Help in using DDP - please

Daisy21015

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jun 19, 2007
Messages
228
Trying to decide if the DDP makes sense for us - myself and DD's 10, 8 & 7. It would be 2 adult and 2 child for 9 nights.

We currently have ADR's for too many TS (we have days with character breakfast and then dinner with no lunch planned) and not enough CS

TS:
Ltt - Dinner
Tusker House - Breakfast
Boma - Dinner
CG
Biergarten - Dinner
CM - Breakfast
50's PT - Dinner
Le Cellier - Dinner
CP - Breakfast
O'hana - Dinner
Akerhus - Breakfast
1900 Park Fare - Breakfast

We have about 6 CS meals planned

How would I work it for the Dining Plan to be adventageous? I will have to pay oop - but should I pay oop for the breakfasts? What about the 2 TS it will take for CG?

The other issue is whether or not spending $37 day for the 10 year old even makes the dining plan a good deal.

Please any help or anyone who can figure out the best financial way it would be soooo appreciated.
Thanks.
 
Hi, just returned from a one week stay at Disney 12/19 - 12/26 and loved it. We had the ddp with two adults and two kids ($100/day). Here are my thoughts. First, don't think of whether or not you will get $37 worth of food for your 10 y/o. Rather, I think the way to view it is to ask yourself, "can you feed yourself or do what you want to do for under $100?" So, can one adult and three kids feed themselves for less than $100 a day? Absolutely... with all cs meals. Unless you have really big eaters, you could probably buy one adult counter service (avg $20 with drink and dessert) and two kids meals (avg $7-9) for a cost of about $40, and share the meals family style. Or buy two adult size entrees and share. You do this twice a day and you'll definitely be under $100 a day with plenty of food.

But, if you plan on doing character dinners with kids, you've got to have the ddp. We did the crystal palace where lunch was $20 a kid. Since the cost is only $10/day for kids, you actually are ahead $10 plus your cs and snack is "free" for that day! (If this doesn't make sense, just ask and I can give you a breakdown).

On another day, my wife took our two girls to see Bfast with cinderella. That 's like $25 dollars each girl. We used two dining credits per child ($20 each) came out ahead by $5 and the cs and snack were "free" for those two.

Realize that our kids didn't even come close to eating $10 worth of food at either meal because they are young, but being able to get pictures with all the characters while eating made the ddp worth it.

In short, if you're on a budget, I bet you could feed your group of 4 for about $75 a day, saving you about $225 over the 9 day stay on the ddp, but your meals will be just enough to feed you with very few if any ts meals. For an extra $25 for the ddp, you'll eat like kings and queens, and I would definitely see as many dining shows or eat in premier restaurants to treat the kids and pamper yourself.
 
Thanks for your reply. I like your idea of looking at what we would eat over all rather than focussing on the 10 year old not eating $37.

This is our all girl fun trip so we are planning to do it up - that is why we are so top heavy on TS.

I am still trying to think if paying oop on top of the dining plan makes it cost effective.

Thanks for you help.
 
go to:
http://www.allearsnet.com/
total up what the meals would be OOP using what you would normally order (exclude tip & appy, as those are not on the 2008 plan, but do add beverage & tax in, as well as dessert if your group norm orders it).
then compare it to the cost of the DDP.

while not the outstanding value it was in the past, we plan on using it for this may's trip, & most likely the Oct one also (just DH & self).
we tend to enjoy our WDW vacas at a leisurely pace, stay at the BWV's & make most of our ADRs for EPCOT WS. this way we just stroll over for dinner at the end of day (so the concern some have of it being too regimented, doesn't apply).
the dinners we have planned would cost about the same OOP as the total price of the DDP, so it's like getting the CS & snack free.
hth :santa:
 

given the number of ADRs you have and the amount of money you'd be going oop, you might want to consider pricing out (same way as described above) the Deluxe Dining Plan as it may end up being cost-effective for your family... i did the math for our (and both of my kids are over 10) and we found it would work well for us :)
 












Receive up to $1,000 in Onboard Credit and a Gift Basket!
That’s right — when you book your Disney Cruise with Dreams Unlimited Travel, you’ll receive incredible shipboard credits to spend during your vacation!
CLICK HERE






DIS Facebook DIS youtube DIS Instagram DIS Pinterest DIS Tiktok DIS Twitter DIS Bluesky

Back
Top Bottom