We have 3 children under age 10. I didn't think the DDP would be good for us. We plan to spend one day at MK and one day at MGM, a day at the hotel and then travel to a beach to see the ocean the last day. Our plan was to eat breakfast at our hotel each day. Do you think the dining plan would be cheaper, based on this new info.?
We ruled out Character meals, because I thought they were very expensive, extra fee beyond the food price. I also thought that we wouldn't be able to get reservations because of short notice.
Can you dine at Cinderella's Royal table in a non character meal? or is the whole restaurant just character meals?
So you have 6 people: 3 "adults" (10 or over) at $40 per person per day and 3 between 3 and 9 at ($10 per day?) That's $150 per day to feed your family. (Or deduct $10 for any children under 3-- they're not included in the plan and can pick of the other plates.)
ON the DDP, the character meals count as regular meals with the single exception of Cinderella's Royal Table-- that counts as 2.
You could most probably eat for less, but not if you were planning to eat much more than counter service. Take a look at the menus at
www.allears.net ; I think they include some of the counter service prices.
What I did was to plan out a typical couple of days-- hitting CS l& TS ocations and choosing meals my kids were likely to order. Then I did the math.
For my family, I found that I would at least break even, possibly save some money. Not tons, but some. But being on the DDP would allow us to choose menu items that we might typically shy away from because they were expensive.
Even it it's only to break even, I love the idea of the DDP. I love that the cost of dining will be part of the trip; we only have to budget for tips. The whole convenience part has a huge appeal for me.
As to the availiabilty of character reservations, why not give them a try? You could book your tentative reservations. If you get the ones you want, then decide on whether or not to add the DDP to your package. It costs nothing to reserve most of the meals (with a few isolated exceptions like Cinderella's Royal Table, the Fantasmic Dinner Package...)
Even on a non-park day, you could always use the DDP at the resort restaurants for example Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary or the Cinderella Dinner at 1900 Park Fare-- or the restaurants at Disney Downtown.They don't require the use of a park admission. As long as you're staying on site you have use of the Disney transporation system.
HIt allears, take a look at the numbers, and hit the calculator.
But book at least one character meal either way!
