help with the decision to do the DDP

[AJPPGH]

I am trying to figure out if we should do the DDP and was hoping for a little help. It is myself, husband and 2 children (2yo and 5 yo.) Typically the kids split a kids meal when we go out to eat and their diet does not go beyond chik fingers, plain pasta, pizza and grilled cheese. For me and my husband..we never order appetizers or desserts at a restaurant. We will probably do a nice sit- down dinner at a better restaurant at least twice. We will also do a character breakfast with the kids. I know that we will probably snack a lot at the park also.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

-AJ

Our visit will be at the end of Jan 07 and we will be staying at the Polynesian in case that makes a difference.

 

[DisneyKidds]

Hard to say for sure without knowing where you plan to eat and looking at the menus, but if you aren't the type to order appetizers and dessert, and might not do a TS meal each day if you were paying out of pocket, the DDP may not save you much. Then again, even if it doesn't save you much it might allow you to have a few more TS meals, and perhaps nicer meals that allow you to sample more food, than you would have for the same amount of money.

We used the DDP on our last trip and we saved a couple hundred dollars easy, but we usually order appetizers and desserts at our TS meals.

My advice would be to make a list of the places you plan to eat, look at the menus, and add up the cost for what you would normally order. Throw in an estimate for CS meals and snacks and see which is cheaper.......that or the plan.

 

[LizinSTL]

I am trying to figure out if we should do the DDP and was hoping for a little help. It is myself, husband and 2 children (2yo and 5 yo.) Typically the kids split a kids meal when we go out to eat and their diet does not go beyond chik fingers, plain pasta, pizza and grilled cheese. For me and my husband..we never order appetizers or desserts at a restaurant. We will probably do a nice sit- down dinner at a better restaurant at least twice. We will also do a character breakfast with the kids. I know that we will probably snack a lot at the park also.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

-AJ

Our visit will be at the end of Jan 07 and we will be staying at the Polynesian in case that makes a difference.

Are you doing a magic your way package? Park tickets and room thru a travel agent or disney? How many nights?

If so and if you think you'd be interested in 1 TS per night of your reservation (you could do an early character breakfast and a later dinner on the same day) if you don't want to do a TS meal every single day.... then yes, I think that it's rarely a bad deal to do the DDP when you are talking about young kids... your cost per night would be $86.97/night.... Breakfast at Chef Mickey's or at the Poly w/ Lilo and Stitch would cost you $61 for each (tax and tip included) You'd break even at least on those meals. If you had dinner at Kona and 'ohana once each (since it's your resort) and each just got an entree and beverage at Kona, you'd spend $60-80 and almost $80 at 'ohana. Plus you'd get the CS meal credits too (and all those snacks).

For us, the DDP was well worth it- we didn't have to look at the bills while we were there. I didn't have to look at the prices on the menu and worry about how much stuff was costing. I didn't cringe when my 6 year old ate only watermelon and bacon at her $11 breakfast buffet or when my 9 year old took a single bite of her meal at 50s PTC. It was all paid for well before we arrived.

Hypothetically......An average CS meal (we did choose desserts at each meal and saved them for later in most cases) cost about $35 for 3 meals. (2 A/1C) 3 ice creams at Mrs Potts would have run us over $12 with tax ... That's $108 if we had those meals on the day of a late character breakfast- We'd have paid $87 for the DDP on that day. That $21 was in my pocket rather than paid to Disney and we really had a better time because of that

 

[baileybelle]

If you plan on doing a TS every day, especially character dinners, then I would do the DDP. If you plan on doing mostly CS and a couple of TS, I would say no. I would check out the menus and prices.

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dining/disneydining.cfm

We are 5 adults and have decided not to do DDP. We have planned 5 TS for lunch (no character TS) and the rest CS. We usually split either a dessert or appetizer and somtimes meals. We also like to snack, so we do our big meal at lunch and eat light at night.

I figured out where we would be eating each day and we wouldn't save any money by doing the DDP. My entire family is trying to watch our weight, so the DDP would be a disaster for us. Too much temptation to overeat!!!

 

[lpbm4]

We just got back and did the DDP. My kids are the same as yours in their food choices. The kids found something at every meal!! They were also able to share some counter service meals so we were able to divide them up throughout our stay. We saved $100+ doing the DDP. Then we didn't have to worry about any food, going back to our rooms to eat, etc. It really did work out well for us.

 

[thedears]

We did the DDP for the first time ever and loved it !!! although I think I came back 10 pounds heavier We ate at places that we normally wouldn't have and enjoyed meals that we probably would never had ordered had we paid at the table. It was great to give them $625 and eat almost $1000. We would order accordingly and share between the four of us. My 9 year old was extremely greatful because sometimes she just didn't enjoy the "kid" choices, especially when we were eating steaks and prime rib so she would get her meal and get a few bites from everyone's plate. She loved "my" crab claws at Coral Reef I would definitely do the DDP again if you want to take the time out to eat but then again I enjoyed the sit down time for TS ADRs because it gave my feet the rest that they needed. And the kids enjoyed going to Goofy's candy store the last day of our DDP and using 9 snack credits at one time.......sugar high for sure here.

 

[bicker]

The Dining Plan can still be a great deal, even without the appetizers and dessert. Here's a link to my quick calculations that indicated that the Dining Plan was a good deal for us, and as you can see, it figures on NO appetizers and NO desserts AT ALL:

http://brianandrobbie.com/DiningPlanEstimatedCostsNoAppyNoDessert.htm

The key is how many TS meals would you normally do. If you'd do about one TS each night of your trip, then the Dining Plan would work out for you. Your situation is ideal, with two adults, a young child and a child under three who will share with the young child.

 

[connorsmom911]

We did the DDP on our last 2 trips, one with Connor, one just the 2 of us, same length of time (3 nights). We found with Connor it was great and we saved quite a bit of money, especially on him. We did 2 character buffets (Chef Mickey's and Crystal Palace) and Teppanyaki, all fairly expensive meals. When it was just the 2 of us, we found it was far too much food.

This next trip we are only staying 2 nights so we're not doing the DDP, and for our pre-cruise trip, we plan to eat really light since the cruise will include soooo much food.

I think if you are planning to do character meals or TS even most of the days, you will save money doing the DDP. You won't pay for your 2 yr old, so they can even share the meal or share in some of your appetizers.

One tip I would give is to plan out your meals, make your TS adr's and take a look at menus for CS too, particularly to plan out what your kids will eat. For instance, Connor didn't like the mac and cheese at Disney, and I knew at some CS locations that we wanted to eat at, he wouldn't eat what was on the kids menu. Often you can get really big meals at CS locations and share. Also, Disney doesn't currently distinguish between adult and child credits, so at CS locations, you don't have to order off the children's menu. You can spread out your credits this way, and even pay out of pocket for the kids meals.

One drawback too is that if you don't use the credits, you lose them. If anyone gets sick (or you all do), you have paid for your meals and can't get the money back. If you have credits left over, I have heard of people paying for other peoples meals, spreading the magic. With snack credits, you can stock up on Mickey Rice Krispies, bags of pretzels etc for the trip home.

Good luck and enjoy!

 

[bicker]

One drawback too is that if you don't use the credits, you lose them. If anyone gets sick (or you all do), you have paid for your meals and can't get the money back. If you have credits left over, I have heard of people paying for other peoples meals, spreading the magic.

Unfortunately, that's a violation of the Dining Plan rules. Nice thought -- bad execution.

The point about being aware that your credits are lost if you don't use them is a good one though. Folks should understand the ramifications, even in cases where things happen that are beyond your control.

 

[dsnymomof4]

We probably would never have done the dining plan if they didn't offer it for free in August. We never order appetizers or desserts (mainly to save money). But now, we are spoiled and will probably always get the dp. It is so nice to be able to go into a restaurant and order whatever you want and not have to add up in your head how much it is going to cost to make sure you stay in your budget. Having it all paid for ahead of time is great. Our kids didn't have any problems finding things to order. Sure, if we didn't have the plan, we probably wouldn't have ordered the same amount of food, but that added to our vacation. We really enjoyed it!

 

[The Sweetness]

If you plan on a table service meal per day (b l or d) than I think it is worth it. Even if your fam chose to do buffets for your TS every day, you'd still come out a bit ahead. You can't have a room discount, though, if you do the DDp, you have to pay rack, and also have at least a 1 day pass per person (not the 2y old) as part of the package