How would u eat w/o DDP?

[Elliesmommy]

Lots of talk about eating with free dining on these boards. If you did not have the DDP, do you still eat desserts? Do you still have TS meals?

Myself, this will be my first trip on the DDP. I have only ever eaten one TS meal and that was @ Sci-Fi. And most of what I ate were small snacks here and there.

In a couple of weeks I am going to Disney and looking forward to stuffing my face with the DDP. This is the first WDW trip that I am looking forward to eating and forgetting about calorie counting.

Is it a good thing?

 

[eva]

We don't use the dining plan. We are DVC members, so no free plan for us. And we do not eat the way the dining plan is designed, so we won't purchase it. We normally eat a light breakfast in the room. Lunch is often a shared sandwich, turkey legs, or maybe a burger by the pool. About 70% of our evening meals are sit down, with most being signature restaurants or restaurants in the Swan and Dolphin. The other 30% is usually dinner in the room (pizza delivered or room service) or drinks and appetizer at a bar at DD.

 

[JimmyV]

Lots of talk about eating with free dining on these boards. If you did not have the DDP, do you still eat desserts? Do you still have TS meals?

I have never done the dining plan, and we eat like normal people. Our typical Disney trip involves a stop off at Publix for breakfast foods and a styrofoam ice chest to hold milk and OJ. We take turns eating breakfast in the room while others are showering and getting ready in the morning. We do not "do" restaurant breakfasts and use that time to try to hit rope drop, or close to it.

Lunch is usually counter service. Mostly a combo plate and water/soda. Never a dessert, as we limit ourselves to one dessert (at most) per day.

Dinner is almost always TS, unless we are in the MK, as frankly, we are not all that thrilled with TS options at the MK. When we have a TS meal, we eat the same way we would when we go out to dinner at home. No more and no less. Almost always a salad or app per person, an entree per person, and a dessert to split among two or three people. The dining plan offers about the same amount of food, with a few extra snack thrown in, which we tend not to want or use. The DxDP is way more food than we would normally eat so it is not for us.

 

[JimmyV]

I could have saved myself some typing by waiting for eva's response, as that pretty much mirror's what we do, except for the room service. We tend to avoid that.

 

[Chellymouse]

DDP is no longer worth the money and we can do better on our own. We are also DVC members and we usually order groceries from Garden Grocer and we have TIW that gives us a better discount than DDP without the restrictions. We usually grab breakfast either in the room or a CS, CS for lunch and TS for dinner.

 

[Pakey]

We are adults only who prefer not to do the DDP (have done deluxe twice and regular once and didn't care for it).

Since we are DVC, we have a light breakfast in our room. We rarely go to the 1TS restaurants for lunch anymore. We'd prefer to eat in our villa or do a CS, often sharing between 2 adults. Since we always do an afternoon break at the pool, it's easy to just make a sandwich at the villa (and it's usually better than what we could buy somewhere).

For dinner:

We do not get desserts at any of the restaurants on the DDP because, well, the desserts aren't very good. We do get desserts at some of the non-DDP restaurants where they are still amazingly great.

Most often, I order 2 appetizers rather than an appetizer and entree. This is especially true at DDP restaurants where the appetizers may still have some individuality since they are not included on the regular DDPs.

We eat most of our meals at non DDP restaurants that are more upscale, adult oriented, have better service. The Swan/Dolphin restaurants, V&A are very good, much better than Disney's DDP restaurants.

We also enjoy at least one evening of appetizers/drinks at a bar.

 

[DonaldTDuck]

Luv luv luv the DDP, free or paid. But before DDP, we tended to eat about 3-4 TS meals on a trip, usually PTC, Le Cel, Biergarten and R&C. On DDP, at least 3 of these are always there, abut have added about a dozen other faves. Fewer desserts, but more appies if no DDP or paying oop. But food is very important to my trip and I've eaten at multiple TSs since the first trip in 1985.

 

[verticalchaos]

We never do it. We simply don't eat enough to warrant it. We will pick one or two special places to eat each trip and pay for that out of pocket. We're fine with CS the rest of the time.

 

[AirGoofy]

We have done DP and DXDP, and actually prefer not having the DP. DP used to have value when they included gratuity, but now, it really does not. We eat a TS every night at WDW. We usually bring food to eat in the morning (cereal, pop tart, fruit) and will eat lunch at QS or snacks. As for dinner, we enjoy the freedom of being able to eat wherever and order an appetizer, and not shove down one of those gross deserts right after the meal.

 

[Colleen27]

I really, really don't know. The deluxe plan is the way we like to eat on vacation, but I don't think we could really bring ourselves to eat that way if we had to think about Disney menu prices.

I know we'd do fewer character meals because none of us are big enough breakfast eaters to justify the price. $30 per person for some fruit and coffee/tea just wouldn't fly; we would have to deal with the in-park character meet & greets instead.

Beyond that, it would be a battle between my at-home, everyday frugality and my tendency to splurge on vacations. I'm much more able to accept the higher up-front package cost for the dining plan than I am to actually sit down and order a $3 iced tea, a $15 crab cake (singular), or a $12 chocolate cake. I know myself well enough to know that no matter how much I budgeted for meals, I'd struggle with the impulse to say I just want water and didn't need an appetizer or dessert. And DH would be even worse - he orders steak or seafood at just about every meal on the plan, but I know he wouldn't do that if he was thinking about the menu prices.

 

[zhazhazsu]

I love OOP. I just like to eat what I want when I want. Alot of times at restaurants I want an appetizer and a side or a salad. We do eat dessert, but like to share. DH eats alot, so I have thought of getting the QSDP an just letting him have most of the credits. Those would be a light snack for him! LOL!

 

[Diznygrl]

I will most likely never have the Dining Plan, not only because I think it has diminished the quality of the restaurants (not to mention the ability to GET INTO a TS restaurant), but my family and I simply do not eat the way the plan is set up. We very rarely eat breakfast, and if we have a reservation for a table service dinner, we can't each have a full-on quick service lunch (WITH DESSERT! ) beforehand and expect to be hungry enough to enjoy dinner. On TS days (which we do not do every day), we have snacks throughout the day, or SHARE a CS meal. And even for TS, we very rarely have dessert. I get irritated when I see people having dessert just because it comes with the dining plan, take one bite and then leave the rest sit. Disney needs to either get rid of the DP or make some serious changes to it. Really, does one need chocolate cake with every meal?!

 

[OurDogCisco]

We are DVC members too and so, DDP is never free to us. The last time we did DDP was when tax and tip was included and you got appetizer & Dessert. Back then, we would all order dessert and save a few for breakfast in the morning instead of a pastry from the broadwalk bakery we would have last's night dessert.

But my kids are in the 10 year old range and so, the plan doesn't work as they don't always eat off the adult menu.

When we go to WDW I plan my days and then, plan food around it. I look at other people's reviews and see what looks interesting to try. We always mix our trip up and eat at the old places and eat at the new places. Anyways, we do the garden grocer for breakfast foods and some snacks. I usually make one or two dinner meals in. But our trips are usually 10 days plus and eating out for 10 days plus is hard. I'll have lunch one or 2 days in as well.

We prefer sitdown type restaurants but obviously you can only eat at them once a day. We like certain treats throughout the different parks but again like one of the previous posters I try to limit to one dessert type snack a day. We always order appetizers at dinner and share. This is great for our kids because it gives them a chance to try something "new". We definitely have our favorite counter service places. So, normally it is either breakfast in the room, counter service lunch and dinner at a sitdown or we eat breakfast out, counter service lunch and dinner in the room or we eat a snack in the room and do rope drop and plan brunch like at Crystal Palace around 10:30 or 11 am, have another snack in the afternoon and do a sitdown dinner at 6 pm or so.

 

[Nikisha421]

I still go would have to go out and eat...Im the mom that coats dinner every single night of the school week (so tired) and I refuse to even make tea when on vacation....only because I have way too much work when at home...

 

[shan136]

This is an interesting topic because my husband and I were debating this while at WDW. We had the free DDP and felt it was way more food than we needed and not always the "right" food. Does anyone really need/want a dessert after a CS lunch? However, the prices at the TS & CS restaurants discourage me from not using the DDP because I would have a hard time justifying a $20 pasta dish if I was paying OOP.

If there was no DDP and given the portion sizes at the Disney restaurants, we would probably eat 1 TS meal during the middle of the day and 2 smaller snack sized meals, one in the morning and another in the evening.

 

[WheelCEO]

i typically use my disney reward points.. we have never done the DDDP. We do CS For lunch and TS for dinner.. order w/e we want.. usually just meals and every so often throw in either an app or dessert if we are hungry

 

[daraddg]

the DDP plan keeps me on the Disney properties so it's a smart move on their part.Last year we went down for 3 nights and stayed off property We like dining as part of the experience so we did 2 TS at magic kingdom(CRT &Ohana) anyway,3 TS at DTD but at 2 places that do not take the plan(Raglan rd, rain forrest and t-rex) and 1 at Sea World(shark grill)...next year we are staying on site with dining and that is keeping us at all disney parks this trip,why pay for a meal off site if you have the ddp.

 

[estherhead]

the DDP plan keeps me on the Disney properties so it's a smart move on their part.

This is us. Before 2007 we had never stayed on site. We would rent a house off VRBO and ate all our meals at that house except for lunch when we eat a CS. Before 2007 we had only eaten at Rose & Crown, Restaurant Marrakesh, Primetime Cafe. Eating was not important to our WDW experience.

But I took 2 cruises with my babies and LOVED not having to cook or clean on vacation. It was a true vacation all the way.

So when free dining was offered at a time I could do, my dh & I jumped at it. We stayed at AS Sports and had a wonderful 9 day trip. It was a revelation to me.

I've now done the DDP 4 times. This year we bought AP's and TIW card. My DH is terrified we will look at prices and not have the relaxing time we normally have when all food, lodging, and tickets are pre paid for and our souveniers are "bought" with Disney Rewards card. So despite staying in a tent at Ft. Wilderness and having TIW we are buying the DDP. For his peace of mind. I added up what we want to eat and it is fairly break even.

I love the DDP. For my family it is the only way we truly eat the way we WANT to eat which is cereal for breakfast early in morning, CS lunch, TS dinner.

If I didn't have it I wouldn't order dessert. But I dont account for the dessert in my comparisons. I only put in the figures of the stuff I know we would like to order if we had to pay OOP.

 

[Colleen27]

the DDP plan keeps me on the Disney properties so it's a smart move on their part.

Us too. The DxDDP was the tipping point between a Disney resort and the Swan/Dolphin on our last two trips, and it is the reason I'm in no hurry to try the Waldorf even though it looks fabulous. For us, nothing those resorts has to offer is enough to tempt us away from the all-inclusive feel of staying at a Disney resort with the deluxe plan.

 

[Disney Spaz]

Our upcoming trip in May will be our first on the dining plan and I already see a difference. We are NOT TS tourists. We tend to have 1-2 TS meals a trip and enjoy the flexibility of CS. Now this trip we actually struggled to come up with times and places we wanted to eat. We are trying a few restaruants I may not have tried before but I am hoping for a room discount or AP discount before the trip so I can change the plans and drop some of the dining. AP's and TIW just work better for us.