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

[Krmrr]

This is our vacation. If I wanted to do Disney on the cheap, I would stay at an offsite motel ($30-35 a night) with breakfast. Eat CS for lunch and go out of the park for Dinner. In Sept & Oct, discounts abound for hotels and dining (a buy 1 get 1 free book costs $9.99). I once stayed at the Days Inn Lodge in Kissimmee for 6 nights for a total cost less than I am spending for 1 night at a Disney "economy" resort.

Although I do not consider it fine dining, Disney is good dining. Especially, compared to the 80's. For $40 a person per day, I do not expect Bulgarian Caviar or Crab St. Jacques, I do expect well prepared, plated and served food, so far I have not been disappointed. Fine dining requires much more time than I am willing to spend at Disney. Les Chefs serves more people in one night than Le Ruth (later to begin the Chris Steakhouse Chain) served in a week. If a meeting required me to be within 100 miles of New Orleans, you could expect me to be able to get down for one unforgetable meal.

 

[kathyjacks]

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.

I totally agreed agent.We got the ddp on our 10 night trip. We decided it was our first time at disney and we didn't want to worry about cost , we wanted the experience. I kept reciepts and tallies and yes we would have eaten at those places anyway because we really wanted to experience them. We saved over 300 bucks on the dining plan. without it we would have had to eat hot dogs , burgers and fries 3 times a day for 10 days for the approximate same cost. We loved the experience and will plan to get ddp next time. Its not for everyone but dont' knock it til you try it!

 

[Tiger926]

Interesting analogy, but it doesn't fit for our family as we don't shop this way. We are smart shoppers and so with Costco, we only buy what we are going to use - same with DDP, you don't need to order everything that is available to you. Once you start throwing out food (from either Costco or the DDP) then you are wasting, and then the value of that particular item has gone down.

We are huge Costco shoppers as it saves us time and money, but we only buy what we use regularly and that's the key with both Costco and the DDP. We eat table service only, so at least 1-2 sit down meals per day (eating counter service on DDP was new for us). We have food allergies/sensitivity issues so we eat very healthily: no pop, no fast food, water/milk at meals, etc. and here is the biggie - we only order on the DDP what we know we are going to eat - we hate wasting food, so we utilize the DDP in a fashion that works well for us and others as we aren't wasting food. Same with Costco - we don't buy a super sized jar of jam as we don't eat that much - it just doesn't make any sense to me when I see people doing this, and then blaming Costco for it - LOL!! It's just like the legions of people on here who blame Disney for them gaining weight on the DDP (we never do). It's your choice to order and eat everything, just like it is to purchase super sized boxes of cereal from Costco that you may not eat. You go to one character meal dinner and with tax & tip, you are almost at the cost of the DDP - plus you still have counter service and snack, so I'm not sure why people feel compelled to eat everything that is served to them based on purely financial reasons, or, buy stuff at Costco just because it's cheaper.

Tiger

 

[wilde_oscar]

I agree with everything the OP has to say about DDP being like Costco (love the Costco). However... I am as they say, a cheap Bas***d. We vaction in early Sept. becuase most families are getting the kids back to school and most vacation sites are nearly vacant. Couple that with the free DDP, and there is no deeper discount anytime of year to goto WDW.

Is DDP too much food for most people... yup. Do you get to try appies and deserts that you would not normally try... yup. Would I buy DDP during the high season... Nope. Is DDP the right way to go for your family? Well if you are taking the time to do the research, and follow the boards... ya just might be able to figure out how the system applies to your family and vacation style, adjust accordingly.

 

[La2kw]

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.

I understand what you are saying, but the fact that you don't carry cash or worry about what everyone is ordering is not limited to being on the DDP.

I don't do the DDP, I don't carry cash, and I don't worry about what every one is ordering. I charge to my room, and pay off the balance when I check out. My bill has always been less than what the DDP would have cost us. No one has ever gone hungry, and everyone has always gotten any snack they wanted without worrying about whether or not it's included in any plan.

 

[La2kw]

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.

Well said.

I do have to defend Costco, though. We love shopping there and we do save money. I have a two-story five bedroom house with plenty of storage, however.

 

[luv2nascar]

I actually agree with you but it did work for my family because our youngest was not quite 3 so she wasn't on plan and we didn't pay for her. So for 4 (paying for 2 adults & 1 child) it worked. We always had plenty of food to share with her. We only bought her a meal I think on two occassions. Once she slept through the meal at O'hanas so we bought her a kids mac n cheese at Pop food court when we got back and they other was Concourse steak house. Otherwise she ate for free at the buffets and off our plates.

We are going again in Sept free dining. So how can that not work its free (2 adults, 1 child at adult price & 1 child). But once they drop covering the 18% tip I don't think we will purchase the dining plan anymore. Maybe for free dining if they offer it and we go but paying for dining not after the change next year.

 

[Willow16]

We just went for our first trip to WDW and did get the DDP. For us, money is very tight and we have never taken a trip like this before. This was a huge splurge. Getting the DDP took some of the pressure off of us - we would never have eaten at the places we ate if we had to pay individually. So, although we probably would have paid less without it, we wouldn't have had the experiences we had. We saw the belly dancers at Marrakesh and the band at the Biergarten. The kids got to order whatever they wanted. To not worry about how much something cost was so much fun and really added to the entire experience. We did add up our receipts and saved about $500 for our family of four over what it would have cost if we didn't have the DDP and ate at all the same places.

As others have said, if they don't include gratuity in the future, I don't know that we would get it. Where has this information come from?

OT - Can anyone tell me how to return a watch that we bought at WDW on 4/22 that has already broken (second hand broke off and then the band broke)? My son is so upset as this was his favorite purchase. We do have a Disney store near - would they take it back?

 

[Merriwind]

Thanks for the post, OP. Very clever analogy. DDP doesn't work for us at all; for many it does, thank goodness we have choices!

Come to think of it, I've been avoiding Sam's Club for many months too...

 

[Tiger926]

We just went for our first trip to WDW and did get the DDP. For us, money is very tight and we have never taken a trip like this before. This was a huge splurge. Getting the DDP took some of the pressure off of us - we would never have eaten at the places we ate if we had to pay individually. So, although we probably would have paid less without it, we wouldn't have had the experiences we had. We saw the belly dancers at Marrakesh and the band at the Biergarten. The kids got to order whatever they wanted. To not worry about how much something cost was so much fun and really added to the entire experience. We did add up our receipts and saved about $500 for our family of four over what it would have cost if we didn't have the DDP and ate at all the same places.

As others have said, if they don't include gratuity in the future, I don't know that we would get it. Where has this information come from?

OT - Can anyone tell me how to return a watch that we bought at WDW on 4/22 that has already broken (second hand broke off and then the band broke)? My son is so upset as this was his favorite purchase. We do have a Disney store near - would they take it back?

Disney Stores have not been owned by Disney for a few years now (owned by The Children's Place), so no returns there. You have to call the Disney Merchandise number listed on your receipt (sorry, I don't have access to it right now), and they will go about telling you how they will replace it. Usually, they are good about sending out new items to (they pay shipping to your home) if you have proper documentation (you should still have a receipt since you just bought it a few weeks ago) and they can match up that you did indeed purchase it.

Good luck in getting the broken watch situation taken care of, Tiger

 

[Willow16]

Thanks so much for the info on returning the watch. I do have the receipt so I'll give them a call.

 

[Tiger926]

Thanks so much for the info on returning the watch. I do have the receipt so I'll give them a call.

No problem! You can actually email the address on your receipt as well - this what I have done several times, and it's a very efficient way of communicating with the Merchandise Department as they get back to you promptly.

Good luck, Tiger

 

[tobin04]

We just came back, and we were on DDP.

I agree with your analogies for sure!

I just can't decide though. After eating ALL that food for a week, oh MAN, I'm detoxing today. Back to my lo-carb diet. We still had one TS and 3 CS's left over!! But we were also there for a wedding, so we ate well at the wedding, and were invited to the Hoopdee doo for the rehearsal dinner, so we had 2 huge dinners that didn't come out of our dining plan.

On the one hand, I totally agree it's nice to have it all payed for and booked before you go.

But it's also WAY more food than we'd normally eat, and a lot of time for all those TS's!!!

....so I don't know what we'll do when we go back in 2 years.