If you have DDE worth getting DP as well?

[Scotch]

We just added a late June trip this week. Originally we had not planned to return to WDW until December, so this is really "last minute" for me. We'll be staying at a DVC so we can buy the Dining Plan without buying a ticket. We are going to renew our AP. I decided that I'd like to try the DP on this trip and just eat one meal in our rooms each day, likely breakfast. (Staying 6 nights but since one night is cash we only need to buy 5 days/nights worth of Dining Plan credits.) But then I just remembered that our DDE purchased last year doesn't expire until October. So is it a dumb thing to get the DP when we already have the 20% DDE discount? I'm starting to think it is. Here are my current plans (all dinner ADRs made except for Day 5):

Day of arrival: cook/eat dinner in room. (Probably spagetti - something cheap, quick and simple)

Day 2: dinner at Artist Point (don't know if better to use 2 credits or pay OOP with DDE discount)

Day 3: dinner at Boma

Day 4: dinner at Crystal Palace

Day 5: dinner at either Wolfgang Puck Cafe, Kona or Chef Mickey's

Day 6: dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern

Day 7: departing around lunch time

I haven't figured out what to do with lunches each day but planning probably to eat at counter service places.

So don't buy DP since I already have DDE? I would appreciate any advice/thoughts re this. I tried to search the boards for old posts but I kept getting an error/server busy message.

 

[goofy4tink]

I have the same situation for my trip in Oct. I have to renew my DDE since we're getting $10 off per ticket for HDDR. So, it will almost have paid for itself just for this one meal.
The best advice I can give you is this....sit down with paper and pen. Figure what the cost will be if you use just DDE and the 20% discount. I usually figure it's good for the tip amount.
Then, compare that to the per person per day costs for the DDP. Mine came out very close. I'll be using them both since the DDP doesn't cover alcoholic beverages and we'll be drinking a fair amount of wine. And since we have two families going, it will just be easier if we just have credits to worry about rather than who paid for what meal last!!!

 

[beattyfamily]

I have the DDE card from our last trip which will be good on our next trip but since they are now allowing DVC members to buy the dining plan, I think we will buy the dining plan.

I will just use the DDE for anything that we pay OOP like an extra meal at Yachtsman and any Alcoholic or specialty drinks that we buy.

I already got my money's worth out of the DDE card on last year's trip.

 

[tiggercrew]

We were wondering the same thing about the DP since our DDE card doesn't expire until the end of July (our trip is at the end of May). We have already made one long and 2 short trips using the DDE so it paid for itself a long time ago. Our real issue is that DD13 and DS10 are considered adults by Disney standards (which means we have to pay adult price for DP) but they still eat like children. Last year many of the servers encouraged DD to order off the kids menu since she liked the items on it better. I finally sat down and added up all the costs of meals from last year's trip (using DDE) and compared to the DP cost. For us the DP was more than using the DDE. I think it all depends on whether you have children in the party, their ages and your eating habits.

Enjoy your planning!