How would u eat w/o DDP?

[OurDogCisco]

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.

How do you even justify the TIW if you only have one or two meals? I would skip it all together because unless you come 10 times a year or you have s super big family I don't see how the TIW is even worth it for you.

 

[MrsLS]

If we didn't have the dining plan (we don't get it for free, we pay for the deluxe since it saves us money anyway, I was getting the 40% off, now we are buying into DVC, so we won't get either discount now). We get it because we like doing TS for an early lunch and signature TS for dinner. We sometimes get dessert, sometimes don't but it still saves us a lot of money the way we do the restaurants. So yes, I would still eat the same way without the plan, but with the plan we save money, so it just makes sense to get it.

 

[dancin Disney style]

On several trips we have enjoyed free DDP. We would never pay OOP for it because we would never spend that much on food. Having it has allowed us to experience things we never would have other wise. So it has been a good thing for us. However, when we are there and not on the DDP we tend to do a grocery run to stock up on, mainly, breakfast items. Bagels, milk, cereal, fruit, cheese etc. We also will get a few sandwich supplies for the days we hang out at the resort pool. A few years ago we did our first long trip...14 nights....and we only spent approx $800 for our family of four. That covered a TS dinner most nights but not always onsite and a CS type lunch. In answer to the OP's question, when paying OOP for meals we rarely get desserts. We would be more likely to share one between the 4 of us or get an ice cream later in the evening. We also bring more snacks and buy very few. Actually, while on the DDP we hardly use the snack credits. Those end up getting used on packaged items that we bring home.

 

[tlenzendorf]

We will be eating slightly different next time since we won't be on the DDP. I like how it opens it up to eating different things we would not have spent money on since it wasn't on the DDP. We won't be having dessert after meals when we don't really need it but are eating it just because it's there. We will be having dessert later if wanted or not at all. May get appetizers and soup instead of a meal.

We will probably be doing 1 CS and 1 TS per day still. Have whatever we want for snacks and desserts instead of the limited DDP choices Have breakfast in the room most days.

Also with 2 "adult" DDs that eat like kids, portion size and foodwise, the DDP is way over priced for us. With the portion sizes we will be doing a lot of sharing which we normally don't do, not to save money, but we over ate last time and left with credits available since we skipped some meals being so full.

 

[disneywlf]

Since my family and I stay at the Buena Vista Palace, which is on property but not owned by Disney, we cannot use the DDP. Usually, we will do 2-3 table service meals (usually dinner) over our vacations in Disney, usually being 5 days. Our table service splurges have included favorites such as Chef Mickey's, which is a buffet, so we don't have to worry about limits and Fulton's Crabhouse, where we usually order an entree and a side. In the parks, we go to counter service eateries, such as Cosmic Ray's in the Magic Kingdom. We usually do desert once a day, such as ice cream from Ghiradelli in DTD. When we don't eat dinner at a table service restaurant, we go to a counter service restaurant or eat wholesome meals in the room, such as a delicious Publix rotisserie chicken with all of the trimmings. Even without the DDP, we always manage to have more than satisfying meals in Disney World.

 

[jlhill4444]

Before we started purchasing the dinning plan we usually did not eat at Disney at all. We would pack sandwiches and snacks to eat at the park and we would fix dinner in our condo. Since we started staying on property and getting the plan we have discovered we really like the deluxe plan. I think it would depend on where we are staying and what kind of trip we have planned. If we are looking to save money we stay offsite and pack lunch and eat in, if we are staying onsite we usually splurge for the deluxe plan and have an all inclusive feel to our vacation.

I agree with Colleen, we would probably be too worried about prices when eating on property to enjoy what we want. We like having it prepaid and not having to worry about what we are buying at the time.

 

[happymommy]

We've only tried the DDP once, 2 years ago when we got not only a resort discount but also the DDP free. I never had considered it prior to that.

We typically enjoy eating where we want when we want, and NEVER are dessert fans. The thing I didn't care for with the DDP is the desserts. I ended up tossing so much food - even the cookies at CS places (my DS has an egg allergy, and there were just too many!!!). I may order ONE dessert in a week, so it was a waste of that. It was nice for the kids to go get a soda or a snack on the plan, but no big deal.

One thing I did kind of like was that we could use it for room service. Although honestly the food kind of sucked, our first night at the Boardwalk Inn, the kids and I were so tired that we ordered it. The service was wonderful! I'd definitely say that that was nice. The food was just - blech - but the desserts were good and we were tired.

 

[MommyBell08]

We Love the DDP. We had it a couple trips free before we were DVC owners, and now we will pay OOP for it. We wouldn't normally eat like that but its VACATION, and we like to be able to experience the different places we would never pay for at home. The DDP makes the trip so exciting for us, we almost look as forward to the DDP as the trip itself. We Love to try new places on the plan and feel like its great for us. Enjoy and eat what you want.

 

[Poppinsme]

We never do DDP.
Love OOP.
Our big meals are at night, dinners. At signature or Swan/Dolphin.
Love it.

 

[soarinup]

Well, if you're looking for advice, and you want to do the plan, then do this.............use your TS credits on big ticket meals [like CRT, its 2 TS credits], that way, you won't be stuffed, and don't have to have a TS meal every day. Then use your CS credits as you desire, and if you have snack credits left over......[you will]..... Fill up your pockets the last day with snacks from Goofy's at DTD.

 

[Dacky619]

Well, if you're looking for advice, and you want to do the plan, then do this.............use your TS credits on big ticket meals [like CRT, its 2 TS credits], that way, you won't be stuffed, and don't have to have a TS meal every day. Then use your CS credits as you desire, and if you have snack credits left over......[you will]..... Fill up your pockets the last day with snacks from Goofy's at DTD.

The downside to this plan is that many 2 TS credit meals aren't the best use ($ value) of your credits. I do know that some care about that more than others though. For the record I was one that added up all the bills to see how much the dining plan saved us vs paying OOP. We did the DDP for our 2 week honeymoon in 2008 and it was ok, but it was an extra thing to keep track of. It also means you spend quite a bit of time at a TS meal (for some that is valuable park time). Now it was very nice to have everything paid off before the trip, but since then we have purchased the Tables in Wonderland card. This works out much better for us. Not every restaraunt accepts it, but those that do, we order whatever we want (apps, drinks, dessert) and still receive a discount on the bill. And with the way we plan our trips, we will have our current TIW card for about 26 days at WDW. Even if we didn't have the TIW card, I don't think we'd do the dining plan anymore. It just isn't for us.

 

[Disney Spaz]

How do you even justify the TIW if you only have one or two meals? I would skip it all together because unless you come 10 times a year or you have s super big family I don't see how the TIW is even worth it for you.

We also do a lot of eating at the few counter services that take the TIW card like at POFQ food court and Flame Tree BBQ in AK. Also we have DH and I plus DStD 22, DS 21, DS 20 and DD 4. And let me tell you they eat like you wouldn't believe. Not to mention the buffet in Norway is $48 an adult plus LeCelliar is our other must do. You can see where we make back our $75. Add on that we do usually come back at least 2X a year and we definatly save with TIW.

 

[Dacky619]

We also do a lot of eating at the few counter services that take the TIW card like at POFQ food court and Flame Tree BBQ in AK. Also we have DH and I plus DStD 22, DS 21, DS 20 and DD 4. And let me tell you they eat like you wouldn't believe. Not to mention the buffet in Norway is $48 an adult plus LeCelliar is our other must do. You can see where we make back our $75. Add on that we do usually come back at least 2X a year and we definatly save with TIW.

We just spent 4 days at POP a few weeks ago, and the TIW saved us 30 bucks just eating breakfast each morning and a couple of dinners.

 

[eliza61]

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?

actually we tried the ddp one time and one of the reasons we didn't like it was that it forced us to eat un-naturally

We typically try to do one sit down meal a day, for us it's a time to unwind and go over the days events. but there are days that we may have had a late lunch and dont want to do a ts. If I'm on the ddp, thats a day of wasted ts credits. Also rarely do we get 4 separate desserts, 2 tops and then we share. a lot of times we don't do desserts, preferring instead to get some thing in the parks, let's say from main street bakery or the pasterrie in France.

Unfortunately now, none of the food at disney is worth the TS money they charge. Not only is it cheaper for me to eat offsite the food is actually excellent (very few disney restaurants can be called excellent).

 

[pixarmom]

We are a family of five, and we don't use the dining plan anymore but we LOVE TIW.

We did the dining plan when all three of our boys were "Disney children." But it didn't fit our dining style very well - especially as our boys get older - so we don't use it anymore. Here's why:

1) We never eat dessert with our meals. We get treats in between meals.
2) I very rarely order a whole entree. I usually get appetizers for entrees with a salad or share an entree with our oldest son.
3) One of our pre-teen "Disney adults" always wants to order from the children's menu - and that has never been a problem at any TS restaurant in DL or WDW. It would be tough to pay dining plan prices for him when he wants to order kids' meals.
4) Our other pre-teen "Disney adult" wants to order from the adultw menu, but rarely finishes an entire entree by himself. (He's the one who either shares with me or orders an appetizer for his entree with a cup of soup.)
5) TIW gives us a 20% discount on everything - including beer and wine.
6) We usually do 2 TS meals per day, so we're in between dining plan options. Some days, we do three and we have some signatures in there, so if we did the dining plan, it would be deluxe. But for the reasons above, that would be way too much food for us.
7) When we were on the dining plan, I thought I would be entirely relaxed about cost because we already paid for everything and so it was all "included" at that point. As always, we had a great trip, but I wasn't any more relaxed about meal cost. Instead of thinking about how much a meal cost, I would think about ordering whatever would give us the most "value" for the dining plan. It felt restrictive and didn't give us the freedom we wanted. TIW, on the other hand, is great - we order what we want and get a 20% discount on the whole thing!

The dining plan would be a great deal for my husband and our pre-schooler, but the rest of us don't really fit a traditional dining plan right now. I still think it could be great for families with small children who want to do one TS per day and book lots of character meals!

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

Do we eat desserts anyways? No, we may share a few. But in calculating "if the DDP is worth it", I don't calculate desserts they are bonuses. We have 4 kids (one under 3) and just the cost of character meals alone makes the DDP worth it. In fact, I'm considering upgrading one of our weeks on our 2 week trip in September to Deluxe and making sure we do a signature, CRT and HDDR during that week. The 2nd week I'm not sure if we'll do the regular DDP or no DDP. We will be spending one day at Universal that week.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

In all of our trips, we have never done DDP. We order what we want and don't worry about costs or what we are eating.

Sometimes we want apps at TS, sometimes dessert, sometimes just the entree. We only eat 3 sometimes 4 TS during a 7 day trip, 1 or 2 TS during a shorter trip.

Works great for us not having DDP. I don't want to feel like I spend all my time in restaurants on vacation.

 

[GailT]

actually we tried the ddp one time and one of the reasons we didn't like it was that it forced us to eat un-naturally

We typically try to do one sit down meal a day, for us it's a time to unwind and go over the days events. but there are days that we may have had a late lunch and dont want to do a ts. If I'm on the ddp, thats a day of wasted ts credits. Also rarely do we get 4 separate desserts, 2 tops and then we share. a lot of times we don't do desserts, preferring instead to get some thing in the parks, let's say from main street bakery or the pasterrie in France.

Unfortunately now, none of the food at disney is worth the TS money they charge. Not only is it cheaper for me to eat offsite the food is actually excellent (very few disney restaurants can be called excellent).

I like the restaurants, to me they are worth it, the food is no different then eating off property

 

[Ro Z]

How do you even justify the TIW if you only have one or two meals? I would skip it all together because unless you come 10 times a year or you have s super big family I don't see how the TIW is even worth it for you.

It is worth it if you drink! Sometimes our bar tab will be $100 a nite for 4 of us between drinks and apps. We can also us it at some CS places. As well as ESPN. Throw in a few TS and in one trip we can save over the $75 for the TIW card!

 

[eliza61]

I like the restaurants, to me they are worth it, the food is no different then eating off property

LOL. where are you eating off site? Sorry but there is 1000X better spaghetti than what they serve at Tony's town square.
Really, you would pay for pizza planet pizza at home? Maybe it's because I'm a NY'er and we take our pizza seriously but Pizza planet is boy scount fundraising pizza at best. Right outside of DTD is a Giordanos that serves decent Chicago style pizza for 1/2 the price of Via Napolis in Epcot.

I'm sticking with my original comment. I'll totally agree that there are some decent world restaurants, but you are paying for the location and no way could you compare Le Celliers to a comparable Orlando steak house. If you ever feel like being adverterous and going not far off site go to Del Frisco's steak house. Heck, try Shulas at the Swan.

Just a different opinion, I totally admit that food is subjective.