Help! DDP vs. DxDP

Just wanted to say that I really appreciated reading the responses from readers with little ones. We will be traveling with one 4 yo and twin 2 yos. I too have been contemplating upping us all to deluxe (from free ddp) or just upping the 4 yo to an adult ticket and therefore better/bigger meals (so that we can have lots of good food to share with the two, two year olds). We really enjoyed a number of the signatures on our trip pre kids but wondered if they'd be a disaster with our 3 young ones.
 
We did the Deluxe in August, and worked out well for us, and would do it again in a heart beat. We did a late breakfast or early lunch for 1 credit each day, and each night we did a signature restaurant for 2 credits. We brought our kids to the most of the restaurants, but put them in the neverland club and mousketeer club for 2 nights. That ended up leaving us with 4 extra credits, so we did breakfast the day we left. Our only problem, was we brought a cooler into the park with juices and waters and didnt use the snack credits. Ended up with 54 credits the day before we left. I ended up buying lollipops and rice krispie treats to come home with. We are going in August and I plan to go to Epcot and get some sweet treats for our room the first day. Although we used garden grocer and and had food delivered to us (we stayed outside disney for 4 nights to do sea world, universal and aquatica), when we got to disney we had reservations and our luggage was stored in the bell hop services. When we returned, our room 2 liter sodas, 2 boxes of juice and all our snacks never made it to our room.. (Along with $1748 worth of jewelry), all stolen from the baggage area at port orleans riverside... Anyway, we did bring the water we had into the park and the one box of juices. Next time, we would use the snack credits right away, and maybe just bring 2 or 3 waters each day. It was nice not worrying about how much money I was spending and having my girls dreams come true along with giving them the extra mickey bar, or popcorn that they wanted. Normally, I would make them do without..
 
Also, keep in mine, Cinderella's Royal table (which was GREAT), hoop de doo Musical review (was great), Aloha Show (it was ok), and the backyard barbecue (we didnt do this one), all include the tip already, so thats a save right there...
 


With two young kids, one very picky, we've found the DxDP to be a real value for us. We'll be doing our 4th trip this January with DxDP.

We love that our picky DD5 can find something she'll eat between the appetizers and entree. And, even if that fails, we have a bunch of snacks to supplement. (love those pretzels and muffins). :)

The one issue we've had is having SO many snacks left over. We're solving that this time by stretching our 4 nights' credits over 5 days (pre-check-in very early on day 1, and staying most of day 5), doing at least 2 2-credit TS meals, and spacing our bfasts and dinners so we'll most likely just have snacks for lunch. So more 2 credit experiences (Hoop Dee Doo, CRT) and five days of reasonable eating vs four days of stuffing ourselves. :D
 
With two young kids, one very picky, we've found the DxDP to be a real value for us. We'll be doing our 4th trip this January with DxDP.

We love that our picky DD5 can find something she'll eat between the appetizers and entree. And, even if that fails, we have a bunch of snacks to supplement. (love those pretzels and muffins). :)

The one issue we've had is having SO many snacks left over. We're solving that this time by stretching our 4 nights' credits over 5 days (pre-check-in very early on day 1, and staying most of day 5), doing at least 2 2-credit TS meals, and spacing our bfasts and dinners so we'll most likely just have snacks for lunch. So more 2 credit experiences (Hoop Dee Doo, CRT) and five days of reasonable eating vs four days of stuffing ourselves. :D

This is exactly why we are debating the upgrade to deluxe. One, we like the food offerings at the ts better than the cs. Two, We want to do a signature or two and a number of character breakfasts. Three, it will be my husband, myself our 4 yr old (girl) and twin 2 yo girls. I KNOW with the five us of and only three on dining plan that we will burn through the credits. Not like I'll be able to convince them to share one mickey ice cream. And with the extra food I know we'll always have enough for the twin toddlers without paying oop at sit down meals.

And yes, clearly by my paragraph above, I'm still trying to justify my want for the Deluxe plan!
 
This is exactly why we are debating the upgrade to deluxe. One, we like the food offerings at the ts better than the cs. Two, We want to do a signature or two and a number of character breakfasts. Three, it will be my husband, myself our 4 yr old (girl) and twin 2 yo girls. I KNOW with the five us of and only three on dining plan that we will burn through the credits. Not like I'll be able to convince them to share one mickey ice cream. And with the extra food I know we'll always have enough for the twin toddlers without paying oop at sit down meals.

And yes, clearly by my paragraph above, I'm still trying to justify my want for the Deluxe plan!

I think in some cases, like yours and mine, it's totally worth it. It IS a lot of food, but if you have more days to stretch the credits, or more 2 credit meals, or lots of character dining, or picky eaters, or little ones who will do fine with the snacks, it's totally worth it IMHO. I calculated doing DDP plus supplements with additional meals/snacks vs. DxDP, and we came out significantly less expensive by using the DxDP. And I don't know about you, but when we're traveling with the kids, I want things to be nice and easy, and DxDP does that for us. :thumbsup2
 


I think in some cases, like yours and mine, it's totally worth it. It IS a lot of food, but if you have more days to stretch the credits, or more 2 credit meals, or lots of character dining, or picky eaters, or little ones who will do fine with the snacks, it's totally worth it IMHO. I calculated doing DDP plus supplements with additional meals/snacks vs. DxDP, and we came out significantly less expensive by using the DxDP. And I don't know about you, but when we're traveling with the kids, I want things to be nice and easy, and DxDP does that for us. :thumbsup2

Yes. This will be our first family trip but I'm all about ease of use. And I don't want to be constantly looking at the price of things. I realize that whether I pay oop on site or pre purchase that I'm still spending $8 for a hotdog BUT I feel so much better not thinking about it while I'm there! At least that is how I felt when my hubby & I were there in '05 and had the ddp. We will be there 7 days. How did your kids do with so much restaurant time? That I guess is my only concerning in upgrading - what if we spend all that money and then they can't deal with so much extended restaurant time?
 
I feel like if you are a planner, DxDDP can be worth it. Especially since you are getting free dining and just paying to upgrade. I vote to try DxDDP. I tried it once, don't regret it all but wouldn't do it again because it's so much food but it allowed me to eat at many restaurants I wanted to try.
 
Yes. This will be our first family trip but I'm all about ease of use. And I don't want to be constantly looking at the price of things. I realize that whether I pay oop on site or pre purchase that I'm still spending $8 for a hotdog BUT I feel so much better not thinking about it while I'm there! At least that is how I felt when my hubby & I were there in '05 and had the ddp. We will be there 7 days. How did your kids do with so much restaurant time? That I guess is my only concerning in upgrading - what if we spend all that money and then they can't deal with so much extended restaurant time?

I think you have to be smart about the restaurant time. It can get cumbersome, keeping you away from rides, messing with your FastPass times, etc. But if you schedule mealtimes properly, and at the right places, we've found it to be a welcome rest...

* We're doing three character breakfasts over five days... the kids NEVER complain about these because they obviously love seeing the characters (and then later don't feel the need to stand in line for meet & greets in the parks, which would take away from ride time). The other two mornings will be QS to allow for early starts.
* Only one TS for lunch, at Prime Time Cafe, because the kids love it and because we'll have just done QS that morning, then QS or snacks for the rest to allow for uninterrupted park roaming.
* 3 TS dinners, later in the evening if we've built in an afternoon resort rest, and Hoop Dee Doo (2 credits) for the remaining dinner.

Try to not get too overwhelmed by ADRs and your dining choices. Seriously, it can totally take over and make your vacation feel too structured. It's taken a few visits to the World for me to figure out how to maximize the DxDP so that we're taking advantage of all of the yummy choices yet not toss out the reason we're going to Disney in the first place - to have fun. :)
 

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