Should I get the DP?

[tkoran]

I'm not sure this is worth the money. $600 seems like an awful lot to feed a family of 4 2 meals a day for 5 days. DH is not an early morning eater so we'd probably just eat a little something in our room before heading out for the day anyway. I also can't imagine that he would care to eat a sit-down dinner at a nice restaurant 5 nights in a row. He likes to be able to lay-back and enjoy some quiet time in the room with just a pizza or something sometimes. Dessert is also something he would most likely not eat.

Also, my 11 year old is not a big eater so paying adult prices for her seems silly when most of the food would stay on the plate. My other DD is 6 so I'm not worried about the cost for her. By the sounds of it, we could probably get away with sharing some of the meals. At least for the kids anyway.

One thing I worry about for paying as we go is I had been thinking of at least one character breakfast, but it sounds like those are pretty expensive. I doubt DH would go for it if we had to pay for it. With the DP he's blissfully ignorant. I also don't want to be stuck eating counter service for EVERY meal because DH is in a cheap mood. I can never predict how he will be, but thus far he's not too thrilled with this trip. His attitude tends to change when we actually get where we're going though.

Do you think I'd save money just paying by the meal?

I'll check out the menu's on allears too and see if I can get a feel.

 

[goofygal531]

You have to write it all out and see what the week looks like.

You get 1 counter service meal, 1 table service meal and 1 snack PER NIGHT of your trip. So map it all out. Select the restaurants you'd like to dine in and what park you'll be at per day and then check out the menus. Add up what a meal at each restaurant will cost and you will quickly see that $600 is very well worth the cost. Also, it doesn't have to be per day, you could eat two counter services meals one day, then do two table services meals the next day.

With the DP, you just have to plan out everything. You need to have all your meals in place and plan your parks around things. You will need to stick to the schedule.

I can't do that with my family and my DH hates counter service meals except his beloved fish and chips. He likes to sit down and enjoy a table service meal. I want to do the DP for the price while my DH could careless.

 

[goofygal531]

Oh, since your DD could share a meal, then you might be able to squeeze out some additional counter services meals by sharing them. This will really stretch the DP!

 

[Chkysbak]

The only thing I can say is check out the menus and pick out what you would like to eat not afford to eat. Do this for all parties involved, and pick one table service and one counter service. (This is for estimating purposes only) On the table service deduct the appetizer and tips. So basically price, the entre, desert, and non-alcoholic beverage. On the counter service select maybe a combo or entree, desert, and non-alcoholic beverage.

Once you have the number or average if you pick two, do the calcs.

5 days I would think that you would go to at least 2 table services, which would leave 8 counter services.

(2 x TS) + (8 x CS) = ~ Total

If that total is more than $600.00 then its worth it, if not then you have your answer.

For example my family (3 adults - 1 child) is as follows:
My example is an approx. for all of ours, but I will show you the cals for the average further below.

Table service:
Tax extimated @ 7% (IN BOLD)
Coral Reef (Dinner) = ~$130.43 $139.56
Crystal Palace (Character Dining - Dinner) = ~$96.96 103.75
Disney Hollywood and Vine (Character Dining - Breakfast) =~$81.96 $87.70
Mama Melrose (Dinner) =~$84.03 $89.91
Capt'n Jacks (Diner) =~$115.53 $123.62
Yak & Yeti =~$95.52 $102.21
Tony's Town Square =~$100.53 $107.57
Chef Mickey (Breakfast) =~81.96 87.70

Average Mama & Capt'n Jack =~$99.78 106.76

Counter Service:
Two for estimates
Tax extimated @ 7% (IN BOLD)
Cosmic Rays =~$30.64 $32.78
Yakitori House =~31.46 33.66

Average the two =~$31.05 $33.22

Calculation for average (Your stay)
($106.76 x 2) + ($33.22 x 8) = $479.28
Snacks = (5 snacks =~$3 each per person (4)=~$100 $107.00

Total for 4 (3 Adults - 1 Child) = ~$586.28 (Tax included)

So if you only do 2 TS and 8 CS then your about even, but any more table services or more expensive CS then its cheaper to do the DDP. Besides who wants to pinch pennies about eating To me the DDP was an ease of mind.

 

[tkoran]

Wow! Thanks for the detailed answers! One more question.

Can you change out TS for CS if you don't think you're going to use one or more of the TS options?

 

[lovesdumbo]

Snacks = (5 snacks =~$7 each per person (4)=~$140 $149.80

$7 per snack seems really high. I can not think of any place that allows you to use your snack credit for a $7 item? It used to be you could use it for just about anything under $4 but that isn't really the case any more. I would use something between $2.50 and $3.50 as a better average. You can use it for drinks(bottle of water, soda), fruit, ice cream, patries....

 

[Chkysbak]

I just pulled $7 out from the sky, so I will revise

 

[Chkysbak]

Can you change out TS for CS if you don't think you're going to use one or more of the TS options?

Nope you can't exchange them.

Here is a forum that can help with anything else, but if you want a more personalized answer reply to this post and I will try to help you as best as I can.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1545287

 

[tkoran]

Thanks for the link. Looks like a wealth of information.

 

[VacationKicks]

Another point to consider is that in 2008 they changed the plan so appetizers and tips are no longer included. So don't forget that after your pre-paid table service meal you will still need to leave a 15-20% tip. I know you would have to pay a tip regardless but when we are on the dinning plan we order the expensive stuff we wouldn't want to pay for and eat TS every day when without DP we eat TS every other day (to save money) and order average priced items. Just something to consider if after eating at Le Cellier you have a bill for around $150 on the DP be prepared to tip $25-30.

Not saying it would not be a better value to eat on the DP, just that is sounds like you would eat more TS than otherwise. Maybe buying some disney gift cards to use for meals before leaving home to pay for a few TS you want to eat at would work.

 

[bookbabe626]

I doubt DH would go for it if we had to pay for it. With the DP he's blissfully ignorant. I also don't want to be stuck eating counter service for EVERY meal because DH is in a cheap mood.

To add another opinion, you might be better off with the dining plan for just this reason. Sometimes, not knowing (or having no choice 'cause it's already paid for) results in a vacation with less controversy, if you know what I mean...

My DH and I normally don't do the dining plan, but we're going with a friend and her DH and DD in August, and her DH is notoriously cheap...not in a bad way, it's just that he can't see spending extra for something "better" if you can get something cheaper that's "just as good" instead. That's why we DW's signed everyone up for the plan so that he won't have the chance to squawk at the cost of character meals or other TS places...it might not be cheaper, but it'll cause way less headaches and "discussions" over the course of the week. What they don't know won't hurt 'em...

 

[Darcy03231]

I'm going in October and have booked the DDP more for the convenience. When I priced it all out I really don't think I'm going to save much, if anything. I just like knowing that after a long day in the parks I can sit down to a very nice meal each evening and my food is paid for ahead of time. For me it makes for a nice break.

 

[sazcjg]

I myself was torn about the DP. But we as a family enjoy sitting down for a nice meal together, especially during vacation. So I put a pencil to it as everyone reccomends. There is DW, DS 14, DS 10, DS 9 and myself. My 10 year old eats like a bird so I had difficulty with having to pay $37.99 a day for him as well. We will be in WDW for 7 full days and until 6pm the last day. I decided to just order off the kids menu for 3 days for our 10 year old and save his 3 adult table seating meals for a character breakfast the last morning. After looking at the menus of the restaurants we had ressies for I had each person tell me what they would order and added it all up for both lunch and dinners. We are not a regular desert family so I didnt add those into the total and if the dinners were coming out of pocket we would reign in the kids to ordering something under $20.00 for dinner and would most likely pass by the snack carts at the park even though the kids would be nagging us to stop. Well guess what, I added up what we would spend for dinners minus desert, we would bring a few snacks into the parks and skip the $4.00 snacks and the total came within $50.00 of the $1134.00 the DP was going to run. I then had everone go back thru the menus and order an entree and desert at will and factored in the snacks x 5 per day and the total came to $1507.00! We could have a more enjoyable vacation with less stress and save $373.00! There would be no pouting about passing up the ice cream stand

 

[Perditamarie]

Just curious: where would the childs dining credits come from to pay for DS10's childrens meals? Does everyone have to submit a room card to show their dining credits? I am trying to be a student of the ddp! I thought they had a system to ensure you couldn't use children's meal credits to "save" the adult credits.

Another thought, if you didn't want TS everynight, you could use the credits for 2 credit restaurants like California Grill or Hoop de Doo Review, which could be a great treat! It may be totally worth it for the character meals, though!!

 

[all4fun]

Just curious: where would the childs dining credits come from to pay for DS10's childrens meals? Does everyone have to submit a room card to show their dining credits? I am trying to be a student of the ddp! I thought they had a system to ensure you couldn't use children's meal credits to "save" the adult credits.

Their used to be a "loophole" where all the credits were pooled so people would use their child credits for an adult meal. Disney has closed that loophole.

Another thought, if you didn't want TS everynight, you could use the credits for 2 credit restaurants like California Grill or Hoop de Doo Review, which could be a great treat! It may be totally worth it for the character meals, though!!

exactly what I was thinking!

personally, we feel DDP, even with the 2008 changes, is still a decent value, and it's nice to not have to worry about the prices on the menus. We just order what we feel like eating. And I agree, having your meals pre-paid certainly takes the "controversy" out of the equation for people that might balk at the cost of some of the character meals. If it means you can truly enjoy your vacation, then it's worth it. jmho.

 

[lovesdumbo]

Just curious: where would the childs dining credits come from to pay for DS10's childrens meals? Does everyone have to submit a room card to show their dining credits? I am trying to be a student of the ddp! I thought they had a system to ensure you couldn't use children's meal credits to "save" the adult credits.

I think he was going to pay OOP for the DS10's children's meals because the child wouldn't eat enough of the adult meal to make it worth using that child's adult creadit and then use the "saved" adult credits for adults to use for a breakfast on the last day. So they would pay about $10 for the children's meals and use the adult credits for a character breakfast that cost $18.99 to $22.99.

 

[dmomom]

Sounds like we have the same issues as you. We're not huge eaters and we are watching our costs. However, we decided to go with the DP for several reasons:

1. We wont worry about the costs if it is paid for in advance.
2. We're doing 2 character meals which we would not enjoy if we were dreading getting the check.
3. We're always cutting corners to save a buck, so this is a rare opportunity to order whatever we want on the menu.
4. Our reservations are made in advance, so we'll save time deciding where/when to eat.
5. We can order dessert, special drinks and special snacks that we would normally not splurge on.

Whatever you decide, enjoy your vacation!

Lisa

 

[sazcjg]

I think he was going to pay OOP for the DS10's children's meals because the child wouldn't eat enough of the adult meal to make it worth using that child's adult creadit and then use the "saved" adult credits for adults to use for a breakfast on the last day. So they would pay about $10 for the children's meals and use the adult credits for a character breakfast that cost $18.99 to $22.99.

Exactly right

 

[Perditamarie]

Ah, that is clever...thank you for my continuing education!

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

DH, DS12, and I are going for 16 nights in August. The front half of the trip we have signature dinners on the same day as character breakfasts and other weird stuff that makes it easier not to have a Dining Plan.
The last 7 nights our ADRs actually would fit in great with a Dining Plan.
We are Passholders so we have the DDE card.

I worked out the numbers for DDP (daily cost of the plan plus tips and other food like additional snacks, appetizers, etc.) and then I added the costs again using the DDE card for TS meals. The cost was nearly IDENTICAL. The plan saves us NO money whatsoever.

We are just going to go to our ADRs, order whatever we want, let DS order from the adult or the kids menu as he sees fit, and pay out of pocket. That way we are sure to get precisely what we want and not have to hassle with DDP.

Part of the "value" of DDP assumes that you always get dessert with your counter service meals. We never do that. DS still orders from the kids menu on occasion. DH likes appetizers but does not always order dessert. Since they took the tips out of the plan it is a better deal for us to just pay for each meal as we go.