To DxDDP, or Not to DxDDP?

[Pumba's Truth]

.. That is the question. May 1-6, 2 adults.

Here are the current ressies:

Day1
Le Cellier (dinner)

Day 2
Kona Cafe (bfast)
50's PT Cafe (Dinner)

Day 3
California Grill (Dinner)

Day 4
Citricos (Dinner)

Day 5
Jiko (Dinner)

Now I know that there are few meals missing out there. We do want some flexibility and will probably try and just hit a TS when we can, if they're busy, they're busy we'll go to the next.

But we are probably going to get to the Turf Club and Raglan Road as well. Possibly another breakfast somewhere too.

So thoughts, would you DxDDP or go OOP?

 

[Jessica527]

We are doing our honeymoon in May 2012. I am doing DxDP. My theory is when we have little ones, you never know what we will want to do.

When I get home tonight I will share my thoughts more

 

[3pletprincesses]

I would. You already have 10 out of 15 credits used up in those reservations. If you intend to have app, entree and dessert and intend to snack, I would get the DxDDP. check out the menus and average how much it would cost OOP vs what is cost for the DxDDP. I did the math for dh and I and our girls and we are looking at $500 savings if all go well if we factor in the tips that we should pay and that's by eating breakfast every morning and signature restaurants at night.

 

[loganpaulsmom]

well, if you do the math then it doesn't make sense.. it is $71.99 per person per day... So, that means that you should be spending at least that to make your monies worth.. You do have quite a few signature places in there and if you figure that you spend at least $125.00 on each meal and then add another $50 for snacks and breakfast or lunch for a counter service then it may work out in your favor..

 

[Pumba's Truth]

I would. You already have 10 out of 15 credits used up in those reservations. If you intend to have app, entree and dessert and intend to snack, I would get the DxDDP. check out the menus and average how much it would cost OOP vs what is cost for the DxDDP. I did the math for dh and I and our girls and we are looking at $500 savings if all go well if we factor in the tips that we should pay and that's by eating breakfast every morning and signature restaurants at night.

I did up a spread sheet the other night and came up with some scenarios that involved the choices my DW would make on a menu vs my choices and then sometimes getting 2 desserts and 1 appy or vice versa, or even one of each.

Obviously with only one app and one dessert between us and maybe a QS meal or two it would be cheaper by maybe $50.

The signatures we have booked seem to come out pretty pricey - Cali Grill estimated at almost $160.

 

[Cafeen]

As you are sitting now, you have 2/3 of your credits spent at TS locations. This is roughly the "break even" point on DxDDP (I like 2/3+1 myself, just to err on the side of caution), so the chances of coming out ahead are strong.

I would see about adding 1 or 2 more TS and then going for it, so long as you're planning to eat all 3 courses at each meal. Sprinkle in CS as needed and you'll be fine.

 

[3pletprincesses]

I did up a spread sheet the other night and came up with some scenarios that involved the choices my DW would make on a menu vs my choices and then sometimes getting 2 desserts and 1 appy or vice versa, or even one of each.

Obviously with only one app and one dessert between us and maybe a QS meal or two it would be cheaper by maybe $50.

The signatures we have booked seem to come out pretty pricey - Cali Grill estimated at almost $160.

Yes most signatures are expensive and that's one of the reasons why we get out ahead with the Deluxe plus we do caracter breakfasts for our girls. Those breakfast are expensive too. Deluxe is not for everyone but I think it will work for my trip. If you intend to do alot of sharing on app and dessert, you might not come ahead. We will be getting App and dessert for both or us and share with our girls and if we find it's too much food, we will only order 2 kids meal for the 3 girls and split and use the extra credits to buy then a QS between our TS meals. With our breakfast being at 7:30am and dinner at 6-7pm, that extra cedit won't be wasted nor will the snacks. Plus signature restaurants have better selection for kids menu. they got sick of mac & cheese and chicken nuggets last October. They prefer adult food as suppose to kids food.

 

[Pumba's Truth]

OK,

So looks like we may just not do the Deluxe plan. Sure based on our current reservations. (In fact I've made more - Raglan Road, Tutto itallia, another Kona) It would make sense for us to go Deluxe.

However, I can't help but thinking that I am trying to fill in the reservations for the points not based on what I will actually want to be doing. The flexibility of not being tied to reservations everyday could be beneficial. The ability to split some apps and a main dish could be nice as well. We could still eat at these places but just not go whole hog.

Last time we finished up with the DxDDP we didn't do any signature places and had only 1 credit left between 3 of us. And we were full. I gained about 1olbs in 4 days. Yeah, kinda scary now that I think about it.

Given that it's just my DW and I. I think we might just go OOP this trip - see what we spend and then do a reverse comparison and determine if we would have benefitted from using any of the dining plan options. We'll use this as a learning experience.

 

[MikeandReneePlus5]

OK,

So looks like we may just not do the Deluxe plan. Sure based on our current reservations. (In fact I've made more - Raglan Road, Tutto itallia, another Kona) It would make sense for us to go Deluxe.

However, I can't help but thinking that I am trying to fill in the reservations for the points not based on what I will actually want to be doing. The flexibility of not being tied to reservations everyday could be beneficial. The ability to split some apps and a main dish could be nice as well. We could still eat at these places but just not go whole hog.

Last time we finished up with the DxDDP we didn't do any signature places and had only 1 credit left between 3 of us. And we were full. I gained about 1olbs in 4 days. Yeah, kinda scary now that I think about it.

Given that it's just my DW and I. I think we might just go OOP this trip - see what we spend and then do a reverse comparison and determine if we would have benefitted from using any of the dining plan options. We'll use this as a learning experience.

given all those 2TS restaurants I agree you are better off OOP.

the only way the DDP or the DxDP pays off is if you eat all the food and you don't do too many Signature resaurants.

 

[Cafeen]

OK,

So looks like we may just not do the Deluxe plan. Sure based on our current reservations. (In fact I've made more - Raglan Road, Tutto itallia, another Kona) It would make sense for us to go Deluxe.

However, I can't help but thinking that I am trying to fill in the reservations for the points not based on what I will actually want to be doing. The flexibility of not being tied to reservations everyday could be beneficial. The ability to split some apps and a main dish could be nice as well. We could still eat at these places but just not go whole hog.

Last time we finished up with the DxDDP we didn't do any signature places and had only 1 credit left between 3 of us. And we were full. I gained about 1olbs in 4 days. Yeah, kinda scary now that I think about it.

Given that it's just my DW and I. I think we might just go OOP this trip - see what we spend and then do a reverse comparison and determine if we would have benefitted from using any of the dining plan options. We'll use this as a learning experience.

That bold part is a very big key to recognizing early! For any of the plans, it's best that your planned dining itinerary already matches (or closely matches) what Disney setup. Otherwise, you will end up in a chase to get the "best" out of the plan rather than the best out of your vacation!

 

[pkdof]

But those calculations forget that you have 5 more TS credits each and also the value of the 20 snack credits you have total. One more meal and you'd at least break even. You can use the TS credits at CS, I believe.

 

[Cafeen]

But those calculations forget that you have 5 more TS credits each and also the value of the 20 snack credits you have total. One more meal and you'd at least break even. You can use the TS credits at CS, I believe.

But then we're back to making reservations just to use points, instead of using points on reservations we want . (We used in the general sense of those participating in this thread. Don't worry Pumbaa's Truth, I'm not inviting myself on your trip hehe).

The calculations (# credits at least) do look a bit off in OandA's sheet. I'm going to use his averages and plug them into my sheet to see what happens. Of course, this is just a fun exercise at this point . I'll also leave this post open, so likely this response will come after other responses... and the future tense of the "I'm going to use his averages and plug them into my sheet..." won't flow right. But it's already written and I can't erase, I wrote it in eInk or something .

...

Ok, it's about 20 mins later or so and I had to fix the TiW portion of my spreadsheet (Note, if you have to buy the card it increases the extra OOP expenses, not decreases ><).

I copied it over to another file to take the screenshot so I could add notes in.

A few initial notes:

• DDP did not buy apps, even when paying OOP
• DDP is paying OOP for Kona, Citricos, and Jiko.
• Plan snacks avg $3 all credits used. Off plan snacks $3 avg, 10 total.
• DxDDP and QSDP assume that you would not be buying the mug otherwise.
• 20% average gratuity

So, I'm also in agreement that OOP for your current situation is the best bet .
Note:

1. The TiW savings here includes buying the card, but not the APs. So, it looks good here, but it's far from ideal for your situation.
2. Apply TiW is the OOP expenses with TiW applied (uses correct calculations to include savings on tax and ignores gratuity cost)
3. Additional Savings is the added savings by using the TiW card (takes into account the above)
4. Percent Savings TiW is ... um... something. It's Additional Savings / OOP Expenses. Whatever value that represents ><. (I wrote this thing, you'd think I know what I meant huh).
5. Credit "Cost" analysis uses Faldred's calculations (found here). It also only accounts for spent credits.

(I just noticed the small bug with credit value on the DxDDP snacks. It's fixed on my local sheet now, but it doesn't affect the rest of the stuff. That number will be $3.00)