How to make the DDD Plan work.?

[Littlegem]

Hi all,
I stayed with family at Old Key West back in May/June for 14 nights..

We had a free DD plan for the whole family...

I have to say that we Sucked at making use of it! By the end of our Vacation, we still had 26 QS meals left and 48 sit down meals

What a major waste of free food ...

Coming from the UK I originally thought we would be able to walk in to most restaurants and get a table within a reasonable time, but it wasn't the case... Most places were booked out MONTHS in advance, and so we never got the chance to eat there.

This time round I hope to do better....

I am booking a trip for myself and my Disabled son Travis for April 2013.. We will stay at SSR and I will upgrade to the Deluxe DD plan so we can manage his special diet requirements.

Could any of you who have made the plan work please give me some tips on how to do it.

Also how far in advance do I need to make reservations ? Does it need to be the full 180 days??

Also for infomation... I noticed that you have to be on the Deluxe DDplan next year to eat at Cinderella's castle and any of the Dinner shows, the DDplan won't be Valid anymore!

Looking forward to any and all reply's

regards, Hazel

 

[TDC Nala]

You learned on your last trip that you need to make ADRs. If the restaurant isn't ultrapopular, then no, you do not have to do it a full 180 days in advance. April is a very popular month due to spring school breaks in the US. So yes, if you want to eat in particular places, and you want what are usually peak mealtimes, you should make reservations as soon as possible at a lot of places, especially: restaurants inside the theme parks, character meals, and extremely popular places such as 'Ohana dinner.

You also need to plan your days so you use up your meal credits, if what you want is to use them all. Yes, that can cut down on spontenaity, if that's what you like.

Also for infomation... I noticed that you have to be on the Deluxe DDplan next year to eat at Cinderella's castle and any of the Dinner shows, the DDplan won't be Valid anymore!

This is likely an error on the website.

 

[Littlegem]

Thanks for the tip about Spring Break...

We were planning to go 10th April - 22nd April 2013...Do you know if this will fall into that time period??

I wanted to take Travis when it was warm enough to Swim outside each day, as he loves the water
Our other available dates were 4 weeks before in March, but I thought it might be a little too cool then..

BTW I double checked what Dinning plans were available to use for each Dinner show etc on the UK Disneyworld Booking site, and it definately said that in 2013 you won't be able to use 2 table service meals from the Dining plan anymore. ONLY from the Deluxe Dining plan.

I was glad I checked, as we did a dinner show on my trip in May with the normal Dining plan, and I wouldn't have thought to upgrade if not.

Would have been really disappointed to miss out on places this time around as well!

Thanks in advance for any reply
Hazel

 

[havoc315]

BTW I double checked what Dinning plans were available to use for each Dinner show etc on the UK Disneyworld Booking site, and it definately said that in 2013 you won't be able to use 2 table service meals from the Dining plan anymore. ONLY from the Deluxe Dining plan.

That is an error. The website is filled with similar errors. Last year, it said that Via Napoli was only covered by the deluxe plan, and not the basic dining plan. For another restaurant, I forget which, it said it was only covered by the basic dining plan, and not the deluxe dining plan. The official brochure correctly spells out the information, and the official brochure for 2013 indicates that the dinner shows will continue to take the basic dining plan.

 

[Littlegem]

I stand corrected...

If you Guy's who have been on here for ages say so then it must be true

It makes it tough for me again though, as now I don't know if I need to upgrade or not??

Travis can only eat food of a particular type and consistancy, as he has swallowing problems and a G tube...

I don't know if we would find enough things at the Quick service locations to manage, or if I still need to take him to a sit down each time??

So many things to decide

Thanks for the info,

Hazel

 

[havoc315]

It may be different for the UK. But free dining probably would not be offered for Americans during that time period.
We are leaving for Disney tomorrow. We plan on eating "deluxe style" -- but skipping any dining plan.
Especially under your circumstances, it may be best just to go OOP. Just order what you want, and what he can eat, instead of paying for lots of things he can't eat. The deluxe dining plan is over $100 per night in 2013 for "adults" (don't know the age of your son), you can easily eat 3 TS meals in a day for less than that.

 

[Littlegem]

As part of booking through the UK Disneyworld website, we get offered Free dining virtually all year round on the Moderate resorts and above ( only black out dates are Easter week, Christmas etc)

On the flip side, we don't get as many discounts on room rates as you do in the States...

So I have the "free" Dinning plan already ( I guess its added into the room rate! )

I just need to decide, if I should pay another £350 to upgrade to the Deluxe plan??

I have to Feed Travis as he has the skills of a Newborn, but he enjoy's texture to his food, but can't manage hard lumps of meat etc...

Can you get stuff cooked at the bigger Quick service locations, or is it always fast food??

Lots of questions I know, but all reply's gratefully received..

Hazel

Forgot to say that Travis will be 7 when we go, and will have to eat from the Childrens menu...

 

[Cafeen]

I can't really help on the diet portion of it, as I have 0 experience in that department (having taken a child once, who had no special requirements... other than being a late sleeper making us late for breakfast half the time...and she was only 2).

As far as the discounts, if Free Dining is what you've gotten, and there's no room discounts, then it'll work .

For upgrading to DxDDP, it's tricky.

That £350 (~$US550) would essentially have to cover stuff above and beyond what the DDP covers. So, outside of 1 TS and 1 CS per night of stay, it would be about £33 per day of food (or about $US53). I'd almost say the chances of this are pretty slim and that you may be better off paying out of pocket for a few TS over going for the full DxDDP.

Now, if you think you can make those dollar (erm... pound ) amounts work, then, by all means, go for it. But if you think you'd do a few CS in there and then only a few more TS than what's included in DDP, then you'd be better off keeping the DDP and just paying OOP (out of pocket) for the extra TS meals, even if means leaving some CS credits unused.

To be honest, the best thing would be to spend some time (when you can ) and take a look at the menus and figure out what you want to do first, then see if upgrading matches with that. It's much better to see if a dining plan fits your trip than try and squeeze your trip to fit a specific dining plan.

As far as the CS food stuff, I don't know entirely, but there are some places that are a cut or two above typical fast food. I generally don't do CS on my trips, so I don't know any details, but there are several out there.

 

[Littlegem]

You are a Star Cafeen..!

When I read through your post it seemed really logical...
I guess normally I would allow £50 a day for food, so to already have two meals free and then pay an extra £33 just in case seems daft!

I will check out the menu's just to be sure, but will probably just pay for the extra Ts meals as you suggested.

I need to be quick though as only have a couple of days left to get £100 off my booking ( about as much room discount as we get here in the UK lol) and I need to finalise which plan to book.

Wish me luck

Hazel

 

[danceintherain]

I stand corrected...

It makes it tough for me again though, as now I don't know if I need to upgrade or not??

l

I can't help with the dietary issues either, but I know they do their best to accommodate a variety of restrictions.

When I make my plans, I usually go through and figure out where I want to eat first, then I decide which dining plan fits ME rather than how I fit the dining plan.

For example, for a 10 night January trip, I have 17 TS credits worth scheduled. The basic dining plan would allot me 10 TS credits, and the deluxe dining plan would allot me 30 TS credits. Therefore, neither dining plan makes sense for us, because I'd have to pay out-of-pocket for 7 credits worth of food (around $200 worth) with the basic plan, and I'd have 13 credits leftover with the deluxe plan (around $400 worth).

In your case, with Free Dining, I would venture to guess that as long as you're planning enough extra TS meals to cover the cost of the upgrade to the deluxe plan, it would be fine to upgrade. If the amount you would spend on extra meals is less than what you would spend to upgrade, then you should pay out of pocket for those meals.

The only dietary related thing I might suggest is that with the dining plan you will be restricted to what's available on the plan. They will attempt to accommodate you, but if you decide to order less than the full inclusion (ie a variation on a side dish and no entree) you will still be charged the full credit. With child's credits, this might not be as big of a deal, but I'm not sure of your son's full limitations.

 

[scojos]

hi, firsttly id suggest you check the disabilities thread, people over there will know about this stuff!!
we also have an sen kid, and feel the time involved in the dxddp is too much table time, for him aswell as us!!
id say(if it were me....) stick to reg ddp, do ur sig meals, crt for example, and then have days were u only eat cs food, somewhere like sunshine seasons where food is prepared to order may be a good solution, and u can share meals.......... but plan plan plan!! my son sat down with me monday, and we planned parks (using emh etc) and roughly where in the park we d be at lunch time (we go aug, and with heat found ts lunches too much as we would just want to sleep after eating) we then looked at menus and decided on 3-4 cs choices through park (esp at mk... we always eat at FTB at ak as it rocks, HS we do starring rolls and epcot, well- anywhere is amazing lmao!!

 

[darthtatty]

I too would say stick with the regular dining plan.
It is a lot of food, if you do need to buy food for you son on top, it will work out much cheaper.

I think you should also post in the DisAbilities forum as im sure there will be someone in the same situation.

check out restaurant menus and also the food reports.
theres some great counter service places that serve food, that should be good for Travis
make sure you keep track of the ones you like the look of.

not sure if these ideas are good but theyre options, for counter service meals.

MK
cosmic rays- chicken and mashed potato
chh-clam chowder

Epcot
sunshine seasons- so many options

AK
y&y- rice

downtown Disney
WPE- they have some good choices.

 

[Littlegem]

Thankyou So Much for all the ideas folks....

I have spent a bit of time looking through which restaurants are on the Dinning plan for 2013, and have found a lot of places I had hoped to eat have been dropped from the Dinning plan list

I had intended to take Travis over to DTD to eat, on our lazy day's at SSR, but as all but one restaurant are now missing I would have to pay for our meals there anyway..

This makes it easier to choose the normal Dining plan, and as suggested, use that for our dinner show and signature restaurants, and just pay cash for the other meals...

Makes us a bit more flexable as well, as I can order anything I choose for Travis off the menu, rather than have to stick to a child's choice.

I really appreciate all the time you guy's spent replying to me, and hope you all enjoy your week

Regards, Hazel

 

[TDC Nala]

I have spent a bit of time looking through which restaurants are on the Dinning plan for 2013, and have found a lot of places I had hoped to eat have been dropped from the Dinning plan list

Read the 2013 Dining Plan sticky thread, first post, it will explain this. In a nutshell, the missing restaurants are operated by third parties, not Disney, and they will not appear on the brochures until after they have renewed their operating contracts with Disney. Usually they don't show up on the list until December. You can probably assume that they will all reappear.

 

[mommyof3princess27]

Thanks for the tip about Spring Break...

We were planning to go 10th April - 22nd April 2013...Do you know if this will fall into that time period??

I wanted to take Travis when it was warm enough to Swim outside each day, as he loves the water
Our other available dates were 4 weeks before in March, but I thought it might be a little too cool then..

BTW I double checked what Dinning plans were available to use for each Dinner show etc on the UK Disneyworld Booking site, and it definately said that in 2013 you won't be able to use 2 table service meals from the Dining plan anymore. ONLY from the Deluxe Dining plan.

I was glad I checked, as we did a dinner show on my trip in May with the normal Dining plan, and I wouldn't have thought to upgrade if not.

Would have been really disappointed to miss out on places this time around as well!

Thanks in advance for any reply
Hazel

if you can arrive by the 8th you could get FDing

 

[TDC Nala]

if you can arrive by the 8th you could get FDing

The OP already has free dining, under the UK offer.

 

[Littlegem]

I Finally booked our room at SSR today for 12 nights 10th-22nd April

Really pleased as we got the last Wheelchair accessable Studio !

Thanks to all your advice we decided to go with the regular dinning plan (free) rather than upgrade to the Deluxe plan.

I felt it would leave me more flexibility regarding Travis's choice of food items.

I did take note that the DTD restaurants may be added back into the DDplan leaflet later in the year, but felt even so that a few OOP TS meals would be better than chancing having all those wasted dinning credits again..!

Once again, Thank you so much to everyone who posted advice, I really appreciate the ideas and thoughts

Have a magical Disney week all of you,
Regards, Hazel

 

[scojos]

I Finally booked our room at SSR today for 12 nights 10th-22nd April

Really pleased as we got the last Wheelchair accessable Studio !

Thanks to all your advice we decided to go with the regular dinning plan (free) rather than upgrade to the Deluxe plan.

I felt it would leave me more flexibility regarding Travis's choice of food items.

I did take note that the DTD restaurants may be added back into the DDplan leaflet later in the year, but felt even so that a few OOP TS meals would be better than chancing having all those wasted dinning credits again..!

Once again, Thank you so much to everyone who posted advice, I really appreciate the ideas and thoughts

Have a magical Disney week all of you,
Regards, Hazel

well done hazel, ssr is amazing, we did it in 2010, we were in congress park, our patio door open onto the pool/play area and was great til kids dropped the dead lock and locked us all out!!!

pop over and visit the UK trip planning board if u dont go already (ive only just come back to the dis after a few yrs off, but there are alot of regulars and v friendly folk!!