mammoth_fan
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2006
- Messages
- 45
We got back last night from a fantastic 10-day trip to the World. I'm sad that vacation is over. Before I head into work, I thought I'd post my thoughts about the Disney Dining Plan (DDP).
We decided to sign up for the DDP because: (1) we figured we'd break about even (I looked up menus on MouseEars and came up with a "for instance" of what we'd eat); (2) we liked the idea of not pulling out money at every meal, which is a downer; and (3) DD is 10 (the age at which Disney considers her an adult when it comes to eating), and she has been ordering from adult menus for a year or more, anyway.
I just tallied up our receipts, and we SAVED more than $300 by using the DDP!
Random thoughts:
Finding restaurants and snack carts that take the DDP was not a problem.
If you don't want your dessert with your Quick Service (QS) meal, hang on to your receipt. Then when you're done with your meal, take your receipt to the counter and pick out your dessert (good for when you want ice cream). The receipt is important!
Some servers are OK with you not ordering everything that's offered with your meal (QS: entree, dessert, drink; Table Service (TS): appetizer, entree, dessert, drink). For example, my DH and I shared an appetizer at one restaurant. BUT, some servers are militant about giving you each item. We did not want dessert for one QS meal, but the server gave it to us, anyway.
TS meals are usually very yummy. QS meals are pretty good, but some are kinda iffy.
For TS menus, count on regularly being offered steak, salmon, chicken, and pasta dishes. Sometimes there are other entrees offered (such as Jambalaya at Boatwright's (POR)).
You only need to show one Key to the Kingdom (your card that is your room key, parks ticket, etc.) when you pay for your DDP meal; not everyone in your party needs to show their card.
For QS meals, get ready for a LOT of chocolate cake for dessert. And some QS restaurants have obscenely HUGE sodas.
The gratuity is included in the DDP. Service was generally good, even though the servers knew they automatically got an 18% tip. We had three outstanding servers, lots of good servers, no bad servers.
You get A LOT OF FOOD. We overate. A lot. I weighed myself last night and sighed. Time for lots of exercise.
We realized on the flight home that we forgot to use 8 snacks. My suggestion: get a snack every day so you don't get behind. I should have bought more fruit for snacks and taken it to our room for our breakfasts.
Speaking of breakfasts, we brought cereal, milk (Horizon vacuum-sealed single-servings, Wild Oats market), granola bars, and fruit leather, from home, for breakfasts and ate in our room (we had a fridge). We didn't eat breakfast in a restaurant any day. I can't imagine eating 3 huge meals every day...we just about killed ourselves eating 2.
Let me know if you have any questions.
We decided to sign up for the DDP because: (1) we figured we'd break about even (I looked up menus on MouseEars and came up with a "for instance" of what we'd eat); (2) we liked the idea of not pulling out money at every meal, which is a downer; and (3) DD is 10 (the age at which Disney considers her an adult when it comes to eating), and she has been ordering from adult menus for a year or more, anyway.
I just tallied up our receipts, and we SAVED more than $300 by using the DDP!
Random thoughts:
Finding restaurants and snack carts that take the DDP was not a problem.
If you don't want your dessert with your Quick Service (QS) meal, hang on to your receipt. Then when you're done with your meal, take your receipt to the counter and pick out your dessert (good for when you want ice cream). The receipt is important!
Some servers are OK with you not ordering everything that's offered with your meal (QS: entree, dessert, drink; Table Service (TS): appetizer, entree, dessert, drink). For example, my DH and I shared an appetizer at one restaurant. BUT, some servers are militant about giving you each item. We did not want dessert for one QS meal, but the server gave it to us, anyway.
TS meals are usually very yummy. QS meals are pretty good, but some are kinda iffy.
For TS menus, count on regularly being offered steak, salmon, chicken, and pasta dishes. Sometimes there are other entrees offered (such as Jambalaya at Boatwright's (POR)).
You only need to show one Key to the Kingdom (your card that is your room key, parks ticket, etc.) when you pay for your DDP meal; not everyone in your party needs to show their card.
For QS meals, get ready for a LOT of chocolate cake for dessert. And some QS restaurants have obscenely HUGE sodas.
The gratuity is included in the DDP. Service was generally good, even though the servers knew they automatically got an 18% tip. We had three outstanding servers, lots of good servers, no bad servers.
You get A LOT OF FOOD. We overate. A lot. I weighed myself last night and sighed. Time for lots of exercise.
We realized on the flight home that we forgot to use 8 snacks. My suggestion: get a snack every day so you don't get behind. I should have bought more fruit for snacks and taken it to our room for our breakfasts.
Speaking of breakfasts, we brought cereal, milk (Horizon vacuum-sealed single-servings, Wild Oats market), granola bars, and fruit leather, from home, for breakfasts and ate in our room (we had a fridge). We didn't eat breakfast in a restaurant any day. I can't imagine eating 3 huge meals every day...we just about killed ourselves eating 2.
Let me know if you have any questions.
