How DDP is like Costco and why I'll stick with the grocery store

[mom2aredhead]

Keep in mind, I've never done DDP. But I have a theory. For the past 2 trips, I've done research, have spreadsheets, studied menus, and kept receipts. This is for my family. Your family may be different. I've calculated the food that my family of 3 would eat while at WDW. Not what's available, or what's included...what we would eat either way. There's a difference.

Stay with me, 'cause here's where my Costco theory comes in.

You know how when you go to those warehouse places, they have all these items that you can buy in bulk for a cheap price? Like 500 packets of Splenda, or 50 rolls of toilet paper, or a 48oz vat of skin cream? It's cheaper than in the supermarkets, so you think "woo hoo, bargain". Cheaper is better, right?

Then you realize that the 50 rolls of toilet paper don't fit in your car. But you squeeze them in. Ditto for the other stuff. You'll make it work, right? Cheaper is better. Woo hoo. Bargain. Then you get home. Whoops - you just remembered you live in a small condo. Where in the world are you going to store 50 rolls of toilet paper? But it's worth the hassle....you saved money. So you stuff a few rolls under the sink, and make a toilet paper pyramid in your attic.

Oh shoot, you just realized the skin cream is not exactly like the one you buy at the drug store. Same brand, but not quite what you're used to. Will you like it? Will it give you a rash? Hope not...you just bought 3 lbs of it.

And the splenda. Using 1 packet in each cup of coffee - you just bought a year and a half supply of splenda. That was dumb. Better start drinking more coffee.

For me, ADR's are like the toilet paper. You may save money on DDP, but the hassle of commiting to having 7 TS things in the week is kinda like having a toilet paper tower in the attic...cheaper, but a little outweighed by inconvenient. This is for my family. Your family may be different.

Pre-paying the food on the DDP is kind of like the skin cream. Am I going to like the way the plan is set up? The restaurants? The scheduling? Hope so, since I just spent $600 for it. This is for my family. Your family may be different.

The splenda is like the appetizers, desserts and snacks. Buying in bulk does make each thing cheaper. But if you would normally eat either an appetizer or a dessert, and don't snack, you're buying extra of things you don't need. But you'll end up eating them because they're paid for. So the money you save per snack will be spent on tums instead. This is for my family. Your family may be different.

I have a 3.5 year old chicken finger eater. At CHH, whether on DDP or not, I would probably buy him adult chicken fingers since there are not kid chicken fingers, and hubby would happily polish off anything he didn't finish. At Pinocchio Village Haus, I would buy him pizza, DDP or not, and have him eat what he wants. I'm not going to walk clear across Frontierland, past the castle to into Tomorrowland to go to Starlight Rays to get him the kids meal he likes because that's whats on "the plan". I would also not force him to eat chilled chicken or a kids sloppy joe (yuck) because that's what's on "the plan". We would also go to Rainforest Cafe, and Mickey's Backyard BBQ, DDP or no DDP. I guess I should skip these family favorites because I'd have to pay OOP, or it's 2 TS and it's not the best use of "the plan"? I offer my opinions and end up feeling like I need to defend the non-DDP users of the world.

This is for my family. Your family may be different. I included that often because people feel the need to flame any opinion other than DDP works great for everyone and only fools pay OOP or don't schedule their trips around free DDP If we were a family of 7 which included several teens, I may feel differently. But we're not.

Off my soap box now, flame suit on.

If you've read all of this, thanks for letting me vent.

 

[ballle_98]

I can totally see your point. I know on our first cruise (w/ all-you-can-eat) we gorged ourselves silly. On subsequent cruises we refrained. Just because we technically paid for it in the cost of the cruise we didn't like over-eating.
We did the DDP last December and it was a good value for our family of 4 and we are doing the DDP in September (free). But I don't think the DDP is for every family. If we have to pay for it again (during a non-free stay) I'm not sure we will. We ate more than we ever do. It would still save us to do the plan but I'm afraid I will do what I did last time and not refrain from over indulging.
Does that make sense?

 

[agentpleakley]

I totally get your analogy and don't disagree. Without DDP, we spent a lot less, ate a loss less and only had one TS meal. With DDP, we spent more, ate more and had 8 TS meals, plus the convenience of not having to carry cash and worry about what every one was ordering.

There is no way we would have ever eaten 8 TS meals in one trip. It was a great experience and we will be doing again this December -- because right now it is budget friendly to us, we are enjoying letting the kids get their autographs at character meals rather than waiting in line out in the hot FLA sun, we are enjoying sampling a variety of restaurants we normally would never eat at and bottom line for convenience sake since we are staying on-site. Ask me again if they change the costs or components of the DDP, I may very well change my mind.

 

[rentayenta]

Love the analogy and always welcome different viewpoints. The main reason we will be doing two 2 TS dinners is not wanting to have to sit every night. Best part about it, if we don't want to use the credits, we don't have to nor do we have to feel bad because it was free; no loss. As far as CS credits go, kids can order anything off the menu so they are not stuck eating chicken nuggets every meal. We like to dine and would do the CRT, Chef Mickey's, Crystal Palace, and Norway Princess regardless of the DDP or not. We like to eat and visit with the characters and not wait in line to visit.


The analogy is a valid one. It doesn't apply too much to my sitaution but I enjoyed it.

 

[Peter Pirate 2]

Great!!! And quite funny!!!!

 

[Dreamfinder2]

Yeah, the title of this thread made me laugh.

DDP? OOP? Done it both ways. Do what works for y'all! I'm always delighted at the choices we get.

 

[Dragonfly0521]

We did DDP on our first and only trip and loved it. But.... you are totally right in your analogy!!!! We ate more... because we could. Our kids had to "stick to the plan". We rearanged our schedule "to fit more meals in". You are so very right. We still like it... are planning on doing it again (if they keep the tip included), but I love your take on it.

 

[monami7]

I like your analogy. We felt the same way until we tried the DDP. Even if you just get what you would normally eat it saves money. However we do eat a lot of sit down meals. And we like pre paying for it all. We feel like it's christmas thinking about free dining this year. because anyway you look at it were saving $500-$650. Thats not bad.

 

[mskay]

Thanks for the analogy! Great points! Unfortunately, I'm one of those splenda-buying toilet paper-towering kind of people. Honest to goodness, I have a huge box of splenda from Sam's in my pantry. Every time I go in there I wonder why I bought such a big box!

 

[justwinnie]

I totally agree and see your point. I have a 3.5 yo daughter and she's not a big eater. We've done the DDP 4 times- paid 2Xs, free 2Xs. We skipped it on our last trip and will probably skip it on our next trip in October.

I did a lot of number crunching before our last trip and decided it just wouldn't be worth it-- we had a great room-only rate and would have to switch to a package w/tickets to get the DDP. However, we were on a grand gathering and were the only family not on the plan. It would have been easier if we were on it for the sake of bill splitting.

Thanks for your analogy.

 

[checkwriter]

For our family, the TS meals together are as much a part of the fun as the attractions, fireworks, or parades. Whether or not we are getting a "good deal" is outweighed by knowing that anybody can get the proverbial "anything they want" off the menu and not worry about "mean old dad" . . . well, you get the idea.

Of course . . . . your family may be different.

 

[Katiebell]

Yep, the DDP, like Costco, is not for everyone. Many times I've bought something at Costco, like a jar of salsa, then got it home and realized how BIG it is, and I have nowhere to store it, and we can't possibly eat it all. And we picked up a ladder we've needed for a long time, but you should have seen us trying to get it home in my little car -- didn't think about that when we bought it

You did say, "...people feel the need to flame any opinion other than DDP works great for everyone and only fools pay OOP or don't schedule their trips around free DDP If we were a family of 7 which included several teens, I may feel differently. But we're not." On the flip side of that, there are people who feel the need to flame any opinion other than the DDP is an evil plot, has totally destroyed all of the fine cuisine at WDW (because 50's Prime Time and Biergarten used to be 4 star establishments), everything now tastes like styrofoam mixed with sawdust and looks like elephant poo, the restaurants are now full of 8 million screaming brats and an army of yokels in wet bathing suits and flip flops...

OK, not that bad I think the important point is that it doesn't work for everyone. And that's ok The DDP certainly is not going to be a bargain for every family -- people have different eating habits, different appetites, different preferences, different touring styles, different budgets. I think it will work really well on this trip for DH and me. We usually eat a TS meal every day on vacation anyway, and I like having it all prepaid, and I like having all our reservations set. It will give us a chance to try a lot of the fun theme restaurants -- we can go to San Francisco or Napa Valley for elegant dining, but we can't always have breakfast with Stitch, or sip shakes in a vintage car at a cheesy Sci Fi movie. So we'll see how it goes for us.

And I loved your analogy...anyone who shops at Costco will "get it"

 

[eeyoregon]

Oh shoot, you just realized the skin cream is not exactly like the one you buy at the drug store. Same brand, but not quite what you're used to. Will you like it? Will it give you a rash? Hope not...you just bought 3 lbs of it.

But you bought it Costco so it's 100% returnable even if it's opened, used and no receipt!

 

[eeyoregon]

the restaurants are now full of 8 million screaming brats and an army of yokels in wet bathing suits and flip flops...

Geez, sorry if I offended you...it was my "best" bathing suit!!

 

[Bubbley4Disney]

DDP is Awesome! Huge money saver, even when it isn't free. Love it, Love it. Can't wait to eat all the yummy what evers no matter the price, LOL and gain back all the weight I have lost for the vacation LOL

 

[Dis Ohana]

What made this thread even funnier to me is we just returned from a trip to Costco - all I needed was printer ink...somehow managed to come home with a full trunk of, well, I can't even remember what I bought!

I did a mock menu of what we'd actually order at the dining places we chose, no matter how I ran the numbers what we would actually order was always hundreds of dollars less than what we'd pay for the DDP. We never eat apps or dessert, we don't always even order drinks. My DD (11) eats like a bird, so having to pay for her as an adult doesn't help matters. I think the DDP is great for some families, for our family I think we'll take the Costco lesson here.

 

[Disneyland_Mama]

I loved your installment! You'll get no flames from me, even though I am a fan of the DDP. It just doesn't work for you and that's fine!

The DDP works for my family. I make the plan work for us. I don't like spending every night cooped up at some table service restaurant, neither do my children. I spread use our TS credits for a lot of lunches and on our non-park days. I've done the math, and we do save money using the DDP. I also love the convenience of having my vacation pre-paid. But, that's what works for my family.

Thanks for posting, I enjoyed reading everyones comments!

 

[webshark3]

With free DDP, it's a no-brainer. With free DDP, lots of ADRs, and a wife who wants to try the "best" of Disney, it's a no-no-no-brainer.

Otherwise, I've done the same a you (OP). OOP would always be cheaper and more like our "normal" eating habits.

 

[Katiebell]

Geez, sorry if I offended you...it was my "best" bathing suit!!

Well...I guess it's ok...as long as you do like I do and bring a towel to avoid wet butt-prints on the seats...

 

[mrsltg]

Your analogy is great and my family utilizes DDP! Regardless, we have at least one TS per day. I like to sit down to eat meals and I don't want counter service food every meal of every day. While we wouldn't normally order an appetizer and dessert per person we enjoy doing so on DDP. No one holds a gun to my head and makes me finish every last bite, so I don't feel like I am gorging myself. For other families this may not be the case, for our family, the DDP works.