Just returned...my thoughts on the ddp

[caroline1851]

It was great! Granted, it was annoying to have to make adr's so far in advance and a bit annoying to have to plan every day around a meal, but....................................
I'm so glad we did. It was great not to have to eat counter service food all week and it was nice to have that break from the park to relax and enjoy a meal.

This is where we ate for TS:
Crystal Palace-lunch-it was excellent. Far exceeded my expectations. Great food, great character interactions
SciFi-lunch-kind of a miserable waitress, but excellent food and nice atmosphere.
CRT breakfast-overall our best meal of the trip. The cattle call feeling of meeting Cinderella wasnt' great and even freaked my kids out to the point where they didn't want to get their photos taken (whereas overall at wdw, meeting characters and taking pics was their favorite thing), food was fantastic, service was great and the kids were so excited to meet the princesses in the dining hall. Mary Poppins is a princess? I was confused about that. But it was great!
Coral Reef-dinner. Food was great. We were seated near the tank and a giant sea turtle sat near us the whole time. Limited dessert choices though-we didn't even order. Great service. The divers are so funny. Personalized menu came out great.
Plaza-lunch-great sandwich, AWESOME milkshakes. No reservation, just walked up.
Maya Grill-great food and service though overpriced if we weren't on the meal plan.

CS meals:
Pepper Market-always great
Wolfgang Puck Exp-fantastic
ABC Comissary-worst meal i've even eaten anywhere ever. Just gross.

Our last 2 credits were for adult TS, but we didnt' have any other ressies, so we went to Puck Exp, they gave us the kid's meal for free since we were using TS credits for CS. Pretty nice!

DD is 2 so anything i had to order extra for her, we had to pay for, but i found as soon as i told a cm i was ordering something for her, they almost always just gave it to me for free.

On the ddp, we got $800 worth of food and paid $604 for the plan. In addition, we spent about $150 oop-which we would've had to do with or without the plan. Excellent value. I wouldn't do Disney without it.

 

[tortoni]

Sounds like you had a good trip. It is hard planning around the ADRs, but we have found that a relaxing TS meal really helps us to relax for part of the day. Love WPE too, what did you order?

 

[septbaby]

Given that you spent $150 OOP would any of that have been covered on the Deluxe plan? Would the Deluxe plan "saved" you even more?

Coral Reef dessert trick: order off the kids menu

I loved and had fun with my make your own sundae and my 6yo nephew had the same, fun fun fun! I did the same at Narcoossee's, great banana split!

 

[Octoberbabiesrus]

I have to wonder if we were there on the same day as I had the turtle staring us down too!

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

I agree its a good value until kids hit the age of 10.

Maybe some kids that age eat off of adult menus, but my 9 yo won't. I doubt a year will change much so our latest trip will be our last on the dining plan.

Its a waste to pay almost $40.00 a day for my DS to eat chicken nuggets and hot dogs.

 

[septbaby]

I agree its a good value until kids hit the age of 10.

Maybe some kids that age eat off of adult menus, but my 9 yo won't. I doubt a year will change much so our latest trip will be our last on the dining plan.

Its a waste to pay almost $40.00 a day for my DS to eat chicken nuggets and hot dogs.

Well, you never know what changes a kid will make in a year, especially a growing boy. Keep in mind his CS meal is probably worth $10 as he'll likely eat a burger/pizza, drink and cookie and the snack credit is worth $3, so the TS meal is costing you $25. You'd pay that OOP for most buffet dinners on property. At an off the menu place, if he choose a kids meal you'd pay coniderably less.

Do the math for the family and then decide if the DP works for you. Don't stress about it for a yr, just be glad you took advantage of the final year of savings!

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

Well, you never know what changes a kid will make in a year, especially a growing boy. Keep in mind his CS meal is probably worth $10 as he'll likely eat a burger/pizza, drink and cookie and the snack credit is worth $3, so the TS meal is costing you $25. You'd pay that OOP for most buffet dinners on property. At an off the menu place, if he choose a kids meal you'd pay coniderably less.

Do the math for the family and then decide if the DP works for you. Don't stress about it for a yr, just be glad you took advantage of the final year of savings!

I understand what you're saying, but in reality when we are on the DDP, we eat way too much.

I understand adding everything up vs paying OOP. But if I was paying OOP I wouldn't eat dessert at every meal, or order large drinks . Alot of our meals went to waste this trip. I felt like all I did was eat.

I will miss all our favorite sit down meals, but I just feel like its way way too much food and way more then our family is used to eating at home.

 

[septbaby]

Well, keep in mind the new QS plan. The mugs and the freedom to select 1 or 2 TS meals OOP maybe value for your family.

 

[caroline1851]

I found that if i didn't want dessert, i just didn't get it. Or...if i preferred to get water instead of a drink, that's what i did and we still saved tons of money! The only time I overate was at the Maya Grill. The bread was so good I think i ate 4 pieces before my meal even came out AND had dessert.
We used CS credits for breakfast sometimes because at the pepper market, you could get an omelet, potatoes and a muffin along with 2 drinks. So I would get an oj to drink w/ my meal and get a bottle of applejuice to take to the park with me. Worked out pretty well.
My ideal dining plan though would be: $40 pp for adults and $12 for kids and it would be 1 CS, 1 TS and 2 snacks. I found there were so many snacks we wanted to get-that's where the majority of my oop expenses came from. (icecream, milkshakes, etc.)

I agree with some of the posters that $38/day for a 10 year old though is pretty expensive (for a lot of kids, it's kind of waste, imo)

 

[Colleen27]

I agree its a good value until kids hit the age of 10.

Maybe some kids that age eat off of adult menus, but my 9 yo won't. I doubt a year will change much so our latest trip will be our last on the dining plan.

Its a waste to pay almost $40.00 a day for my DS to eat chicken nuggets and hot dogs.

Yeah, a lot depends on the kid's taste when they're close to that adult mark. DS10 will make the plan an even better deal - he's a 5'2", 120lb football player with very adult tastes (his favorite foods are steak, sushi, and shrimp - I'm sure we'll get our money's worth with him!). His last two trips as a child, he shared the adult appetizers and my entrees, which is fine by me since I rarely finish restaurant portions, but I know he's looking forward to being able to order off the adult menu himself.

My older daughter, on the other hand, is a super light eater who likes the security of ordering a kids' meal even though she happily tries our adult entrees. We'll have to reexamine our dining plan choices when she turns 10, to see if it is a good enough value for the rest of the family to make up for the fact that she won't likely be using it to the fullest.

 

[Jersey Girl]

I have the basic plan booked for out upcoming trip the first week of December and I already know I'll be paying OOP for several things but with using my most expensive meals for the DDP then paying for the three breakfast buffets scheduled, a couple lunches for the kids as I know the children's menus won't go over too well with them, and buying the refillable mugs, two or three of them, what I'll be paying OOP doesn't come close to what I would be paying if I upgraded to the deluxe plan. We're not signature restaurant people, maybe when the kids are a little older, my youngest is eight and a picky eater, and the only two credit meal I have planned is the Hoop Dee Doo.

 

[septbaby]

Try to save some of those OOP meals to the back half of your trip. You may find plans change and you don't use your credits as planned.

We had booked the Play & Dine breakfast OOP, but ended up canceling. We were too full for another buffet meal so we ate a shared CS meal at the resort and spent the time at the pool, one of the best changes we made on the trip. We only paid OOP for one breakfast due to using 2TS at another meal.