Recent Price increases changing OOP vs DDP?

[Texans_loyal]

And even then the value is negligible, since any package with free dining and room is going to be full rack rate on the hotel. To me it seems DDP is more about the convenience factor than saving money.

I agree. It was worth it last year when it only required a 4 night stay (?) with a 2 day PH ticket. This year was insane, It was almost triple what we paid in 2017. I'll gladly pay OOP.

 

[Moliphino]

And even then the value is negligible, since any package with free dining and room is going to be full rack rate on the hotel. To me it seems DDP is more about the convenience factor than saving money.

I do compare free dining to room only discounts and the free dining has always been better for me so far. I think it was less than $500 more for the free dining package over room only discount+tickets this year, and 2 people will definitely spend more than that on food over an 8 night trip.

We did the calculation once and decide OOP was our best bet. Guess what? We were totally wrong. We discovered that we eat differently on vacation than when we are home. We ate more...a lot more. All that walking and playing works up an appetite.

Even with vacation mode eating I find the DDP to be too much food. I kind of dread eating by the end of the trip and wind up bringing a lot of snacks home.

 

[smcabee]

Nah I will just work a few extra hours and call it a day to make up the extra cost.

 

[siren0119]

I do compare free dining to room only discounts and the free dining has always been better for me so far. I think it was less than $500 more for the free dining package over room only discount+tickets this year, and 2 people will definitely spend more than that on food over an 8 night trip.

It's definitely a "your mileage may vary" situation. In our case, last year we spent less than $1K on food for four over 8 days - including the groceries we had delivered to the room. How feasible that would be with the new prices remains to be seen...but I expect that we'll also see DDP cost increase/discount decrease with the new prices.

 

[lilfaeriebrat]

I've been crunching the numbers and checking price changes on some of our ADRs. (BOG) being one and while i was in the middle of that Disney's menus started showing as error pages so it looks to me like they're updating all the online menus today with the new prices. For this trip that is just a few weeks away I wouldn't have to worry about the cost of the dining plan going up but for future trips yes I'm sure it would.

 

[lbus42]

Not on the fence at all. Got back from a six-night stay on the 21st. There were 3 of us, my wife, myself, and our 25 year old son. The DDP would have cost us around $1350. We spent about $850 on TS and QS, with an additional $130 on Amazon Now groceries. We saved about $370 paying OOP.

 

[disneyseniors]

No, we won't go back to the ddp. We just do not eat all that food. We might eat one CS a day with a light breakfast, maybe snack during the day or share a supper. Sometimes we just do appetizers. All that food is just not worth it for us at this stage of life. I believe a lot more people will have Pop, other drinks, snacks, etc delivered to their rooms now, however. If I had young children, I would definitely do this.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

It may make sense for a short period of time, but Disney will be raising the price of the dining plan too. After all we have to pay for that $71 million Fox purchase. (No I don’t buy the excuse this is all about giving the employees more money. They’re going to bring in a lot more cash then they’re going to be paying out.).

 

[disneyvoice]

Nope. Our decision to never do a dining plan has more to do with the amount of food we eat vs. the cost of individual meals. We aren't breakfast eaters and tend to share meals or split a few appetizers. We rarely get individual entrees and we don't get dessert with our meal. At most we might split one snack a few times during a week long trip. It's just not cost effective for us regardless of price increases.

 

[caitycaity]

Even after the price increases it's close to break even in either direction for me. With it being essentially the same, I'd rather just pay OOP in case my appetite changes one day or I don't want dessert/alcohol, etc.

 

[LaidBackDad]

The obnoxious restrictions and overwhelming inconvenience is the biggest problem with the DDP. Throw in it’s far more expensive than OOP, even with the slight price increase in a few meals there isn’t any value in the DDP.

 

[wendow]

It's definitely a "your mileage may vary" situation. In our case, last year we spent less than $1K on food for four over 8 days - including the groceries we had delivered to the room. How feasible that would be with the new prices remains to be seen...but I expect that we'll also see DDP cost increase/discount decrease with the new prices.

Same for us. Our fam of 6 stays for 9-11 nights every year. We spend about $1400 total on food, and that includes all food from the moment we arrive at the airport to when we return home, grocery deliveries, etc. I think these price increases are pretty ridiculous but nothing Disney does really surprises me anymore. We will continue to pay OOP. Disney would have to really keep jacking up food prices and keep the DDP the same (which we all know, isn't gonna happen!) for us to even consider the DDP.

 

[Nancyg56]

We did the calculation once and decide OOP was our best bet. Guess what? We were totally wrong. We discovered that we eat differently on vacation than when we are home. We ate more...a lot more. All that walking and playing works up an appetite.

This is how it is for us on vacation. We eat differently than we do when we are at home, and we tend to eat more. Throw my DH in the mix and we now need three meals a day. He actually staged a mutiny on the last trip he came with us, because he thought I was starving him by planning CL breakfasts almost daily.

We usually are able to find a FD discount that works well for our crew. This year it saved North of 4300.00, and brings our per day per person just over 200.00, This includes extra meals I booked.

 

[Macprincess]

In all honesty we have used DDP in the past more for the connivance because we have 2 college age adult children and one in High School. It was easier to plan one sit down family meal each day and then let everyone use counter service and snacks as needed as we tend to do some touring together and some apart. I knew I was paying more then if we paid out of pocket but since my husband and I were paying for the family meals and snacks this was easier then constantly handing out cash to our kids. However, now that the DDP includes alcohol it really does not work for us as our 2 college age children are under 21, my husband does not drink at all and I typically have maybe two drinks over the course of our vacation. We don't need specialty non-alcoholic drinks or coffees and have always been happy with a soda or water. The new price increase for what we need from the DDP is no longer worth it to us.

 

[happymommy]

I was on the fence before and I think this is the tipping point towards getting DDP. We are planning a BOG lunch so the inclusion of alcohol in that meal is a big plus. And, I think the new snack prices will put us at or around the break even point.

I was going to say unless something changed, they don't serve beer or wine at lunch. Then I double checked on Disney's website, and they now do! Finally! They didn't before, so I may or may not have spiked my lemonade with "water" from my water bottle. I would have totally rather had a nice glass of Cab!

 

[Moliphino]

It's definitely a "your mileage may vary" situation. In our case, last year we spent less than $1K on food for four over 8 days - including the groceries we had delivered to the room. How feasible that would be with the new prices remains to be seen...but I expect that we'll also see DDP cost increase/discount decrease with the new prices.

For sure, it depends on how you vacation. Me personally, I'm not cooking on vacation. When we do OOP trips the most "outside" food I bring is some breakfast bars and packaged snacks.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

With the price increases I did recrunch the numbers and worked out that I’m still noticeably coming out ahead paying OOP.

In saying that, this trip I’ve been extremely selective about the TS restaurants I’ve booked at, purposefully choosing ones at the cheaper end of the scale and knowing that things like a milkshake at 50s Primetime suffices as both a drink and a dessert and that we definitely don’t need both.

If I was eating at a lot of the more expensive choices (eg Holiday Dine at HS) then yes, I do think it would now be worth it to get the Dining Plan (bearing in mind that tipping will also increase).

 

[siren0119]

For sure, it depends on how you vacation. Me personally, I'm not cooking on vacation. When we do OOP trips the most "outside" food I bring is some breakfast bars and packaged snacks.

We actually didn't cook at all, we were just in a regular room at POP so we had a fridge and that's it. We made instant oatmeal and cereal or had breakfast bars for breakfast, made sandwiches and brought chips and granola bars for in park snacks, and had refillable water bottles. It worked out really well!

 

[NOLA_Tink]

We are doing the QSDP for our upcoming trip and will definitely save money. My husband and daughter are both big eaters and we will be doing a lot of snacking during MNSSHP and F&W. Plus, my husband loves to enjoy a cold beer or glass of wine with meals.