How do you use your DDP?

[TMM]

Hello,

We are going to WDW in August and chose to do the Free Dining package offered instead of waiting and hoping for an AP rate.

My husband is convinced that we will not eat nearly any of the food allowed because of the heat.

I am trying to decided if we should use table service for lunch or dinner. We are a family of 5 (Me, DH, DSD 14, DSD 14, DS 3). I am thinking we should eat dinner around 5:30 pm as a table service and do most of our breakfast as CS. It is so hard to make ADR because your plans can change at any given moment. My husband does not liked to be tied down to meal times because he is a big kid who would rather ride all day than eat.

Just wondering how all of you structure your day to include meals and do you stick by them?

 

[maggiew]

To get the "most value" for your money on the dining plan, the dinners are the best deal. HOWEVER, since the dining is free in your case, I would say its nice to have a cool restaurant to go to for lunch to get out of the heat!! We always go to WDW in the summer since I am a teacher, so I know about the heat!!! We usually keep our ADRs that we make because it cuts down on the "What do you feel like eating for lunch?" or "Where shall we go for lunch?" argument and saves time!! I've also looked over all of the menus and know where my family would enjoy.

Another thing is that with the free dining, I am sure the restaurants will be very busy. So you might not be able to "wing it" that day. Although you might be able to call the night before or you could try that day to switch the ADRS. But having one already will be like gold when you are down there.

Maggie

 

[noseybuddy]

I did the Free Dining last Sept and doing it again this August. I used the TS for all dinners and CS for breakfast. It worked out great. Most times at dinner I couldn't even finish my meal. Plenty of restuarants to choose from and the menus were great. I highly recommend doing the free dining. I highly suggest making ressies now, because when I was there last Sept. they were turning people away at the door. Just plan on what park or area you will be at each day a make dinner ressies according to that. I do this all the time and it works out great.

 

[TMM]

Thanks for the great replies...I thought I was asking a silly question.

Noseybuddy, what time are most of your dinner ressies for August? Did you get everything you wanted?

 

[noseybuddy]

Yes I did get everything I wanted.

8/17 Mama Melrose Fantasmic Package 6:10

8/18 LeCeller 6:40

8/19 Teppanyaki 7:00 or Cape May Cafe

8/20 O'Hanas 6:20

 

[princess mom of 4]

On our last two trips we had the DDP (paid for it once, got it free the second time!) - We ate breakfast in the room, like poptarts, nutrigrain bars, etc, then used the CS for lunch and TS for dinner. We didn't have to pay for hardly any food the whole trip, and ate better than without the dining plan. My point was that we got more out of the CS credit using it for lunch than we would have if we used it for breakfast anyway.

 

[pezpam]

We mixed it up.

Some days, I made a late reservation at a character breakfast, which pretty much covered us for breakfast and lunch. We'd have a CS dinner wherever we ended up. DD likes the character breakfasts more than any other meal experience, so it's worth it to us to use the credits there.

If I know which park we'll be in, we might grab something quick for breakfast before heading out, then plan a TS lunch at that park. It really is a nice way to break up the day and cool down. CS dinner wherever we happened to be by dinnertime.

I've also booked dinner TS's, but found that it required more planning and transportation, especially if the restaurant is not at the park we happen to be at in late afternoon. I've enjoyed the dinners, but since DD needs to eat early and also goes to bed early, getting to and eating dinner at a TS really cuts into our park time.

The above is with DD and me alone. I've got a trip with an adult friend coming up and I've planned mainly dinners for our TS credits. She's barely awake and certainly not in an eating mood until late morning anyway - she also hates the very idea of a character breakfast. LOL Plus, this trip won't revolve around rides and parks as much as with DD, so it's much easier to head back to the room, clean up, and get to a TS as necessary.

 

[Tam1067]

We're going in July (no free dining then!) and using DDP. I've got ADRs for each dinner, and we'll eat CS lunch in the parks, and wing breakfast because we generally would eat cold cereal and fruit, not a complete hot breakfast kind of thing, so using a CS credit isn't worth it in that case.