Is the DDP REALLY a value...I think not!

[mcever4]

I have a question I never thought f while trying to figure out if the DP would be best for me to get on our next trip. When figuring out OOP expenses by looking at the menu's, do I add the cost of a drink as well, or is it included with combo meals? DS and I got the DP last year and it was great for us, but we will be traveling next time with DH and DD who will be 3 at time of travel. I am thinking the DP will probably be our best deal since we will be doing a bunch of character meals. I agree, the DP isn't for everyone, but it certainly can save quite a bit of $$ depending on your eating habits, or rather how you want to eat at WDW!!!

Robin

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

I have a question I never thought f while trying to figure out if the DP would be best for me to get on our next trip. When figuring out OOP expenses by looking at the menu's, do I add the cost of a drink as well, or is it included with combo meals? DS and I got the DP last year and it was great for us, but we will be traveling next time with DH and DD who will be 3 at time of travel. I am thinking the DP will probably be our best deal since we will be doing a bunch of character meals. I agree, the DP isn't for everyone, but it certainly can save quite a bit of $$ depending on your eating habits, or rather how you want to eat at WDW!!!

Robin

Drinks are not included in the combo meal price at CS for adults. For most places if not all it is for kids meals.

 

[JLS]

The OP did not find the DDP a good value primarily because she used her TS credits on less expensive breakfasts and 2 credits on a relatively inexpensive lunch at the Brown Derby. Generally the signature meals are not a great deal on the regular dining plan. If you want to eat at signature places it is better to pay OOP or get the DxDDP where you have 3 TS credits per day.

Let's end the debate over whether the DDP is or is not a good value. There is no doubt that if the DDP is a good value if used to maximize the value (buffets, especially dinners, and other expensive dinner restaurants) and if it matches the way you generally like to eat. There also is no doubt that if the DDP does not match your general eating style and/or if you use TS credits at places like Sci Fi or Beaches and Cream, or burn 2 TS credits for signature meals, the value goes way down and could end up costing you more than you would have paid OOP.

 

[dntd]

This time the DDP worked in my favour as I'm going with 3 kids under 10, kids stay and play deal. If they were considered adults then the plan would make no sense and just pay as we go though sit down meals would be limited.

 

[WDW Lover]

The Dining Plan is really only a deal if you have children under 10 years of age. For adults, not really.

My husband and I are food sharers for lunch (counter service) and eat our own meals at dinner. We can't eat enough food in 1 day to justify all the food you would need to eat to make the dining plan worthwhile.

We use our Disney Rewards pts from our Disney Visa Card to pay for all of our food while we at Disney... so it's hard to pass up "free" meals while on vacation!

Also, some justify that it is easier to have all of their meals prepaid. I am just wondering how it is so difficult to have your room card swiped and charged back to your room on the credit card you have left on file? How is it any different? In fact, on the dining plan doesn't every single person's room card have to be swiped separately to keep track of the meals? All I ever see is people on the last day of their vacation swiping for a bunch of drinks and snacks at food courts trying to not waste the items they had prepaid for.

Disney makes out on the deal - that's why they do it! It forces you to eat at their most expensive restaurants every day (and pre-pay for it!) or if you don't they definitely make out!

 

[catne]

...Let's end the debate over whether the DDP is or is not a good value...

Now what would be the fun of that, lol. If there were no questions/opinions/disagreements, there would be no purpose to a chat on a forum.

And if there was no Disney forums online for us to go to, then those of us obsessed with Disney would simply walk around talking to ourselves all day.

 

[mmay60046]

In fact, on the dining plan doesn't every single person's room card have to be swiped separately to keep track of the meals? All I ever see is people on the last day of their vacation swiping for a bunch of drinks and snacks at food courts trying to not waste the items they had prepaid for.

No. We had a group of 10 last week and they just needed one card per reservation. We had 2 rooms (2 bdrm villa and a studio) so at each TS meal they only needed one card from each room. Same with the QS meals. We had no problem using up the TS and snacks. On our last day we each had 3 QS meals left though, but since our flight was late in the evening we had a QS breakfast and a QS lunch, and then before we caught the Magical Express we used the last QS credit at the BW Bakery for some awesome sandwiches that we brought with us to the airport which worked out great as our dinner.

 

[tipsytrtle]

I agree that is works for some and not for others,

we received the free basic plan ( one CS and one TS) per day for our upcoming trip at CSR

we have the package for 13days, 2adults and 2 disney adults..
2 teen girls ages 18 and 16 who can eat and like to eat well

the total cost of the plan for our tickets and room is roughly 3300.00
we would have booked CSR anyway due to having 2 queen beds

soooo
if we were to buy the plan at 45.99 per person for 14 nights that would be
2391.48

granted we will have to pay tips but there is no question that when the plan can be had for free it can be a huge savings.

we added 2 nights of hotel only to the front end of our stay so for 3500 4 "adults" can vacation for 2 weeks!!!

 

[Faldred]

In fact, on the dining plan doesn't every single person's room card have to be swiped separately to keep track of the meals? All I ever see is people on the last day of their vacation swiping for a bunch of drinks and snacks at food courts trying to not waste the items they had prepaid for.

No, but it is quite possible to have to swipe three times for one person: once for CS credit purchases, once for snack credit purchases, and once for other purchased charged back to the room. The system only allows one type of transaction at a time, so someone trying to use a mix of CS, snack, and OOP has to do three separate transactions.

I know this because I've done this, albeit in the parks and not at the resort.

 

[kinggartk]

For all of you who are still wondering if the DDP is a deal for you, I wanted to share my list of desired places to eat for a 7-night stay at WDW. I've perused the menus to decide what I WANT to eat instead of ordering what I thought would give me the greatest value on the plan. Now, I am a water drinker, but have included a few drinks where I thought I might want one. I've also included a dessert here and there that I really want to try. At the bottom is the comparision of my cost vs. the cost of the DDP.

Tusker Breakfast...24.49
Yak N Yeti...Pot Stickers, Side Wok fried green beans, side of chicken fried rice...18.97

Brown Derby Lunch..Cobb Salad, Grapefruit cake....22.00
Mama Melrose Fantasmic Pkg....32.99

Crystal Palace Breakfast 22.99
Kona Cafe Dinner...Coconut Almond Chicken...16.99

Sunshine Seasons lunch...Reuben Panini...8.89
Garden Grill Dinner...34.99

Kona Cafe Breakfast...Big Kahuna, Coffee...14.68
Plaza...Chicken Stawberry Salad...14.99

Kringla Bakery...Soup & Sandwich...9.99
Via Napoli...Individual Ortolana Pizza, Zeppole...28.00

Pepper Market Breakfast...Veggie Frittata Platter, juice 12.98
Earl of Sandwich...Hot Sandwich, Earl Grey Lemonade 7.98
Ghiradelli...Cable Car Sundae....8.95

Total...279.88
add 6.5% tax
Grand Total (w/o tips)...298.08
7-Night DDP for adult....321.93

That leaves me with $23.86 to spend on snacks, drinks, and desserts. That amount is easily enough to even change my mind about what I want to eat and still come out ahead.

AND I have TEN (10) TS, only FOUR (4) QS, and a trip to Ghiradelli's (which isn't even on the plan!)

Are you still on the fence???

I think all you have succeeded in doing is prove that the Dining Plan in not a rip-off. In your example it appears to be a near break even situation. It appears to be more of convenience thing now, do you want to pay in advance or pay as you go?

I have purchased the DP for my upcoming trip in November and you have helped me see that I made the right decision. I know I am not being ripped off and I just want to get that part of my trip paid for now while I have plenty of Tax refund and Bonus money on hand.

Thank you for helping me see that the DP was a good choice.

 

[Csaks]

The Dining Plan is really only a deal if you have children under 10 years of age. For adults, not really.

-It is great for 2 adults if you like to have a sit down meal every night. If you can eat at your resort each night which I believe is a counter service credit then it is not worth the money.


My husband and I are food sharers for lunch (counter service) and eat our own meals at dinner. We can't eat enough food in 1 day to justify all the food you would need to eat to make the dining plan worthwhile.

-For us it is just a little bit more than we can handle in a regular day but with all the walking I actually lost weight the last two trips.


We use our Disney Rewards pts from our Disney Visa Card to pay for all of our food while we at Disney... so it's hard to pass up "free" meals while on vacation!

Also, some justify that it is easier to have all of their meals prepaid. I am just wondering how it is so difficult to have your room card swiped and charged back to your room on the credit card you have left on file? How is it any different? In fact, on the dining plan doesn't every single person's room card have to be swiped separately to keep track of the meals? All I ever see is people on the last day of their vacation swiping for a bunch of drinks and snacks at food courts trying to not waste the items they had prepaid for.

-The great part is it is paid for before we even leave the house. All you need money for is tips and shopping.


Disney makes out on the deal - that's why they do it! It forces you to eat at their most expensive restaurants every day (and pre-pay for it!) or if you don't they definitely make out!

.

 

[CMAlumni]

It works for our family of three (two adults and a Disney adult). We went for 14 days in August. We don't normally eat desserts, but we wait all year for our Disney trip and splurge!!!! So when we eat at Disney, we eat like the plan. We are actually not big appetizer people, but we all have a sweet tooth! We do not have to pay the seasonal upcharge as we are DVC members so our savings are a little more than non DVC members. We were on the deluxe dining plan for 3 days and saved $276.14. Then, we were on the regular DDP for 11 days and saved $514.65 for a total savings of $790.79!

I have every receipt and could give you details of what we ate. We did not go for only the most expensive (I eat a lot of steak, but my son and husband eat pasta, fish, etc.) We enjoy having all the snacks and desserts.

It may not work for everyone, but we were very happy with the plan and will do it again this summer. Here is the list of TS (prices with taxes but without tip since that is not included in oop or ddp - the cost of ddp includes taxes):

Deluxe:
Day 1 - Tony's $97.24 and Coral Reef $144.83
Day 2 - Planet Hollywood $103.12 and Hoop-de-doo $197.97
Day 3 -Grand Floridian Cafe $86.26 and Chef's de France $116.25

First day of regular dining plan used held over credits from deluxe

Day 1 - Kona Cafe $91.81 and Maya Grill $141.80
Day 2 - 'Ohana $111.80
Day 3 - 1900 Park Fare $121.38
Day 4 - Teppan Edo $111.94
Day 5 - Chef Mickey's $107.97
Day 6 - Biegarten $111.80
Day 7 - Garden Grill $111.80
Day 8 - Teppan Edo $111.46 (love this place!!!!)
Day 9 - Sci Fi $104.38 (I was the only one to have steak)
Day 10 - Cape May $99.02
Day 11 - Yak and Yeti $ 94.91
Check out day used held over credits from DDP - Saratoga Springs Turf Club and Grill $100.55

We also used all of our snack credits and had a couple of the more expensive QS meals (twice at Sunshine Seasons and once at Wolfgang Puck's). Even with this year's increase, we still come out far ahead!

 

[sharonabe]

I think all you have succeeded in doing is prove that the Dining Plan in not a rip-off. In your example it appears to be a near break even situation. It appears to be more of convenience thing now, do you want to pay in advance or pay as you go?

I have purchased the DP for my upcoming trip in November and you have helped me see that I made the right decision. I know I am not being ripped off and I just want to get that part of my trip paid for now while I have plenty of Tax refund and Bonus money on hand.

Thank you for helping me see that the DP was a good choice.

Your welcome! I'm glad it will work for you.

I don't agree with your break even analysis, though, since I get to eat at more TS places than the DDP allows AND still save money. But, I can agree to disagree.

As for the prepaid part, though, it would be the same thing if you "prepay" yourself with a gift card and use that while on vacation.

 

[Colleen27]

Also, some justify that it is easier to have all of their meals prepaid. I am just wondering how it is so difficult to have your room card swiped and charged back to your room on the credit card you have left on file? How is it any different? In fact, on the dining plan doesn't every single person's room card have to be swiped separately to keep track of the meals? All I ever see is people on the last day of their vacation swiping for a bunch of drinks and snacks at food courts trying to not waste the items they had prepaid for.

Only one card per room needs to be swiped, and for some of us that check-out day haul is part of the appeal. We haven't eaten overpriced fast food at MCO since we started using the dining plan - we make sure we have one meal's worth of credits left for sandwiches and chips to take to the airport with us. You can take food through security, just not drinks, and I'd take Disney food court sandwiches over the lousy offerings past security at the Spirit or Airtran gates any day.

 

[MSLRAC]

The math for the dining plans is so personal that I do not think that it is possible to say that yes the plan works or no it doesn't. I also think that it is hard to make blanket statements like "it's only a deal if you have children under 10".

We will never go to WDW again without the DxDP. It saved us well over $1000 and I project that it will save us even more next trip. It really works for us and I expect it to work even better for us once my kids start becoming Disney adults. Yet, the exact same plan would be a total and complete waste for my SIL and her family. I honestly wonder if they even break even on the regular plan.

It all truly comes down to the individual family, their eating style and needs. So to say the plans work or don't work is just asinine.

 

[Cafeen]

Just because it's not a good value for you, doesn't make it not a good value overall. It's like getting a coupon for something you'd buy anyway, or not buy, either way, the coupon is a good value, just may not work for what you're getting.

You can always eat cheaper than the dining plans, that's a truth. You could just get PB&J and eat that all week and come out WAY ahead. Of course, it's all in the experience. What kind of experience you want should be what drives the choice of the plan (and which one), OOP, or TiW (if available to you). There's much more to the math than the numbers.

As an example, my last trip, and this coming one, I am doing DxDDP. The reason that I'm choosing that plan is because of what I wanted to get out of the trip. This goal of the trip happened to closely mesh with what the DxDDP offers. Doing the math behind what I wanted to do anyway revealed that I'd save about $200 via DxDDP (and that's just one person). Since TiW is not available to me (don't have the ability to really go more than once a year, and I don't live in FL), it was a plan or OOP.

I could have saved money by going OOP for sure. A bit over $300 on this next trip by my math. However, it would mean skimping out on the experiences that I wanted and thus potentially lowering my enjoyment of my personal trip. I felt the extra $300 (to get ~$500 worth of enjoyment) was worth it. This is the subjective nature of the plans. To me, this paying $300 to get $500 is a good deal.

However, that's just my personal analysis. I have (and so have many others) advised individuals both for and against the DDP (and assorted levels) based on that person's own plan. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

One thing that trips up a lot of people (on both sides!) is the idea of getting as much as you can out of the plans, which then cause the extreme notions of having to order the most expensive meal from the most expensive place. Sure, this looks good on paper, but if it doesn't match your own desire for your trip, then it's not going to be a good experience. You don't need to maximize the total savings by sacrificing your own enjoyment, just so long as you come out lower than you would have if you paid OOP for your desired experience is what really matters.

Now, for the OP, her chosen experience did not mesh with a dining plan, hence she was better off without one (mathematically and subjectively). Again, it doesn't mean that the plans are not a good value, just they didn't work for her situation.

(Man, I overused the word "experience" in that post... but that's what it's really all about. The monetary value is secondary to the desired (and budgeted for) experiences.)

 

[sharonabe]

THANK YOU, Cafeen! You said what I wanted to convey. So many people just do the plan without really thinking it through.

The title of my post obviously rubbed some the wrong way, and for that, I apologize. I have run so many different scenarios for our family, and the dining plans always come up short for us. Hence, the title. But I should have added..."for us."

And, in case I haven't said it in previous posts, we have used both the DDP and the QSDP in the past. When the boys were smaller, it was a good value. Now that they are older and their dining tastes are so different, it just isn't.

 

[JenSop]

It's great to see how things work out differently for each family - really enlightening. We like the DDP (as I believe I posted earlier) but we also never do breakfasts much (or split one of the CS meals at breakfast and the other at lunch.) But we ALWAYS to TS dinners every day!

 

[aubriee]

The Dining Plan is really only a deal if you have children under 10 years of age. For adults, not really.

Depends! I frequently use the DxDDP as a solo diner and feel it's worthwhile. I like very few CS restaurants and eat mainly TS meals. I'm not a breakfast eater either, so usually like to do an early lunch TS then a late 2 credit Signature restaurant for dinner.

I go to WDW several times a year and at least 2 or 3 of those trips are solo trips and one is with family. I've done either the basic DDP or the DxDDP every single trip since they've been introduced. However, because I do go to WDW so frequently, I've decided to go to places not on the DDP for my next trip (Sept 10th-18th), so for the first time in years will be paying OOP. I'm still doing 14 TS restaurants and 3 CS restaurants. I ran the numbers the other day and found that eating alot of appetizers, a few entrees, and a few desserts I'll be spending about $50.00-$60.00 more than the DDP, but alot less than the DxDDP. I refuse to skimp on vacation and will be eating exactly what I really want. I'm not a snacker, so didn't really count the DDP snacks in my figures. I'm looking forward to my trip, but since I've used the DDPs so much, I'm a little leery of going without one.

 

[Cafeen]

THANK YOU, Cafeen! You said what I wanted to convey. So many people just do the plan without really thinking it through.

The title of my post obviously rubbed some the wrong way, and for that, I apologize. I have run so many different scenarios for our family, and the dining plans always come up short for us. Hence, the title. But I should have added..."for us."

And, in case I haven't said it in previous posts, we have used both the DDP and the QSDP in the past. When the boys were smaller, it was a good value. Now that they are older and their dining tastes are so different, it just isn't.

No problem at all it's what I'm here for! Hehe.

I agree that a "for us" or "...isn't always a good..." would have probably been taken quite differently . But hey, the more discussion we can have on the scenarios it works and especially the ones where it doesn't the better. I know I'd rather people make the right decision for their trip than just choose a plan (or not choose a plan) willy nilly .