Is DDP worth it is we DON't Stuff ourselves?

[JandD Mom]

Hi everyone,

We are DVC members and after doing the math and looking at our dining plans, we decided to try DDP this trip. However, I am reading about people coming back and their pants not fitting, and I am starting to get nervous!

Don't get me wrong, we love to eat, too much. But we seem to keep our weight under control with a little effort. However, reading the reports, I am starting to feel like I will be on a cruise ship instead of WDW!

So if we don't get 3 courses at a meal, or if we split dessert, or split appetizers (at table service places) do we get our money's worth on DDP?

Does anyone have an opinion?

 

[kellyf2626]

I think you will get your $$ worth. We are also DVC members, and when we went with my family last June, we got our $$ worth every day just at the sit-down meal. But - we are a family that likes to eat at a sit-down restaurant at least 1x/day. Based on that one meal - even with splitting appetizers and desserts sometimes - we got our $$ worth. Then, add on the counter service and the snack, it was a deal for sure!!

Just tell yourself that even though you can order so much food....you don't have to eat all of it every time! Often we got a variety of desserts, and just tried a little of each. Same with appetizers. Usually at every meal, there was one hungry person who would eat a little more than everyone else!

Have fun!!!

 

[marybdisney]

What I'm doing to decide if the DDP is worth the $38.99 it will cost us in 2007 is writing down all the restaurants we want to eat at, at what we would buy if we were on the plan. Then I'm comparing that to what we'd buy if we were not on the plan. What I've figured is tha we will probably eat one counter service lunch or dinner a day either way. A typical counter service combo (double cheeseburger with fries for example) costs $7.99 plus $2.39 for the drink. That is $11 after tax. I know I would buy a drink at some point during the day anyway so I plan using the snack credit for a $2.50 bottle of soda. Added together that is $14. As long as the dinner you purchase at a table rest. costs $25 or more then you are breaking even or coming out ahead (if you take into account tax and tip then the meal itself only has to cost $19, with tax and tip costing $6) Pretty much every table service meal will cost that much - most character meals are in the $23-27 range so they definitely put you ahead. The only way it wouldn't come out to your advantage is if you use your TS credits as counter service credits.

 

[The Sweetness]

If, your pants fit you propperly when you left home, how could they litterally NOT fit you after just a few days vaca? Besides... At CS, you could sometimes get carrots instead of fries w your sandwch or burger (I think). Also, just remember, you arent going straight to hell if you dont *clean your plates*If you planned on enjoying a TS meal a day, the plan is likely a good buy

 

[susan4875]

We've been on several cruises and just got back a couple weeks ago from using the DDP. I think the experiences are very similar. If you like the feeling of an all-inclusive (not having to worry about meals costs while you're there, being able to try new things, eating a lot), then you'll probably like it. I definitely think it's at least worth a try

We tried it during free dining, and enjoyed the experience. We tried a lot of restaurants that we were not likely to try if we were paying OOP, and had some great food. I'm not sure if we would pay for the dining plan, but you'll really only know until you try it.

 

[Evil Queen]

We went on the Free Dining Plan, and are seriously considering purchasing it on the next trip if need be.

I'm like one other pp, I do a comparison of what I would budget for the trip on food alone. If I'm going to break even or fairly close, than I will probably buy into the plan. If we want a nice TS meal, especially characters-it's paid for, and didn't hurt my pocket book.

It was worth it to us. My DS10, brought his leftover's boxed back to the room, and usually would eat them after getting back to the room. He likes to eat, but he could only handle so much at one time.

My older sons didn't have many problems with leftovers-they cleaned up and used every last credit.

 

[JandD Mom]

Thanks to everyone who posted so far. Great responses!

Actually we usually do at least 1 TS per day at WDW. We almost always eat breakfast in the villa, then sometimes a TS lunch or CS lunch, and vice versa for dinner.

This year, my DB and D-SIL who are coming with us (with my 2 D-nephews) requested we do not do the TS lunch because that's too long for the kids to be sitting mid-day. So we planned TS dinners every night (and by that time, we are usually ready for a cocktail! ) After looking at our plans, we thought it might work.

We are doing Hoop-De-Do one night, but paying OOP for that, so that will leave us enough credits to go to Narcoosee's without the kids, and also eat at Brown Derby (my favorite, but not a good value for 2 TS credits per person).

Thanks again!

 

[Muushka]

I just got back from the free dining and honestly, I did not feel like I ate too much. My sister and I shared several CS meals which helped a lot. And we did Cali Grill which was 2 TS each and that helped not to eat a big meal each night. The deserts for the TS meals are not large and the appetizers were pretty much healthy stuff (shrimp or salad for us). I used maybe 4 (of 6 snacks) and brought 3 of them home. So not a lot of eating there. Others that I traveled with ate a lot of ice cream and got the smoothies for the drinks at the sit down restaurants, but you always have a choice!

Because I did not stuff myself, I am looking forward to the DDP come this Dec when we stay at a 1 BR at VWL (DVC members also). I plan on using my snack for bagels for the AM, taking most of the rest home in the form of bags of snack stuff from the Mercantile. We will use 2 TS at Yachtsman and I will pay OOP on DDE for that meal (which will not be big). I will not eat everything on my plate and I will not be sick!

I think it will still be worth it for the simple reason that I won't have to look at the prices of things before I order (which is something I always do).

 

[JandD Mom]

Actually Muushka, another thing we are doing this time is NOT buying lots of food to keep in the villa. We will buy some breakfast stuff, and water and some other beverages. We won't go and buy all sorts of sandwich stuff and ice cream etc. It won't be worth it to cook in the room other than breakfast.

That will save us the time of the trip to the supermarket, or the huge cost of the delivery service! For our 9 night trip last August, groceries plus delivery fee cost us over $200 for just 4 of us (nothing outrageous either). We are hoping to bring that cost down substantially this time.

 

[DVC Grammy]

Hi everyone,

We are DVC members and after doing the math and looking at our dining plans, we decided to try DDP this trip. However, I am reading about people coming back and their pants not fitting, and I am starting to get nervous!

Don't get me wrong, we love to eat, too much. But we seem to keep our weight under control with a little effort. However, reading the reports, I am starting to feel like I will be on a cruise ship instead of WDW!

So if we don't get 3 courses at a meal, or if we split dessert, or split appetizers (at table service places) do we get our money's worth on DDP?

Does anyone have an opinion?

I understand exactly what you're saying, especially about the nervousness.
What we've decided to do, as an experiment, is split-staying, with the first 3 days on the DDP, and the next week at another resort, using DDE, but eating "normally" (sharing entrees, no desserts, etc.). Don't know how it'll work out, but we're hoping it will be okay; we just don't eat all that food..........as it is, we're planning to have all the DDP dinner desserts "doggie-bagged" for the next day's breakfast in the villas. There's no way we could eat DDP forr the entire 10 days! In fact, given the amount of credits, we'll stretch it through the check-out day.

SSR- Oct.17-20
BWV- Oct 20-27

 

[Muushka]

Actually Muushka, another thing we are doing this time is NOT buying lots of food to keep in the villa. We will buy some breakfast stuff, and water and some other beverages. We won't go and buy all sorts of sandwich stuff and ice cream etc. It won't be worth it to cook in the room other than breakfast.

That will save us the time of the trip to the supermarket, or the huge cost of the delivery service! For our 9 night trip last August, groceries plus delivery fee cost us over $200 for just 4 of us (nothing outrageous either). We are hoping to bring that cost down substantially this time.

Good point! We always make a grocery stop (2 actually) and this time we will not do that either. Just the drinks, that's it. Save more $$ that way!

 

[mrsltg]

We had free dining in August and none of us felt forced to eat or came back to ill-fitting pants. We always eat at least one TS per day (sometimes 2 depending upon character breakfasts). We also always eat lunch and snacks. With the kind of walking we do we're hungry throughout the day. We ordered the appetizers and desserts but never finished them all off. I guess it's all in what you make of it...

 

[junglejoy]

We just got home yesterday from 10 days with five people, so 50 credits. We used all our TS credits because we had ADRs but were scrounging around MK yesterday trying to use up our snack credits (this actually worked well because we're giving rice krispie mickeys and lollipops to all the kids' friends now!). But we had 17 CS credits left. The first day there we ordered five meals for our CS meal - way too much food. So from then on we ordered two or three and that was just enough or a little too much for our crowd. And some days we'd eat leftovers and one TS meal and that was it! It may be the ages of our kids - 10, 7 and 4 - but we would never purchase this plan. It's just not worth it for our appetite size. But being free - we loved the convenience of it. And to get our total bill at check-out, very pleasant surprise because our food had already been paid for. So conveniece-wise this is a great plan, but cost-wise - I wouldn't pay for it. And I don't think we're small eaters. We just didn't want to overeat - we did enough of that at the TS meals!!!

 

[Krmrr]

We just got back from 5 days at Disney using the free dining plan. My wife and I greatly enjoyed ourselves. We tried out places and meals we would not normally do. We tried to vary our meals (not all steaks) and got what we wanted at the time. We had our car so we could leave the parks to take advantage of better choices. We did not find the portions enormous (except for Wolfgang Puck, the fried calamari filled a large plate, I've had smaller servings as the entree.)

Next time we go to disney, we will use the plan. You come out ahead if you just use the table service meals. BTW, the bakery next to Spoodles has excellent little cakes and cupcakes as well as a fruit tart that are included on the snack list. Total cost for the 5 night stay $668; receipts for food $734.

 

[JCuel]

My wife and I did week of free dining the first week 9/06 then the next week a 7 day cruise. I returned home no more then 5 pounds heavier. With so much walking at Disney there is no way to gain weight. We shared several CS and didn't use snacks until the last day. We are now looking at using the dining plan 9/07 hopefully free if not we will pay.

 

[Cinderella_68]

We weren't sure how DDP was going to work for us, either. There were five of us. We sorely disappointed our server at Ohana breakfast by not being able to finish a skillet of food. But we did enjoy every bite that we DID eat!
We ended up being able to enjoy more than one TS on a few days, and do two signature meals, CRT lunch and HDDR and only paying for one meal OOP. (We had planned to pay for more OOP, since we wanted to hit all of the restaurants on our list.)
We shared items when the hunger level and TS restaurant warranted, i.e. not buffets/family style. It worked out perfectly most of the time, since two of us can barely finish the food included. We would pay OOP for the extra drinks, of course.
On our last day, we still had 15 CS credits left. We had Tonga Toast for breakfast at Captain Cook's, and picked up drinks, sandwiches and dessert for lunch from Main Street Bakery to take back to the hotel to await DME, and portable meals from Captain Cooks to eat on the long flight home. It worked out perfectly.
DH and I have decided that we will definitely do DDP if it's available for our next trip in 2008! The convenience was wonderful! Even if our group split up, they could grab a snack or meal at whim.

 

[patsal]

It is very easy to get your "money's worth" without over eating. If you look at the menus most CS will run 10-12 per person (you could get fruit rather than dessert and substitute veggies for fries), dinner with App, entree and dessert as well as a beverage will run at least $25-35 before tax and tip and snack for about $4.00 can be fruit, bottled water, popcorn, etc. As for your TS meals, you'll have a fridge to take things back to the room for later as well. You might even want to consider some signature dining so you don't feel compelled to have an ADR for every night. We found that salads, and fruit desserts were light apps and desserts that worked well for us. We also learned that with four of us we could easily do a signature dinner or two and double up on CS a few times or reheat leftovers on shopping day and swim days. Try it, I think you will enjoy the convienience and the flexibility.
BTW after 2 weeks on it last July I didi not gain that much--only three pounds--and that didn't affect my ability to fit in my clothing, thanks to all the walking!--the pounds were off in a week as well.

 

[Ohiodisneyguy]

We did DDP 8 days in mid August. I ate, what I considered, entirely too much. Could barely walk out after the TS meals. I discovered that I actually lost weight when I got home. Taking on WDW with two kids, you will walk it off.

 

[themudd4]

We did the DDP for the first time this year, and while yes I think we all probably ate a little to much, we had a really good time and think we still saved money. Alot of the meals we selected were cahracter dining, and themed dining. Our average dinner bill was about what we was paying for our entire day on the DDP. We were able to be a little more free with our money and it was nice knowing that the tip and tax were already paid as well. We used alot of our snacks on water, so that was great too...just look at where you plan to eat and figure up your bill and just see if it is worth your time and money or not. For us it was great and plan to do it each time from here on out. Regardless....have a great time.

I am thinking that you said you were a DVC member...you will also need to consider if you plan to cook meals in your room.