Not Sure About the DDP Now

[WantToGoNow]

We are in the beginning stages of planning for our next trip - which will either be October 2013 or February 2014.

If we go in October, dd8 will still be considered a child at age 9. If we go in February (which would happen to be my dd28's 30th birthday) dd8 will then be an adult as her 10th birthday would be in December and although she's a good eater, she would most likely not even come close to break even on the DDP. It seems when we go to Disney, she loses her appetite. Usually either I or dd28 shares CS meals with her and she hardly makes a dent in the child TS meals.

The real problem comes with ds11. He is not only a basic food eater (burgers, pizza, hot dogs, etc) but since he went on meds for ADHD last November he eats practically nothing (has lost 37 lbs). Last trip he loved the adult CS meals but ordered kids meals at all the TS restaurants. I really didn't care since our dining plan was free. However if we are paying for the plan, I could see us losing a lot of money.

I would be willing to just pay as we eat - order what we want, don't order what we don't but I love the convenience of having everything prepaid and I know if it's not I will have a tendency to order cheaper instead of what I really want. We have had the DDP for so many trips that dd28 is reluctant to try without and she doesn't want the QSDP because all she'll eat are burgers and chicken tenders the entire time.

Dh who would fully utilize the DDP won't be with us again (not a Disney fan).

I'm thinking my family has hit that point where the DDP doesn't work for us anymore. Has anyone else found this with kids who just became Disney adults?

 

[PictureJumpr]

We take an 8-yr-old who manages to not eat chicken tenders/nuggets or pizza more than once in a trip, but that does take some time and effort to plan on places where other choices are available for QS/CS as kid's options. And there have definitely been some times where we change up at the last minute and toss the plans, but since I've taken him to WDW multiple times over the years, he already knows as well as I do what we can get to eat, where. Try keeping a straight face while standing on the border between Canada and UK and having an 8-yr-old say "no, we're going to Sunshine because I want chicken and vegetables!"

If you're really just thinking about the prepaid/convenience thing, have you considered Disney gift cards, pre-purchased and loaded with what you expect to spend on food OOP (or, what you would have spent on the Plan)? That way you could eat TS or QS, depending on location and appetite, and nobody would be stuck ordering one way or the other just based on age.

 

[OThopeful35]

I feel your pain OP! I am having the same issue. DS9 will be 10 when we go aug 2013. On our first visit (no ddp) DS would not barely eat anything and lost weight. Poor thing, his pants was falling off of him when we arrived at the airport We have never been able to go during FD so we paid for the plan last year and it worked out much better because we did lots of character and buffet dining. For our upcoming trip, I went over the menus with DS and he wasn't interested in a lot of the adult choices. So looks like I'm going to have to do more buffetsHe is just not that adventurous when it comes to eating but I am working on him. But we are not going to do the ddp, we would lose way to much money because at TS he likes kids meals.

 

[25eels]

This is our third trip in 3 years and our first without DDP. My 8yo is also on ADHD meds, which factored into our decision not to be on the plan. I can count on her eating a decent breakfast if it's early enough, then she isn't hungry again until just before bedtime. We really liked not being tied down to ADRs and worrying about getting the most out of the plan. Having had our fill of Disney Dining it really didn't bother any of us not going to the popular restaurants. Even my 13yo DS never went hungry. We went to 2 TS early in our trip and ended up canceling about 5 others!