Time to Stir the Pot

[sharonabe]

I keep seeing people claim "if you're doing character meals, you need the DDP." So, I decided to see if that claim could hold water.

Where it does hold water is if you have kids or you have to do dinner buffets. BUT, if the only reason you're doing character meals is for the characters, why not just do breakfast or lunch and get the same characters for less money.

Here's what I came up with using the adult DDP cost of $58.66 and doing character breakfasts/lunch:

AK $55.39
Late Tusker House Character breakfast, jalapeno pretzel, soup and sand at Earl of Sandwich, make-my-own chocolate waffle bowl two-scoop sundae at Ghiradelli

MK $56.50
Nutella waffle sandwich, Crystal Palace Character lunch, tuna sandwich and chilli at Columbia Harbour, corn dog nuggets snack at Casey's

HS $56.20
Early Cape May Character breakfast, antipasta salad and cupcake at Pizza Planet, pretzel dog/chips at Min & Bill's, frozen lemonade and popcorn at Fantasmic!

EP $60.48
Croissant Berry Pudding at Sunshine Seasons, Biergarten Buffet lunch, pizza and zeppole at Via Napoli

I have snacks and sides you can't get on the DDP, extra snacks, and an extra TS.

So, as far as I'm concerned, this myth is BUSTED!

What do you think?

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I think for people with more than one small child (under 10( and lots of character meals it definitely can work out.

The DDP was a great deal for us when my kids were under 10. Now it isn't worth it.

I'm also trying to keep our evenings open for hopping so very few dinner ADR's will be made with the exception of Ohana and BOG. We will do mostly BF and lunch. That way we can decide if we want to do the EMH park, hop to another park, stay at the pool or do DTD. Last trip the parks closed a bit earlier. Sometimes 7 or 9. After a midday break, going for dinner ADR around 5-6 it didn't leave much time at the parks especially if there wasn't a PM EMH that night.

At CS we do a lot of free water since we go in August and it's soooo hot. I can't drink soda in the heat and I prefer for my kids to stay hydrated. We also aren't big dessert people for every meal or we can just share one we absolutely like to have. We would rather have a snack in the park later. Dole Whip, Mickey bar, ice cream, funnel cake.

My DD 7 prefers different foods. She likes trying new things so she would get sick of the kids menu after a while so I plan to share with her or order her adult meals. I know there are ways to "cheat" the DDP by getting her adult CS but I don't have time for nonsense like that.

 

[KaLyn]

...Where it does hold water is if you have kids...

Exactly. For us, feeding two kids for $18.88 each per day is a steal! When we factor in the TS dining plan cost and where we plan to eat (many fixed price restaurants) it'll be a savings of approx $220. But it'll work differently for each family. It works well for some but others not so much.

 

[phewms]

Thank you for this post.

I'm stalking the Resturants Boards lately to figure out if the DDP is indeed a good deal for us or not. We will be at WDW for 6 nights in May/June 2014. 2 adults, 1 child (5 yr old picky eater), and infant.

The 5 year old loved Chef Mickey's in February (we did not have ddp). It was the only character meal we purchased. I want to say we spent close to $200 for the 3 of us (I was pregnant at the time).

Since we will be traveling with a 13 month old in the summer, I would rather do some character meals than wait in line for pictures/autographs of characters.

I'm sure it will be a great deal once the baby turns 3. What keeps holding me back is that we generally eat 3 meals a day (either 3 cs or 2 cs/1ts) and the ddp does not offer this arrangement. Also, tips are not included.

Decisions, Decisions.....

 

[AlohaAnnie]

We have priced out what the dining plan would cost us with tips and make that our budget and then use our TIW card instead of the dining plan. It has given us so much freedom, we really love it.

For 4 adults or our family of 4, I am able to budget for our March/April 2014 9 day 8 night trip, 12 table service meals, 6 counter service meals, 2 snacks per person per day and at the end of our trip $100 for take home snacks.

We usually eat breakfast in our room, or snack for lunch on occasion, and bring or have water or Gatorade delivered.

We did this for our past June 2013 trip and had $150 left to spend on take home souvenirs.

I really love not having the dining plan on our trips.

but I do agree before the price was raised so high and we used it before our kids turned 10, it was a deal for us.

 

[wdwrich]

What keeps holding me back is that we generally eat 3 meals a day (either 3 cs or 2 cs/1ts) and the ddp does not offer this arrangement.

True, but that 3rd meal would be paid OOP with or without the DDP, so it really just cancels out. You have to compare the cost of the meals included on the DDP with the cost of those same meals OOP. As previously mentioned, it works for some families and not for others. Now that our kids are grown and out on their own, it's just me and DW. When I run the numbers, the DDP just doesn't work out for us.
On our next trip (10 days in 2014) we will have APs, and running the numbers I find that the TIW card will save us some money.

 

[DarlingDuck]

The DDP definitely worked out in our favor when the kids were under 10, but now perhaps we break even. We do like having all the meals pre-paid.

 

[minnierocks]

We have always been big fans of the dining plan...we love the convenience of our teens being to order whatever they want and trying new things, and having it all paid for by the time we get there was a big plus for us. Having said that, this last trip has me doubting whether I would ever pay for it again. The cost is high, we still have to pay the tips, and most of our meals were not that great. It was just DH and I and I think we could eat a whole lot cheaper.

 

[BenbowInn]

I'm puzzled over that claim as well. We are two adults and one child and even buffet/family style dinners every night comes out cheaper paying oop than paying for the dining plan. I honestly don't get how anyone can add it up and see a savings.

On top of that I can't do a quick service lunch which includes dessert and a snack on top of a buffet dinner. We've gone during free dining the past few years but decided to forgo the heat of September and stay offsite this December and pay the price for food. With all said and done, including paying for parking and all food, we can stay an extra day and still be cheaper than our last years free dining at Pop Century trip. If there was a savings to the dining plan we would have probably stayed onsite, but since its hard to even break even we figured it was time to walk away from the Disney resorts.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) There have been LOTS of studies showing DDP is a money loser.
2) Some people say they like the convenience.
3) I say, give me the money and I'll pay your dining bills under the same rules.
4) Like Disney, I will make huge profits.
5) Including one on this website under "DINING".
6) As Concierge, we have time on our hands.
7) We keep playing with the calculations, and we find the same price loser.


NOTE: The ONLY time we recommend DDP is for CM's who buy rooms and
DDP. The DDP is deeply discounted, so it surpasses the discount that CM's
get on dining, but only during 4-6 months of the year. Otherwise, we don't
even recommend DDP to CM's.

 

[Nancyg56]

Rusty- the DDP used to be a no brainer for those folks who liked to have most of their meals covered, and who enjoyed appetizers and desserts with meals, as well as that all inclusive feel that including the gratuity allowed. For us, it went from a great deal
to a good deal
to "let's crunch the numbers"
to only if it is free, and the savings work in our favor
to I don't think I will do this again unless it is free, and even then I need to think about it.

Disney did a great job getting people used to including the DDP, but I wonder if in order to remain as part of a Disney vacation package, DIsney needs to make some real changes.

Disney dining was a disappointment last trip, all the way around. Many TS restaurants that we had always enjoyed were just mediocre and they all seemed to be about the same.

 

[Eastern]

I keep seeing people claim "if you're doing character meals, you need the DDP." So, I decided to see if that claim could hold water.

Where it does hold water is if you have kids or you have to do dinner buffets. BUT, if the only reason you're doing character meals is for the characters, why not just do breakfast or lunch and get the same characters for less money. .......What do you think?

We used to always do TS dinners, but the way we vacation at Disney, eating a big lunch works better for us. We like to eat early and then get a snack or CS for dinner. After many hours in the parks (we usually get to rope drop) we're too tired to eat at night and prefer to just stroll in the parks or stay at our resort.

A bonus is that most people still eat their big meal late, so there are always a lot of lunch ADRs to choose from, even at the last minute.

 

[scrapbooksellman]

I have been having the debate about this. We got SPD discount so I am assuming it is worth it to us. We like having food prepaid for ahead of time. We are a family of 2 adults, 1 disney adult and 1 child.

I noticed in the OP sample they are eating breakfast and lunch TS not dinner. As dinner is more ex*****ve isn't it a better deal to eat TS dinners?

I do have a question- if the online menus so the buffet is $36-55 depending on time of year, how do I know the price for February?

 

[danielle.st]

I think your numbers work if that is exactly what you are ordering each day, especially if you want to get things from non DDP places. It does not include beverages and it seems to include cheaper menu items than I would buy at the CS places, just from a quick glance. One thing I definitely do not want to do on my disney vacation is to look for the cheapest items on the menu and then feel like I was settling, especially if I am only saving at most a couple of dollars a day. I do know that other people enjoy the challenge of coming in under the plan price and want to eat the things not offered on the plan.

 

[emilik]

Yes, for our family I ran all the numbers - 2 adults, 4 y/o, 2 y/o; 7 nights; eating a character meal dinner most days - and EVEN IF DDP WAS FREE it would still not be a good deal for us (because of the room only discount). Now, once we have a couple more children I don't doubt that the numbers will change, likely in DDP's favor, but for a couple with only 1 or 2 young children it's never going to make financial sense.

 

[Catcleves]

I've been debating the value of the DDP as well. We are doing mostly character meals or buffet/family style with fixed prices, so it makes it fairly easy to calculate.

I am sure the plan could be a good value if you really do buy a drink, entree and dessert at every table and quick service meal, but honestly, I can't eat that much all the time! Plus I'd rather get a dessert I really want when I want it and not just the basic and often repeated dessert choices that come with the quick service meals.

I still need to run the figures for my specific situation - 2 adults, and a 3 year old - because (as I mentioned earlier) with set prices and a lot of character meals, I might not be saving much doing it on my own.

 

[kmb584]

For extended families, families with a lot of little ones, or a combination of both I DO think that the DDP is worth it, even more so when it's free as part of a promotion.

I learned long ago that for us (myself and DD) TiW makes the most economic sense. I save 20% on every meal. It adds up, and when that discount is coupled with the AP RO discount I always snag I find that I save a heck of a lot more than if I had opted for free dining. We also aren't big eaters despite the fact that we do at least one TS meal per day.

 

[minerva78]

I've never taken my family to Disney, but I have been trying to figure out places we would likely eat and calculating to see if the dining plan is worth it for us. While I understand that the dining plan likely won't save most people money, what I don't understand are these blanket statements where people say it's a rip off and won't save anyone money. I still haven't figured out exactly what I want my ADRs to be, but for my family of 2 adults and 2 children, I'm calculating that the dining plan may save us anywhere from $130 to $200 on our 6 night stay. Some of the places I want to eat include Chef Mickey, Akershus, Ohana, and Boma, which are fairly expensive places. DH has made it clear that he has no intention on eating burgers at any of the CS restaurants, so I'm looking at places with a wider variety of items on the menu, and I've found that CS places easily become pricey when you don't order a simple burger. I've been trying to figure out ways of NOT making the dining plan work for us, but I realized there are quite a few TS places where I do want to eat, which include quite a few buffets, and a variety of CS I want to try as well. Even not having a dessert and drink for each of us at every CS meal, I still seem to be coming out ahead on the plan. So I think it can save money for some, although probably not most, families. You just have to do your research. This is our first family trip to Disney, and I want to hit some of the dining highlights. I may or may not feel the need to do that on subsequent trips, which may not make the dining plan as cost effective.

 

[mevelandry]

We use the DDP for lunch and dinner and use the snack credits to buy breakfast.

We skipped DDP once and regretted it cause food ended up costing more than we would have paid with DDP.

Also, OOP, I will pick something more affordable. On the DDP, I pick what I really want and when the bill comes it confirms we made the right choice.

DDP is a treat!

We walk and swim 8 hours a day when we visit Disney... So we are having a drink and dessert with our meals. We're staving!

 

[sharonabe]

I think your numbers work if that is exactly what you are ordering each day, especially if you want to get things from non DDP places. It does not include beverages and it seems to include cheaper menu items than I would buy at the CS places, just from a quick glance. One thing I definitely do not want to do on my disney vacation is to look for the cheapest items on the menu and then feel like I was settling, especially if I am only saving at most a couple of dollars a day. I do know that other people enjoy the challenge of coming in under the plan price and want to eat the things not offered on the plan.

While it may have turned out that my QS entrees are on the cheaper side, that was not done by design. These ARE the things I would actually eat and WANT to eat. I really want a Ghiradelli sundae, but if I go to WPE to make the best use of my QS credits on the DDP, I don't have room for that sundae. The soup and sand at EoS is perfect for what I want. And you can't get the side of soup on the DDP. The same is true at CHH at MK. I much prefer the tuna sandwich to all the fried offerings and I love their chilli which you cannot get as part of a QS meal (but you could use your snack credit to add it to your meal, but that would be more food than I want). And, yes, I drink water most of the time, so no drinks are necessary.

You don't want to feel like your settling for cheaper things. I don't feel like I'm settling at all; I'm eating what I want to eat, and not feeling like I have to find and order the most expensive things on the menu to make the DDP worth it.