DVC members..Will you be using the 2008 DDP

[Starr W.]

Never used the "old" DDP, so the new one is not going to entice us.

 

[dtheboys]

Keep in mind our DVC membership also gives us 10-20% off some of the restaurants.
I feel w/ the DVC discounts, etc. the Dining Plan is actually more expensive than out of pocket each night.
I LOVED the Dining Plan...LOVED IT, but now w/ the tip and appetizer not included, I'll pay as I go.....Maybe even get a pizza at the Boardwalk one night....

 

[aprince&princess]

I said yes because our first trip in '08 is for two nights and I thought that would be a good test for the plan. We have used it on the past two trips and thought we came out way ahead, so we will see after that if we would do it again.

I estimated that with the cost for the four of us minus 1 snack a day pp and cs lunch per person the dinner cost is just over $100 for the four of us without the tip. I figured since we always do a counter service lunch and a table service dinner that we will at least break even.

If it doesn't work well than for our next trip we will look into the DDE and an annual pass.

 

[DVCJones]

I voted "yes" but, I think this will be the last time. If changes are made like appetizers instead of desserts, tip or a couple of dollars off, I may reconsider.

I did the math and compared our out-of-pocket meal cost to the cost of the DDP and we did come up a little ahead. (I used Allears menus) However, Before the DDP, we would probably do only 3 TS during a 6 or 7 night stay and that was more than enough. We sometimes ate off-site, never ordered dessert, sometimes ordered an appetizer and liked quick service meals to maximize our time. That being said, I think I will go back to the way we used to do our trips and forget the DDP.

I plan on doing it one more time to collect receipts and compare after the trip.

 

[La2kw]

We've never used DDP and with the changes, have even less reason to. We do not like to eat out so much and do eat all breakfasts and a few lunches and dinners in our room. When we do eat out, we use the DDE.

 

[pyrxtc]

we'll most likely do it in October when it's juts my DH and myself. We thought it was worth it last time and just makes it so easy to be pre-paid for most everything. Plus the CS were so big we split them so it paid for every meal.

 

[luvthattink]

We did the ddp on our trip in Sept. and while we enjoyed eating a places we hadn't before and felt that since we eat out all the time anyway during our vacations it was a good value for us...we all (my dh and parents) agreed that we wouldn't do it again...them changing the plan helped concrete that decision but quite honestly we all hated how scheduled our vacation was. We did EVERYTHING around the dp. I felt like our vacation was more about food and where we were eating than actually enjoying Disney. That's of course only our opinion and like I said we really enjoyed the food, the places that we hadn't been before that we will definitely go back to and felt it was an excellent value for our family...we are just more fly by the seat of our pants people when on vacation. My entire life is scheduled and quite honestly aside from a general knowledge of what park we are going to on what day and a few character dining experiences, I don't want a schedule.

I too think that offering either an app. or a dessert is a better way for them to go since we aren't much of dessert people either.

 

[luvthattink]

We did the ddp on our trip in Sept. and while we enjoyed eating a places we hadn't before and felt that since we eat out all the time anyway during our vacations it was a good value for us...we all (my dh and parents) agreed that we wouldn't do it again...them changing the plan helped concrete that decision but quite honestly we all hated how scheduled our vacation was. We did EVERYTHING around the dp. I felt like our vacation was more about food and where we were eating than actually enjoying Disney. That's of course only our opinion and like I said we really enjoyed the food, the places that we hadn't been before that we will definitely go back to and felt it was an excellent value for our family...we are just more fly by the seat of our pants people when on vacation. My entire life is scheduled and quite honestly aside from a general knowledge of what park we are going to on what day and a few character dining experiences, I don't want a schedule.

I too think that offering either an app. or a dessert is a better way for them to go since we aren't much of dessert people either.

 

[llmurphy17]

Since we have three children the DDP seems like the best option. But if it was just my husband and me I would use the DDE.

 

[wingkng]

My DW and I used the DDP for our honeymoon stay at BWV. We had just gotten off our 4 day Disney cruise, so the several days at BWV seemed like a continuation of the cruise. The eating seemed to be non-stop, and the food was wonderful! But, I felt kinda sick all over at the end of the trip. My body was aching all over! I seriously had a case of over-indulgence. So, I won't be doing that again.

 

[wingkng]

My DW and I used the DDP for our honeymoon stay at BWV. We had just gotten off our 4 day Disney cruise, so the several days at BWV seemed like a continuation of the cruise. The eating seemed to be non-stop, and the food was wonderful! But, I felt kinda sick all over at the end of the trip. My body was aching all over! I seriously had a case of over-indulgence. So, I won't be doing that again.

 

[wingkng]

My DW and I used the DDP for our honeymoon stay at BWV. We had just gotten off our 4 day Disney cruise, so the several days at BWV seemed like a continuation of the cruise. The eating seemed to be non-stop, and the food was wonderful! But, I felt kinda sick all over at the end of the trip. My body was aching all over! I seriously had a case of over-indulgence. So, I won't be doing that again.

 

[Uncleromulus]

Didn't vote. The DDE is a much better deal for us.

 

[pouncingpluto]

Now that DVC has concierge, it brings a new angle to the discussion. We're staying concierge for this coming trip, and with all of the included snacks and continental breakfast, DDP has even less value.

 

[JLitfin]

It might not be as good of a deal as in years past but we still decided to go with the standard DDP for our Jan trip. My sister and I will be traveling with her 2 DD, we talked about it but decided to go with the DDP anyway, so we don't have to carry lots of cash, plus this way we don't have to worry about what we want to order and the cost of our meal.

 

[CarolA]

Voted no, but IMHO it wasn't really ever a good deal for me. (I don't need to eat enough food for a small village every day LOL!)

 

[tomandrobin]

I voted yes. It will still save us money, but not as much as before. We just got back from a week at WDW with the dining plan. We used all of our credits.

If you are a family of eaters and eat at some of the better TS restuarants, it is still a good deal.

On this last trip, our average TS meal was $280 with tax and tip. This was for a family of five. That is $1680 for six days. If you take off 20% with DDE, the cost is around $1300. The cost for the DDP was about $1150. This was with the old DDP.

If you take off $8 pp, per meal for the App, the cost would be about $1440. Take off 20% for DDE it would be $1150. But you still have the CS and snack credits to use.

We still think its a good deal for us. Some of the math is fuzzy, but the overall numbers are good for reference.

 

[dianeschlicht]

I voted "no", but in reality, we MIGHT do it for just the two of us on a shorter trip. We like the signature restaurants, so we use the dinning plan with an every other day signature and use the counter services on the in between days. Since we rarely eat more than just breakfast and one other meal, that works well for us. The biggest issue for us is that we always have a LOT of counter service meals left over. We have used DDP 3 times now, and each time we went home with counter services still unused...once with 6 of them going to waste! We figured it out, and the old plan was a bit cheaper for us even with the wasted meals, but the new plan will not be because of the gratuity. We will likely use our DDE card more now instead.

 

[jpolak]

I voted yes, but it really would be a maybe. As DVC'ers who make only coffee in the villa it still might be a viable option, but we will have to wait and see.

 

[ead79]

We won't use the 2008 dining plan, but we've never used it. For us, the Disney Dining Experience card is a much better deal. We like to eat our meals at the sit down restaurants (and we eat a super healthy breakfast of Pop Tarts, LOL), so the counter service credit on the dining plan wouldn't do us any good. I do think it stinks for the servers that the tip is no longer included though.