To DDP or not

[brennadf]

My BF and I will be visiting the world May 2015, just the two of us. It will be our first trip together and we're both really excited. I've been running the numbers, but I'm not sure if the DDP would be a good plan for us. We are definitely interested in doing a few character meals, and will be staying either four or five days. If anyone has any experience here, any help is wanted!

 

[MouseMomma0304]

We always have done DDP because we enjoy a break in the evening to have a table service meal and had young children that enjoy character meals. This November will be the first time we are doing the QS plan (we are going during free dining) and only have a few table service ADRs. We have always wondered if it would be worth it and decided that it was while I children were under the age of 10. Now that both are considered adults in terms of pricing at Disney, we are not so sure because they do not eat enough food to justify the price difference. However, the convenience of not having to budget money for meals or be selective in what we order while on vacation is worth every penny to me. Some say it's not worth it because it's too much food. However, we usually take desserts to go and eat them for late night snacks or breakfast the next morning. Our snack credits usually don't get used and we have them to buy treats to take home for our niece and to put in the girls' lunch boxes at school.

One thing you may want to try is to look at the menus for the places you would like an ADR. Add up the items you think you would order for each place and compare it to the dining plan cost. Most restaurants serve nice sized portions that could be shared between 2 people...especially if you order dessert or and appetizer. I would not include tips in the price comparison because tips are not included in DDP. You will need extra for tips either way.

I hope this helps!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[Vernie822]

My boyfriend and I just did the DDP. We got free dining (regular dining plan) for 7 nights. There was also an option for a room discount but we took free dining instead.

This is just our opinion so take this as you wish. We really liked the DDP.

PRO:
Ability to order anything on the menu without looking at the price tag. (I am a numbers person so even though I "paid" for dining in some way, such as by not getting a room discount, this still made me feel as if I could choose anything I wanted).
Ability to do more TS. I know we would not have done as many if we would have paid OOP.
Can use your credits however you choose.

CONS:
A LOT of food. Seriously. A lot.
We weren't hungry all the time!
Poor planning on our part. We planned to go offsite a day so we were thrown off and had extra meals.
Our arrival day - we didn't get there until 4 pm, so we only ate a TS that day. Extra meals!
Dessert - we aren't huge dessert people. Maybe once or twice per week on vacation, but we wouldn't have ordered dessert at a QS or with TS like we were given with the DDP. It was nice to try desserts at dinner though.

We found that for TS it worked great. We both enjoy dining and trying new things. However, we found that it was just so much food. For example, we ended up splitting QS entrees two days in a row for lunch because we both weren't starving and had a dinner reservation that night.

I think if we hadn't planned our offsite day, we would have been much better off. We ended up with 4 QS on our last day that we used for breakfast and lunch before we left. I think if you plan it and you know you'll eat one snack, one QS and one TS each day, it will be fine for you. We added everything up and I think we just about broke even between what we saved using free dining and what we would've spent OOP on food if we would've purchased everything we ate.

 

[brennadf]

Thank you all so much for the help! I'm going to look up the menus and decide if it would be worth it. You all are life-savers.

 

[Pfau]

For *US*, the savings is negligible. Seriously ... like a bit less than 5 percent. And that's IF we eat all of the food/drink we have scheduled. No splitting of QS meals. Eating a full QS meal for the days we don't have TS for breakfast (rather than grabbing a coffee and bagel). We are eaters but think that even the DDP is too much food. (That said, we would be paying a LOT OOP bc we have 11 TS booked for 7 nights )

We aren't commando park tourers and we use the TS time as our resting time. We feel that we would have many QS credits leftover which would be a waste of money (and I'd rather grab a snack of school bread than eat a basic QS dessert). That leads me to another aspect of the DDP I'm not crazy about ... and you will have to be the judge on how YOU would react. I know that *I* would be constantly trying to use the credits the most cost-efficient way possible (should we split a QS meal here so we can split a QS here later? I REALLY want that appetizer as my entree but that won't be the best use., etc. ) When I'm on vacation, I just want to eat what I want to eat and not pay attention to the cost. For SOME people, that means they prefer using the DDP because it makes the dining essentially all-inclusive. To me, that's constrictive. If I want a salad, an app, an entree, and a dessert one night but only want an app and a salad the next, I will just pay for that.

People CAN save money on the plans if done correctly. Play with this calculator to get an idea. http://www.distripplanner.com/ For *US*, while doing more research, we found that while it may save us a bit less than 5 percent, the potential for waste (food and $) was big. We will just purchase around $2000 in Disney Cards from Target and save a true 5 percent, instead.

Good luck with your choice!

 

[brennadf]

I do have one more question: on the menus, the buffet style meals aren't showing prices... Anyone know where I can find prices for those meals? (CP Breakfast, 1900 Park Fare, etc.)

 

[Pfau]

Check out this sticky. LOTS of information in the stickys so check them out when you get a chance.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3108466

 

[brennadf]

Thank you!!!

 

[Vernie822]

Pfau- totally agree with you. Though it was nice to see any entree on the menu and know I could get it regardless of price, there were other times i might have preferred to skip the QS dessert and go for a snack elsewhere. Or just get 2 apps instead of an entree. Or do soup and salad. Etc.

While the DDP gave us a ton of food, we are usually the type to split a QS, no QS dessert, share a drink, then maybe each get a snack later on. It was more difficult to do that on the DDP and we did feel like we had to eat instead of choosing what we wanted whenever.

 

[Pfau]

Totally, Ashley!

We are also grazers. On our honeymoon (many, many years ago), we went to Munich and Salzburg. Having known each other for 2 + years, we knew that when either of us got the least bit cranky, that meant we needed to have a little snack. The non-crank would say to the crank "Time to get a schmeck" Every two-ish hours, we ate a pretzel or a beer or a sausage or a chocolate or a ...

Even now, years later, we employ this technique and goodness ... makes for some wonderful trips and interesting food choices.

But again, that's our style. OP, what's yours? :

 

[brennadf]

Thanks for everyone's opinions and help! After looking at all of the menus and such, I think the DDP will be a good choice for our trip! :debwalk:

 

[Toffeewoffy]

I just found it too constricting: we spent our late afternoons clock-watching to make sure we made it back to the resort we'd booked our TS at in time. We were also held ransom to the Disney buses a lot of the time which made us late for a couple of our ADRs.

I didn't like feeling full ALL the time - and I'm a big eater back home. We left quite a bit of food because we just couldn't eat it - and that was just a 7-day DDP.

We've got free dining again for next year (14 days) BUT we're not upgrading from the QSDP to the full DDP this time. So, it'll be a lot more relaxing all round.

I upgraded us this year because it was just the two of us so wasn't as expensive and it was a 'now or never' moment. Finding restaurants we both wanted to eat in was difficult, though (DD being lactose intolerant and me just being fussy). Also, I don't like the idea of paying an obligatory 18 - 20% tip when the food wasn't good or the service was bad.