Has anyone done DDP with their DVC visit?? Opinions??

[TwingleMum]

How does the plan work? What is the cost?? What if you have an AP?? Was it worth it to you?? Would you do it again? Thanks

 

[TammyAlphabet]

How does the plan work?

You must call MS prior to checkin to add the dining plan. Then you pay for the dining plan at checkin. I think it might be at least two days before checkin that you must add it to your reservation. You must purchase the plan for everyone on your reservation for the entire reservation.

What is the cost??

For 10 and up, it is 37.99 per person. For 9 to 3, 11.99 per person.

What if you have an AP??

As long as you are staying on points, your ticket doesn't matter for eligibility.

Was it worth it to you?? Would you do it again? Thanks

It was definitely worth it to me. I stayed in a studio, both times I was on the plan and it was great. I will do it again this december. Other people complain that it is too much food. That might be true but we enjoyed trying new foods and new restaurants.

 

[LakeAriel]

I just love it, it is well worth it. Just check the menu's at Allearsnet.com under dining and you will see it is a huge bargain. If you prefer not to do sit down dinners then perhaps not.
Make sure to have ADR"s for your dinners though. I saw so many people turned away from the better restaurants. To pay for DDP and not get a seat would be maddening.

 

[byoung]

I agree it's worth it.

 

[starbox]

It depends on your family and dining habits. We've done the plan ever since it was offered (both as non-DVC and DVC members), multiple trips a year. It has always been worth it.

However, on our upcoming trip DS will have reached the magical age of 10. We are also AP members now. On our last trip, we paid OOP for two meals - lunch at CDF and dinner at the Sci Fi - Sci Fi was around 75$ and CDF around 55 (including tip, a glass of wine and shared dessert - used the DVC 20% discount) I am thinking that DDE will probably be cheaper and fit our eating pattern better than the DDP now that we have to pay for 3 adult meals and 1 child on the DDP. I do the convenience of the DDP though.

 

[mom2alix]

How does the plan work? What is the cost?? What if you have an AP?? Was it worth it to you?? Would you do it again? Thanks

We liked the plan so well in May that we are getting it again for our Dec trip. We do have the DDE card as well and use it for any OOP meals and adult beverages. It more than paid for itself on the May trip so it was worth it for us too.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I'll find out in 18 days! And I'll settle the curiosity I've had-is gelato REALLY a snack at BCV?

 

[twinklebug]

How does the plan work? What is the cost?? What if you have an AP?? Was it worth it to you?? Would you do it again? Thanks

I played with the idea before going down, even had it added and then called in the last 48 hours before arriving to remove it. The kids and I are just not big eaters and the last thing I want us to do is eat huge meals in the summer heat. We ate normally, even ate out at table service places more than usual. I kept careful record of what we did spend, including stocking the kitchen and we saved a little more than $100 over what we would have spent on the plan.

Whether it's worth it for you is a very personal decision & relevant to your eating habits. For the three of us it would not have been worth it,
Now if DH had come along the plan would have been well worth it as he can out-eat an elephant & would have eaten any leftovers from the rest of us

 

[TLinden16]

I thought the DDP was worth it for me, as a solo traveller who normally has one sit down meal a day. It definitely saved me some money, and it was nice to not have to worry about how much I spent on food--I had the exact budget.

It is a lot of food, though. By the end of the week, I was so full from the food I ate earlier in the week, I wasn't able to eat much of the food by the end of the week.

That being said, if I had kids over 10 who weren't big eaters, I wouldn't get the plan. It just wouldn't be as cost effective if your kids aren't big eaters.

 

[patsal]

We've used it and love it, even with two children that are considered adults, it still works out fine. This is just the way we eat so it is wonderful--we have breakfast in the villa, have lunch whereever we are touring that day and dinner is a planned ADR. Because of the flexibility with the villa kitchen it is not necessary to worry about using signature dining choices either since one or two meals can be easily put together in the villa.

 

[LakeAriel]

I'll find out in 18 days! And I'll settle the curiosity I've had-is gelato REALLY a snack at BCV?

Yes! Yes! Yes!

 

[the who #3]

after about 10 or 11 visits to wdw, we did not think the ddp would provide the food we enjoy ( we love expensive foods and like to try many things), but after trying ddp for the first time nov. 2005, we will never do anything else. I actually saved money and we had food left that we did not use. this was for a family of 3 adults, 1-12yr. old boy and 1-4yr. old.

wdw has, in recent years, become a dinning delite and well as a recreati on heaven. but then maybe excellent dinning is really a great recreatiion.

 

[MissD]

but then maybe excellent dinning is really a great recreatiion.

I totally agree-it was a great recreation for our family.

I can only hope that the now necessary weeks on the South Beach Diet will be equally as enjoyable

 

[MarieA]

Our family returned from our first DVC visit (8/14 - 8/22). We added the dining plan to our ressie (we've always gone to WDW with a dining plan). The dining plan cost $37.99 (38.99 for 07) for adults and $10.99 for children. Each person gets 1 snack, 1 Counter Service and 1 Table Service meal per day. We had 4 adults in our party and the dining plan cost us $1215 for an 8 night stay. After returning home and totalling all of our receipts we saved almost $600 on food by using the dining plan. We will definitely add the dining plan to our stay in January and next summer as long as the restaurant options remain pretty much the same. Right now in the 2007 DDP brochure many of the restaurants in EPCOT are not included in the plan. We own BCV and frequently dine in EPCOT (Mexico, Italy, France, Japan). Not sure whether we will add the DDP if these restaurants do not participate in 2007.

 

[Groucho]

Right now in the 2007 DDP brochure many of the restaurants in EPCOT are not included in the plan. We own BCV and frequently dine in EPCOT (Mexico, Italy, France, Japan). Not sure whether we will add the DDP if these restaurants do not participate in 2007.

The brochure is out of date (already) and all the '06 restaurants are on again for '07, as well as a couple others. Check the DDP forum for details.

 

[TwingleMum]

I have 3 boys under 6 yrs old and none of them are big eaters. My DH is a low carber and can really load up especially at breakfast on eggs. He also sometimes will order 2 entrees to get enough meat. If he does a breakfast buffet he will skip lunch. We usually do DDE and that has worked really well for us. We are toying with trying DDP. Thanks for all the input.

 

[jmatias]

We did DDP for the first time on our July trip to BCV.

We are a family of 5, with 2 adults, a 10 year old, 8, and 2.

So we paid for 3 adults and 1 kid. We thoroughly enjoyed it.

- Our 10 year old is a big eater
- tried a lot of new restaurants and enjoyed them all with Coral Reef one of our new favorites
- a lot less stressful ordering since our 10 year old could order whatever he wanted.....made him real happy too
- almost always took dessert back to the villa which made a great snack the next day

What was the best part is that with all the walking in the parks we didn't gain any weight

I didn't miss cooking and cleaning in the room one bit

Jen

 

[kgkmom]

IIt is a lot of food, though. By the end of the week, I was so full from the food I ate earlier in the week, I wasn't able to eat much of the food by the end of the week.

This was our experience when we were there earlier this month. DD and I can chow with the best of them, but this trip we were a bit more laid back. I did enjoy bringing home doggie bags and eating desserts whenever I wanted to (the chocolate torte from Flying Fish was a fantastic breakfast one morning! ). DD and I did get our money's worth, even though we left 2CS on the ticket. By the end of the week, DD was definitely sick of all the food, which is saying quite a bit.

For our trip in Feb, I think I'll do the DDE, just to be able to really compare, given our eating habits and preferences.

 

[jenelope]

I love food and I'm probably a big eater, but it's definitely a lot of food. Here's the thing, though. Just because it's on the plate, doesn't mean it must be eaten. For the first couple of days, I felt that I needed to be rolled out of the restaurant. I think it was the dessert with every meal that did me in. By the third day, I figured it out and started leaving food on my plate.

With that said, I loved the plan and intend to do it whenever possible. It was so much easier to pre-pay most of my meals and forget about it. It's nice to pick up a menu and not think, "I want the filet, but I should get the chicken because it's cheaper." It's vacation! I don't want thoughts like that intruding on my enjoyment of my meal.

 

[diznyfanatic]

On our last two trips, we used the Dining Plan. One time before staying at DVC, and the other time while staying at DVC.

We enjoy the convenience of having nearly all of our vacation prepaid, but after the second time using it, we've realized it just is way too much food for us.

Plus, we felt like everything was starting to center around our ADR's and eating. I remember thinking quite a few times, that we shouldn't do this or that because we had to be at Epcot or somewhere for dinner at a certain time.

Both times on the plan, we made way more ADR's than we'd normally make, however, that was the point in trying it. Normally during a 7 night stay, we might make one or two ADR's for special meals but on the plan we had ADR's every night of our stay.

I'm very glad we tried it as some of the meals we had such as CRT, 1900 Park Fare, Le Cellier, Chefs de France, and Boma were simply magical and the highlights of our trips and maybe we'll use the plan again sometime.

For now I want to try DVC without the Dining Plan since we have a kitchen and don't want to be on the frenzied pace of commando touring and eating. We'll make a few ADR's since my granddaughter loves the character meals and we enjoy our favorite restaraunts such as Boma & LeCellier.

That was one of the reasons we joined DVC, was so that we could actually relax a little more and not feel the pressure of trying to do everything each time.

Knowing we WILL be back, is one of the many magical benefits of DVC!