No DDP vs DDP

[SweetPeasMom2]

We are a family of 4 (dh, me, ds 5, dd 3). We are looking to go either end of May or mid October. Does anyone here have a spreadsheet they used for a family similar to mine that they used to track their food spending? I'm trying to do a rough comparison of no DDP vs DDP. Thanks.

 

[Tam1067]

No spreadsheet, but if you plan to do even one character meal a day, the kids will end up a lot cheaper with the DDP.

For instance, dinner at Chef Mickey's is $14.99 for kids (more if you go during one of the Disney holiday pricing periods). Adults are $29.99.

If the DDP is $37.99 for adults, you only need to get $8.00 more worth of food to have it pay for itself. With the kids, you've already more than paid for the price of that day because kids are only $9.99 each per day--and they still get a CS meal and snack each. Remember, that the DDP also includes tax (though no tip) on the meals.

Generally, it's going to pay for itself if you use all the credits.

 

[SweetPeasMom2]

So the Character meals are classified under the TS?

 

[ZeroMyHero]

Most of them, but not all. I know Cinderella's Royal Table costs two TS credits per person instead of 1 TS per person.

 

[design_mom]

Over on AllEarsNet, they have menus for many of the restaurants, including prices. I used those menus to estimate our food budget. My kids are 7 and 3.

Here's what I found out. When I estimated what I thought we'd actually spend (no appetizers/desserts, some days without table service meals) it came out to within about $20 of what the DDP would cost.

With DDP you would be entitled to more food (TS every day, dessert at CS, etc.), so I think it's a good value. However, we decided not to get DDP. We didn't *need* the extra food and I didn't want to schedule our whole trip around ADRs. If your family are "foodies", I think it's a good deal, but it didn't suit our touring style.

p.s. In reality, we ended up spending even less on food than I anticipated. Sometimes DD and I shared a lunch -- and the whole pizza from the hotel food court is a bargain! Fed the whole family for $15! So I was happy with our decision.

 

[SweetPeasMom2]

Ok, one more question. The food courts at the resorts, are they included in the DDP?

 

[design_mom]

Ok, one more question. The food courts at the resorts, are they included in the DDP?

I'm not an expert since we didn't end up getting DDP, but I believe resort restaurants count. The food court would be "counter service." If your resort has a full-service restaurant, it would be considered table service.

However, I think there were some limitations on what you could get for your counterservice meal. That is, I don't think you could order a whole pizza and count it as your "entree"...but you could probably order a slice or two.

 

[Tam1067]

So the Character meals are classified under the TS?

Character meals are 1 TS except for the castle, which is 2. But all the others are 1.

 

[Tam1067]

Ok, one more question. The food courts at the resorts, are they included in the DDP?

Yes. Food courts at the moderates and values are CS credits, and the counter service places at the deluxes are also CS credits.

Here's another cool thing about resorts. If you purchase a mug, you can fill up the mug AND get a drink (like a bottle of juice or milk or water) as the drink with that CS, which you can save for later. Snacks are redeemable there, as well. We used lots of our snack credits on breakfast foods like muffins and pastries and such.

 

[Mom2JPL]

We went in Oct last year with 3 kids, 4, 2.5 and 1 and got the DDP. It was well worth it for all the character meals! We planned a character meal and day - it was a great way for the kids to see the characters without standing in the hot sun and it was a nice break in the day. I highly recommend it and am planning it when we return this year, either in September or November.

 

[agentpleakley]

Over on AllEarsNet, they have menus for many of the restaurants, including prices. I used those menus to estimate our food budget. My kids are 7 and 3.

Here's what I found out. When I estimated what I thought we'd actually spend (no appetizers/desserts, some days without table service meals) it came out to within about $20 of what the DDP would cost.

With DDP you would be entitled to more food (TS every day, dessert at CS, etc.), so I think it's a good value. However, we decided not to get DDP. We didn't *need* the extra food and I didn't want to schedule our whole trip around ADRs. If your family are "foodies", I think it's a good deal, but it didn't suit our touring style.

p.s. In reality, we ended up spending even less on food than I anticipated. Sometimes DD and I shared a lunch -- and the whole pizza from the hotel food court is a bargain! Fed the whole family for $15! So I was happy with our decision.

I did the same thing --- I planned 8 days -- 2 CS meals/ day, 1 snack at $4 per person per day and 3 TS meals. The price difference (without tip) between no-DDP and DDP was only about $180. That said, I know we will not eat 4 $4 snacks per person and I overestimated on food each person would order, and as design_mom has said -- I know DD and I will share some meals.

The biggest reason why we opted not to do DDP this year was TIME. It seemed that this past year - we were constantly going to and from ADRs. We are really just as happy eating CS --- and with DDP we missed all the junk food -- I was even too stuffed to enjoy a glass of wine in Epcot. That and we would look at people walking with funnel cake (us drooling) -- but we were entirely too full all the time to even want one. We'll see how it goes this year without DDP. I hope we made the right decision.

We have enjoyed getting to dine at many wonderful restaurants on the DDP. So, I'm really glad that we had the opportunity to do so. (I'll add this -- the past 2 years -- we had about 2 CS left and 24 snack credits left -at the end of our trip-- and My DH is a BIG eater).

 

[MoserFamily]

We also have never tried the DDP and made a spreadsheet (I'm glad to find I'm not the only one who went that far). In my estimates, there was about a $15 difference between what I figured we'd spend and what we'd get on the DDP. Like the PP, my estimates of what we'd order didn't include desserts at every meal (just a couple special desserts that I know I like), and not as many snacks, but what I thought would be typical of what we'd eat if we didn't even have the option.

When we saw the spreadsheet and the actual difference in price (or lack thereof) we figured that we didn't actually need the extra food. We've both kept a large amount of weight off for over a year, and while we won't be strictly watching our diet because it's a vacation, why tempt ourselves into eating more than we need just because it's "free"? There's something about free food that makes us eat it, no matter how it tastes! Plus, we didn't want to have to keep track to make sure that we were eating the right number of CS and TS, and we wanted the flexibility to go offsite occasionally, since we're renting a car.

We've also decided that we're going to keep a pretty good record of what we spend on food to test my estimates so we have a better idea for future trips. So if this question comes up again in mid-April, I'll be able to have provide better advice.

With all that said, if you eat all the food that's included in the DDP, it's a great deal!

 

[mdmbfly]

We love the DDP and will probably get it whether it is "Free" or not. For our family with several big eater growing boys, it saves us about $200 to have the Dining Plan. We used the snack credits to buy donuts (1 snack credit = 1 box of 9 donuts) and chips (1 snack credit = 1 Large family size bag of tortillia chips) or the occasional water bottle in the parks. We tended to split CS meals and then spread them out throughout the stay, esp for days when we used 2 TS for HDD or Fantasmic. Without the DDP, we would not have taken the opportunity or $ to have TS meals or dinner shows. we would most likely eat counter service meals OOP and wouldn't have enjoyed the dining experience nearly as much.

We are big fans of the DDP

 

[agentpleakley]

We used the snack credits to buy donuts (1 snack credit = 1 box of 9 donuts) and chips (1 snack credit = 1 Large family size bag of tortillia chips)

:

Sadly -- you cannot do this any longer. Snack credit is limited to single serving.

 

[eyeheartgoofy]

I didn't do a spreadsheet, but it was just too much food for our 3 and 5 year old. Neither one of them ever finished an entire kiddie meal at a counter service restaurant ... they could have easily shared. We never did use all of our snack credits. We aren't big snackers ... we usually just bring our own water into the parks. I think we each had one ice cream and one popcorn.

One night, we just didn't feel like going to dinner ... we were back at the resort and just wanted to relax. Yet, we felt like we *had* to use the table service credit, so we spent about 20 minutes trying to find a place that had an ADR available for lunch the following day. I just felt like too many of our plans were dependent on us eating at certain times, etc.

This trip, we are paying cash for meals. I have ADR's made for nearly every evening, but if we don't feel like going, we can just cancel them without worrying about *wasting* credits. We have a couple "special" meals that we won't cancel (3 character meals), but the rest are mood dependent. Less stress.

 

[irene_dsc]

I'm not an expert since we didn't end up getting DDP, but I believe resort restaurants count. The food court would be "counter service." If your resort has a full-service restaurant, it would be considered table service.

However, I think there were some limitations on what you could get for your counterservice meal. That is, I don't think you could order a whole pizza and count it as your "entree"...but you could probably order a slice or two.

At the CBR food court, a whole pizza counted as 2 CS credits (adult). You also got your drinks and desserts with that, btw.

I still haven't decided if DDP was the best decision for us, lol. I'm pretty sure we saved money, but haven't gone to the trouble of figuring it out exactly. Plus, there was sometimes a bit of confusion trying to figure stuff out, as far as what was included, etc. And on our last night, when ds didn't feel like going to another restaurant meal, I might've canceled our ADR if we hadn't been on the DDP, but didn't want to waste the TS credits.

Otoh, if we hadn't done the DDP, we might've ended up eating a lot more junk food.