How many DVC'ers use DDP??

[dairyqueenmom]

See that is just it. I think a lot of people eat more than they normally would or choose different places to eat on the plan vs. not on the plan. Probably to get the best bang for their buck.

I could so see my dh and me trying it on a couples only trip but when you add in kids that don't fall into the 3-9 category....it doesn't always seem to be a value. I think we are going to try it for our 2 days at the Poly before moving over to the BCV but afte that we won't.

One day I am sure my dh and I will eat at more TS restaurants..... that right now don't interest the kids. I have a 15 year old that is perfectly fine eating chicken strips, burgers/fries and pizza for his entire stay at WDW. Even when we go to the buffets....we pay an adult's price and he eats very little.

While at Poly we are planning on eating at Whispering Canyon for dinner the day we arrive (Tuesday), then saving the other TS to use for dinner at Cape May's the day we check out of Poly and check into BCV. We will probably use the two CS meals at MK on Wed. at Cosmic Rays and maybe Pecos or Harbor House.
We are also eating at Ohana for Breakfast on check out day so that we will pay OOP and not use a TS credit for.

However once we are at BCV no DDP for us.....we are planning a lunch at Le Cellier (if we can get it) and maybe a breakfast at Tusker House, the Big River Grill on the Boardwalk, spoodles window for pizza and beyond that we are not sure. When we move over to AKV after BCV we have plans to dine at the T-Rex at DTD and Boma's for breakfast. I think other than those TS places we are going to wing most meals. Sometimes my dd and I will eat a TS lunch somewhere in EC and the guys will eat CS. This is why I don't think the DDP will work for the rest of the trip.

You sound like you are in the same boat we are with the "adult" kids. We will continue to evaluate each trip and how our kids tastes change(maybe someday they might want to order off the adult menu). We will have AP's for our Aug. trip so we will be able to buy the TIW card and I have checked each TS we are thinking of and it looks like we will save money over the DP by using that. I love the convenience but I don't want to just waste money for convenience.

 

[Podgieree]

DH and I like to stay in a one bedroom, but I don't want to cook on vacation. We do use the DDP. I have celiac (gluten intolerance) so I need to make dining reservations anyway. Last time I used my leftover snack credits for GF brownies which I took back home. (They are great!) For us it works.

 

[dr&momto2boys]

We used it on our last visit. There were ten of us, 6 adults and 4 kids in three families. Only one of the kids was old enough to have to get the dining plan. It was great because we never had to split checks or offer to buy stuff for each other. (This was back when appetizers and tips were included too.)

I definately consider the ability to buy the dining plan a perk. It's nice not to have to buy a ticket to get it either.

Next time we might try the DDE/TIW card. Since even if we all got the dining plan we'd still have to worry about splitting tip costs--it's not really more convenient--we may as well split everything up. We'll see.

 

[pennst8r]

I like having the kitchen for breakfast and snacks at night. But I'm on vacation! I don't cook lunch or dinner. We've used DDP for the past few years. (3 DSs 13,12 and 8.) We always eat TS for dinner, so it works well for us.

 

[La2kw]

We've never used it. We prefer having an occasional appetizer to share or a salad with our dinner, and an occasional dessert to share. We also don't like to eat at TS places daily. We also prefer to have a few meals in our room since we get tired of eating out so much.

 

[Nikisha421]

i use it each n everytime n love it...my dd6 eats what she likes when she like andthat makes me happy

and frankly when she is considered an adult i'll still b fine with that bc then we can share two adult meals.

 

[edk35]

That's the benefit of having the menus. You can decide what you'd normally get AND/OR what you want to try. Having a 15 y/o can be a great way to do it. One option is to send them off to use the CS options while you use the TS options yourself for around 2 meals a day. Or hit a few Signatures and just pay OOP for the kids meals for the light eater. Regardless, you have the info to decide whether you can/will get a value from this options. IMO, unless it saves you around 20% if you order what you normally would OR it is a break even but allows you to splurge on choices that would cost at least 20% more, one should skip it. What if someone gets sick during the trip for example.

For your short stay that involves the DDP, I'd suggest you consider a different approach. Pay OOP for the 15 y/o on the TS meals and eat 3 TS meals instead of 2, one possibly Wed night. Even if you do Ohana or a Buffet for that extra usage, you'd still only have to pay OOP for one adult meal. The same idea could be used for the CS options, possibly use them for breakfast and lunch with OOP for the kids meals CS. Cosmic Rays is likely your best value for the CS at MK as it has the half chicken and the rib chicken combo plus the burger bar. Lots of options if you put your mind to it.

Take our trip coming up in a few weeks. I am till trying to decide what to do but we arrive early on the first day and can stay until dinner on the day we leave. We have reservations at places like Morocco, Le Cellier, Shutters, Coral Reef, Wolfgang Puck, and the Wave so we can certainly show a value. We likely will use on TS per day for dinner and a few for lunch as well but only 1 credit for most of those options. Then use the CS for breakfast and/or lunch then also often using one credit part of the time depending on timing and the rest of the plans. So I can easily show a value used this way and it is close to how we normally eat anyway other than we usually do a light breakfast in the room.

Very interesting approach. I never thought about it that way. I guess I just assumed you had to use the adult TS meals for everyone in the party at a particular restaurant. I never thought about sharing a meal at CS either. That is a good idea since Cosmic Rays' has huge meals.

Thanks Dean....I have said it before and I will say it again.....THANKS

 

[Dean]

Very interesting approach. I never thought about it that way. I guess I just assumed you had to use the adult TS meals for everyone in the party at a particular restaurant. I never thought about sharing a meal at CS either. That is a good idea since Cosmic Rays' has huge meals.

Thanks Dean....I have said it before and I will say it again.....THANKS

That's the beauty of batting things around, you can get ideas of what will work for you.

 

[DIZZNY]

We have used both the regular DDP and the Quick Service. With the DDP, we felt too tied down to our reservations even though on previous trips we had always had about 1 TS per day. I think it was a mental thing but regardless, it added a stress to the trip we never had before.

We just used the new QS plan and that was much easier and worked very well for us. We have 3 adult(1 DD is 10) and 1 child. The selection was much better than expected and we save quite a bit of money. It was nice for each of us to have a cup and to get snacks and not worry about the $$ adding up. We will probably do it again next time.

 

[LSchrow]

we've found DDP better for short trips ~ after a few days of it, we don't want to eat anymore!!
the TIW/DDE can give a nice savings, but only if you've a large group and/or will use it multiple times a year.
we'll prob finish out our year of TWI (expires aug), & wing our meals from now on. there are a number of restaurants outside of WDW that we've been wanting to visit, but haven't because of WDW dining plans (remember the vouchers? they were a pretty good value).

 

[edk35]

We have used both the regular DDP and the Quick Service. With the DDP, we felt too tied down to our reservations even though on previous trips we had always had about 1 TS per day. I think it was a mental thing but regardless, it added a stress to the trip we never had before.

We just used the new QS plan and that was much easier and worked very well for us. We have 3 adult(1 DD is 10) and 1 child. The selection was much better than expected and we save quite a bit of money. It was nice for each of us to have a cup and to get snacks and not worry about the $$ adding up. We will probably do it again next time.

I have batted this plan around some too for our 5 nights at BCV but I am pretty sure we would still want a TS meal or 2 in a 5 day trip.

My boys would do much much better on a CS plan.

 

[Joann]

is there a thread or a web page with info on the TIW card where do u buy this card from ... we are ap holders and never heard of this

 

[daisyduck123]

is there a thread or a web page with info on the TIW card where do u buy this card from ... we are ap holders and never heard of this

Here you go:
http://www.wdwinfo.com/disneydiningexperience.htm

 

[Uncleromulus]

Never would even consider the DDP--very happy with TIW/DDE.

 

[christa112]

I can't believe you guys are complaining about too much food!!! My DH loves the food, I think the only reason he likes WDW!

We love the DDP we had used it on our three non-DVC vacations and will definately use it on our 1st DVC vacation.

Like others have posted I love the fact that your meal is paid for (except tip) and you basically can eat and go. No budgeting or worrying about running out of money. We get the basic DDP, which I feel has the right amount of food for our family.

 

[TK Brown]

We have used the DDP each time we have used DVC rooms. There are 3 of us and it has been great each time. It has saved us $250 on each of our last 2 trips. We like it!

 

[Dean]

We have used the DDP each time we have used DVC rooms. There are 3 of us and it has been great each time. It has saved us $250 on each of our last 2 trips. We like it!

$250 on what you would have spent without the program OR the retail price on the menus was $250 more than you spent?.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Without children we sometimes use DDP. It's good for us at Christmas for the Candlelight Processional package, and Fantasmic Package. Otherwise, we're happy to use the TIW card which isn't valid for those two things.

We like eating at Artist Point, and I enjoy appetizers more than desserts in general, that's another reason that the TIW is better for us.

I'm trying the Quick service plan in June. I figure that since we're in a studio, we can get water, some cereal, banana as snacks, and I won't have to worry about bringing anything from home. It's going to be me and DH. Since the quick service meals also include a dessert, those things will suffice as snacks for me. It's a split stay, so I am satisfying our "need" for a LeCellier steak during the non-Quick service time!

Bobbi

 

[dianeschlicht]

We have used the DDP each time we have used DVC rooms. There are 3 of us and it has been great each time. It has saved us $250 on each of our last 2 trips. We like it!

I find that hard to believe! We did a very detailed accounting for two trips using DDP and two trips without DDP but using the TIW card instead. We came out $250 ahead of the game when we used the TIW card versus the DDP for us. We find we like to have appetizers instead of desserts, and we like the signatures as well as having a table service each day. We also do NOT use the counter service much, so we ended up way ahead using the TIW over the cost of the DDP. We wont be using the DDP ever again.

 

[Tiger926]

I find that hard to believe! We did a very detailed accounting for two trips using DDP and two trips without DDP but using the TIW card instead. We came out $250 ahead of the game when we used the TIW card versus the DDP for us. We find we like to have appetizers instead of desserts, and we like the signatures as well as having a table service each day. We also do NOT use the counter service much, so we ended up way ahead using the TIW over the cost of the DDP. We wont be using the DDP ever again.

I think this could be possible, depending upon the ages of the kids. As we've already discussed, if you have kids 3-9 years old, then the DP is more than likely going to be better, especially the DxDP. You have to factor in that savings into the mix as well.

I will admit though, that the regular DP since they changed it by removing tips and appetizers, isn't as much of a savings as it once was, but it still is a savings.

We have just done extensive spreadsheets comparing DP, combo of DP & DxDP, TIW and DxDP, and for us as 2 adults, 6 year old and 2 year old, the DxDP is the way to go. The TIW card, actually will cost us several hundred dollars more over the DxDP and that is because snacks aren't covered, as well as the fact that we would need to purchase kids' meals for our very hungry toddler, but with DxDP, we can use the appetizers for that.

It really does depend upon the situation, but for us, we only order what we can eat, and so we only compare apples to apples, so in our comparisons where the TIW card would cost quite a bit more, that was only ordering base meals, no beverages, 1 kids' meal and 1 appetizer or additional kids' meal for the baby, and the TIW card still comes out to be a lot higher for our family situation (we also do not drink alcohol, so we wouldn't be using if for that either).

Good luck to all - it seems so many DISers don't care for the Dining Plans, and always seem to favour the TIW (we've used it 2x now), and in our opinion, it's not that simple.

The good thing is that Disney offers so many dining choices now, that there is bound to be something to fit most family's needs.

Tiger