Not enough food in DDP?

[shan136]

We did the DDP for the first time last year. My DH and i are not light eaters and we are not skinny, but the we found the portions to be HUGE. Even without an appetizer or dessert, meals at all the TS, buffets and CS were so filling we really only needed one full meal per day, and a snack.

That said, whenever we wanted an appetizer or salad we paid OOP. I still found it to be worth it because food at WDW is pricey. Just eating a regular breakfast and dinner, I can honestly see spending more than $50 per person per day.

I suggest going to allears.net and selecting some restaurants and pricing out what you are most likely to eat. That is probably the best way to see if if the DDP is a good deal for you.

 

[juliebean]

I don't know if it helps - but here is our planned dinner reservations for April. We are also a family, particularly the kids, that eats three meals and my hubby will order a salad whether or not it's on the plan. We are only staying on property for 4 days/3 nights - so I admit that it is both easier to justify the extra money spent and to use the credits up - if we weren't moving off property after we get our teenager back from the marching band I'd find it a harder choice. That said this is what our deluxe meal plan got us. I know we might not eat at all these places if we didn't have the plan, but I hated doing CS at a busy (and it was hot when we were there) time in April, so I'm thrilled to not have to fight and clean for a table for at least part of our vacation!

So here is what we got (2 adults, 5 yo daughter & 8 yo daughter - teenager w/band) - I don't think it will be too much -

Wed - arrive afternoon - snack & Boma @ 6:25
Th - Tony's @ 12:15
Crystal Palace @ 7:00
Fri - Akershus Princess Breakfast @8:20
LeCellier @ 12:30
Les Chef de France @ 7:00
Sat - Liberty Tree @ 12:30
Cinderella's Royal Table @ 7:00

We still will have breakfast out of pocket and some meals after we finish these days (we want to try the 50's place in HS after we get our son back), but I thought it seemed fine. I did a rough estimate and it added up to about $950 w/snacks, without tax and not including tips. It was $660 for us to purchase the deluxe plan. I don't think this is "maximizing" the plan as I've heard mentioned, we are spending a lot of time in MK and there just aren't a lot of choices for TS. But, my daughters are happy to be going to the princess meals (we didn't consider w/out the meal plan), so I think it will meet our needs. You also get refillable mugs which some people seem to love and add up to $50 for 4, but I don't know how much we'll use them, so I didn't include that in the cost calculations.

Anyway - maybe that will help you decide what to do...have a good trip!

 

[MSLRAC]

Thank you someone who admits to 3 meals a day. They way folks rag on it being Too much food was getting on my nerves.

I was truly worried about 3 meals a day until we did it and now, I can't imagine it any other way. I honestly think that it can and does work for many families provided that you schedule your meals properly. We never felt like it was too much food.

 

[WantToGoNow]

We have used the regular dining plan 4 times (3 times free and the first time we paid for it). I have always found it to be enough and at times more than enough. The first time the appetizers (and gratuities) were still included and we wasted a lot of food.

We usually take (or order) breakfast fixings with us (Pop Tarts, granola bars, Nutri Grain bars, bagels). Last trip, I used a few of our snack credits to get pastries for breakfast. Then we have 1 counter service and 1 table service per day. Last trip we had more than 20 left on our last day and bought a bunch of junk to bring home. My dh is not a light eater and he's never complained about not having enough to eat. To be honest, I can't imagine eating sit down meals at Disney 3x a day. That said, we rarely order appetizers ever and we do like the desserts.

I am concerned this trip that my kids (ds9 and dd7) may not be satisfied by the serving size of the kids meals so I will be planning to purchase additional meals or extra snacks to satisfy them. My dd26 took dd7 last month and she said that she usually lost half of her meals after dd7 inhaled hers and still needed more to eat. I was looking at her receipts and it said she had 2 milkshakes at SciFi - I questioned that to find out that dd7 took the first milkshake so she ordered another one as a dessert.

 

[nkereina]

I initially booked the regular DP but after planning my days, I upgraded to deluxe DP because I was worried it wasn't enough food. We plan on having long days, getting up early and staying out late, which means we will be eating 3 good meals a day. If we didn't upgrade, we'd be paying a lot OOP and it wouldn't have been a good savings anymore. I don't know if the DxDP is a savings for us or not but I don't care. I love not having to worry about it once my final payment is made. I don't have to take my wallet out for anything except souvenirs (and tips!) and that's great! Deluxe is good also so we can try some signature restaurants, and not have to worry about using 2 TS credits.

 

[Rantybaby]

I initially booked the regular DP but after planning my days, I upgraded to deluxe DP because I was worried it wasn't enough food. We plan on having long days, getting up early and staying out late, which means we will be eating 3 good meals a day. If we didn't upgrade, we'd be paying a lot OOP and it wouldn't have been a good savings anymore. I don't know if the DxDP is a savings for us or not but I don't care. I love not having to worry about it once my final payment is made. I don't have to take my wallet out for anything except souvenirs (and tips!) and that's great! Deluxe is good also so we can try some signature restaurants, and not have to worry about using 2 TS credits.

I LIKE YOU!!

 

[DCDisney]

I think the too much food comes from the food being richer and eating 2 desserts a day plus usually the snack credits go towards sweets. It's not the main meal food being too much at all. We had issues when my son was a DDP child but was the size of a teen and needed more food. We didn't end up spending nearly as much OOP as I expected though. For your DH though it sounds like it really doesn't work if he doesn't want any desserts and needs to buy a salad and side OOP at each TS meal. We often do buy sides OOP because the meals rarely have veggies. He will need to order carefully because some items are not filling at all like the seafood servings are pretty small. Even steaks like at Le C were smaller than chains like Outback and had a lot of waste parts on them we couldn't eat. I'd say go OOP or deluxe where apps are included.

 

[SnipsNSnails]

When we did the basic plan 2 years ago, we had more than enough food, even with feeding our DS off our plates. When we go back in Sept. we will definately do the basic plan again. This time, I'm certain two adults could split one CS meal for breakfast and another for lunch or dinner with our TS credits for the other meal and have more than enough to eat! The snacks can easily be used for breakfast if you want to as well, with the cinnamon rolls and other pastries. I know that we could certainly spend less money on food than the cost of the plan because we are often cheap so we would split meals and probably usually eat at CS ordering the least expensive thing and eating very few TS meals, that's why I like the DDP so much. We pay for it ahead and then we can eat at places we might not have otherwise tried and order the most expensive item on the menu if we want to. To me, it makes the vacation so much more enjoyable. I'd like to have dessert some times but would never order it without being on the DDP.

 

[princesspeach]

I think the ddp is enough food. Its just the wrong kind of food. Too many fast food meals and desserts. We like the deluxe dining plan. We can eat 2 table service meals a day. One being a signature. We eat healthier eating in restaurants. We can also skip dessert and still come out way ahead money wise. It cost a lot more than the ddp, but in my opinion its a much better value for what you get.