Time to book my first trip: I desperately need veteran advice

[rutgers1]

I bought into DVC in April and we will take our first trip in August of next year. While I have obsessively read this board since April and feel that I have a good feel for general DVC issues, I am still stuck on dining and park tickets. I was hoping some veterans here could review our scenario and chime in with their advice. Thank you in advance!

our family: 4...including two sons, ages 7 and 9. They will qualify for the kid's rate for dining and season passes, if we go that route.

travel plans: We are going to make 2 trips within a 1 year period.
1) August '09: We will stay 10 days (5 days, then 2 at Universal, then 5 more)
2) February or April '10: We will stay 7 days

total days: 17 within a 1 year period

ISSUE #1: Park Tickets
We go to the parks every day, usually doing the split day (morning at the park, afternoon pool-side, and evening back at a park. We enjoy hopping, usually splitting our day between two parks. We also enjoy the water parks. If I was reading the web site correctly, buying a premium annual pass would amount to about $30 a day (assuming about a $100 DVC discount...We get something along those lines, right?). I see that I could save some money if I were willing to forgo the water parks, but we always enjoy stopping by for a couple of afternoons during each trip.

ISSUE #2: Dining

Last trip, we had the DDP. It generally worked for us. I probably would have been happy with only eating at a sit-down place for 1/2 of our evenings, as opposed to all of them, but overall I was happy. I guess my big question is, "When does the DDE make better financial sense?" And is one plan ever a "slam dunk" in terms of being a no brainer?

My kids are young (7 and 9) and are generally happy with chicken fingers, hot dogs, and things like that for the length of a trip. My wife and I would be happy eating more meals at counter service, though we would definitely want to have table service at least every other day for 1 meal.

I guess it would be great to know how much everything on the DDP would cost (on average) if you bought it on your own, or with a DDE? If I would save a significant amount by cutting 2-3 table meals per week and by using the DDE, I would consider it.

Thank you SO much for your insight!

 

[browniemtb]

We had pretty much the same scenerio a couple years back. If you stay 10 days or more the AP is pretty much a no brainer, go that route. For the meals we still did the DDP but also got the DDE card for a select few meals. The DDE pretty much paid for itself after one big meal with the in laws. I hope this helps...
AP - Yes
DDP or DDE - we did both

 

[vicki_c]

I think you really have to do the math for your particular situation. It sounds like Annual Passes would be the way to go for the tickets - that part seems like the easy part.

As for the dining, you'd have to crunch the numbers. I would base it on what you would actually spend at the restaurants NOT necessarily what it would cost out of pocket for the same thing you get on the dining plan to give you a real sense of whether it makes sense for your family.

We like the DDE card (20% discount) because we don't think the dining plan is a good fit for us, but I never did the math to see if one would be cheaper than the other.

 

[bellazachmom]

I think that your best option for tickets would be the AP, and if you purchase the Premium AP you do get the Water Park options ... someone PLEASE correct me if I am wrong on this.

As for dining, since you would be happy with only 1 or 2 Table Service Meals, why not purchse the new QS plan that gives everyone 2 counter meals & 2 snacks daily and a refilible resort mug and then purchase the DDE (Now called Wonderland Table, or something like that!) to get the discount on the few Table Service meals you would like? Just go to the restaurant section of the boards and check out the menus of the Table Service places you would like to eat at. Get an idea of what the meals would cost. If 20% of that is greater than $60.00 then the DDE card is right for you.

I hope I haven't confused you more ... please ask any questions if I have!

 

[DebbieB]

To take the pressure off - you don't need to decide if you want the dining plan when you make your reservation. You can add it later. Same with tickets.

 

[CraftyMouse]

ISSUE #1: Park Tickets
We go to the parks every day, usually doing the split day (morning at the park, afternoon pool-side, and evening back at a park. We enjoy hopping, usually splitting our day between two parks. We also enjoy the water parks. If I was reading the web site correctly, buying a premium annual pass would amount to about $30 a day (assuming about a $100 DVC discount...We get something along those lines, right?). I see that I could save some money if I were willing to forgo the water parks, but we always enjoy stopping by for a couple of afternoons during each trip.

If you are going for 17 days per year and go into the parks on all/most of those days then the AP will be your best bet.

If you are set on going to the water parks at least 3 times within that year period then you'll want to get the Premium APs. If you go 2 times or less then it would be cheaper to go with the regular AP and just pay for your waterpark admissions separately.


ISSUE #2: Dining

Last trip, we had the DDP. It generally worked for us. I probably would have been happy with only eating at a sit-down place for 1/2 of our evenings, as opposed to all of them, but overall I was happy. I guess my big question is, "When does the DDE make better financial sense?" And is one plan ever a "slam dunk" in terms of being a no brainer?

We do not do the DDP and never will. Instead we go with the DDE (now called Tables in Wonderland) card. It allows us to be a bit more flexible in our dining, plus we aren't locked into ordering specific things. We can get just what we want and get 20% off the total (including alcohol). We find that it works out better, financially, to use the DDE card.

Happy planning!

 

[rutgers1]

Thanks for the replies! So, it definitely looks like the AP's are the way to go. I am still a bit unsure about dining. I had never head of the plan that gives you two counter service meals per day. That one sounds interesting, though might not be worth it if I plan to eat at a sit down here and there. DDE sounds interesting, but then again, doesn't sound like a slam dunk either. Part of me is tempted to get DDE for one week and DDP for the other and then compare at the end to see which was a better deal for our family. Moving forward, though, once my kids are over 10, I think DDE is better because you spend a bundle for the adult DDP and the kids will probably be eating chicken fingers and hot dogs for a few more years before graduating to "big people" food.

 

[sskem96]

If you get the DDE (Tables in Wonderland), you won't be restricted to only using it for the one week. The card is good for a full year. You could do the DDP for just one of your stays and compare the costs of using that plan vs. paying out of pocket, but you'll still have the DDE card available for use if you end up paying OOP for any table service meals during that trip.

We had the DDE card last year, when we visited for a total of 21 days over 3 trips. We were not DVC members yet at that time, and we stayed at Pop Century, so it was great because the discount worked at the food court there too. We have never done DDP since we eat breakfast in the room and split a lot of other meals. We tend not to eat as much on vacation as we do at home because we're too busy having fun to worry about stopping to eat, but the DDE card did help a lot with the few character meals that we enjoyed. Our oldest was also considered an "adult" for the first time last year, so I figured with the DDE discount, is basically amounted to the youngest child's meal being free.

 

[vicki_c]

Part of me is tempted to get DDE for one week and DDP for the other and then compare at the end to see which was a better deal for our family. .

Just to clarify - the DDE card is good for an entire year, not just for your trip. So you could use it on both trips you have planned for the $60 it costs you (with a 20% discount, it pays for itself after $300 worth of dining -- at locations where you can use it).

Edited: And you can use the DDE card with the DDP -- just to get the 20% discount on things that are not covered by the DDP -- like alcohol.

Oops - didn't see the previous post - sorry for the duplicate info!