This Guy Needs DDP Advice

[drj898]

Hey everyone! Just looking forward to me and my girlfriend's trip down to WDW in July for her birthday. Anyway, I'm sure there's tons of questions for the Disney Dining Plan on the boards here somewhere. But I figured I'd lay out my dining plans for our 6-night trip and see what you guys thought. Dining plan? DELUXE dining plan? Or no plan at all? I originally thought that no dining plan would give us more flexibility. I mean I'm expecting food for the 2 of us for 6 1/2 days would cost like $950 - $1,050ish. Here's what I'd be looking at:

Day 1: Arrive and TS dinner at night probably drinks afterwards at DTD.
Day 2: TS (character) breakfast, CS lunch, TS dinner.
Day 3: In-room (surprise) breakfast, CS lunch, TS dinner.
Day 4: CS Breakfast, CS lunch, TS dinner.
Day 5: CS Breakfast, CS lunch, TS dinner (possible signature for dinner)
Day 6: TS (character) breakfast, CS lunch, TS dinner.
Day 7: CS Breakfast, CS lunch, TS dinner.

Thanks in advance!!

 

[noahdove]

Oh, my mercy, that is a lot of food and lots of time eating..I know I couldn't do DxDP. First the amount of food and the time in between is way too close for me. I want to eat, and be full, but, I wouldn't be able to move after eating so much food. I like my 1 TS a day as I consider that my thinking and planning for the rest of day or evening..Good luck and Happy Magical times

 

[goofyintoronto]

Hey everyone! Just looking forward to me and my girlfriend's trip down to WDW in July for her birthday. Anyway, I'm sure there's tons of questions for the Disney Dining Plan on the boards here somewhere. But I figured I'd lay out my dining plans for our 6-night trip and see what you guys thought. Dining plan? DELUXE dining plan? Or no plan at all? I originally thought that no dining plan would give us more flexibility. I mean I'm expecting food for the 2 of us for 6 1/2 days would cost like $950 - $1,050ish. Here's what I'd be looking at:

Day 1: Arrive and TS dinner at night probably drinks afterwards at DTD.
Day 2: TS (character) breakfast, CS lunch, TS dinner.
Day 3: In-room (surprise) breakfast, CS lunch, TS dinner.
Day 4: CS Breakfast, CS lunch, TS dinner.
Day 5: CS Breakfast, CS lunch, TS dinner (possible signature for dinner)
Day 6: TS (character) breakfast, CS lunch, TS dinner.
Day 7: CS Breakfast, CS lunch, TS dinner.

Thanks in advance!!

I honestly think the DP (1TS,1CS,1 snack per day) gives you PLENTY of food. I think the Delux would be too much....too much sitting in restaurants, too much time wasted. I would only recommend delux DP if your planning to do A LOT of signature restaurants. Then i say heck ya, go for it! But if most of your meals are 1TS restaurants, then i'd do the regular DP. I would never go to disney without a DP to be honest. No way in heck. Its so much easier to have the DP.

 

[3pletprincesses]

We have done DxDDp twice and if you plan on eating the app, entree and dessert, I wouldn't count on 3 meals a day. We do early character breakfast for our girls and signature dinner to satisfy Dh and we are stuffed and not hungry during the day. We barely touch our snack credits. There's no way we could eat 3 meals.

 

[goofyintoronto]

We have done DxDDp twice and if you plan on eating the app, entree and dessert, I wouldn't count on 3 meals a day. We do early character breakfast for our girls and signature dinner to satisfy Dh and we are stuffed and not hungry during the day. We barely touch our snack credits. There's no way we could eat 3 meals.

This is the smartest way to utilize the delux dining plan IMO. TS Breakfast, and a signature dinner.

 

[drj898]

Thanks everyone. Well...it won't be a short time between meals since we're early risers and want to get to each park for rope drop, basically. It's gonna be hot...so I'm planning on fast pass'ing early, hitting the big-name rides/attractions before noon. Once 2ish comes and all the crowds come, we'll head back to our resort for a nap or pool time or something. Then return for dinner and more park at night.

Probablyyyy.... breakfast 7-7:30ish. Lunch 12-2ish, Dinner 7ish.


PS: I hear the terms "quick service" and "counter service" thrown around a lot...I thought it was just counter, and table. Is quick service considered something different?

 

[gabzee]

Thanks everyone. Well...it won't be a short time between meals since we're early risers and want to get to each park for rope drop, basically. It's gonna be hot...so I'm planning on fast pass'ing early, hitting the big-name rides/attractions before noon. Once 2ish comes and all the crowds come, we'll head back to our resort for a nap or pool time or something. Then return for dinner and more park at night.

Probablyyyy.... breakfast 7-7:30ish. Lunch 12-2ish, Dinner 7ish.


PS: I hear the terms "quick service" and "counter service" thrown around a lot...I thought it was just counter, and table. Is quick service considered something different?

I think your plan sounds good! When we go, we normally have a character breakfast, CS lunch, and a TS (typically signature) dinner. Most people use CS but QS is the same thing.

 

[LiveToTravelNicely]

I hear the terms "quick service" and "counter service" thrown around a lot...I thought it was just counter, and table. Is quick service considered something different?

Quick service is Disney's official name for a counter service and/or food court.

Last year, we were able to score a free dining PIN so we then upgraded to the deluxe plan so we could do the signature route. We usually ate breakfast, skipped lunch, and had a signature dinner. We mainly used our snack credits on bottled water and other chilling treats since we were there in mid-July. By all means, it wasn't the best use of snack credits, but since we got the deluxe plan at a discount with the free regular dining PIN, we justified using it on those items.

DW agrees with some previous posts that the regular DP is the way to go at WDW. We figured it up, looking at the menus at wdwinfo.com, and we would probably break about even (no savings either way), so at least with the regular DP, there is no worrying about the expense once we are there.

Have a great trip!

 

[Huff]

We often get the DDP. We bring some boxes of cereal, couple plastic bowls etc. and get a quart of milk to keep in fridge for a light morning breakfast. We use DDP for CS lunch and a TS dinner.

DDP is worth it unless you wish to dine at lower cost TS such as Prime Time, Sci-Fi, T-Rex, Rainforest etc. While these are good places to dine, they aren't always good values for DDP.

Our favorite TS's for DDP are Ohana's, Kona, Coral Reef, Le Celliar (lunch, use CS for dinner), San Angel and Cape May (if you like seafood).

Favorite CS's are Port Orleans Riverside create your own pasta station, Sunshine Seasons at Epcot, Wolf Gang Pucks express at DTD and Tangerine Cafe at Morocco at Epcot.

We schedule dinner TS's around shows we wish to see. I plan things such that we have at least 2 or 3 nights we can see any particular show such as Illuminations, Fantasmic or Wishes. A loose schedule and park hoppers allows us a lot of flexibility on what we want to do on any given day and aren't glued to a fixed schedule of parks to go to etc.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

If you are thinking of a possible second trip within a year you would be much better off getting Annual Passes and one of you get a Tables in Wonderland Dining Discount Card. This will give you flexibility and not tie you to eating so much.

 

[angierae]

What we're doing for our upcoming trip is breakfast in the room (cereal bars or whatever or maybe a snack we picked up the day before) and then a TS lunch around 1 and a TS dinner (often a show or a signature) for dinner. We only have one day of three meals during our whole trip, but it was the only way I could arrange it all. I really didn't want to do three in one!