How much money do you usually spend with DDP

[disneydreamer1970]

We have free dining on our upcoming trip (WOO-HOO) and I would love to hear how much money people spend on food and drinks being on the DDP. We have never had the DDP and I know that we will need to pay for tips and special drinks OOP, but would love to hear what other OOP expenses people have with the plan.

Do you find that it is enough food?

Thank you...Trish

 

[debilovesmickey]

We had the DDP in 2008--- one snack, one TS, one QS meal per day-- TONS of food-- we ended up using snack credits to buy Mickey Rice Krispy bars to bring home!!

You should only need money for tips and alcoholic beverages. We are going this week and eating TS out of pocket-- one per day, and we have vouchers for lunch/supper -- one per day . We are traveling with my dance school to dance in DTD. I will be spending tons, I have a feeling ,on food!!

Good luck and enjoy!!

 

[klinlin]

It is really pleanty of food. If you read some reports from first timers, they hoard their credits in the beginning, afraid that they will run out, and end up with a ton to use on the last day. Unless you book an extra sit down meal, you really won't need extra food $$ except for tips and adult beverages.

Have a great trip!

 

[summerlady]

I agree with the two posters previous, more than enough food. The only OOP expense was for TS tips and adult drinks.

 

[Nadjalu]

DH and I usually spend $10-20 more on things like water, more snacks (at WDW we like to do more than normal) and splitting a breakfast at the resort.
I am a huge water drinker and find I drink even more while in Florida. (from michigan and that hot florida sun just makes me dry) LOL

This isn't everyday, but on a vacation of 7 days probably 4 of those days.

We find that we need a bit more food intake than at home, due to all the exercise.

DDP is enough food, but on vacation we like to splurge a bit with goodies and as I mentioned above needing more caloric intake. (I guess that just depends on the individual).

 

[ThreeKMom]

We used the dining plan for the first time last year, it was plenty of food for us!

We generally used our snack credit for breakfast, usually a muffin or yogurt parfait (YUM) and then paid oop for coffee and juice for our DD (usually around $6)

For lunch we usually did CS - lots of food! At home for lunch I will just have a sandwich and a drink - with the dining plan you get a combo meal - an entree, and side, dessert and a drink. I recommend getting the bottle of water, you can take it with you for later if you don't drink it all.

After lunch we usually headed to the pool - this was our biggest oop expense! DH and I usually had at least 1 adult beverage and DD usually wanted an ice cream or frozen drink - this was about $20 - $25 per pool day!

Dinner was TS and our average tip was about $20.

 

[2girls4me]

We stayed for 7 nights and I *think* we spend about $150-$200 oop. If that much. WE had to pay for DD's meals ($5 or $6 a piece, nothing crazy)

We went off property once for breakfast, that was maybe $30. But we did buy some food here and there so it did kind of add up. But w/o the dining plan, double that and we would never eat the food that we do.

 

[lblume91]

On our 3 previous trips with DDP, we have never spent a dime on food or drinks except alcohol & tips.

 

[Willa]

It's true that the DDP provides plenty of food, but the one potential wrinkle is breakfast. If you will be satisfied with a bakery item or a piece of fruit or yogurt for breakfast, you wil be fine. However, if you want 3 full meals a day, you will have to pay for one of them.

Of course, you could always use a CS credit for breakfast and have the smaller, snack type lunch just as well, but I am used to 3 meals a day at home, and I have a hard time getting by without paying OoP for one meal on the dining plan.

 

[Max Webster]

Willa, I'm curious, and I hope I'm not being rude, but are you a large person?

We were at WDW 2 weeks ago on the dining plan and we had plenty of food. We usually ate a very light breakfast using a snack credit or stuff we brought from home or left overs from the night before, an early CS lunch, and a TS dinner. I often found that in the morning, I was still full from dinner. We ate a ton of food, and I like to eat!

We walked a ton and ate more than we do at home, but we found the DP to be more than enough food.

One thing we did was to order an adult CS for our 9 year old. This also provided some left overs that we would not have had with a kids meal.

Cheers!

Max

 

[rubato]

We spend around $30 a day in tips. We never buy anything else oop. This trip, we will be buying our son a $7 cheeseburger at Narcoossee's. As far as I can figure, that'll be the only expense and that's just to save TS credits for more expensive meals.

 

[Willa]

Willa, I'm curious, and I hope I'm not being rude, but are you a large person?

We were at WDW 2 weeks ago on the dining plan and we had plenty of food. We usually ate a very light breakfast using a snack credit or stuff we brought from home or left overs from the night before, an early CS lunch, and a TS dinner. I often found that in the morning, I was still full from dinner. We ate a ton of food, and I like to eat!

We walked a ton and ate more than we do at home, but we found the DP to be more than enough food.

One thing we did was to order an adult CS for our
9 year old. This also provided some left overs that we would not have had with a kids meal.

Cheers!

Nope, I am average and hubby is downright skinny. He is a diabetic and cannot get through the morning without enough fuel from breakfast. We just find it generally more satisfying to have 3 average meals rather than one that's too small and 2 that are too

 

[Nadjalu]

Willa, I'm curious, and I hope I'm not being rude, but are you a large person?

We were at WDW 2 weeks ago on the dining plan and we had plenty of food. We usually ate a very light breakfast using a snack credit or stuff we brought from home or left overs from the night before, an early CS lunch, and a TS dinner. I often found that in the morning, I was still full from dinner. We ate a ton of food, and I like to eat!

We walked a ton and ate more than we do at home, but we found the DP to be more than enough food.

One thing we did was to order an adult CS for our 9 year old. This also provided some left overs that we would not have had with a kids meal.

Cheers!

Max

Wow......I am really glad that you didn't ask me that!!! Not cool....not cool at all.

 

[cjc]

Please can someone clarify when tips apply?
There will be 3 of us on the DDP next year - and wanting to find out if.what we need to budget for tips.
Are the tips paid in cash at the restaurant, or do they add it you to WDW card (seeing as we are staying onsite)

thanks in advance
CJ

 

[LILOLO]

Willa, I'm curious, and I hope I'm not being rude, but are you a large person?

Wow. Just, wow.

 

[Nadjalu]

Please can someone clarify when tips apply?
There will be 3 of us on the DDP next year - and wanting to find out if.what we need to budget for tips.
Are the tips paid in cash at the restaurant, or do they add it you to WDW card (seeing as we are staying onsite)

thanks in advance
CJ

CJ, there is a "sticky" thread that answers all your tipping questions. As the mods limit all tipping questions to that thread ONLY.
I am sure if you read thru there you can either find out your info or ask your question there.

Here is the link.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2300858

 

[robinb]

It all depends on the make-up of your family. Just because my family of 3 spends about $30 per day in tips and extras (wine with dinner, ect) doesn't mean that's what your family will spend. From your pre-trip report it looks like you will have 4 adults, 1 junior ("Disney Adult") and 2 kids. An average Table Service costs $31 for adults and about $10 for kids so the average value of each of your TS meals will be about $175. You can use that as a basis of what to set aside for tipping each day. We would also purchase the occasional bottle of water or small box of popcorn instead of using snack credits but after a while I just gave up and used the credits instead.

BUT ... I have to agree with Willa about breakfast. We usually ate breakfast in the room. We had a car so we were able to stock up on good cereal, milk, OJ and yogurt. I guess that must have cost me an extra $25 for the week. I think I would have been hungry if I only had two meals to eat per day or had to subsist on snack-credit pastries every day.

 

[Ava]

BUT ... I have to agree with Willa about breakfast. We usually ate breakfast in the room. We had a car so we were able to stock up on good cereal, milk, OJ and yogurt. I guess that must have cost me an extra $25 for the week. I think I would have been hungry if I only had two meals to eat per day or had to subsist on snack-credit pastries every day.

Same here, and that's probably the biggest reason we've never done DDP. If we ever go during "Free Dining" I'll try it, but I don't want to pay for it. I need a filling breakfast, especially with the heat & exercise one gets at WDW; a snack credit pastry or yogurt just won't cut it. If I'd have to pay OOP for breakfast each day, it makes the plan less of a value.

I don't know, maybe I just don't understand how to "work" the plan, but it seems like a hassle. I'd rather just order what I want & pay for it. For example, I'd never order dessert at CS so that adds no value for me. At TS, we like to get one appetizer & one dessert and share them. No way could we each eat our own dessert.

 

[rubato]

In order for my family of 3 to cover bfast, I eat a granola bar because I'm not a breakfast eater. I send my hubby and son to the food court where they split some big breakfast platter thing. It's plenty of food for both of them and they are both eaters. Then, that leaves us 2 CS credits for lunch. We share 2 lunches 3 ways and maybe use a snack credit for some sort of side dish. Again, plenty of food for us. It worked so well we were scrambling on the last day to use all but one of our snack credits. We really thought we would need them and we just didn't.

And, to the poster that asked about the others size, you got lucky. They answered you much nicer than I would have.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

Please can someone clarify when tips apply?
There will be 3 of us on the DDP next year - and wanting to find out if.what we need to budget for tips.
Are the tips paid in cash at the restaurant, or do they add it you to WDW card (seeing as we are staying onsite)

thanks in advance
CJ

Refer to the tips thread, but you can do either.