Spending Money

[cathynmichigan]

I have a question for those of you that have used the DDP.

Did you find the need to spend a lot of extra money on food that was not included in the plan? This is my first time using the DDP and am not really sure what to think. We will be there 5 nights in December.

Thank you for any advice or information

 

[shellcruiser]

We did not need extra money. We took bottled water in with us each day(w/ crystal light). In the end we had left over snack credits (and maybe a counter service??) that we had to use before midnight of our last day. Feel like we way overeat on the dining plan, but we love it

 

[sl_underwood]

We were a family of 5 on the dining plan our last trip and we were fine. Our only oop expense were tips and a birthday cake for ds.

 

[comicguy]

Some money would be useful. Money on hand for extra drinks and snacks that are not covered on the DDP. For the 3 of us we spent less than an extra 10 dollar per day OOP.

Also money for tips

 

[GinCar]

Just tip money for our family of five. We brought our own case of water.

Oh, I did purchase popcorn in the cute plastic tub because we wanted the tub to take home. (The DP popcorn is in a paper throw away container.)

We always feel like there is plenty of food for us and we have left over credits because we sometimes split counter service.

 

[ceecee]

Fiqure your tip at the table services. We spent $20-30 daily on tips for a party of 3, no extra food except for a few drinks (water, soda).

 

[KBazzel]

We brought in water every day but a few times we purchased extra drinks because I refused to use a snack credit for them. We did end up having snack credits left over though and used them to purchase treats to take home from the bakery in MK.

Also, after the first few days we learned that you can get an adult counter service meal for a kid counter service credit. If I'd known that I would have had my girls split some meals and would have had more left over. Often they wanted something on the adult menu much more than what was on the kid menu.

The only other thing we paid OOP for were tips.

Kira

 

[MsStinkerBelle]

Aside from tip money, there wasn't any need for us to buy anything extra.

 

[akcire]

Tip money. Alcohol money.

In fact, last time we were at Disney on the dining plan we had so many counter service meals left I bought a whole German family lunch, all I wanted was the drink from the meal (it was our last day). I told the father in my spotty German, I would buy their meals if he bought me a drink--then I had to tell him they should order dessert too! He thought I was nuts, but since I paid for his family's food first he went along with it. I think that day he fed 5 people for $3.29.

Why you ask did we have so many counter service meals left? My husband and I find the sit down meals to be huge and overwhelming, yet we eat them. When we go to counter-service we always split the meal. We would really like to be able to trade in our counter service for two snacks (we are more of the snacking type especially when we are doing roller coasters)--and swap the sit down dinner dessert for a salad. We don't make the rules so we just go with the flow.

In general, I find Joe to be a big eater, so if we have food left--you should be fine. I can't for the life of me figure out how people do the Deluxe plan--3 Disney sized sit down meals a day??? I can only imagine they spend a lot of time: waiting to eat, waiting for food, eating (too much), then waiting for the next meal again.

 

[cathynmichigan]

Thank you all for your input.
I was thinking we would not need much 'extra' cash for food, but wanted a second opinion.

We leave on the 11th and can hardly wait.

 

[EvanMaddieMouse]

We have used the DDP three times; twice in July and once last December. July was never a problem; we felt full and didn't buy any extra meals at all. However, I don't know if it was the cooler weather last year, or the fact that DS was 11, but I swear all he and DH wanted to do was eat. We'd eat lunch and an hour later they'd be carrying on about how hungry they were. It was getting to the point that I was getting seriously annoyed by it! So I think what matters is who is going, how old, and are you expecting any type of growth spurt while you are there? (for what it's worth, DD and I were both more than satisfied with "our" portion of the DDP, it was just the super-pigs that couldn't get enough! )

 

[charming23]

We used the DDP when we were there and only paid OOP twice besides tips. Once was for soup for my Mom and the second time was for a glass of wine one night with dinner.

I always felt full and we actually had to use up a counter service and 4 snacks before we left on our last day.

 

[happymommy]

We only tried the DDP once, last December (free).

I ordered some snacks for the room and wine from Garden Grocer, as we were going to try ME for the first (and last) time. ME took over 2 1/2 hours to get going to our resort! Never again. And, I didn't need the wine, or more than one bottle, as we weren't in the room much. And the snacks (breakfast food) was overkill!

I had no idea how much food was on the DDP! My DH wasn't joining us until after the first couple of days, so we had a few extra credits to use. First night, the kids and I had room service (2 TS credits, we were at the BWI and honestly the food sucked but the service was outstanding, so it was all fine, we were so tired). For ONE snack credit, you could get a bowl of cereal plus milk at the Boardwalk Bakery. Plus, they have a CS credit option: a sandwich that is HUGE, plus a side and a drink.

The only thing is, I do like to drink, so I do pay for that. Plus, yes tips.

We ate so well. I would definitely say it's worth it if you are paying for it, as it is nice that things are already paid for. Plus, my kids thought it was fun, to get little snacks all the time! We enjoyed "spending" my DH's extra credits before he got there. We probably left with one CS credit unused, which was fine.

So, I'd factor in just alcohol and tips. Or maybe a couple of extras, but not much.