How long was your WDW wedding/HM trip? DDP?

[Beautybelle43]

Just wondering how long you stayed in total?

& did you use the Disney Dining Plan?

 

[yearbook50]

We stayed a total of 11 nights - 4 nights at the Poly for the "wedding part", 7 nights at the WL for the 'honeymoon' part.

We didn't use the dining plan, we used the DDE card which saves you 20% off your meals and alcohol. It quickly paid for itself in October when I used it and so all this trip was basically savings for us. They do add an 18% tip now automatically with it, but in all honesty, that ended up saving us more money since we always just added our discount amount back in for our 20%, so now they are only getting 18%.

DDP doesn't work for us as we prefer Signature Dining places a majority of the time.

 

[hulagirl87]

We did 11 nights and then the 3 night Disney cruise as well - it was fantastic! We had the dining plan and it was well worth it. It was my DH first time to Disney and we had a blast.

 

[marinaalex1234]

The trip to disney land sounds fascinating to me, and I am wondering if this can be a good gift idea for my elder brother who are soon approaching their 5th marriage anniversary. So far I have not given them any thing that could prove ideal for them as I was a student then but now having a good job under my belt I can afford to sponsor them. Would love to hear in the meantime from others about this being a gift for them.

 

[orangetiggs]

we are staying 14 nights at coronado springs and are usinge the dde, we got the card at our planning trip and thought it was great

 

[mushumadness]

Hiya

we stayed at the Grand Floridian for 14 nights, had a great time,

gonna be a while before we can go back hehe

we didnt use the dining plan, we did stay on the concierge level though which was nice.

 

[momofbride010103]

Awwww........ congratulations on the baby!! you must be so happy, wishing you all the best...

 

[Nicola2010]

we're planning on staying at Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa for 20 nights in May 2010 ... thank heavens we had the foresight to become DVC members lol, we couldnt stay for that long otherwise.

We have made no decisions on any dining plans as yet.

 

[disprincessatheart]

I'm always so jealous of everyone who can stay for 2 or more weeks. After 4 years with the same company, I still only get 10 vacation days a year, so spending all of them for the wedding and honeymoon really isn't possible.

We're staying 7 nights in Florida - we have 6 at GF and I just got DF to agree (he thinks it was his idea) to drive down one day early and stay with my family at their timeshare. It would have killed me to know they were already in Florida and I wasn't!

Oh, and we're using the DDE - just decided today that we will use our AP's (we have some unused hopper days from past trips we were thinking about using this trip) and use the DDE card - it'll save us $220 on dinner after the wedding, plus all our other meals that week, so it makes sense to spend the $65 for it. (we're doing LeCellier, Chef Mickey's and I'm sure we'll eat at GF Cafe at least one day for breakfast or lunch). Plus since we're using our AP's, we'll go back at some point in the next year again, so we'll use it then too.

 

[tlhbdm]

We stayed 7 nights at Contemporary in December for our honeymoon. We used the DDP but that was before they changed it. I may rethink getting the DDP and get the DDE or DxDDP next time we go.

 

[Nicola2010]

sorry what is DDE?

 

[orangetiggs]

i got my dde card for $60 in feb!

It gives you discounts on loads of places its really good, we even used it at the food court in pop and pofq

 

[Beep]

We're planning on 3 weeks - 1 week before the wedding at Caribbean Beach, 1 week on the Boardwalk which is the week of the wedding and then 1 week at POR.

I don't think we will go for the DDP as we don't plan to be at the parks or the resort every day (SeaWorld, Universal, IOA, Busch Gardens etc) but we will go for the DDE. It will save us money when we do eat at Disney and will save us a bunch at the GF Cafe and Le Cellier on the day of the wedding.

We might go for the DDP on the week of the wedding as we will definitely be around Disney all week, but we will need to do a bit of a cost comparison as we will have the DDE. Gotta love Excel!

 

[Nicola2010]

Sorry i'll try to be clearer lol

what does DDE stand for and what exactly does it give you?

 

[Beep]

Sorry i'll try to be clearer lol

what does DDE stand for and what exactly does it give you?

Hey Nicola,

The DDE is the Disney Dining Experience card and, if you are an Annual Passholder, you can get it for $60. It gives you 20% at the restaurants for up to 10 guests. You can get an additional one for $25 for spouses and partners.

Hope that helps x

 

[lurkyloo]

We didn't use the dining plan, we used the DDE card which saves you 20% off your meals and alcohol. It quickly paid for itself in October when I used it and so all this trip was basically savings for us. They do add an 18% tip now automatically with it, but in all honesty, that ended up saving us more money since we always just added our discount amount back in for our 20%, so now they are only getting 18%.

DDP doesn't work for us as we prefer Signature Dining places a majority of the time.

Us too! DDP is not that great a deal anymore, especially if you like the Signature Dining places, so we used DDE.

We stayed for 16 days (and, disprincessatheart, I only get 2 weeks of vacation too, so I had to take unpaid time off ). I spent 2 nights at the Sheraton Safari (only b/c it was free with my Starwood Preferred Guest points) while DF stayed with his fambly at a rented condo in BFE, then we had the honeymoon: 5 nights at Beach Club Villas on rented points, 2 nights at the Contemporary with our wedding discount, 5 nights at Animal Kingdom Villas on rented points, and our free DFTW night at the Grand Floridian.

 

[disprincessatheart]

Hmm, I wonder if I can take a couple of unpaid days off... I'll have to ask around because I would really like to have the day before we leave to run my errands!

That really has me thinking. Actually, I'd bet if I asked to do that my boss might just give me that extra day... either way it'd be worth it!

 

[lurkyloo]

It is sooo worth it! We actually built the cost of my missed days into our wedding budget so we wouldn't have to worry about it.

 

[Beautybelle43]

My idea WDW trip would be 3 weeks, but we are gonna try for 2 weeks. We are planning to do 3-4 days at WL (during wedding stuff) and the 10-11 days at POR Mansions (during HM)! If it were totally up to me, I'd also be staying at BWI-I love to resort hop!! But DF doesn't like moving around too much.

Hmm...I'm not sure what would be a better deal for us: DDE or DDP. I'm sorta leaning towards DDE.

We are planning to stay for 2 weeks I think. We aren't really into signature restaurants, but will likely want to do a few (namely, California Grill, Artist's Point, and I think there is supposed to be a new signature restaurant opening at the soon-to-be completed new Animal Kingdom Lodge Villas!). But we do plan to have alot of table service dinner or breakfast and counter service lunches.

I really like that you pay for DDP up front (one less thing to worry about), but I don't like feeling pressured to eat just to use up the points. We also aren't huge dessert eaters & dessert is built into DDP-plus, I've read that WDW gives you lots of free desserts anyways if you are on your HM!

 

[Janet2k]

Just wondering how long you stayed in total?

Beautybelle43, the first time we got married, we eloped. Sadly, we never got around to having a honeymoon.

When our 20th wedding anniversary rolled around, we decided to renew our vows in WDW. Since my family was on different work and school schedules, I flew to WDW first. I spent about a week there all by myself. It was wonderful being alone. At the end of my first week, my husband & our daughter joined me. A few days later, our son joined us. Then it was time for our FTW vow renewal. We stayed in WDW for almost a week afterward.

When everything was said and done, I was in WDW about 2-1/2 weeks for that particular vacation. My family usually has annual passes, and we did for that vacation. However, we didn't do any of the dining plans. We had too many activities planned with our guests and the dining plan would have gone to waste.

Now, with that being said, that was my vacation and this is yours. The dining plan may work out to be a wonderful deal for you. If you find that it is, then by all means consider booking it.

Good luck with your decision!