How many DVC'rs will NOT use...

[DeeCee735]

I'm really sitting here working out our dining plans for our upcoming April vacation. I have one night ressie at AKV, 3 nights at BWV, then off to HH.
I have on my ressie the deluxe dining plan for my AKV one night ressie,
and the basic plan on the 3 nights. As I sit here and pull apart where we are dining, and what we get with the each meal (deluxe dining allows for appetizers with lunch and dinner while basic does not) I find myself wondering if it really pays to purchase the DDP.

We'll be leaving very early thursday morning so at most we'll use the some snacks on coffee and donuts in BW Bakery, leaving us 4 days to use our meals.

I figured something like this

Eating $475 worth of food between the two of us
Less $368 cost of DDP for the two of us based on 1 nite deluxe, 3 basic
107 difference
Less 70 in tips based on 18-20% of approximate cost of sit downmeals
37 saved? This includes the mug that comes with the deluxe plan

Now I'm not arguing....a savings is a savings, but....if we don't do the DDP we'll be eating less food (don't normally order appetizers, and depending on how full from meal don't normally order dessert), thus spending less
money. I am going to estimate how much I'd budget for food for the two of us without doing the DDP and see where that leaves us. (First trip thats just the two of us - I'm used to budgeting for 4 or 5).

On the other hand.....pre-booking the DDP gives us the chance to eat ALL THAT GOOD FOOD (appetizer, and a bunch of desserts) without thinking about how much the check will be, but one the flip side of that coin is ALL THAT FOOD we'll actually be consuming and HOW MUCH TIME we'll be spending eating it instead of doing everything else!

How many of you are thinking the same way and looking at NOT doing DDP? I'm making myself nuts with this!

 

[DisDaydreamer]

We only do the GSP with a bit of ODO.


Grocery Store Plan with a bit of Occasional Dining Out.

 

[SSRFred]

You're not nuts. I have yet to see the DDP be worth it for us and we dine out ALOT.
DDE does us good.
All in all, it's about spending money at Disney and enjoying it. Do what you would enjoy most, it's not like you are going to do this all the time.

 

[DeeCee735]

that's great advice, i will do exactly that! thanks

 

[Merilyn]

I did the math this time for our trip in May. The DDP really has worked for us in the past but I wan't really sure this year. I does appear it will save us money, not much but some. I know we wouldn't be eating desserts all the time and we will probably buy appetizers some. Like SSRFred said, it is about enjoying it! I know we wouldn't be eating at the same places and probably be eating off property so this is a treat for us. My grandson is still free but next year he has to pay so this is probably our last year for this. He doesn't eat near enough to pay for his dining plan. They need something better for those say 3-6 year olds!

 

[Wendybird55]

Hi,

If you don't mind me jumping in here with a question. I am a Disney vetern, but not a DVC member. This is the first year I'm planning on renting points from a friend for my Disney vacation. I undersatnd you can add the dining plan with DVC and pay for it on arrival. I just want to make sure it's the same plan I'm familiar with. When I was last there in 2006 the dining plan I had was where you got 2 meals (1 counter service and 1 sit down) and 1 snack per night you stayed. I found this plan good as you didn't feel obligated to have a big meal everytime becasue you "paid for it" but still had the 1 sit down meal a day that you could enjoy at a nice restaurant. If I read all my guides correctly the cost of this meal plan is $37.99 per person per night. Is this meal plan also offered for DVC reservations? It's the one I was planning on using. I hope so because I think it's worth it. There's also a plan where you can have 3 meals a day at your choice of sit down or counter for $69.99 a day plus 2 snacks - that plan I think is a bit excessive. It's $32 more per person for one more meal and one more snack which I don't think I'd spend.

Anyway - thanks for your input.
Wendy

 

[Chester's Mum]

I agree, we wouldn't eat all that food either if we were paying for it out of pocket. I'm a person who always wants to get my money's worth, can't help it, I just couldn't turn down dessert when it was free . I'm glad I used the dining plan once. I got to try out a bunch of restaurants without worrying about the cost. It was a great bargain when the appetizer and tip were included. I think it would still save me money with the new rules, but not as much.

Another reason I won't do it again is that I don't like having to be at a preordained place on time every day. I have booked adrs every other day for my next trip. That way I don't have to plan my time so strictly, we can change plans when we want to.

 

[bub]

We only do the GSP with a bit of ODO.


Grocery Store Plan with a bit of Occasional Dining Out.

Love this plan! We do the same. We do simple but fun meals in the room, and then do a few special meals out. We travel in the summer, and so relaxing back in the air-conditioned room makes for a nice break. With two teenagers (charged as adults), the DDP would not be cost-effective for us at all.

 

[epicureangirl]

I'd do the Deluxe Plan for your first night at AKV. Your credits would not expire until late the next day, so you would have 2 days to use all those credits to the max. Make them all table service (lunch & dinner) meals at the most spendy-restaurants you can, and use the snack credits for a light breakfast of coffee & a pastry perhaps.

Even though the Deluxe Plan is expensive and A LOT of food to handle if you were staying for many days, you could use the plan to ONLY pay for your most expensive meals during the first two days. Then you can relax and pick & choose where you want to eat and what you want to spend for the remainder of your trip.

 

[Chuck S]

Hi,

If you don't mind me jumping in here with a question. I am a Disney vetern, but not a DVC member. This is the first year I'm planning on renting points from a friend for my Disney vacation. I undersatnd you can add the dining plan with DVC and pay for it on arrival. I just want to make sure it's the same plan I'm familiar with. When I was last there in 2006 the dining plan I had was where you got 2 meals (1 counter service and 1 sit down) and 1 snack per night you stayed. I found this plan good as you didn't feel obligated to have a big meal everytime becasue you "paid for it" but still had the 1 sit down meal a day that you could enjoy at a nice restaurant. If I read all my guides correctly the cost of this meal plan is $37.99 per person per night. Is this meal plan also offered for DVC reservations? It's the one I was planning on using. I hope so because I think it's worth it. There's also a plan where you can have 3 meals a day at your choice of sit down or counter for $69.99 a day plus 2 snacks - that plan I think is a bit excessive. It's $32 more per person for one more meal and one more snack which I don't think I'd spend.

Anyway - thanks for your input.
Wendy

It is the same plan, except that the plan has changed in 2008 for all guests, DVC and Cash guests. In 2006, you got 1 table service, 1 counter service and 1 snack, including appetizers and gratuity. In 2008, the plan no longer includes appetizers or server gratuity, but is the same $37.99 for adults and about $10 for children per person, per night of your stay.

 

[cpbjgc]

We only do the GSP with a bit of ODO.


Grocery Store Plan with a bit of Occasional Dining Out.

That's our plan too! And the best part is that it includes tax, tip and alcoholic beverages (if we so choose )

Seriously, for us the DDP doesn't make sense as we do like to eat in the villa a few nights. Our kids are not big eaters, and our 11 year old is an adult under the plan .

 

[OKW Lover]

We're certainly not going to buy the DDP for our DVC stays. And we probably wouldn't do it for a stay at one of the other resorts either. We just don't eat enough food every day to make the DDP pay off for us. It becomes really obvious when you have your own kitchen facilities and wind up making your own lunch or dinner a couple of days for much less than the DDP would have cost you.

 

[dvcdisney]

We will be doing DDP on our next trip. With our calculations, we still find that it's still a value.

For example, on a 12 night trip, it seems to cost us about the same amount if we get the DDP vs paying OOP and using 18 cs (12 lunches, 6 dinners) and 6 ts (dinners). So if it's similar, why not get the DDP and get all dinners at ts. We have tried our calculations with DDE (- using proportion of the cost divided between the total days of our vacations throughout the year) and DDP still comes out better than DDE. However, we did only use 18% tip in our calculations.