Hownareyou able to use a friends pin code. My son could not use mine since I was not goingThis year will be our first trip with the plan. A friend gave us a pin code for free dining and since we are going are going for Christmas when the parks will be busy.
Normally, the dining plan just involves too much time in restaurants-away from attractions and things to do and too much food. We normally just snack most meals, then eat at a nice restaurant every other day.
Hownareyou able to use a friends pin code. My son could not use mine since I was not going
Happy you've found what will work for you.
One tip: Somewhere in all of this, someone said they had a hard time keeping track of how much money was left on which gift card. The easy way to take care of that is to charge everything back to your room and then use the gift cards when you check out to pay for what's on your tab.
No, in no way. Disney wants you to think you save (you don't), they want you to think it's so easy to not worry about expenses (there's really no difference), and they want you to spend a couple of hundred dollars per day, every single day, for a family to eat. Wow.
Probably the best thing to do is not set up a spreadsheet, pore over menus, and all the other things people try to do to justify the plan. Instead, take the hundreds or even over a thousand dollars the meal plan would cost you, and put it in your pocket, and add say 15% or so for the tips since they are no longer in the DDP. Eat what you want, when you want. Don't scrimp, don't stress, don't skip a dessert, get snacks when you want, buy drinks as you go (the overpriced mugs tend to make you drink more than you normally would because it's "free").
At the end of the vacation look at all the money left over!
DDP was a brilliant marketing plan by Disney; it has increased their profits hugely, but the unfortunate downside is crowded restaurants, lower quality food offerings, and unreasonably high prices on buffets and character meals. But, that's done, and we have to live with what they offer now.
We eat royally at Disney, and love it, and never have come close to what we would have spent on the DDP. And we don't stress one iota.
Sorry, but there are ways to save on the dining plan and come out ahead. Do you have to work hard to come out ahead? Yes. But the bottom line is that you can save money on the dining plan. I've done the math multiple times for our upcoming trip, and we do come out ahead for this particular trip. It all depends on where you're eating and the makeup of your party. So to say that across the board, the ddp is a waste of money, is just not a correct statement.
Sorry, but there are ways to save on the dining plan and come out ahead. Do you have to work hard to come out ahead? Yes. But the bottom line is that you can save money on the dining plan. I've done the math multiple times for our upcoming trip, and we do come out ahead for this particular trip. It all depends on where you're eating and the makeup of your party. So to say that across the board, the ddp is a waste of money, is just not a correct statement.
Totally true. We've always had discounted dining (we upgrade to DXDP). The savings are high. It's really a no brainer. I'd be eating at the same restaurants and going OOP. No one in my group feels like they need to lick their plates clean.