YesterDark
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2017
In my opinion, the Disney Dining Plan is simply not a discount on food. It is a convenient prepaid meal plan that if you don't maximize your use of the meal plan, you lose money. Disney understands this and offers this plan because they benefit from the plan. Furthermore, Disney is smart to offer a "free" dining plan in the place of other discounts (i.e. tickets, rooms, etc), because Disney understands that many guests will not fully utilize the DDP, which means Disney cost for the "free" meals are reduced as compared to a definite discounts. Also, Disney understands that some less crowded restaurants will now be utilized more, because guests need to use their DDP credits but cannot get into the more popular restaurants.
In my opinion, several posters have indicated that the DDP provides flexibility and piece of mind when ordering food. In my opinion, DDP provides less flexibility, because you have to make reservations, eat more and eat expensive food to maximize your utilization of the plan. Also, DDP credits includes an entree, desert, and beverage. Often times, when I go to a restaurant, we will just order appetizers and drinks (more than one beer). I very rarely eat dessert. I often drink water with my meal. The meal plan then forces me to order based on what is included with the DDP credit, unless I am willing to pay extra for appetizers and drinks or skip a prepaid dessert.
In my opinion, the only benefit that make sense for DDP is prepaid convenience.
I've posted before and I will again. It makes more sense to get Tables of Wonderland, because it is a real food discount on any menu item, no matter how much or how little food you eat.
I've commented on most of your points up thread already, but I do want to point out that your points of the "DDP provides less flexibility, because you have to make reservations" is a challenge most planners like me enjoy the most.