How to figure out if the DDP or the DDE works best?

[DISNEY FIX]

Please don't move this to the Dining Board, those guys are crazy, the sky is falling it seems.

With the changes in the DDP, the Holiday (Easter weeks)rate increase and DDE holiday blacout, we are considering the DDP. How do you figure out if it makes $$$ sense. Do I need to buy the one day tickets too?????? DDP newbie here so I am just factoring in what costs are involved or just suck it up and use my DDE and move on.
Help.
We already have our ADR's.
Thanks

 

[Chuck S]

While you need tickets to enter the parks, of course, with the DVC version of the DDP there is no requirement for a specific ticket type. You may use an AP or discounted tickets purchased from an authorized discounter.

I can understand your concern with the DDE. We don't normally travel during the blackout times, so the DDE works best for us. I am not sure, even without the DDE, if any of the DDPs would save us money, in fact, they would probably cost us more than we normally spend on food at Disney.

The best suggestion I have to help with your calculations would be to look up the menus, and figure the cost of your NORMAL dining habits...I mean, if you normally don't eat any desserts, why figure those costs in to see if the DDP would save money over your normal outlay?

Many folks, though, prefer the plans so they can pre-pay their meals...but with the changes in 2008 of not including gratuity, I think the convenience factor is lost.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[Donald is #1]

I agree with Chuck S. Look at the menus for the restaurants that you want to eat at and then pick out the meals that are representative of what you would order. When comparing costs, don't forget to add in the tax for the DDE or cash option versus the DDP.

 

[DISNEY FIX]

Thanks guys.
More homework,
Has someone done the computations already??? This could the mathmaticlly challenged a while to figure out...........

 

[Minniemouse07]

You don't want to see my Excel worksheet!

I figured in upgrading to an AP (we are taking two trips in 8mo and I was working this up for the second trip) for two people, cost of the DDE card and then priced out our trip w/ an AAA discount, regular room rate w/ DDP and Deluxe DDP and the AAA room rate w/ the regular DDP and Deluxe DDP.

THEN

I figured out a possible itinerary w/ the restaurants we MAY eat at, priced everything out WITH tips (removing the tip for CRT for the DDP meals because it is included there) and figured it all out.

Turns out that it would have cost us $400 during our first trip (early December, just before the Christmas holiday!) to upgrade to AP and get the DDP card, only to "save" $160 (on the Deluxe DDP, $107 on the regular DDP) in July during our second trip.

So yes we would have saved money in the long run, but it wasn't worth taking $400 out of our vacation and holiday spending money to save $160 this summer.

It is a good thing we didn't upgrade too... since I got into a car crash (I'm fine) a few days before Christmas and totaled the car. Our NYE was spent at the dealer purchasing a new one!

That wasn't worth it to me

 

[dianeschlicht]

You are really the only one who can figure it out for YOUR dinning style and habits. We have used DDP several times, and feel the real value of it is the convenience, not the monetary stuff. When we are not on the DDP and have used the DDE card, we tend to eat far less and in a more normal manner. We rarely eat at counter service places other than an occational Flame Tree at AK or Starring Rolls in MGM. When we have had the DDP, we have always wasted a LOT of CS credits. Of course, it was worth it for the TS credits, but because we tend to do Signature restaurants, we didn't get a TS each day. Now that the gratuity is not included in DDP, we will go back to using the DDE card and our old eating habits, which have us rarely ordering dessert and rarely eating counter service. I know we will spend less, but mostly because of our eating habits.

 

[alldiz]

If you are going during the "blackout" dates....and with holiday pricing....
the DDP is a better deal....IMO....
Kerri

 

[Camster0307]

I'm trying to decide this also. What are the blackout dates for the DDE?

 

[Inkmahm]

Thanks guys.
More homework,
Has someone done the computations already??? This could the mathmaticlly challenged a while to figure out...........

I did this with our actual meals from our trip in December using DDE. We eat at a lot of the high end restaurants that would take 2 TS credits- Jiko's, Cali Grill, Brown Derby, etc. So for us, I was comparing DDE to DDP premium at $70 per day per person. Our December trip came out almost exactly the same for cost if we'd use DDE or DDP premium. I didn't consider alcohol (I don't drink and hubby has a glass of wine with dinner) so that would add a bit of cost to the DDP option. But I also didn't figure the cost of the snacks that we'd get for "free" each day with the DDP as we don't eat many snacks. But we DO drink a lot of water so that would save us a bit there. I figured the alcohol and water/snacks would be just about a wash, too. So far, I'm leaning towards just staying with the DDE.

 

[dopeygirl76]

We are going to try the DDE this trip. We have used DDP two previous trips (tip and app included). I also did a mock itinerary looking at the menus and choosing what we would most likely order. Figuring in tax and then putting tax into our out of pocket column. The DDP would save us about $35 - now of course that is before I read that snack credits are now single serve items only - we used them for boxes of donuts, bags of chips, etc for in room snacks (and also maximizing their value) - that is no longer allowed as I understand. So we are going to try the DDE so we have some means to compare that.

BTY- we are a family of 2 adults, 1 child and 1 infant and we do character dinners as well as other TS places.

 

[Brian Noble]

If DDP fits your dining style---averaging one TS per night's stay, not ordering much in the way of appetizers, but frequently ordering dessert---then it's probably a good choice. DDE fits my family's "style" a bit more; we tend to not eat quite so many TSes, and tend to prefer ordering appetizers to desserts.

I also prefer the flexibility of DDE. If I decide at the last minute to skip out on a reserved meal because something has come up, I'm not out a "pre-paid" meal.

 

[erin.w]

We have considered the DDP in the past but never added it to our stay. This past trip we kept track of what we ate and found it wouldn't have saved us any money (2 adults). This next trip we do we are going to buy the DDE card. Taking two trips this years, including our group of 7 for the first trip will pay for the DDE card in a couple of meals (the other 4 can't do DDP because they are staying offsite). It seems like the best option for this year, although we may consider it in future years depending on our plans.

 

[Caskbill]

Don't forget you have a 3rd option, and that's not to do either.

There are a number of restaurants that give you a DVC discount, so if you eat at one of those, the DDE doesn't make much difference.

With just two of us most of the time, even the 20% discount the DDE gives someone takes awhile to just get back the cost of the card. I think the card is still $65, so at a 20% savings, you have to spend $325 in food just to break even. And you can only count food that you ate somewhere where you are not eligible for some other type of discount (DVC or AP).

DDE does include alcohol so it might be worth it if two conditions exist: You have a large group, and/or you have a lot of alcohol.

As I said, with just two of us, since we don't get alcoholic drinks, even the DDE card doesn't necessarily pay.

And when we do eat in Disney restaurants, we don't come close to spending per person what the DDP plan costs.

.02