Eating in vs DDP (2026) at DVC

[TheThousandthSoul]

Hey all,

Family of 4 here - including 2 kids (3+6).
We are torn between staying in a 1-BR + eating in vs. staying in a Studio + getting a DDP for 2026.
We will have a car - so we can pick our groceries.
We will do a 9-night stay at WDW.

Perhaps we'll do a split stay...
What would you do?

Thank you all!

 

[Matty B13]

We usually have cereal, oatmeal, & microwave veggie egg frittatas in the morning in our rooms, but we usually have a 2 bedroom with a full kitchen. Since your kids are still no Disney Adults the DDP can be worth it, but you will spend a lot of time just eating do do that. We like a quick breakfast while everyone is getting up and ready and then head to the parks, and usually don't do a sit down lunch either. The only table service restaurants we do are at dinner time.

Studios will have a small cooler/refrigerator that should keep milk cold, but you have to check to see if it gets cold enough.

 

[Willow Ufgood]

Hey all,

Family of 4 here - including 2 kids (3+6).
We are torn between staying in a 1-BR + eating in vs. staying in a Studio + getting a DDP for 2026.
We will have a car - so we can pick our groceries.
We will do a 9-night stay at WDW.

Perhaps we'll do a split stay...
What would you do?

Thank you all!

I like having breakfast foods and snacks in the room, especially with little kids. In 2026, the kid's dining plans plans are free with the purchase of adult plans. So for 2026, I'm considering doing a hybrid of both breakfast in the room and then lunch, snacks and dinner on the dining plan.

 

[MICKIMINI]

I consider what I would have paid at home for groceries anyway. Presently, we are at about $150/week for 2 adults. That being said, I do not count the money I spend on groceries at WDW. I also don't count gas in the rental car as we would buy gas at home.

Get the 1BR and be comfortable. You waited all year for this trip.

You know which meals your family likes that are budget friendly. If we have more than just DH and I, I work up a few menus of easy meals and a grocery list to go with it. Frozen pizza and rotisserie chicken are a no brainer. Maybe get a couple chickens, have a meal and then have chicken fajitas the next night? You can doctor up your pizza with onion and green peppers you bought for fajitas. I figure each meal at the vill is worth $25-30 per person.

I would skip the DDP as it is not that great a deal and focus on park meals that you can split. Kids meals aren't always a great deal vs an adult meal that will feed 2-3 kids. Hopefully you can justify that 1BR and a few meals/snacks at the parks.

Enjoy!

 

[Genie+]

With the deal on DDP with kids, I’m pretty sure we’d choose that even if it meant giving up all the extra space of 1BR. But I think this depends on how much time you plan/prefer staying in the room.

If you’re doing midday breaks for naps and coming back for early bedtimes, then that 1BR will really come in handy.

If you’re OK with or prefer to spend most of your time outside the room, using the DDP can be alot of fun! Plus the upside of not spending time/energy preparing and cleaning up.

If you’re still torn… take a look at some menus and places and make an example plan of how a few days make work nice for you using DDP. Compare that to what a few days doing your own food in the room would entail. Hopefully that helps guide you. Either way, sounds like a great trip!

 

[Sandisw]

With the new free dining for kids, it does make a difference in the calculations!

I am all for convenience and we don’t do a lot of eating in the room…just snacks because we are not huge breakfast eaters…

 

[gzmtlock]

I would find 9 days of eating out with young children to be a bit overwhelming, for us as parents and for them. Eating in a restaurant is inherently more structured than eating "at home" (in the 1 BR unit) for my family. If I really wanted to do DDP, I would likely opt for the split stay, with the DDP at the beginning and the option of meals in the room the second part of the stay. If I did split stay, I'd switch resorts, where the second resort had an appealing pool and other outdoor amenities. Park-heavy first part of the stay, then more relaxed/less structured the second part.

 

[PolyRob]

Are you planning on meeting characters or doing character meals? The DDP for kids really helps with that pricing. Splitting your room reservations and either front loading or backloading the studio portion with the character meals could be the best of both worlds.

 

[TheThousandthSoul]

Thank you all for your great answers!

We might do a split stay.

Studio + Table-service DDP for 3-4 nights / 1BR for 5-6 nights.