Reasons for NOT wanting the DDP, are they valid?

[HeidiLowe]

Hi!

I'm obsessing over this again, and I think I just need some reassurance that I'm doing the right thing. Who better to ask than all of you, right?? LOL!!

My big issue is that I know the DlxDDP would save us money since we have a few signature places and character meals planned. Plus we will have our two kids with us, 3 & 5. Traveling end of Jan, staying at AKL.

Here are my big reasons for not wanting the DDP:

-Don't want to book a package, want to pay as we go.

-If I want three apps instead of an entree at a signature place, I want that freedom.

-Our kids like new foods and I would rather them share an adult entree than have stuff off of the kids menus.

-Don't want the restrictions of having to book places, (except dinners and popular restaurants of course) we would like to be more "go with the flow" types on this vacation.

However, the angel on my shoulder is telling me we HAVE to get the DlxDDP to save money, but the little devil is saying NO NO NO! (I've been watching too much Tom & Jerry with my kids, lol.)

I'm stressing WAY too much about something so trivial, please help me!

Thanks so much! Heidi.

 

[makelab]

if those are the reasons you do not want to get it, i think they far outweigh what looks like the only reason for getting it (to save money).
also, there really aren't any restrictions when you book an ADR, unless it requires a credit card guarantee. if you feel eating at that place, go. if you do not, you don't need to show, but you may want to call disney dining a few hours ahead of time to cancel, in case someone is looking for a last minute place to eat.

 

[HeidiLowe]

I think that the resaons not to do it outweight the $$$ part too, but I would love to save money if possible, KWIM? After re-reading my post though and having it all spelled out like that, I think we will just load a Visa gift card and call it good. Thanks!!

 

[Vijoge]

LOL I had made up my mind not to get the DDP and now I'm having second thoughts. DH seems to be leaning towards getting it and he may be right. We'll be there with our DGD,3, for 5 nights/six days. We already have 5 ADR's (four character buffets and Jiko) and we only need to spend about $150-$170 more on meals/snacks for the entire stay to break even on the plan. Oh, decisions. . .

 

[Singinglizzie]

I know this suggestion will take some planning on your part, but why not look at a couple of the dinners you plan on and actually price it out? Choose items you think you will order then tally them up. You will get a better sense of what will work best. Some folks report saving $$$ on the DDP, others not so much based on their eating habits. If you want complete freedom and can afford to pay OOP, then go that way. I think the DDP can save you up to 30 percent, but it might not be for you if your kids want adult meals? Spend a little time and do the analysis, then you will be happy with your decison.

 

[HeidiLowe]

Vijoge - We're in opposite boats, LOL!!

I feel so silly thinking about this as much as I do, but right now it's such a big deal to me. Saving money -vs- having freedom to be where ever we want to be and eat whatever wa want to. In our case the latter is winning right now, but who knows about tomorrow! LOL! Have a great trip!

 

[HeidiLowe]

Singinglizzie - You're right, I priced everything out when I was first going to get us the Deluxe plan and it saved us a TON of $$, like a few hundred dollars, but I haven't priced it out with what we would really eat, like if we didn't do the 1 app, 1 entree, 1 dessert for ever table service meal.

I'm so excited, looking at the menus is my favorite thing to do! Now I have a project tonight when the boys are in bed!!

 

[Sandisw]

Figure out what the plan will cost you and put that money on gift cards. Then use those to pay for the meals, snacks, etc. as though you are on the dining plan.

It might feel like you are on one, but then can go with whatever you want when ordering so if you want an appetizer for your meal instead of an entree, you can do that.

Since the tips are extra, even on the dining plan, I would add additional money to cover these.

I really think that it will work out for you. Worst case, you spend a bit more, but you end up eating the way you want and not the way the dining plan forces you to.

We just came back and did both the DDP and the QSDP. We realized that we really have too much food and so we are going the gift card route next summer.

 

[Vijoge]

Vijoge - We're in opposite boats, LOL!!

I feel so silly thinking about this as much as I do, but right now it's such a big deal to me. Saving money -vs- having freedom

I'm not even worrying so much about saving money as much as I am worrying about not wasting money! LOL I know how much our ADR's are going to cost us, since four of the five are character buffets (for the BABY, you know LOL) and we've eaten at Jiko before so we know exactly what we're going to order there. . .the hard part is trying to estimate what we'll be wanting to eat outside of these five meals. . .

 

[sharonabe]

I like the idea of loading the gift card with the amount you would pay for the dining plan. Even if you end up spending more, it would be good research for your next trip.

I also advise the checking menus to see what you might actually eat. We are not big dessert eaters and usually drink water with our meals. By checking the menus, our family of four can do two buffets and all our QS for about $300 less than what the QSDP would cost us. When we did do the QSDP, we still had snack credits on our last day, so I'm pretty sure we can get the snacks we do want for less than $300.

I say, stick with your gut and go with the flow!

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

Hi!

I'm obsessing over this again, and I think I just need some reassurance that I'm doing the right thing. Who better to ask than all of you, right?? LOL!!

My big issue is that I know the DlxDDP would save us money since we have a few signature places and character meals planned. Plus we will have our two kids with us, 3 & 5. Traveling end of Jan, staying at AKL.

Here are my big reasons for not wanting the DDP:

-Don't want to book a package, want to pay as we go.

-If I want three apps instead of an entree at a signature place, I want that freedom.

-Our kids like new foods and I would rather them share an adult entree than have stuff off of the kids menus.

-Don't want the restrictions of having to book places, (except dinners and popular restaurants of course) we would like to be more "go with the flow" types on this vacation.

However, the angel on my shoulder is telling me we HAVE to get the DlxDDP to save money, but the little devil is saying NO NO NO! (I've been watching too much Tom & Jerry with my kids, lol.)

I'm stressing WAY too much about something so trivial, please help me!

Thanks so much! Heidi.

I am totally with you on this, and am doing the exact same thing right now. I am sticking with the DxDDP because I am going to give it a try (first because I have two signatures and many TS meals booked because I had planned on having the DxDDP, and DH says try it once, why not?). Good luck with your decision, the DISboards helped me decide once again!

 

[LilyWDW]

Hi!
-If I want three apps instead of an entree at a signature place, I want that freedom. This is why I don't do the dining plan. I normally don't eat the way the plan would dictate.

-Our kids like new foods and I would rather them share an adult entree than have stuff off of the kids menus. Another fine reason. Kids on the dining plan must order from the kids menu. These menus can be quite limiting if you have kids who love different types of food.

-Don't want the restrictions of having to book places, (except dinners and popular restaurants of course) we would like to be more "go with the flow" types on this vacation. This is not a good reason. If you want to eat table service, especially at specific places or times, you need to make reservations. They hold no tables back for walk ups and they can/have turned people away who have not had reservations at many locations. If there is anything you must have... then book ahead of time (180 days).
.

My answers in red =)

 

[PinkPunch]

I was just going to make a post on my thoughts after a week on the DDP, but I will respond here.

We were there 7/25/- 7/31 (plus 2 extra days at another hotel so our park hopper was 8 days)

2 adults 1 three year old girl
We traveled with another group with 2 adults 4 children.

We had the Cinderella Breakfast, Spirit of Aloha and Jiko planned. Plus 3 other character meals for the little ones.

I tracked our spending meticulously. I found out our original total and had our tips listed on the receipts. I also tracked all of our snacks.

In the end we came out $100 ahead. And that included all the tips out of pocket and our food on the 8th day that we had to pay out of pocket since our dining plan was over and we were staying off site.

For us, our 3 year old needed those breaks inside the air conditioning because it was so blazing hot. She is also very well behaved in restaurants. She loves to go to them because we don't really do that at home.

That is another reason we picked the deluxe. I wanted the good expensive food. There was no way possible for us to do the insane touring and going from ride to ride so I knew in advance we would do more sit down meals.

Even with the busy time of year, we had no trouble walking into quite a few places including the Brown Derby (on a side note - don't waste your credits on this place. The cobb salad was great, but the other stuff wasn't. Steaks at the Wave were much better) We were also able to walk right into the 1900 park fare on our last morning and the food there was awesome.

I also shared with my DD several times because I didn't want her having fried chicken tenders every day and because she is willing to eat more exotic stuff than most 3 year olds. This gave us the extra credits we needed for the doubles like the Cinderella breakfast. We also had 3 breakfasts in our room with stuff we brought so that we could use our dining stuff on dinners.

It was important to me to be able to eat at several places in Epcot for dinner and we were able to walk into all of those too. But I suspect it’s because our entire group eats much later than most people.

Now we have been home 2 weeks and talked about it in detail. Would we do the deluxe again? No. We skipped desserts a bunch of times. And it's really too much food for anyone. We didn't have trouble eating due to the heat because we are from Texas and are used to that. I WISH I had less of an appetite in the heat, I would get slim every summer Also my husband had been working out with a trainer 3 days a week before we went and his eating habits have changed so much that even for him it was just too much food.

Do I regret it? No. This was a trip we had planned for and saved for and nothing was put on credit. We had a wonderful time everywhere we went – even if it was just QS the staff was friendly and the food was fresh. And we were able to do everything we wanted and still came out ahead.

Years down the road if we go again I think the regular plan will be fine and I will just make sure that we eat breakfast in our room every day .

 

[HeidiLowe]

Thanks for all of the great responses!

Lily - I have all of the places I want booked already.....Jiko, Cali grill, Biergarten, Crystal Palace, Boma, Artist Point, but I don't want to have two to three ressies booked every day, I think some QS meals will fit in nicely, and since we're going in January, who knows, maybe some "nicer" places will be open for a walk-up. If not, no worries.

 

[HeidiLowe]

PinkPunch, I think we posted at the same time!

Thanks for sharing all of that with us! It sounds like how we're planning our trip, want nothing on credit, won't be back for a while after this trip, little kids in tow.......sounds like you had a GREAT time!

I think the gift card route is the best for our family. Thanks again!!

 

[bangzoom6877]

We originally had the basic DDP booked for last month's trip, but then we changed our minds. We planned the TS meals we wanted to do, and it was way over what the plan allotted (we did 18 on a 10-night trip), then we thought about doing the deluxe plan but we knew we would not EACH order an app AND a dessert at every TS a la carte meal. Plus, for the 4 of us that would have meant 80 snack credits...can't even begin to think how we would have spent the extras.

P.S....we paid OOP (with the TiW card though...I got an AP and bought one...paid off!), we ordered what we wanted at every meal, and I found out something else very interesting...even though on the menus on the All Ears site, the children's meals are priced for the complete meal with app, entree and dessert, a kid can just get the entree and you pay less. Each component has a dollar amount and it is on your check, listed separately. A lot of times my kids weren't interested in the kids' apps (salad or chicken soup or carrot sticks, things like that) and they just wanted their pizza, for example. Sometimes they got dessert, sometimes not. So even for them we didn't need all the courses that are included in the DDP. As for us, we split desserts sometimes, or sometimes we just got something at the Boardwalk bakery when we went back to the resort later on. Sometimes we split an appetizer and a dessert, and it was still a LOT of food. One time at lunch at San Angel Inn, I got an appetizer as my entree. We just ate what we wanted to eat.

We loved having the freedom to order what we wanted and not worry if it is covered by the dining plan. We had just a few CS meals here and there, and one of them was at the Dolphin hotel, which wouldn't have accepted the dining plan at all. At the end of the trip, we spent less than the deluxe plan would have cost, even when I factored in the difference in cost to upgrade to an AP AND the price of the TiW card. And we ended up purchasing a total of 24 items that would have counted as snack credits. That means that if we had the deluxe plan, we would have had 56 leftover snacks!! And we didn't hold back, believe me...we got to enjoy and try everything we wanted...like Dole Whips, school bread, cupcakes from Starring Rolls, Mickey ice cream bars, treats from Boardwalk bakery. Everything we had planned on getting, we got!

 

[Cafeen]

Hi!

I'm obsessing over this again, and I think I just need some reassurance that I'm doing the right thing. Who better to ask than all of you, right?? LOL!!

My big issue is that I know the DlxDDP would save us money since we have a few signature places and character meals planned. Plus we will have our two kids with us, 3 & 5. Traveling end of Jan, staying at AKL.

Here are my big reasons for not wanting the DDP:

-Don't want to book a package, want to pay as we go.

-If I want three apps instead of an entree at a signature place, I want that freedom.

-Our kids like new foods and I would rather them share an adult entree than have stuff off of the kids menus.

-Don't want the restrictions of having to book places, (except dinners and popular restaurants of course) we would like to be more "go with the flow" types on this vacation.

However, the angel on my shoulder is telling me we HAVE to get the DlxDDP to save money, but the little devil is saying NO NO NO! (I've been watching too much Tom & Jerry with my kids, lol.)

I'm stressing WAY too much about something so trivial, please help me!

Thanks so much! Heidi.

First off, it's not trivial . Nothing is trivial when it comes to Disney planning!

Secondly, I'm in agreement with the others who've voted against the dining plan. Looking at your reasons, it seems that it's not a good fit for you, and they only work well when your plans coincide with how the dining plans are designed. Now, if you were planning on having 3 courses at each meal, and had already planned for 2/3 of your credits at TS locations, it'd be a different story. However, you aren't looking to do that and as such, the plan isn't going to be well suited to you.

Now, would it work? Most likely. Would you see at least some savings over the cost of the plan? Probably. However, depending on how often you're going to want to "stray", you'll see even more savings by not picking it up in the first place.

 

[HeidiLowe]

My biggest issue in my head, is that we have 4 signature places bookes (Jiko, Artist Point, Cali Grill and Flying Fish) and a few regular table service ('Ohana, Biergarten, Crystal Palace) so we have 18 credits without counting any counter service or snacks. That's why I know we could save quite a bit of $$, it's just all of my other reasons for NOT wanting it are beating out saving a couple hundred dollars, KWIM?

 

[hill6]

Take a look at the menus and try to figure out what it would cost out of pocket for the meals and let that help you to decide. I think with the number of signature places you have that the DxDP would make sense. Those places alone can run you the cost of the Dx plan for one day. I know that Narcoossees more than paid for the plan for the one day. Plus you still have one credit left for that day.

We had not trouble using snack credits when we were there on the Dx plan (it was over 90 each day and vitamin water is a snack credit).

 

[Vijoge]

I had just about decided in favor of the DDP for our Feb trip and now I'm back on the fence. Dh will be fine-he eats just about anything. DGD, age 3, is pretty picky but grazes and isn't going to eat very much at one time ever. I have Type 2 Diabetes which is diet controlled and I eat very few carbs. I'm starting to think the DDP won't be ideal for us. . .