For those who have used the DDP, few questions...

[Desnik]

Recently we were at WDW and we ended up spending more money on food than the DDP would've cost us. Not too much more, about $80. I'm fine with that. But, as I'm planning our trip for April and arranging our restaurant choices, from my calculations we would spend alot more this time if we didn't use the DDP. I'm really not sure if we should do the DDP mainly because I don't think we can eat all that food!!LOL I really would feel terrible waisting. Does each person in your party really eat app. entree, and dessert twice a day?! Or, do you just not order somethings? If you did skip an appetizer or dessert sometimes do you feel you still got your monies worth with the DDP?

 

[LizinSTL]

Recently we were at WDW and we ended up spending more money on food than the DDP would've cost us. Not too much more, about $80. I'm fine with that. But, as I'm planning our trip for April and arranging our restaurant choices, from my calculations we would spend alot more this time if we didn't use the DDP. I'm really not sure if we should do the DDP mainly because I don't think we can eat all that food!!LOL I really would feel terrible waisting. Does each person in your party really eat app. entree, and dessert twice a day?! Or, do you just not order somethings? If you did skip an appetizer or dessert sometimes do you feel you still got your monies worth with the DDP?

So don't order all the food. You get 1 TS meal (breakfast entree and beverage OR appetizer, entree, non-alcoholic beverage @ lunch and dinner) and 1 CS meal (entree or combo meal, beverage, dessert...no dessert at breakfast) and 1 snack per night of your trip. If you use all your TS meals, it's difficult to NOT get your money's worth out of the DDP.

We used our TS credits for 2 lunches, 4 dinners and 1 breakfast- 5/7 were buffets or fixed price meals. We only ordered 5/8 possible appetizers and 5/8 possible desserts and our TS meals would have cost us $200 more than the entire plan.

 

[irishbosoxfan]

We purchased the dining plan for our last trip and we didn't waste a whole lot!
We had 2 adults-2 older kids(both counted as adults)-3 younger kids.

The adults each ordered an appetizer usually we all got something different and we split it between the 7 of us

We each ate our own meal and dessert--Usually we just got the rice krispy bars to take with us

The only place we weren't able to finish our meals was at 50's Primetime-I had the steak which I was able to get thru-But the men ordered the Fried Chicken and could only get halfway thru! For our dessert we got the milkshakes to go which we brought to Fantasmic.

We plan on buying the dining plan for our next trip.

 

[JacobsMommy11002]

I'n my opinion, the appetizers aren't what you traditionally consider an appetizer. Many times we got a salad, our main meal, and desert...but we shared desert with DD2, and many times we ordered something like cake, that we could bring back to our hotel for a differnent timer.

 

[buffalogirl]

We used the counter service for lunch and sometimes saved the dessert for later. At dinner you could order a lighter appetizer like soup or a salad. The entree portions weren't huge. We didn't really waste any food, even though we're not big eaters. As LizinSTL mentioned, some of your meals could be buffets. We found the dining plan to be worth every penny. We could do character meals, order filet mignon(sp?) and have some really tasty desserts without worrying about prices. We managed to spend $1300 in 7 nights and the DDP cost less than $900!

Enjoy your trip in April.

 

[The Sweetness]

The only place we weren't able to finish our meals was at 50's Primetime-I had the steak which I was able to get thru-But the men ordered the Fried Chicken and could only get halfway thru! For our dessert we got the milkshakes to go which we brought to Fantasmic.

That is a brilliant idea for dessert/ Fantasmic!

 

[disneymom06]

Even if it was just $80, better in your pocket that theirs! If the DDP would save you even more money on this trip, go for it. It is more food and takes time to plan but be creative for your family. Take the desserts to go or share meals if you are looking for a light TS meal. It really saved our family ALOT of money.

 

[bicker]

I've posted this a few times -- it's especially relevant when the issue of "all that food" comes up. We determined whether the Dining Plan would be "worth it" based on the assumption that we would order NO appetizers and NO desserts:

http://brianandrobbie.com/DiningPlanEstimatedCostsNoAppyNoDessert.htm

We'd still save $120 (in 2007 dollars) and any appetizers or desserts that we do happen to order would be gravy on top of that.

 

[Desnik]

Thank you Bicker for that info!! We are going to get the DDP!!!

 

[Dani&TJsMom]

We were on the DDP last month and it is definitely worth it! We passed on several appetizers and desserts. And we still managed to sign off on over $1400 of food in 7 days! We ate whatever we felt like having from the menu and never worried about how much it cost! So even though we didn't always "maximize" the plan, we ate very well and never felt cheated because we skipped an appetizer.