theparsons
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 22, 2007
- Messages
- 833
I voted that I won't be getting the DDP plan now.
This will be our first trip to WDW....when we first started making our plans we poured over the guidebooks and the DIS...looking at photographs and reviews and comments and people's signatures, lol. We finally all agreed on POR....I called and made our room only reservations for Jan 14 to Feb 15...yep, a whole month (with a couple days away to visit other things, but we were just going to keep the room).
Then we started the research, would the DDP plan (before it was announced that major changes were coming) be financially beneficial to US. We again poured over guidebooks, websites, menus.....we pretended that we were at the restauraunts and the girls chose what they'd want to eat. THen we did the math several different ways (how we normally eat out, how we'd like to eat there, how we'd eat if we wanted to "milk" the plan). Obviously the milking the plan was the biggest savings, but I knew we'd not be able to do that, it would make me feel guilty to waste so much food....but I also knew that we'd likely want to try new things, sometimes get something we normally wouldn't even consider, etc. But...even the "how we normally eat" we came out basically breaking even. But it was still a great deal for us, because we'd have never tried some of those expensive restaurants because of the cost...but now that it was "already paid" it seemed good to branch out and live it up on vacation. So...if we decided spur of the moment to waste a few TS, well yeah, it'd cost us a little money, maybe, but I justified it with the "it's vacation" mentality.
Then I read a few posts about split reservations.....and decided that since there would be several days we'd be offsite doing other things that even though we had a few 2TS, we'd be wasting a few. So, now I learned we could split reservations....hey maybe that meant we could stay 2 weeks at POR, then 1 week without DDP at POFQ, then back to POR for our last days. THis would eliminate the expense of DDP when we wouldn't be using it, still mean that with a few 2TS we could eat at non-DDP's or off site occasionally. Ok, this made the break even point much better...we probably wouldn't waste many credits, we'd still have the chance to eat for a week or so off site....."it's a good thing" as Martha might say.
Then the rumors started....and while the appetizer loss wasn't a big deal because we wouldn't have used them all....there were a few I had really wanted to try so it was a bummer, but livable (though DIsney if you're reading, in the future consider an either/or scene with the desert/appetizer). Then it was pretty clear that the "No Gratuity included" was a done deal.....whoa, wait a minute, that just increased the cost by way more than just 18%.....because it wasn't 18% of my $40 a day per person cost it was now 18% of that sushi and filet mignon dinner at Cali.....yikes, that tip would be about as much as a day of the plan!
Time to start re-crunching some numbers. Ok, what if we did the split stay 2 weeks on DDP 2 weeks at another hotel off DDP. That brought the cost down, but still meant now we'd have to find more places off site to eat then originally planned. Going to all these different restaurants inside WDW was cutting into a lot of our park time (though we were certainly there long enough to see it all anyway)....but now we'd have to go off site as well, adding even more time away....and I just knew that once we left the park we'd probably not return that night without something like fireworks or a show to draw us back. This was starting to not be "a good thing".
Then I stumbled on a post about off site accomodations....whoa again.....I knew it would be cheaper, but not THAT much cheaper and not that we could rent a HOUSE for less.....wow, no cramped hotel room (even the deluxes are small compared to a house for heavens sake, and the mod we had booked was smaller than our living room at home!). But, hmmmm, staying off site we can't get the DDP at all...but heavens, we'd be saving over $2,000 JUST on accomodations. That could buy a LOT of food.
Then when I started talking to the kids about all the advantages of staying off site and not doing the DDP....well, one of my brilliant little ones said "Mom with all that money we're saving, could we put it back into the Disney account and go later in the year when the Christmas stuff is up". Such a smart kid.....hit me where my cheapness lives.....how to get even more use out of our AP...and another fun vacation, without spending any more money! We'd stay shorter the second time, combine it with the holidays with relatives, already had our APs, and we could do it all for almost what we would save.
Alright, I'll admit....I didn't cancel my Room Only yet.....I saved it until I was really sure that the rumors would be right. And now I know they are....so this week we'll find the "right" house, book it, then cancel the Room Only and most of the ADRs.
But...moving off site, dropping the DDP will save me over $5,000.....we can eat a LOT of food and still not spend 1/3 of that if we try. We'll have a full size kitchen, so we'll be able to do our smoothies (we would have in the hotel too, but now we don't have to worry about the neighbors reaction to 90 seconds of loud smoothie-ing)....and now we can have a good healthy hot breakfast as well (couldn't do that in the hotel room, would have had to use a CS). We'll still do lunch in the park, but later in the day now that we'll arrive with a full tummy.....so we can do a late dinner whereever we decide, or even back home. I don't mind cooking too much.....and we're planners by nature so when I know our plan is to come home, I'll crockpot something yummy (put it on a timer so if we fail our plan it won't overcook and we can just eat it the next night warmed up). We'll do a bunch of the character meals, but they're pretty cheap....we're keeping our BBB event and the surprise GF tea and late dinner in the castle while the girls are all dolled up.....but I'll be cancelling things like Le Cellier, because for $40 instead of just a small steak, there's that Texas de Brazil where we can try many different yummy beefs.....and we'll try some local cusine (once we find some)....and the kids wanted to do the Pirates/Medevial/Arbian dinner shows....now we'll likely do all 3 instead of just one because we don't have enough nights we can waste TS.
It's free-ing really. Yeah, I'll probably wonder if I missed out by not being "in" Disney all the time, but will comfort myself with the reminder that we never remembered to be unhappy about it at Disneyland all this time.....I may miss not being so close to our room a few times when I'm ready to crash and still have a 10 minute drive home....but I'll collapse onto my own bed in my own bedroom, knowing that I won't have to listen to my girls giggle themselves to sleep, or their snores, or them complain about my snoring, lol. When I wake up hours before them I won't have to tiptoe around and can actually do something more than just read with my little night light....I could get up and make me a cup of tea to watch the sunrise in my PJs....I could get online and chat with ya'll.....ok, you get the idea.
So...now we're staying offsite, eating on our own, and able to start planning a return trip in Nov/Dec. So....thanks Disney for changing the pricing to higher on certain days, adding several hundred dollars to our original room only price......and thanks for changing the DDP and making it not so attractive to us. It means we'll come visit you again, but this second trip you'll hardly get any of our money....we'll be living off site, we'll have already done most of the character meals and probably only do a Princess one this second time......we'll have favorites off site for dinner, and with the AP we won't even be buying any tickets. Sure we'll drop a little on lunches, but we tended to share meals in Disneyland, and I'll bet we'll do that again here...too excited to go ride and see to worry about eating beyond simple sustenance. We bring our own snacks, it's winter so we won't need to carry drinks and can get free ice water if we're thirsty.
So, thanks DIsney....you saved us money, but I'm sorry you'll be losing our money. I'm sure you'll make it up by raising your prices and taking away more benefits. But...there's other vacations to go to....we'll probably not afford to return for several years....if at all, as the girls are almost teens already.
If you actually read all this, thanks.....it was cathartic to "say" it all aloud. And helps me build my resolve that we're doing the right thing for US. The only thing anyone has said that's made me think we're missing out on something is the 'themeing".....but my goodness...I just went and tucked my girls into their beds....and guess what....we LIVE in themeing every day.
This will be our first trip to WDW....when we first started making our plans we poured over the guidebooks and the DIS...looking at photographs and reviews and comments and people's signatures, lol. We finally all agreed on POR....I called and made our room only reservations for Jan 14 to Feb 15...yep, a whole month (with a couple days away to visit other things, but we were just going to keep the room).
Then we started the research, would the DDP plan (before it was announced that major changes were coming) be financially beneficial to US. We again poured over guidebooks, websites, menus.....we pretended that we were at the restauraunts and the girls chose what they'd want to eat. THen we did the math several different ways (how we normally eat out, how we'd like to eat there, how we'd eat if we wanted to "milk" the plan). Obviously the milking the plan was the biggest savings, but I knew we'd not be able to do that, it would make me feel guilty to waste so much food....but I also knew that we'd likely want to try new things, sometimes get something we normally wouldn't even consider, etc. But...even the "how we normally eat" we came out basically breaking even. But it was still a great deal for us, because we'd have never tried some of those expensive restaurants because of the cost...but now that it was "already paid" it seemed good to branch out and live it up on vacation. So...if we decided spur of the moment to waste a few TS, well yeah, it'd cost us a little money, maybe, but I justified it with the "it's vacation" mentality.
Then I read a few posts about split reservations.....and decided that since there would be several days we'd be offsite doing other things that even though we had a few 2TS, we'd be wasting a few. So, now I learned we could split reservations....hey maybe that meant we could stay 2 weeks at POR, then 1 week without DDP at POFQ, then back to POR for our last days. THis would eliminate the expense of DDP when we wouldn't be using it, still mean that with a few 2TS we could eat at non-DDP's or off site occasionally. Ok, this made the break even point much better...we probably wouldn't waste many credits, we'd still have the chance to eat for a week or so off site....."it's a good thing" as Martha might say.
Then the rumors started....and while the appetizer loss wasn't a big deal because we wouldn't have used them all....there were a few I had really wanted to try so it was a bummer, but livable (though DIsney if you're reading, in the future consider an either/or scene with the desert/appetizer). Then it was pretty clear that the "No Gratuity included" was a done deal.....whoa, wait a minute, that just increased the cost by way more than just 18%.....because it wasn't 18% of my $40 a day per person cost it was now 18% of that sushi and filet mignon dinner at Cali.....yikes, that tip would be about as much as a day of the plan!
Time to start re-crunching some numbers. Ok, what if we did the split stay 2 weeks on DDP 2 weeks at another hotel off DDP. That brought the cost down, but still meant now we'd have to find more places off site to eat then originally planned. Going to all these different restaurants inside WDW was cutting into a lot of our park time (though we were certainly there long enough to see it all anyway)....but now we'd have to go off site as well, adding even more time away....and I just knew that once we left the park we'd probably not return that night without something like fireworks or a show to draw us back. This was starting to not be "a good thing".
Then I stumbled on a post about off site accomodations....whoa again.....I knew it would be cheaper, but not THAT much cheaper and not that we could rent a HOUSE for less.....wow, no cramped hotel room (even the deluxes are small compared to a house for heavens sake, and the mod we had booked was smaller than our living room at home!). But, hmmmm, staying off site we can't get the DDP at all...but heavens, we'd be saving over $2,000 JUST on accomodations. That could buy a LOT of food.
Then when I started talking to the kids about all the advantages of staying off site and not doing the DDP....well, one of my brilliant little ones said "Mom with all that money we're saving, could we put it back into the Disney account and go later in the year when the Christmas stuff is up". Such a smart kid.....hit me where my cheapness lives.....how to get even more use out of our AP...and another fun vacation, without spending any more money! We'd stay shorter the second time, combine it with the holidays with relatives, already had our APs, and we could do it all for almost what we would save.
Alright, I'll admit....I didn't cancel my Room Only yet.....I saved it until I was really sure that the rumors would be right. And now I know they are....so this week we'll find the "right" house, book it, then cancel the Room Only and most of the ADRs.
But...moving off site, dropping the DDP will save me over $5,000.....we can eat a LOT of food and still not spend 1/3 of that if we try. We'll have a full size kitchen, so we'll be able to do our smoothies (we would have in the hotel too, but now we don't have to worry about the neighbors reaction to 90 seconds of loud smoothie-ing)....and now we can have a good healthy hot breakfast as well (couldn't do that in the hotel room, would have had to use a CS). We'll still do lunch in the park, but later in the day now that we'll arrive with a full tummy.....so we can do a late dinner whereever we decide, or even back home. I don't mind cooking too much.....and we're planners by nature so when I know our plan is to come home, I'll crockpot something yummy (put it on a timer so if we fail our plan it won't overcook and we can just eat it the next night warmed up). We'll do a bunch of the character meals, but they're pretty cheap....we're keeping our BBB event and the surprise GF tea and late dinner in the castle while the girls are all dolled up.....but I'll be cancelling things like Le Cellier, because for $40 instead of just a small steak, there's that Texas de Brazil where we can try many different yummy beefs.....and we'll try some local cusine (once we find some)....and the kids wanted to do the Pirates/Medevial/Arbian dinner shows....now we'll likely do all 3 instead of just one because we don't have enough nights we can waste TS.
It's free-ing really. Yeah, I'll probably wonder if I missed out by not being "in" Disney all the time, but will comfort myself with the reminder that we never remembered to be unhappy about it at Disneyland all this time.....I may miss not being so close to our room a few times when I'm ready to crash and still have a 10 minute drive home....but I'll collapse onto my own bed in my own bedroom, knowing that I won't have to listen to my girls giggle themselves to sleep, or their snores, or them complain about my snoring, lol. When I wake up hours before them I won't have to tiptoe around and can actually do something more than just read with my little night light....I could get up and make me a cup of tea to watch the sunrise in my PJs....I could get online and chat with ya'll.....ok, you get the idea.
So...now we're staying offsite, eating on our own, and able to start planning a return trip in Nov/Dec. So....thanks Disney for changing the pricing to higher on certain days, adding several hundred dollars to our original room only price......and thanks for changing the DDP and making it not so attractive to us. It means we'll come visit you again, but this second trip you'll hardly get any of our money....we'll be living off site, we'll have already done most of the character meals and probably only do a Princess one this second time......we'll have favorites off site for dinner, and with the AP we won't even be buying any tickets. Sure we'll drop a little on lunches, but we tended to share meals in Disneyland, and I'll bet we'll do that again here...too excited to go ride and see to worry about eating beyond simple sustenance. We bring our own snacks, it's winter so we won't need to carry drinks and can get free ice water if we're thirsty.
So, thanks DIsney....you saved us money, but I'm sorry you'll be losing our money. I'm sure you'll make it up by raising your prices and taking away more benefits. But...there's other vacations to go to....we'll probably not afford to return for several years....if at all, as the girls are almost teens already.
If you actually read all this, thanks.....it was cathartic to "say" it all aloud. And helps me build my resolve that we're doing the right thing for US. The only thing anyone has said that's made me think we're missing out on something is the 'themeing".....but my goodness...I just went and tucked my girls into their beds....and guess what....we LIVE in themeing every day.
). Without the neat dining plan, we'd just be returning for the parks and the rides, and we don't even like rides! I think this may be our only Disney trip until and unless we have kids. 
Of course, the way things are going, by the time that happens, tickets will probably be over $100 a day...
They are "gouging' you??? Hmm... considering that pretty much just applying common sense tells most folks that the 2007 DDP was a "loss leader" means that they have been giving you food for the past few years. I bet you never thanked them for the free food did you?!
