Is the Disney Dining Experience worth it??

[thesmittys7]

We are buying seasonal/ annual passes. Is it worth the money? being offered to fl residents for $85.00

Thanks in advance

 

[MinnieFan4ever]

For my husband and I, it is so worth it. A 20% savings is a lot. We had 2 VERY nice meals with wine and the card paid for itself. You will be surprised how fast it adds up.

 

[Jasminetigger]

For our family, it is so worth it. Just like the previous poster, ours pretty much paid for it self after two meals. Its nice that alcoholic beverages are included. We went to WDW four times last year so it came in real handy. Just booked our June trip and I will definitely be renewing our dining card.

 

[Allison]

That depends on your eating habits and how much you will spend over the time frame the card is valid.

So, if the cost if $85 and you get a 20% discount you would have to spend over $425 to recover the cost.

For us, it was worth it.

 

[momtolittlered]

Ok I don't know if I really get it. I wrote down every sit down meal and character meal we will book. We would still have to eat over 600 dollars of food to make the meal plan work in our favour. I can't imagine eating that much food and we are not little people (me, DH and DD9) Am I the only one?

 

[jodifla]

Ok I don't know if I really get it. I wrote down every sit down meal and character meal we will book. We would still have to eat over 600 dollars of food to make the meal plan work in our favour. I can't imagine eating that much food and we are not little people (me, DH and DD9) Am I the only one?

How are you figuring $600? First off, you just need to make back the $85. That's around $400 in food.

We also use it for serveral trips in a year, so we save a ton of money.

 

[Allison]

Ok I don't know if I really get it. I wrote down every sit down meal and character meal we will book. We would still have to eat over 600 dollars of food to make the meal plan work in our favour. I can't imagine eating that much food and we are not little people (me, DH and DD9) Am I the only one?

I'm confused-Are you talking about the dining plan? This is a question about the DDE discount card.

 

[Laurafoster]

We had the DDE card for our previous trip and it worked out great!! After 2 or 3 meals we had saved our money and we were there for 14 nights for our wedding! And we are goping back in Sept so it will still be valid then!

 

[momtolittlered]

oops sorry I thought you were talking about dining plan. I guess I am confused lol

 

[TammyNC]

We have had the DDE card for at least two years now. We take at least 2-3 trips a year and it well pays for itself after a few meals. We will continue to purchase the card as long as they continue to offer it.

 

[Mystry62]

We are buying seasonal/ annual passes. Is it worth the money? being offered to fl residents for $85.00

Thanks in advance

I have the DDP. I bought it this past November and it has already paid for itself. I notice that you are also a FL resident.... the DDE should only be $60 if you are buying seasonal / annual passes as well. As a FL resident passholder, you get a discount off the regular price of $85, brining it down to $60. I think it is well worth it. We booked the Hoop Dee Doo Review, ate at the San Angel Inn, Biergarten, and Garden Grill and recouped our money and then some already. We have a whole 12 months left before it expires (I ordered at the end of November so my card doesn't expire until the end of December 2007).

 

[hmp2z]

As the previous poster pointed out, it will only cost you $60, not $85. As far as whether or not it's worth it, you will have to spend at least $300 on food & beverages to recoup the $60 fee. If you spend at least that much in 1 year at WDW, then go for it. If not, then don't.

Cheers!
Heather W

 

[tkd lisa]

A couple of things I considered.

1) You "can" get parking reimbursed with the DDE. Since you have seasonal passes, that could save you $10 per visit. In order to do this, you have to use your DDE card within 3 hours of the time you enter the park, and take your parking receipt and meal receipt to guest services. They will reimburse you. I've never done this, but it is legal.

2) You need to consider the savings as an apples to apples. As an AP holder, you can get a 10% discount at some of the places that take DDE.

3) DDE gives you some counter service discounts too, so take them into account when calculating your savings. All the value resort food courts do this, as well as the CS restaurants in AK.

I have to say that I made back the $60 savings within the first trip (6 days over spring break), even adjusting for the 10% AP savings I would have gotten. My family don't drink, and are fairly light eaters and probably only eat table service 30-40% of the time we visit. And we've probably saved $250 within the year.

In my opinion, unless you almost never eat at table service restaurants, if you're going to be at WDW enough to justify APs, then the DDE would be worth it for you.

 

[lillygator]

I believe if you are an AP holder the card is only $60...not $85.

 

[Mackey Mouse]

I definitely think it is worth... it even saves on alcohol, which not many discount cards do.

 

[UKDEB]

I definitely think it is worth... it even saves on alcohol, which not many discount cards do.

Exactly what I was going to say. For us, it has been worth it historically. We often eat at the more upmarket restaurants and we tend to order fairly expensive wine. It effectively covers our tips. One trip to V&As can cover its cost. The price has increased shockingly, though. As others have said, it's a simple calculation. There's no benefit other than the saving. There's no kudos in having the card itself. There are no hidden benefits (such as the flexibility offered by being an Annual Passholder). Except maybe the preferred parking which we've never managed to avail ourselves of (apparently there are select spaces, doubling up with AAA Diamond parking). Either you will recoup the cost (plus some), or you won't.

 

[Goofy4Disney]

DDE gives you some counter service discounts too, so take them into account when calculating your savings. All the value resort food courts do this, as well as the CS restaurants in AK.

We're booking everything through Disney (rooms, tickets, airfare and the dining plan). If the dining plan provides 1 CS and 1 TS per day, it'd leave us basically with breakfast to pay OOP. Can I use my DDE card still then at the value food courts? I guess I'd still be allowed to do that, right?

 

[thesmittys7]

Thanks !!

 

[addicted2disney]

Goofy4Disney...YES!! You can still use your DDE card on breakfast at the food court. This is exactly what we did in September with our free dining. Had the CS, TS and snack.. and then still got 20% off at the food court for breakfast.

MY DDE card was good for a little over a year.. so Im managing to get 4 trips out of it. Its more than worth it for us.

Last year all of our husbands were using the card to get 20% off their beer at AK!