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

[jbuey22]

First let me apologize for the long post but I am really up in the air about this.
We love the DDP, but when its free its a bit different. We are a family of 4 adults going for 9 nights in Oct. there is no free promotion, so we were gonna pay for it. Thats how much we like it. But after reading this post I am seriously debating paying for this plan and want to do some math.
I have done some exact math only for our table service meals and the 9 ADR's that we have the price comes to $877.62, but this is only the cost for entrees. 3 meals are character buffets so the only other charge would be the drinks. 1 meal is a Fantasmic Package that comes with everything we need, the other 5 meals will be ordering from menu so we would have to add any appetizer and dessert. 8 of the 9 meals will need to buy drinks. I do not drink while eating and if I have any it will be water, so I can safetly say that 10.00 will cover drinks for each meal. The 5 menu based meals we may have an app at 2 of them(alot of the appetizers do not appeal to us). Those would be WCC and Raglan Road. Price would be 12.49 & 9.95 chips & salsa and dalkly duo. Desserts are different, but on average, we would order 2 desserts on 4 of the menu meals(8 total), the 5th being breakfast(no dessert). I will over compensate for the dessert cost at $10.00 each.

The 9 CS meals I will estimate at 9.00 each meal and 4.00 each for a drink. So thats $13.00 per person or $52.00 a day. I think that is over compensating because I have had gastric bypass surgery so I will really be minimizing the CS meals or sharing from the others, but my sone eats for 2 really so my meal will be split with him hence still 4 full meals.

Although we will not be having alot of apps or Desserts at our meals, we do love our daily snacks even if its just a bottle of orange juice or a muffin. But we do have at least 1 daily. We love the mickey bars, funnel cakes, beneits, popcorn etc. So if I figure a $5.00 average, which may be a bit low but overall average. So that is another $20.00 per day for our family of 4.

So here we go:

Entrees 877.62
Drinks 80.00
Appetizers 22.44
Desserts 80.00
Total cost TS meals 1060.06
Total cost CS meals 468.00
Total cost of Snacks 180.00
Total Out of Pocket $1708.06
Total cost of DDP $1655.64
Save on DDP $52.42

So I still come out saving on the DDP. Yes I have had Gastric Bypass surgery in March and do not eat like I used to but I still will be ordering entrees and either having leftovers or the 3 other family members will devour. Plus I gave a $13.00 ave cost for CS meals, but on the DDP a CS meal comes with the entree, drink, AND a dessert. So if I added that dessert cost to the OOP costs it would easily be an extra $10.00 a meal($2.50 each) or $90.00 extra bucks to pay for those. Thats why when on the DDP you find you have alot of extra snacks because I will get a Dessert at every TS and CS meal but I sparingly put minimum cost in what we would pay OOP. So the $52.42 savings is realy alot more if you add in all of the food you get. Im convinced I'm sticking with the DDP please let me know if you think my calculations or estimations are out of whack!! Thanks!

 

[neatokimmo]

How are you with manipulating a spreadsheet? I have one that another DIS-er emailed me several years ago that I can share. You plug in the number of nights and use the online menus to approximate what you think you'll eat. You would adjust the calculation for the dining plan cost to reflect the upgrade cost. It will calculate your gratuities for you and shows whether the DDP is a good value for you. If you want it, send me a PM with your email address and I"ll pass it along.

Incidentally, I just finalized that spreadsheet for my own upcoming trip so I know how much cash to bring for gratuities (we prefer to do it that way). We are paying for the DDP and come out about $300 to the benefit for using it. We have 2 children under 10 and have 3 character meals planned (out of 7 TS). We're traveling with another family whose child is having his first Disney experience and we wanted to "do it up right" so to speak, so we didn't want to be watching costs too closely. Also, I think that in traveling in a group, having the DDP makes it easy on everyone.

I do think we'll revisit the DDP issue when our oldest turns 10, although at the rate he's eating, he'll be out-eating me shortly!

I am a big nerd, I will PM you now for the spreadsheet lol thanks!

 

[JenSop]

I'm glad the OP found the best solution for her.

THat's why it's great to have so many options!

We personally like the DDP. We don't have kids, and part of the fun of a DIsney trip is the TS meals. We do one each day, and sometimes combine credits to do Signature restaurants. I like not feeling guilty about ordering the expensive item on the menu. (Because if I wasn't on DDP, I would totally feel guilted into ordering a cheaper item.)

We often do split stays, and we do the regular DDP for the longer portion and the Deluxe DDP for the shorter portion. We've been able to try out a lot of the signature restaurants that way.

This summer, we're doing a triple split stay. We started with our DVC stay from Sunday to Friday, which will have the DDP attached to it. Then we added days on either end to make the trip longer. For those days, we'll skip the DDP and use TIW. We also plan to use TIW for our alcohol at dinner every night.

Also - for CS meals, when we won't be drinking alcohol - I'm a Coke drinker. Big time. I usually drink about 3 Cokes a day (on average). So I'm quite glad that my COke is covered. And at a TS dinner, I can have a Coke with dessert (it's what I do instead of coffee.)

I've done the calculations. We save about $10 a day per person on the DDP. Not a ton, but on a week long trip, it definitely adds up.

 

[sharonabe]

jbuey: I think you've over compensated in a couple places.

Drinks at CS are 2.19 and 2.49. So that's at least $1 pp/pmeal/pday you need to subtract and probably $1.50

Snacks usually allowed on the DDP are $4 or less, so there's another $1

And did you add in the cost of the apps to your DDP cost since those are not covered?

I'll be interested to see if you still come out that much ahead on the DDP.

 

[3prettyprincesses]

I think everyone here is correct. It really does depend on how you eat while on vacation. For us, we are table service people and we like character meals and signature restaurants. Therefore, the DxDP works beautifully. We save money. Another factor is that three out of the five of us have food allergies. Different ones too. So that makes sharing meals difficult. Honestly, we've been happy utilizing the plan and it's nice to not worry over menu prices since I know it's already paid for. It works for us.

I have a friend who is the total opposite. She and her family share meals, eat more counter service and have breakfast in their room. So for them, the dining plan probably wouldn't work well.

 

[Trinity524]

I can see both ways, but I would like to add one more thing.

My son is an only child so we frequently travel with another couple and their child, who is about a year old than my son. While I love this other family, they are, without a doubt, the complete opposite from our family. They told us they could never afford Disney, but last year we got them to go. They had their own room and Free Dining and it was literally a blessing. Everything was included but the tips. They have the money, but they would complain about the prices if not for the DDP. I, for one, am not a big red meat eater, but the husband of the other family ordered steak every chance he got to make sure he got his monies worth. It was nice not to hear, I can't afford that, or his wife saying, I guess we'll share this.

The DDP was worth it to me because I knew that there would be no awkwardness at meals. And there is no way to calculate that on a spreadsheet! LOL

 

[TinkWink]

I just got back yesterday from a 5 night stay. We did not purchase the Disney Dining Plan since we were mainly eating breakfast/lunch TS, and our 2 year old eats free at the buffets/AYCE places. I sat down today and added up all our receipts.

We saved a grand total of....


are you ready for this???


$20!!!!!

That's with one TS, one CS and one snack a day. The $20 basically covered the "extra" CS meals we ordered for our toddler and additional snacks. We did have a grocery store stop so we had water and snacks in the room for a couple of breakfasts, but we would have had to pay for that food even if we paid for the DP since it doesn't cover all the food we'd eat in a day.

I thought it would be a neat experiment to see if the dining plan was a good deal or not. The downside was I used the prices I found on allears to gauge our spending at the TS buffets, but those prices were OUT OF DATE. None of them were the right amount - usually anywhere from $1-5/pp too low, so that messed with some of my estimates. Also, obviously we would have had a dessert with those CS meals, but we don't eat desserts that often at home, so I felt it was not value added, although I guess we could have just gotten something to save for later as a beverage or snack.

I still think I liked the flexibility of ordering what I really wanted to eat instead of trying to get a bigger bang for my dining plan buck, and I think I made healthier choices because of it, too.

 

[WantToGoNow]

The DDP does work for us - we have 3 adults and 2 children. We usually do 3-4-5 character meals and we all like to have drinks with our meals. None of us will drink the tap water at Disney so even if we had water, it would have to be bottled water. And although we probably wouldn't buy desserts if we were paying OOP, we like having those too. And when the kids start asking for ice cream or milkshakes everyday, we don't have to 1) say no or 2) drop $20+ for the 5 of us. Now usually with the DDP we aren't ever hungry enough to use our snack credits and end up with a bunch left to use on our last day.

 

[havoc315]

I just got back yesterday from a 5 night stay. We did not purchase the Disney Dining Plan since we were mainly eating breakfast/lunch TS, and our 2 year old eats free at the buffets/AYCE places. I sat down today and added up all our receipts.

We saved a grand total of....


are you ready for this???


$20!!!!!

That's with one TS, one CS and one snack a day. The $20 basically covered the "extra" CS meals we ordered for our toddler and additional snacks. We did have a grocery store stop so we had water and snacks in the room for a couple of breakfasts, but we would have had to pay for that food even if we paid for the DP since it doesn't cover all the food we'd eat in a day.

I thought it would be a neat experiment to see if the dining plan was a good deal or not. The downside was I used the prices I found on allears to gauge our spending at the TS buffets, but those prices were OUT OF DATE. None of them were the right amount - usually anywhere from $1-5/pp too low, so that messed with some of my estimates. Also, obviously we would have had a dessert with those CS meals, but we don't eat desserts that often at home, so I felt it was not value added, although I guess we could have just gotten something to save for later as a beverage or snack.

I still think I liked the flexibility of ordering what I really wanted to eat instead of trying to get a bigger bang for my dining plan buck, and I think I made healthier choices because of it, too.

Good experiment and analysis. You got all the food you actually wanted, and made healthier choices, all while spending less money -- even if just a few dollars less.
Sure, for $20 more, you would have gotten a few extra snacks.

If I'm going to lock in money with "pre payment," then I want to get some real value in return. Otherwise, I prefer the flexibility of paying for what I want, when I want.

Under the right circumstances for the right family, the ddp and dxdp can lead to some appreciable savings. But I think many families get far less value than they realize.

 

[fairymommy]

we go during free dining so we don't have to worry about it

 

[sharonabe]

we go during free dining so we don't have to worry about it

If free dining is the ONLY discount availabe, then of course, we would do that. But usually, you can choose between "free" dining and a room discount and the room discount wins out every time for us!

And I just want to point out one more time...

With my plan I actually have ELEVEN, count them, ELEVEN TS credits in just 7 days. I wish I had $1 for every time I've seen threads on here for which meals they should pay OOP along with the DDP.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

If free dining is the ONLY discount availabe, then of course, we would do that. But usually, you can choose between "free" dining and a room discount and the room discount wins out every time for us!

And I just want to point out one more time...

With my plan I actually have ELEVEN, count them, ELEVEN TS credits in just 7 days. I wish I had $1 for every time I've seen threads on here for which meals they should pay OOP along with the DDP.

While it's true another discount may save you more in a deluxe or sometimes even a mod, if you are staying in a value a room discount isn't saving you enough to pay for more than one CS per day.

 

[lncbodsmom]

These post are all very interesting and I'm learning so much from all of you. We are planning our first trip to Disney spring 2012 and from what I've read I think we'll be doing the basic DDP. It sounds more relaxing to just have it paid for and like some of you pointed out, if the kiddos want dessert or a snack it's no worry- already paid for!

 

[Csaks]

The regular DDP works great for us. We either break even each day or save money. We have kept track of it each day. Plus the fact it is pre-paid just makes the vacation that much nicer. So as long as we are not losing money then we will keep using it. Some lose apparently.

 

[magicmonette]

I just got back yesterday from a 5 night stay. We did not purchase the Disney Dining Plan since we were mainly eating breakfast/lunch TS, and our 2 year old eats free at the buffets/AYCE places. I sat down today and added up all our receipts.

We saved a grand total of....

are you ready for this???

$20!!!!!

Sorry to sound dumb, but is that $20 per ADULT per day?

 

[Colleen27]

While it's true another discount may save you more in a deluxe or sometimes even a mod, if you are staying in a value a room discount isn't saving you enough to pay for more than one CS per day.

And for larger families, even at the mods & deluxes free dining can be the best offer... FD saves us almost $200 per night because we're 4 adults and 1 child on the DDP. Even 40% off a normal (non-club level, non-villa) deluxe room can't top that.

 

[no capes darling]

It's nice to have the option to choose if you want to use it or not. What works for one may not work for another, and that's ok. It's all a matter of opinion and personal wants/needs and making decisions for themselves.

 

[goofy4tink]

I sit and run figures for dining every single time I go to WDW. My choices change on each trip. After 30+ stays at WDW I pretty much know where and what we'll be eating. So, when I compare costs, I'm comparing apples to apples. I own DVC so the ddp doesn't always work for us. I always have an AP so I can get the Tables in Wonderland card. Since I usually go to WDW at least twice a year, the TiW card works for me.
So....I sit with menus. I price out each meal...then add up the daily costs. Then, I compare the costs using the TiW card (the 20% discount pretty much takes care of the tip, so I don't have to add in a tip), vs ddp daily costs. You have to remember to add in the tips for each TS meal....many people forget to do that when they are figuring out ddp costs.

The trip I have coming up in Oct is for two couples. The dh's aren't huge attraction people, while the other girl and I love 'em. The dh's do love to eat though...so that is a huge part of this trip. I realize we'll be spending a fair amount of time sitting in restaurants, eating. But, that's okay. And based on where we wanted to eat, I decided that the deluxe ddp is going to work for us. And that's a first for me. Usually, the TiW card comes out cheaper. But since we'll be there during Food and Wine time, the 2 snacks included in the dxddp will come in handy.

You have to do your homework. Sometimes the ddp works, sometimes it doesn't. Each trip is going to be different.

 

[maxiesmom]

You have to do your homework. Sometimes the ddp works, sometimes it doesn't. Each trip is going to be different.

This exactly. Out of more than a dozen trips to WDW we have had the dining plan twice. And both of those times I knew we would be doing a lot of sit down meals, or character meals. Typically I can eat a lot chepaer, but sometimes splurging on a lot of nice meals is called for. It just depends.

 

[smiths02]

I just did the math for our 5 night trip

The cost of the DDP would be $531.84

The cost of what we would definitely order that is covered by DDP is $537.09 BEFORE snacks

So we will get the 15 snacks for free...and that is ordering what we want and eating where we want

(And I didn't try to maximize and order the most expensive thing or always use TS for dinner and often left off a drink or counter service dessert which would would not order if paying OOP)

I agree that the math can be tight for all Disney adults or for people who don't always use the TS for dinner (or people who don't always order dessert or go to any fixed price meals), but I think it can be a value...so the overall thread title is incorrect