I need veterans advice on DDP

[Ladyfish77]

Also, please realize you don't have to get all desserts at a meal. You can swap desserts for sides. This works great if you are splitting meals. It also works great if you want to take something to eat later (this works better at qs at resorts rather than parks, but can work at parks too). You can also swap that dessert for a bottle of water to take with you after you eat.

Now that they allow swaps for drink/dessert, this plan works great for us (we aren't huge dessert eaters). We were on the DDP, and would split meals and then have enough credits for all three meals since we split meals when convenient!

 

[nhasler]

We look at where we'll be eating. If you were to do a character buffet meal a day, the DDP for children would be a good deal. The adults would probably be based on where you're eating. I always think the kids get their money's worth on the DDP. Last month, there were 17 of us. My family of five "adults" did the Deluxe dining plan. We used our credits to pay for adult meals sometimes.

So basically, we are a family of 12 (13 if you count the 2 year old) that will be traveling to Disney this year. I am not firm on my exact dates because I think its going to depend on the free disney dining plan and whether or not we can get it.

This is our FIRST time to Disney with all the kids (the adults have all been before) . We will be there 9 days 10 nights- 3 adults, the rest are kids. Staying in 3 rooms. We are in no rush, no desire to attempt to see it all- merely to avoid crowds and long wait times (plan to use Lines/TouringPLans for that.)

IF we can get free Disney dining, we plan to arrive Sept 23rd.

If we cannot, we will push it back 2 weekish to October so I can also stay an extra couple days for a medical conference at the Hyatt.

I have several questions about this:

It it worth paying for the park hopper feature (which they required in 2015) in order to get free Disney dining OR should we just just buy 9 day base tickets for all, book with the best discount we can find and pay as we go?

These two scenarios will dictate the exact date of travel. If we do not get Free Disney Dining, we will arrive 2 weeks later and probably do the above ^^^.

We are committed to live debt free, so I really need to decide which way we are going so we can solidify our budgeting. We are using the Disney savings plan, so I'd like to be able to contribute appropriately and with a large group, I dont want anyone to feel, hungry, but also dont want to spend way more than I need to, either.

Advice?

 

[CarterFamilyof12]

I met a woman today who told me she forgot to take into account the automatic 18% gratuity and ended up spending almost $800 on gratuities during their stay. I completely forgot about this, so, because of the size of my party and the number of days we are going, we will likely stick to the quick service plan and pay out of pocket for a handful of table service meals.

 

[Nancyg56]

I met a woman today who told me she forgot to take into account the automatic 18% gratuity and ended up spending almost $800 on gratuities during their stay. I completely forgot about this, so, because of the size of my party and the number of days we are going, we will likely stick to the quick service plan and pay out of pocket for a handful of table service meals.

Thats a lot of money on tips. I pay at least 18 to 20% every meal, and I am not sure I spend that much. The gratuity is only automatic on parties of 6 and over, I believe, so she had to have had a large group. That means she spent over $4000.00 on food.

 

[CarterFamilyof12]

Yeah she is a mom of a large family like me. I will have 12 in my party for 9 days. So, it adds WAY up and fast

 

[Nancyg56]

Yeah she is a mom of a large family like me. I will have 12 in my party for 9 days. So, it adds WAY up and fast

You would really need to have a handle on that bill, but remember that when you dine in WDW, the gratuity is not tied to the DDP, it is tied to the number at the table or party, so you are going to run into auto tips at every TS restaurant. And they count babies.

The only way to avoid it is to eat CS meals. Or split up, which kind of defeats the family vacation plan.

 

[CarterFamilyof12]

I think we will end up doing the quick service dining plan. That is what we are hoping to do, for now at least. If I can manage to save up enough before we leave on our trip, we still may upgrade- but now that we are budgeting in gratuities its not looking promising.

 

[Nancyg56]

Disclaimer: I always get a dining plan because it works for us. Now, with that out of the way, I think that based on feedback from a lot of folks here, you may want to rethink the QS plan and buy gift cards. It used to be a decent value, my DD used it for her family when they went just the three of them. I think it is not so much now, and is harder to break even then the regular DDP.

I would build a spreadsheet and look at the QS restaurants you will likely choose, the meals you will choose, and the snacks you want. Then decide if the value is there. I do this when we choose the DDP. We do like sit down dinners so I always factor gratuities ahead of time. But then I look at who our party consists of, what they may want to order, and the difference between teh DxDDP and the regular DDP. Add in wha ti htink we will order above what we have included in the regular plan, adn decide if I want to upgade or not. The last trip we had 9, with 6 adults. We paid the bilk of the trip, but I told the crew that I expected them to kick in gratuities. They really do add up.

 

[sharonabe]

You would really need to have a handle on that bill, but remember that when you dine in WDW, the gratuity is not tied to the DDP, it is tied to the number at the table or party, so you are going to run into auto tips at every TS restaurant. And they count babies.

The only way to avoid it is to eat CS meals. Or split up, which kind of defeats the family vacation plan.

True, gratuity is not tied to the DDP, but if you use all your entitlements at dinner, the tip amount will probably be more than if you were eating OOP. My family, for example, is now 4 Disney adults, so if we used the plan (we don't), we would have 4 entrees, 4 desserts, and 4 drinks to tip on. Paying OOP, we only have the 4 entrees, maybe 1 dessert and/or app, and 0 drinks because we prefer water. That's a substantial enough difference for me.

 

[Nancyg56]

True, gratuity is not tied to the DDP, but if you use all your entitlements at dinner, the tip amount will probably be more than if you were eating OOP. My family, for example, is now 4 Disney adults, so if we used the plan (we don't), we would have 4 entrees, 4 desserts, and 4 drinks to tip on. Paying OOP, we only have the 4 entrees, maybe 1 dessert and/or app, and 0 drinks because we prefer water. That's a substantial enough difference for me.

I realize the DDP with the desserts and beverages can add dollars to the tips that are due, but I wanted the OP to know that with her group gratuites are automatic. SOme folks are not aware of Disney policy and think that only DDP groups have automatic gratuities.