Trying to decide if adding DDP would be worth it

DisneyGuess

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We're planning on going in Dec. of 08. There will be 5 of us, myself, DH, DS12, DS10 and DS7.
I'm trying to decide if it's worth it to add the deluxe dining plan. My 2 older DS's can really eat, I take trips to the store at least 3xs per week. For us to add the deluxe it would be an extra $1800, for the regular DDP it's an extra $972. Considering, DH, myself and DS6 went this past Oct and spent quite a bit on food, what's you guy's opinion of the dining plans in my situation?
 
I find the deluxe to be FAR to expensive and FAR too much food to even consider. And we are GOOD eaters!

We did DDP for our trip. (DH, me, DM, DS12, DD9, DS7). Ran us $180/day. Now we still got appetizers at dinner & tip covered, which you won't have in 08.

Besides the cost, I don't think my family could stomach 3 TS/day, plus you are talking 1-2 hrs. per meal, which takes a big chunk of your day.

We hit parks at rope drop (DSs are early risers) after donuts/breakfast bars in room, CS for lunch around 11 so we don't have to stop too long, snack around 2 to tide us over until dinner and we had ADRs around 5:30 each night. Then we could hit pool and be in bet by 9. (this was essential or DS7 would not have survived w/o his 10 hours of sleep!) The kids were always ready to sit down, eat and socialize about the day by dinner.

I scoured these boards as well as allearsnet.com for menus to select restaurants I thought we would like. It SO paid off...we had TREMENDOUS meals nightly! (no, not everything nor every server was perfect, but overall terrific meals). We did Ohanas, Boma, Le Chefs, Kona, Le Cellier, WPC, PH, and Narcoosees (just DM & I). DS12 is VERY picky, but had NO problems all week being satisfied...we shared everything all week. NO one went hungry! And we actually found it to be a tad much food, but not horribly. Early meal times helped get digestion moving! (we often took dessert back to room for breakfast the next day!:banana: )

I think you will find DDP to be a good amount of food. We spent a tad more OOP for snacks, alcohol. We had 5 CS left the last morning, and treated a 2 couples to breakfast! (some will say it is a "no-no", but it was a random act of kindness that left us all feeling good!)

I'd say do DDP, and simply pay OOP for extra snacks/appetizers if you find DSs need more food. I cannot IMAGINE it would cost you $900 extra to fill those boys up! And I think you will find the plan to be sufficient for adults & children.

Sorry so long...just trying to be thorough! (I did NOT book DDP initially; DM convinced me to do it, and I am SOOOO glad she did!)
 
We're planning on going in Dec. of 08. There will be 5 of us, myself, DH, DS12, DS10 and DS7.
I'm trying to decide if it's worth it to add the deluxe dining plan. My 2 older DS's can really eat, I take trips to the store at least 3xs per week. For us to add the deluxe it would be an extra $1800, for the regular DDP it's an extra $972. Considering, DH, myself and DS6 went this past Oct and spent quite a bit on food, what's you guy's opinion of the dining plans in my situation?

You really should just sit down a do the math. I worked up a spreadsheet and used the menus at Allears and Wdwinfo to price likely meal choices, so I could compare the plan cost to the cost of the food we would order OOP. For us, the deluxe plan is a great fit - we like signature dinners and hate counter service, so the delue plan works for the way we want to eat. Others find it to be too much food or too much time spent eating, or wouldn't get financial benefit from the plan because they'd eat more breakfasts and buffets.

The spreadsheet I used is available on the link at the end of my sig, if you want to download it to help you do the math. It is set up with one line per credit, and calculates the total plan value including tax as well as the out-of-pcoket tip amount for budgeting purposes.
 
Besides the cost, I don't think my family could stomach 3 TS/day, plus you are talking 1-2 hrs. per meal, which takes a big chunk of your day.

The deluxe plan doesn't have to be 3TS per day, though. There seems to be an element of sticker shock regarding the deluxe plan that is leading a lot of people to think that the only way it can be a good value is if you use all the credits and use them all for table service. In my analysis, I didn't find that to be true. I did a LOT of DxDDP math and planning, not only to decide for myself if it was a good deal but also to make my case when talking to DH about it, because he places less value on the prepaid/convenience aspect of it than I do. And he was really skeptical about the cost, which is almost $2K over our 11 night trip.

We have 2 table service meals planned for most days of our trip. Some days, those two meals will use 3 credits, because we're trying a lot of the signature restaurants, but I still have quite a few credits not planned for. 13 adult and 16 child, to be exact. I also haven't calculated the value of the mugs or the 88 :eek: snack credits we'll have for our stay. On our ADRs alone, the deluxe plan is about $300 cheaper than the same meals OOP, and we'd eat two meals a day with or without the plan. This way, we don't have to think about the price or value of those meals at all - if we want to have a character breakfast at Ohana t see Lilo & Stitch, even though we aren't breakfast eaters, I'm not worrying over spending $18.99 for a cup of coffee and a fruit bowl, and if we want to order lobster at Narcoosees and porterhouse at Yachtsman, DH won't think twice about the price.
 

I was looking at your spreadsheet, thank you for the link. :)
I guess the price of the deluxe plan doesn't bother me because I know what I pay for groceries in a week's timespan at home, hehe. 4 males in the house, we tend to go thru food and drinks like they're nothing.
I was just trying to decide if it was a good value and fit for my family.
When I sat down to do the math, if we paid OOP for all meals and snacks, it would be around $2000. for us. So, the $1800. doesn't seem to be that bad for us. There's also the convience of not having to worry about carrying that much cash or credit cards with us because I don't do the charge card on the room key, too easy for me to forget my head when looking at all the Disney merchandise. :rolleyes:
 
It seems like the deluxe plan would be way too much food and way too much time spend eating when i imagine your kids would rather be out and about enjoying the parks/rides, etc.
 
It seems like the deluxe plan would be way too much food and way too much time spend eating when i imagine your kids would rather be out and about enjoying the parks/rides, etc.

It really depends on the kids. I don't think there is any such thing as too much food when you have growing boys, like the OP. My 9yo DS eats more than I do at most meals!

For us, the time spent at TS is a good thing - rather than spending 45min at CS, waiting in line, getting our own food and condiments, looking for a table and eating, we'll gladly spend the extra half-hour to have someone else take care of all the running for us. We don't take midday breaks, so TS is our break from the heat/lines/crowds. And since we still have one kid in the character autograph stage, character meals simply take the place of time we would otherwise have spent standing in line waiting to meet Mickey or Pooh or the princesses. And that's time well spent, especially for DS who is happy to spent his time eating rather than waiting around for DD to get her autographs.
 
We're considering the Deluxe plan for our February trip also. It's me, DH and DDs 6 and 4. We've used the dining plan on our last three trips and loved it, but there were always meals that we paid OOP. We always do at least 2 signature meals and the girls can't get enough character meals. After doing the math of what we'd planned using DDP and then OOP, the additional cost for moving up to Deluxe was nominal and we could still add more restaurants that we wanted to try. :banana: I don't mind the down time in the middle of the day (the girls like the break) and we enjoy an evening meal to relax after a day in the park. We aren't commando about our touring plans and realize that we'll never be able to do everything in one trip anyway. Gives us something to look forward to for the next trip!

Go with what works for your family. Enjoy your trip!!

Andrea
Mom w/ 2 princesses
princess: 6 princess: 4
 












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