DVC Dining Plan?

[psu4glory]

we already have a WDW trip booked at BWV for Thanksgiving and the week following. we are going to book the DDP for that trip, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

what is the process to do that? do i need to add the DDP to my reservation through MS - or do i need to do it through some other avenue?

we booked the DDP on our last trip - but that was before becoming DVC members, so we just added it to our MYW package.....i'm guessing this process will be slightly different....

 

[janets]

You add it through MS and pay for it when you arrive. But make sure you do it enough days in advance (for some reason I think it's at least 3 days).

Enjoy.

 

[Cinderella]

Do it through MS before you arrive in your resort. Do you have Annual Passes? If so, you may be better off getting a Disney Dining Experience card. We just did the Dining Plan, and we found that savings were better on our last trip using the Dining Experience. I would still recommend the dining plan for people who couldn't get the Dining Experience card, but if you can get it, the Dining Experience save you 20% on both meals and alcoholic beverages.

 

[jdg345]

Do it through MS before you arrive in your resort. Do you have Annual Passes? If so, you may be better off getting a Disney Dining Experience card. We just did the Dining Plan, and we found that savings were better on our last trip using the Dining Experience. I would still recommend the dining plan for people who couldn't get the Dining Experience card, but if you can get it, the Dining Experience save you 20% on both meals and alcoholic beverages.

Where do you get the DDE?

 

[JimMIA]

I think everybody's math will differ, depending on the composition of your party, length of stay, and normal dining pattern. We have the DDE, but for our May trip we tried the dining plan and really liked it. In our particular situation, the DDP saved us more money than the DDE would have.

I think people who consistently eat breakfast or lunch, and snack a good bit would calculate a much greater savings than my ultra-conservative estimate...which was based on dinners (including two character dinners) alone.

Here's a link to my post-trip assessment of the DDP for us http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1116871

 

[Dean]

Just remember you can make no changes on arrival. You must have it set including the number of days and people when you arrive. It must be done through MS as noted so the only requisite is that MS must be open, or so it appears. That might be the day of arrival in some cases.

 

[byoung]

The DDP is worth the costs.

 

[jdg345]

The DDP is worth the costs.

Is there a way to get better than $38 / adult / day ?

 

[BCV23]

Like Jim, we saved more with the DDP than DDE but in our case not by much. Our TS meals reflected around a 20% savings on the plan...same as DDE. So the CS and snacks were "free."

And we certainly didn't make the best use of the plan as most of our TS meals were lunches and most CS meals were breakfast. Doing lunch as CS and dinner as TS would result in more savings I'm sure.

We did use DDE for other meals and for wine.

 

[Lesley]

We have DDE and we'll be using the dining plan in September. Last January I compared what our meals would have cost on the dining plan vs. how we did it with the DDE (dining plan was not yet available, I was just getting a comparison for future reference). Even though we made our breakfasts and most lunches in our villa, the DDP would have cost us less than what we spent using our DDE. And we would have had a counter service meal instead of grilled ham and cheese in the villa for lunch. I didn't count what we spent on snacks either.

For us the dining plan seems to give us more for less....but do the math for yourself and your own habits.

I was told by member services that you only need to call them and add the package before checking in....which means if you're checking in on a weekday you could add it right before, but if its a weekend you'll need to have called by 5pm Friday. But why wait until the last minute?

 

[Kick Save]

Like Jim, we saved more with the DDP than DDE but in our case not by much. Our TS meals reflected around a 20% savings on the plan...same as DDE. So the CS and snacks were "free."

This is roughly what we came up with, too, then it hit me: I didn't factor in gratuity using the DDE. At that point, the DDP pulled ahead a bit more. We're giving it a shot in August.

 

[BCV23]

This is roughly what we came up with, too, then it hit me: I didn't factor in gratuity using the DDE. At that point, the DDP pulled ahead a bit more. We're giving it a shot in August.

And the DDP covers tax as well.

But that is a great point. When I loosely did the math, I don't think I included the tip for our DDP meals.

 

[Kick Save]

I forgot the taxes, too!! DDP takes one more step into the lead. It's quickly becoming a no-brainer!

We'll probably pick up the DDE again, though, as our two upcoming trips are tacking on a few days ahead of our DVC stay, so we'll be paying OOP for 4 or 5 meals, and that's usually what it takes for the DDE to pay for itself.

 

[CarolMN]

Is there a way to get better than $38 / adult / day ?

Not unless you book and pay for a MYW package through CRO during the free dining period. No other discounts that I have heard of.

FWIW, it's already a good price if your family eats a sit down meal every day of your stay. You can't help but save money with the $38/night per adult price, IMHO. There are very few (if any) particpating TS restaurants where you can order an appetizer, entree, desert and beverage for less $38, especially since the DP includes tax and gratutity. The CS and snacks are just gravy.

Best wishes -

 

[CapeCodFam]

FWIW, it's already a good price if your family eats a sit down meal every day of your stay. You can't help but save money with the $38/night per adult price, IMHO. There are very few (if any) particpating TS restaurants where you can order an appetizer, entree, desert and beverage for less $38, especially since the DP includes tax and gratutity. The CS and snacks are just gravy.

Best wishes -

Plus, it's an even better value for kids. At 10.99 per day, that is less than the cost of one dinner meal at Boma, etc.