Please help me decide - DDP or DxDP

[TPCShauna]

We are going Dec. 7-14. It is just me and DH staying at WL with a rental car.

We do a lot of table service meals because DH refuses to take breaks so our long TS meals are mini-breaks. We are currently booked for DDP.

I've been looking and I think the DxDP might be a bit better for us since we will be spending a lot OOP for the extra TS meals. We also do more than 2 snacks a day so the 4 snacks would work for us. My concern is that gratuity is still not included so we'd still be OOP for that. Also, not ALL of our meals are TS and we're only doing one Signature so I'm second guessing the cost of paying all that extra when we won't use them. I've been budgeting for the extra cost including gratuity and we're looking at about $60 additional for some of our meals. Some of that would be recovered if we did the DxDP but we'd still have grat. See my dilemma?

So, what would you do if you were in this situation?

 

[gabriellyn]

If I were you I would do the DxDDP, as long as it wouldn't hurt financially. It's a vacation after all, so if you can afford to go all the way, then go for it! We are considering the same thing.

 

[raistlin]

I would also do the delux dining if I were you. It is expensive, but everything is covered (except tips). Especially if you enjoy TS I really believe it is best. We are going in september on the delux dining plan and this permitted us to select signature dining (Jiko, Narcoossee's, California Grill). We won't be taking out any money, except for drinks and tips.

 

[Tam1067]

Usually, if you eat a minimum of 2 TS a day, you'll come out ahead with the deluxe assuming you would order an appetizer with each TS meal. The dilemma comes in if you don't want the appetizer or wouldn't order it otherwise because then, the deluxe isn't so much of a savings, or if you end up cancelling or missing a few TS meals and replacing them with CS meals.

I finally figured out NOT do to the deluxe when I figured out my cost with the regular DDP and then OOP for extra TS meals not covered by it. I went to allearsnet, checked the prices on the meals we'd pay OOP for, and then compared those OOP costs to the deluxe. For us, it ended up cheaper to pay as we go. We don't eat appetizers usually, and we certainly are not going to get our deluxe money's worth if we go to Kona for breakfast once or twice (as the TS breakfasts are not that expensive generally).

On the deluxe, you're paying about $21 for each meal credit, so anytime you are under that per meal credit, you're losing money, but whenever you're over that amount, you're getting your money's worth. This assumes you are using both snacks each day too though.

 

[TPCShauna]

Thanks for the input everyone.

I ran my numbers a little more closely and this is what I came up with for our current plans. This include the exact menu items we plan to purchase.

$343.52 - Cost OOP without DxDP; includes 2 additional snacks per day; does NOT include alcohol or tips

$448.00 - Cost to upgrade to DxDP

$136.27 - 20% tip for all currently planned meals


If we upgrade, we'll add at least one Signature meal and probably some in-room dining for breakfast.

Now that you have this info, what would you do?

 

[fey_spirit]

Still need two pieces of information

What does your OOP contain so far as meals?
What would you like your meal plan to look like? If you were Bill Gates and could eat anywhere you wanted - what would it look like?

Thanks for the input everyone.

I ran my numbers a little more closely and this is what I came up with for our current plans. This include the exact menu items we plan to purchase.

$343.52 - Cost OOP without DxDP; includes 2 additional snacks per day; does NOT include alcohol or tips

$448.00 - Cost to upgrade to DxDP

$136.27 - 20% tip for all currently planned meals


If we upgrade, we'll add at least one Signature meal and probably some in-room dining for breakfast.

Now that you have this info, what would you do?

 

[TPCShauna]

I guess I forgot to come back and update.

DH and I decided to upgrade. With PI closing down, we have no need for our & More option on our tickets so we dropped that and added DxDP. The cost difference is only $200 more than we were paying and we were running close to $400 OOP on the regular plan.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Jubilee]

I'm excited for you because I've also upgraded to the DxDp and I like pulling people to the dark side

 

[TPCShauna]

It just made so much sense for us! I don't eat fast food at all (except for Chick-fil-a) and I don't really like any of the CS places in the World except for a few WS locations. When I sat down with our TS plans, we were doing 10 TS meals in 8 days so would have had to pay almost $400 OOP.

By upgrading to DxDP, we were able to book several more signature meals AND try some regular TS places that we typically wouldn't. And the cost wasn't bad to upgrade. It also works really well with our touring style since DH doesn't like to take out of park breaks and we really use our TS times as mini-breaks.

Here's our list of ressies. As you can see, we are trying lots of places for the first time:
Boma - first time
50's Prime Time - first time
The Wave - first time
California Grill - first time
Coral Reef
San Angel Inn - first time
1900 Park Fare
Jiko
Yak & Yeti - first time
Brown Derby - first time
Le Cellier
Les Chefs de France - first time
Whispering Canyon Cafe - first time
Ohana

We have 2 planned CS meals to fit our touring which leaves us with 4 unplanned credits to use as needed. We'll probably pick up some sandwiches to keep in our room fridge for our Jellyrolls night and then use the other 2 as filler on the days we have big gaps between ressies.

So, where are your ressies?

 

[Jubilee]

Here's our list of ressies. As you can see, we are trying lots of places for the first time:
Boma - first time
50's Prime Time - first time
The Wave - first time
California Grill - first time
Coral Reef
San Angel Inn - first time
1900 Park Fare
Jiko
Yak & Yeti - first time
Brown Derby - first time
Le Cellier
Les Chefs de France - first time
Whispering Canyon Cafe - first time
Ohana

I'm with you on fast food, although I can eat it at WDW, I would rather not. DH just loves WDW, but he has only ever gone with the dining plan...so if that's what makes him love it, then it works for us. I have been going to Disney for years, but until recently, I didn't even know about the possibilities of dining at WDW and my family wasn't able to afford it when we were younger...a lot of places will be new to us too!

Spirit of Aloha first time
Cinderella Royal Table breakfast first time
Hoop Dee-Doo Revue first time
Garden Grill first time
Yachtsmen's Steakhouse first time
Yak & Yeti first time
1900 Park Fare dinner first time (thinking of switching to Boma)
Chefs De France first time
Tokyo Dining first time
Play N Dine breakfast first time
Brown Derby Dinner first time
1900 Park Fare breakfast first time
Chef Mickey's Dinner first time
'Ohana breakfast first time (been for dinner)

We had a lot of fun at 50s PTC last time. We really played with our server...had a young lady who was our cousin. I kept tattling on people so she would do fun stuff but I ended up getting in trouble for tattling. A teen at the next table over spilled his drink on himself and my brothers thought they were going to embarrass him so bad but they got him cleaned up and gave him an outfit of Disney clothes instead...it was awesome!