Should I do DDP or not?

[ashleyann31]

Hi everyone!

It has been a looooooooooong time since I have been to the World, so the DDP is a new concept for me. This is also my first time planning a trip. Below is a tentative list of the ADRs we are hoping to get when we are able to book them next month. We are staying at FW and plan to cook a few times, but based on the places we are planning to eat, I can't decide if we should bite the bullet and do the dining plan or not.

4 adults, a 4 year old, and a 2 year old. 7 day park-hoppers.

2/20 -- Arrive late afternoon, grab QS meal at EPCOT and explore there for the evening
2/21 -- Breakfast at Crystal Palace, dinner at 50s Prime Time
2/22 -- Dinner at Coral Reef
2/23 -- Breakfast at Hollywood and Vine, lunch at Sci-Fi
2/24 -- Lunch at BOG, dinner at Ohana
2/25 -- Breakfast at Trail's End or Akershus
2/26 -- Dinner at San Angel Inn

I had thought about throwing in a Chef Mickey's breakfast ADR as well, but not sure yet.

Most of our lunches we are planning to just bring a sandwich or something into the park, but I know if we do the DDP, we would have some snack and QS credits to use as well.

Any advice you guys can give would be appreciated! Thanks so much!

 

[jon18uk]

On the regular DDP you would have six table service and six quick service and six snacks. You are looking at doing eight or nine table service meals and two quick service. So if you are planning to do sandwiches for some lunches, the DDP would not work for you as you won't need all those quick service meals and would have to pay OOP for some table service.

 

[sharonabe]

Your dining is based on the nights you stay....are you staying six or seven nights? As PP said, right now you have at least one too many. There is a dining calculator out there somewhere that would help you figure it out. I think it is distripplanner.com. Try that and see where it gets you as far as getting a good value.

 

[G719]

I would say skip the dining plan and you'll save money. Trails End breakfast is cheap (for disny prices) so not a good value when using a dining credit. Sci if is also cheaper. And breakfast character meals are cheaper than lunch or dinner. And if you don't plan to use all your QS credits, then I would think you would spend less money overall by paying out of pocket.

Also think about if everyone wants a dessert and a beverage that isn't water at every meal that isn't a buffet or fixed price. Would you sometime want to order appetizers? Not being on the plan is much more flexible.

 

[ashleyann31]

Thank you so much for your input, everyone!

The distripplanner calculator is fabulous!