other short trips in the works where the DDP wouldn't be practical, so we should come out ahead with the DDE card, too.

 

[MinnieGirl33]

We don't do DDP. DDE works better for us.

I wonder if people will ever realize that the DDP for WDW is a money maker. No matter how you slice it, it's like Las Vegas, the house always wins in the end.

Would everybody who is on the plan really have ordered the same amount of food if they weren't on the plan? Spent the same amount of money on food if they weren't? For some, maybe. For many/most, I just don't see it.

Now you are at WDW & you think you are saving sooooo much money on food that it's OK to spend more on souvies. Gotcha again.

While I know this doesn't apply to us DVCers but with regard to the plan in general... Rack rate on the room... I will conceed that those staying in a value resort make out better with the DDP but for those that normally stay deluxe those AP rates can be as much as 40%. So basically the "free" dining is your room discount. When it's not free you are still, most likely, spending more money all around than you otherwise would have.

Let's also not forget that they have just put more butts in the seats so to speak. I would bet they have now close to doubled the historical occupancy rates for hurricane season. AND those rooms are all (almost) at rack rate!

Don't get me wrong. I want Disney to make money. The more money Disney makes the more I get to enjoy Disney. I'm glad Disney is making money.

It just baffles me that people think they are gettting such an amazingly fabulous deal when a) in many cases they are not & b) they are being reconditioned to spend in a way that is beneficial to someone other than themselves. Just reminds me of the $6.99 steak & lobster dinner on the strip.

If it works for you, great. For us, we use the DDE. But as more & more places water down their menus to be fiscally sound for the DDP we will begin to spend more & more money at off-site restaurants.

JMHO.

 

[Granny]

Dean...thanks for your thoughts. I agree that DDP can be a very good deal, or not a good deal depending on an individual group's eating habits.

DDE works better for us....mostly because we use it like our AP and get multiple trips out of one pass.

 

[eliza61]

Thanks for your view Dean, it was very timely since our next trip will be an anniversary trip for just my DH & me. We did not do the DDP plan for another reason and that was we like to be very flexible during our vacation and found that using the DDP took a lot of pre-planning.
We also loved being able to have adult beverages at our meals. So all in all unless it was a free DDP promotion, I think we'll stick with the DDE card.

 

[BCV23]

MinnieGirl, I can't imagine anyone thinking WDW is not making money on the DDP.

But then WDW makes money on APs, DDE, and big money on DVC.

Like DDE, the DDP does encourage dining on property.

But just because something like the DDE or DDP is good for WDW's bottom line doesn't mean it won't save guests money as well.

Quite a few people have posted that they have ordered just what they wanted and dined just where they wish and still saved on the DDP.

THe DDP saves us money over our normal habits because we don't normally eat at CS spots. So I guess in my family's case, the DDP actually hurts WDW's bottom line.... a teeny little drop in the bucket.

As far as those 40% AP discounts at the deluxe resorts, those seem to be history.

 

[gracelrm]

Thanks Dean! We're going in June and keep toying with the idea of DDP; however, I have two concerns. I have kids that eat little to nothing and one who will be 10 will have to pay for adult meals and will likely never eat that much. My other is, I struggle with my weight and I think if it's included - I'll eat it and if I'm paying out the pocket, I'll skip appetizers and dessert and just stick with an entree. Last time we went we had DDE and enjoyed having that, but you have to have an AP to get that right? We won't have a AP in June, so I'm guessing we won't have anything but our DVC discounts.

 

[Dean]

Interesting report, Dean. Sorry to hear of your wife's crown.

I still haven't decided whether to add the DDP to our next trip which is rapidly approaching. IMO, signature restaurants are not a good use of the plan yet we do enjoy them so. Last trip, we did our signature dining during the non DVC portion of our trip but I'm not sure we want to miss so many of them again.

But just wanted to note that DDE and DDP are not mutually exclusive. We used our DDE to pay for wine at meals and also for OOP meals like Beaches and Cream. And of course, used it all the time for meals during the other portion of our trip. The DDE does lose a little value for every DDP meal but we will get great value from it even if we do choose to do DDP again this trip.

I think group size is a much bigger factor in determining the worth of DDE than it is for DDP. We can have from 3-6 adults for our meals on any given trip so DDE is great for us. But so is DDP.

Lucky for DVCers that we do have that choice.

I can't disagree. I'd say Narcoossee's is the only option that we frequent as a signature where one can still make out with the DDP and even then it depends on what you order. For Yachtsman and Artist Pointe it's close to a break even at present. While the two plans are not exclusive, the value can be. Why pay for the DDE if you get the DDP but it would depend on the mix, number of people, etc.

 

[Dean]

MinnieGirl, I can't imagine anyone thinking WDW is not making money on the DDP.

This seems like a good place to slip in something I noticed. We ate a couple of times at the Pepper Market as well as several other CS options. On several occasions, they range up the full cost initially then a much reduced cost before applying the DDP. This made me think that there was a built in discount from the venue to the overall system since I'm sure each one has a certain amount of individual accounting and accountability. At the Pepper Market on our way out of town the full bill with tax and tip would have been $45 and they then rang it up as $24 and some few cents.

 

[Dean]

Thanks Dean! We're going in June and keep toying with the idea of DDP; however, I have two concerns. I have kids that eat little to nothing and one who will be 10 will have to pay for adult meals and will likely never eat that much. My other is, I struggle with my weight and I think if it's included - I'll eat it and if I'm paying out the pocket, I'll skip appetizers and dessert and just stick with an entree. Last time we went we had DDE and enjoyed having that, but you have to have an AP to get that right? We won't have a AP in June, so I'm guessing we won't have anything but our DVC discounts.

There really are quite a few DVC discounts, esp for lunch. And we tend to eat our larger meal on vacation at lunch many days. You could always buy a pass for later, you don't have to activate it now if you don't want to, then still get the DDE. The 10 y/o is tough unless they're big eaters. One option might be to do more signature options and use the adult options from the 10 y/o for yourself and pay OOP or even use some of your kids meal tickets for his/her actual meal. Or you could do dinner shows or the like. As some have said, at least it's good to have choices since different ones work better for different situations.

 

[tjhsr]

Thanks for the report.DW and I were thinking about trying DDP but we also like to make lunch are main meal when we can.So staying with DDE,AP and DVC discounts sounds like it will work best for us.And I love those Micky ice cream bars too

 

[Dean]

Thanks for the report.DW and I were thinking about trying DDP but we also like to make lunch are main meal when we can.So staying with DDE,AP and DVC discounts sounds like it will work best for us.And I love those Micky ice cream bars too

One thing to note is that the Website will sometimes have discounts not listed in the Portable perks and the reverse happens as well. The only two that I found in the port perks but not on the website were Artist point and Haagen-Dazs but I could have missed them. As a rule, the website is more up to date than the Port perks, esp if new options have been added lately.

 

[Judique]

As many of you know, I'm not into trip reports or the like so I'll make this short and likely, cryptic. We were at BWV on an exchange and got the DDP for the 2 of us. There was some question as to party size but it ended up being what we had arranged on the DDP so I don't have any info as to how changes might have been handled at check in. Had we paid cash and made the exact same choices our costs would have been around $825 compared to the DDP of $531 for 2 for 7 days. Had we ate at the same locations but been paying OOP, I'd estimate we would have spent in the range of the cost of the plan, around $525-550. Had we not had the plan though, we would have made different choices and I'd estimate we would have spent about half what we did on the plan or just slightly more had we gone with about 50/50 TS vs CS. Based on our past experiences, we would likely have actually done more TS and less CS without the plan and would not have left out some of our usual favorites of ESPN and Beaches and Cream and I'd estimate would have spent about the same amount as we did or less. We would also have not done 3 signature options, likely only one.

We are not big eaters and generally about the most we'll do normally is a soup or salad each and split an entree. We also tend to order pasta and chicken dishes, which are usually less expensive. We did Japan and O'hana Character B'fst using 2 credits and then shared an entree at all other options. Even then with the appetizer and desert, it was too much food in almost every situation. We struggled to use out CS and snack options but managed to do so.

I'm glad we did the plan but I would not do it over in the same situation. I am hopeful that our Dec trip with multiple rooms and a couple of children/young teens will make it feasible to get more value with less constraints but we shall see.

We've done the plan twice now and enjoyed it both times. That said,we won't be doing it again unless we have a multiple room situation where we can have a bit more flexibility as Dean said - ie, treat our guests to a counterservice or table service meal, as we don't need that much food.

We are going again in October and we will probably spend just as much or maybe even a little more money then if we were to take the plan, but - there are restaurants not on the plan we want to eat at; we may also do more noshing around World Showcase then the plans snack options would allow; and we sometimes like to have simple meals in table service restaurants - such as soup, salad and a glass of wine - not an option on the DDP. Other times we may order entrees but no appys or desserts, because that's all we want to eat. I felt a LOT of pressure from myself and the wait staff to order smoothies, appys and desserts with the plan and I'm still trying to lose the extra pounds <g>. I still may try for an extra night in a different resort at the beginning or end of our trip and just go all out for a 1 night plan and have a huge dinner somewhere. May be difficult to get the adr or the room at this late date however.

 

[NMW]

We don't do DDP. DDE works better for us.

I wonder if people will ever realize that the DDP for WDW is a money maker. No matter how you slice it, it's like Las Vegas, the house always wins in the end.

Would everybody who is on the plan really have ordered the same amount of food if they weren't on the plan? Spent the same amount of money on food if they weren't? For some, maybe. For many/most, I just don't see it.


It just baffles me that people think they are gettting such an amazingly fabulous deal when a) in many cases they are not & b) they are being reconditioned to spend in a way that is beneficial to someone other than themselves. Just reminds me of the $6.99 steak & lobster dinner on the strip.


JMHO.

Well, I can only speak for our family, but the DDP WOULD have saved us money if we used it this past Dec. Quite a bit of money. We used the DDE card and still like it for alcohol, but the DDP would have saved us way more $$. We are a family of 5, in Dec our 3 children were between the ages 3-9. So on the DDP it would have been 2A/3C.

At Disney we NORMALLY eat a TS breakfast every day-either character or resort. Maybe one day we do bakery items.

For lunch we eat CS every day, we do not leave the parks for lunch, ever. Granted, we go during cooler months were heat does not play a factor.

For dinner we do a TS restaurant every night, on property. We usually order a couple different appetizers, entrees for everyone, and sometimes dessert. We have many favorites and have a very hard time deciding on our final ADR's. We have too many "must-do" places. We order whatever we want-and don't consider price. It's part of our vacation.
Some of the places we had dinner: Rose and Crown, Cape May Cafe, Brown Derby, San Angel Inn, and others I can't think of at the moment.

Our dinners ALONE cost us around $140-$175 WITH the DDE 20% discount (some of that is alcohol). We spent about $45-50 every day on CS lunch and about $15 every day for sodas or waters. The dining plan would have cost us around $107 a DAY.

If we had the DDP we would have saved money just on our dinners! It would have been like getting the CS lunches and sodas/waters (you can use snack credits for these items) for free!

It may not save every family money, but it would have for us.

In Oct we have the plan. We still renewed the DDE card for alcohol and our breakfasts that we pay cash for. Also, we are doing a couple TS lunches at places we love-Brown Derby and SCi-FI, plus ESPN our check-in day. So, we can use the DDE card then too.

The things that will be covered by our DDP will be our dinners-Le Celliar, Wolfgang Puck, Chefs de France, Flying Fish, Rose and Crown, Cape May Cafe, and others I can't think of at this moment. Our CS lunches and snacks. We even plan to use the CS credits we are saving on the days we do TS lunches and get breakfast with them at CS places. You could even use snack credits to get a lot of breakfast items (pasteries for example) on the plan. If you did that, it would be like getting 3 meals a day.

I'm sure there are people who go home with unused credits and Disney makes money on them. They will not be making money on our family though.

 

[MinnieGirl33]

It may not save every family money, but it would have for us...

I'm sure there are people who go home with unused credits and Disney makes money on them. They will not be making money on our family though.

That's great that your family can make it work to your advantage. Am I understanding correctly that the way you maximize your credits in order to eat TS breakfast & TS dinner everyday is that you share?

I think DVCers in general tend to be a bit more savvy in most aspects of WDW since we visit more often. We do the math (mostly).

I still think that the program would not continue unless it was profitable for WDW and I still think that the plan changes how people spend the rest of their vacation dollars over all.

For our family specifically, we tend to have TS breakfast & TS dinner daily, rarely if ever eat CS, so we would end up paying more OOP. DS12 counts as an adult & DS9 orders from the adult menu at least half of the time so that becomes an issue as well. We hardly ever have appy's & dessert - the occasional soup (Kona chowder) & maybe a dessert or two to share if something really looks good (creme brulee). We'd be paying for 3A/1C & still have to put alot OOP.

I guess I just want to encourage people to really take the time evaluate what is best for them. It's just not a "perfect paln" for everybody. One size does not fit all in this case.

And also, I guess I am disappointed that that WDW Dining overall has left those of who choose to go OOP high & dry with all the menu "streamlining". Not to mention how rude some dining CM's can be when you tell them you are not on the DDP. I have had more than one pushy sales pitch.

Let me ask you, do you think it will still be as beneficial to you when you have to start paying adult rates for your kids? Maybe once our kids start eating like teenage boys it will make sense.