DVC'ers and Meal Plan

[jodifla]

We use the DDE. Honestly, we don't spend anywhere near the money some folks are shelling out for the DDP.

And I also agree...with the way the menu has been standardarized, it's a stretch to eat out every day at WDW now.

I get sick of all that restaurant food.

The DDE also offers 20 percent off alcohol. I'd rather have a drink before dinner than feel obligated to stuff myself with all that food because I'm getting a good deal.

 

[clutter]

I'm with DisneyBride96. My dd and I used it for the first time last August. We really enjoyed taking a break for a ts meal, which we hadn't done much of before. I don't really care if I made or lost money (we tossed about 6 CS credits, though), I thought it was convenient. I tried different things I wouldn't have tried if I was paying OOP (appetizers and desserts, mainly), and I didn't think about how much it was going to cost.

 

[SalandJeff]

What's DDE?

Is there any difference in DVC members using the DDP and guests staying at regular resorts using the DDP? We will have 4 families, staying on our points for 5 nights (in different rooms) and cash for 1 night. We have 7 adults and two 3 y.o. dds. How will this work....does each family get their own set of "credits" for the nights we are there? What happens with the cash night - is that considered separate from the other nights?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Chuck S]

What's DDE?

Is there any difference in DVC members using the DDP and guests staying at regular resorts using the DDP? We will have 4 families, staying on our points for 5 nights (in different rooms) and cash for 1 night. We have 7 adults and two 3 y.o. dds. How will this work....does each family get their own set of "credits" for the nights we are there? What happens with the cash night - is that considered separate from the other nights?

Thanks for any help!

DDE is the Disney Dining Experience card. You must be an Annual Passholder or Florida Resident to get it. It is (unless it went up this year) $60 for one year and is good for up to 10 people in your party, It gives a 20% discount at virually all Disney operated table service restaurants (and most privately operated restaurants at EPCOT), including "adult" beverages and counter service at Animal Kingdom and the value resorts.

 

[AEN]

We did it last summer and have booked it again. We truly did not spend any money OOP on food the entire week. It was plenty for us with the one snack, one CS and one TS and we even did one Signature meal.

We used our snacks for breakfast and took them back to our villa. We also used our CS dessert credit to get muffins, etc for breakfast.

We love the convenience of not having to take money with us for meals and that everything was paid for upfront.

We found plenty of places to eat we like, and are looking forward to using it again.

Sammie:

This is one of the things I considered.... What can you actually bring back to the room purchsed under the snack portion. I looked over the list in the brochure and didn't see anything that would amount to an ample breakfast item.

The other issue I have been concerned about is I will have DD14 who will eat a normal meal, DD12 who can sustain on chicken fingers or pizza (doesn't like to try different things) and DS 10 who is in between the two on eating style, but can be limited. Accordingly, I don't think they will be eating enough to say we are saving money. True though we can take back extras to make breakfast.

We are going for 9 days. Usually we will eat a table type service (including character) for 6 of those nine days. The rest has usually been counter service and maybe cooking a pot of pasta. Breakfast is usually cereal, donuts, and seldomnly pancakes.

Further, we are at BCV and we have to do a good trip to Beaches and Cream for ice cream. Which is quite filling. Can we use any credits for that?

Finally, I like to have a glass of wine with dinner, which is not covered under the plan. So I will be paying OOP for that.

Thanks for all your comments and look for any further insight.

 

[CarolA]

WE used it in August.

Our verdict (4 adults and 4 Teens) NEVER AGAIN! We don't need and/or want that much food. We wasted a TON of food and by day three the teens were begging NOT ot order appetizer and deserts. Our fridges were already full of leftovers too LOL! I don't think I want to come home from Disney having gained 10 lbs!!!

I did the math, for the way we would NORMALLY eat we would have done just as good or better with just my DDP card.

By the way, as I was leaving early I went to the General Store at OKW and asked what I could spend my remaining snack credits on. I had about five left. Got 3 BIG (family size) bags of chips and two boxes on donuts for the other room. (Basically at that point it was anything under $4)

 

[mamaprincess]

We used it this December for the 1st time and it worked for us.

We never once spent oop for food. We had amassed some CS credits at one point and used those for breakfast at Wolfgang Puck Cafe. We got 2 breakfast items each and that killed our leftover CS. Also at your resort you can by snacks with your leftover CS. Each CS is equal to 3 snacks. You can buy cookies and candies and other items to take with you back home with your leftover snack and CS credits.

 

[OurDogCisco]

We used in December 26 to January 3rd. I thought it was an excellant deal for our family. We had 2 children ages 3 to 9 years old. So for us it saved a lot of money. Usually we eat one TS per day so that was our norm. We always get appetizers. Dessert would be a maybe because we might have wanted to get it elsewhere. I wish the plan was a little more flexible and allowed for desserts to be bought elsewhere. Normally we'd eat dinner then, walk around a bit and then, get a dessert. I think if I could change one thing is not to worry so much about getting the best value for my counter service. What we ate in TS more than enough paid for the plan. I think next time we would spend more counter services on breakfast. We did not use up all our credits. We came home wiht 6 counter services and over 20 snack credits that we wasted on the last day on junk food like candy, mickey ears, etc...

However, if you have kids and now with the separation of child and adult credits I'd really look into that because as far as I'm concern the children's menu at the Counter services were horrible at most places. One shouldn't have to plan their counter service menu around a park especially at Magic Kingdom. All the TS places were encountered were very flexible.

I haven't added up my receipts but I'm sure it saved us money as most of our dinners were over $75 - 90 each time we sat down and that was before ordering drinks.

 

[Dizneydawn]

Hi - we have never taken advantage of the meal plan but did so because it was free in August (we did not stay through our points) we vacation a lot and seem to be like your family - want to save where we can so we have more for other areas. We go at least 1 time a year since 1998.

We had 10 in our group and I think the consensus was that there was more than you could eat. You were just shoving food in and too much time was spent on food. That said, we enjoyed a few places immensley and when we do go again will choose those for our dinners. Some places we were glad were free because you couldn't pay me to eat there. I have not looked into what the price is for the meal plans and so I would compare that price to an estimate of what dinner would cost and see if it pans out.

For example - in our party we had myself, husband and a 13 and 10 year old. Honestly there is no way we ever ate all of the desserts or meals because 4 appetizers. 4 meals and 4 desserts is enough to make anyone blow escpecially after eating a full CS rest meal in the afternoon. My husband played college football and could not eat it all. The money manager in me was frusterated because it was like throwing money away each meal and yes I know it was free but we could have easily been paying for it and the outcome would have been the same.

We will do 1 of 2 things next time
1. Get only 3 vouchers and share food amongst us 4 - it would have been better quantity and ordering an extra beverage is cheap.

2. Eat breakfast at the resort - small snack at parks (or bring one from your kitchen granola bars etc.) and eat supper at our favorites. Money is only wasted if it is bad food and though are favorites were a bill of $100 or so not spending $ all day is a savings.

I am a freak and spent 50 hours probably researching every positive/negative thing I could find about every restraunt since I was in charge and the other 6 people had never been to Disney. We all agreed on fav. rest. and ones that the food was horrible.

Ohanas at Polynesian was phenominal! 50's prime time was good - and the hoop de do was great as well - (not fanciest food but good and plentiful.)

I wasted 2 TS reservations per person by booking the epcot family meal for Grand Gathereing groups of 10 - Sams club desserts was not the desserts from around the world we had been promised. Literally if I had been at a Rest the food was bad enough I would have refused to pay - 4 kids hated chicken tenders because you could have killed somebody by throwing them - for once i did not think they were picky - all 10 of us were dissapointed in the food and because I love Disney and this was touted the huge special at Epcot I was even more dissapointed

We have also loved Celliar in the canadian pavilllion at Epcot and wished we had gone there.

Sorry for the Saga - let me know if this helps or put you to sleep.

 

[eliza61]

We used it once during the free dining period but would probably not purchase it.
1. We don't eat in the parks every day now. I've been a bit disappointed with the standardization of the menu. Last August we rented a compact car for $21/night and were able to eat off site.
2. We use the dde card, since we do order alcohol at lunch and dinner this was a great option for us.
3. Since we've been "around the block" so to speak a couple of times, we've been making less and less ADR's way in advance. We some times change our park itenerary day by day. So the DDE card is more flexible.
4. I do cook breakfast on my stays.

 

[KelNottAt]

We used DDP during our trip last August (5 nights).

It was WWAAAAAYYYY too much food. Plus the obligation of keeping to our ADR schedule undermined our attempts at spontenaity.

We decided we wouldn't ever get it again.

Then, on further reflection we decided we might try it again if we had to. (Like to keep things simple and uniform on an upcoming family reunion trip.)

The biggest change we'd make for future use of the DDP would be limiting our TS credits to just Signature dining. That way we'd have half as many mega-food meals hanging over us, yet still get our money's worth. We'd have no problem at all living off the remaining CS and snack credits when the TS are used up. Less food, fewer ADRs, and more flexibility.

 

[DB Washington]

We did the dining plan last April. It was more food than we normally eat, but we've always cooked our meals when we stay, so we liked not having to cook for a change. Also, we end up wasting a lot of stuff buying groceries that we just won't use up in a week, which doesn't sit well with me.

We had a five night/six day stay, started using our credits the first day we were there, even though we weren't in the park, and were able to use them all up by the end of the stay, but I think you have to be pretty agressive about spending them to use them all up.

One thing I did notice, it seemed like some of the wait staff behaved differently when we told them we were on the dining plan. Almost as if, "well, I'm guaranteed a gratuity now, so why bother with the customer service."

My advice, use the DP if it's adults with kids under 3, but otherwise, consider an alternative since it might be a waste.

 

[kimberh]

We have used it on 3 trips. I love not worring about the check or what the family is ordering and then what the check total is going to be. It makes me feel that we are truly on VACATION!!!! My adult children loved it too. They have never been treated so well at Disney.

 

[KristinU]

We did it in September and came home with the "never again" mantra - too much food, not enough spontenaity (sp?) with the ADRs, etc.

But in preparing for a recent 4 day/3 night trip I decided to tack it on at the 11th hour (literally the day before at 3:00 p.m.!) Why? Because we had 2 character meals booked and looked at the great looking salads and sandwiches on the menu at Roaring Forks and decided it would be worth it for us to give it another shot.

We really enjoyed having it this time and will do it again. I think for us, once we got over the *need* to squeeze all possible value out of the plan and just take it as a pre-payment plan, we did a lot better. I don't feel disgusting today, although it was a short trip so that weighs in too.

 

[bpmorley]

When we used DDP last May, we saved over $200. I kept all the receipts just to find out. I could believe how much more it would have cost. But on the flip side, we may not have eaten at some of the places. Personally I think The California Grill is worth the 2 TS credits.

 

[jeffmarnie]

When staying in the DVC rooms we still only usually have snacks and beverages for the kids. I plan on using the DDp on our next trip.

 

[bpmorley]

When staying in the DVC rooms we still only usually have snacks and beverages for the kids. I plan on using the DDp on our next trip.

We didn't use it on our last stay back in Dec 06. We rented a car for 2 days to go to Universal so we would have had 2 days worth of extra credits to use. While we had the car we went to gooding and bought soda, beer, microwave sandwiches, chips, etc.... We wouldn't have done this if we were on the DDP.

 

[JCW]

My husband and I had been on the fence about this for our Dec 07 trip (just the two of us). So, I added up all of our receipts from our May 06 trip (took out the alcohol, included tax and tip etc) then compared it to what the meal plan would have cost us. Wow, was I glad we DIDN'T do the DDP. The DDP would have cost us $150 more than what we actually spent (and I used the cost for the DDP for 2006, it's now more for 2007). Plus, we didn't have to worry about making sure we used all of our credits, making more ADR's than we would normally, on too much of a schedule, feeling like we were wasting food etc.

I also added up the number or TS, CS and Snacks we would have used if on the DDP.
We would have needed 1 more counter service credit but had 6 table service credits and 1 snack credit left (I am sure we would have made use of the snack credit, and adjusted for the CS overage, but with our habits, we would have never used those table servcie credits. So more value would have been lost).

But it really depends on your eating habits plus the number in your party, ages etc. If you have receipts from a recent trip. That's your best-bet to see if there really is value in it for you and your family.

Happy Trails.

 

[bpmorley]

It all comes down to the individual or group. DDP, like DVC, is not for everyone. Honestly the only reason we used DDP is because we had over $500 in disney reward dollars. So it was almost nothing for us. If you like being on a schedule then DDP could be a good fit

 

[keishashadow]

I lobbied DVC for a year & was thrilled when it was finally offered

IMO, fantastic to have the option!

I don't cook (anything) on vacation, perfect for us. We don't eat breakfast (too busy rushing off for am EMHs) so, 2 big meals works for us: especially when you've got a teenager or two in tow; nothing goes to waste lol.

Even when we venture offsite for a day trip, we're able to utilize all credits via 2 Credit TS, charactar breakfast & stretch out the food plan to cover the last day via CS