Please Help me decide!!!

[minimanam]

Hi Everyone,

This is all new to me and I am getting a bit confused

We have booked with Virgin to fly to Disney for 14 nights next April 2011 - We are staying in the Port Orleans.

My first question is should we add a Dining Package??? Any comments welcome.

Is there any tips you can give me for our trip - There is my wife and myself and one teenage daughter, one 9 year old and one 5 year.

Thanks

 

[wayneg]

Welcome to DISboards.

Will you be eating every meal onsite?

I can only go on what we did with free DDP last August, we used every single credit, totalled up over the 16 nights for 3 adults it worked out we would have spent $2,400 but that is myself and DS eating most expensive items on menu almost every meal. It broke down to an average of $150/day or $50pppd. $50=£32.50
To get anything like value from the DDP you need to eat every single meal onsite with Virgins price, regular DDP is £33pppd, and use every credit.
If you eat cheaper items or don't use any credits you are out of pocket.
Personally I would not pay £33pppd for it. It was great value free but not at that kind of price.
Only way it is worth doing is if you think the £ is going to get drastically worse against the $ or food prices in WDW are going to rise a lot by next April, then you might be better pre-paying with DDP.
Our $2,400 value also included lots of desserts at lunch and extra drinks and snacks we would not usually have paying ourselves, so paying without DDP would have probably been nearer $2,000

 

[janeyb]

Hi there, We've had the free DDP twice and paid once for it (2 adults 2 children 3 & 5yrs now). It was great for free, who wouldn't take it, but we have said that we wouldn't pay for it again.

The problem that we found was that with having to book your reservations so far in advance you are committing to being in certain parks at certain times. It becomes very restricying and you can't 'go with the flow'. Sometimes if it was early morning park hours say in the Magic Kingdom and the girls were up really early we would want to take advantage of that but we'd find that we had a midday reservation at Coral Reef in Epcot! We endede up cancelling so many the day before because our holiday was being so dictated by lunch reservations. With young children we found that they were so exhausted by the end of the day it was pointless booking dinner reservations. In the future when the children are older I would definitely consider it again as we could book more reservations in the parks or different resorts for the evening when they could stay awake longer and enjoy it.

We also stayed at POFQ & PORS and ended up back in the resort on most evenings (due to tired little people) and enjoyed walking between the resorts and mostly ended up with my husband and I using up our dining credits in Boatwrights in the evening at Riverside, whilst the children slept in pushchairs next to us.

The childrens menu is also VERY limited on the dining plan and they soon got very bored of it.

The one great thing about it was being able to use 2 credits to book the Royal Table which otherwise is VERY expensive for a family and to use for character breakfasts.

If you're willing to drive offsite then there are some much cheaper options in lake Buena Vista which only take 10 minutes max and give you a great deal more freedom and a more relaxed holiday. If you are planning on eating in parks and reorts it would work out cheaper to purchase DDP.

Obviously this is only my opinion but some of this info may help you a little.

By the way I've just noticed where you're from, I grew up in Hempsted!!!

Have a great holiday whatever you decide.

 

[janeyb]

Sorry, I forgot to say, as Wayne has said, you really need to eat the more expensive items on the menu to make it worthwhile. Don't forget that you will be expected to tip on the total amount of your bill and over 2 weeks, with tips expected to be at least 15%. This can really add up with total restaurant bills often being in excess of $100 for 3 adults/2 children onsite. Offsite, with vouchers and kids eat free etc, the total bill is so much less and therefore so is the tip you're expected to leave.

 

[minimanam]

Many thanks folks - certainly something to think about

 

[minimanam]

WOW What a small world I grew up in Hempsted too!! No. 38 Court Gardens!!!!

 

[janeyb]

OMIGOD, amazingly small world...I grew up 9 doors away from you at No.29!!!
Jane.