Is DDP worth it for this trip?

[pnjsmom]

My family and I will be in SSR for a week in April for a Sat to Sat stay. We are driving down on Sat from NY and may make it there in 1 day (fingers crossed) or may split the drive to 2 days. On the way back we will be leaving early Sat morning and possibly late Friday depending on weather.

I was originally planning on purchasing DDP, but it will cost about 1900 for the family (Husband and me, three kids 12, 10, 5). I have to purchase a plan for the length of the stay (7 days).

I am just not sure if it is worth it. I will be bringing my daughter to Cinderella's castle for breakfast. The older boys do not care about characters- they are Star Wars fans.

What do you do with meals? I am leaning towards a few sit down meals and mostly counter services.

I want the most bang for my buck. Is that even possible at Disney?

Thank you for your help!

 

[sharonabe]

First off, you are a family of 4 adults and 1 child for the dining plan, so it would be very difficult for you to make that worth it. Can you imagine four desserts on the table at your TS meals???

Secondly, you would only have 5 1/2 - 6 days to use all your credits. That would help with the CRT meal, but only that, and would probably mean you have credits left over.

I think you'll do better OOP. allearsnet.com has the menus for you to peruse to see what may work for your family. I know for my family of four Disney adults, we can share at Via Napoli and 50s Prime Time and all eat well for under $100 at each of those. BUT, we drink water with our meals and that saves a bundle! Biergarten buffet at EP is not a bad value for lunch and would fill everyone up. No characters, but an Oompah Band makes it fun. We also like Ohana for dinner, but it's not a must do every time.

There are some shareable QS meals too, but we usually just get our own entrees or DH and I will split a sandwich and each get a cup of soup or side salad type thing. Again, we drink water because we WANT to, so that saves at QS too.

Set aside some money for popcorn and ice cream treats. We let our two each have at least one snack a day of their choice. DH and I don't always get one, but most days we do too.

I recently "planned out" a 6 night stay with 6 TS meals, 6 QS meals, and 6 snacks per day per person and we were right at $325 LESS than DDP by paying OOP the way we want to eat. If you're not going to do a TS every day, you'll save even more.

 

[loves to dive]

Also keep in mind you are going during Flower and Garden at Epcot and there are extra food booths there. You may find yourself snacking at those one day and not really wanting an actual meal.

 

[pnjsmom]

Is there a way to find out about the extra booths? I am so excited for the festival.
Thank you both for your tips

 

[halfpintpeggy]

I really don't see how the DDP will save you any money for this trip. I would pay OOP with no questions - can't imagine you won't come away spending a lot less than if you had bought the plan.

 

[samsteele]

I've only done the fall free dining promo and even with that, being one adult, I have to order 1 of the top 3 most expensive entrees on the TS and the CS menus to make it worthwhile. However, the snack credits are great at the Epcot Food & Wine Festival booths. Since you are paying up front, and have some young children, its a gamble that everyone in your family is prepared to eat $ meals and eat hearty every single night. If one child is sick, tired or just out of sorts & doesn't want to eat much for a day or two, its an expensive & tough pill to swallow on that DP. I'd go OOP and look at the ADRs and really ask your family what they want to eat and where. My guess is you will save $350 easy.

 

[Lisa F]

I agree with 4 disney adults who are not really adults and shortened trip at both ends, you will do better OOP. Plan breakfasts rather than dinners for character buffets, not sure if you are DVC members but there are dvc discounts at some restaurants and disney visa discounts at some. It's really only a value if you have 1:1 ratio disney kids to adults and do a lot of character buffets. if that is not the case you have to work it way too hard to make it work, might as well pay oop and just do as you please rather than working it. if you budget $1900 for food you will probably have money left over for souvenirs.