Trying to decide on DDP

[Aliceacc]

The 5 of us are going to Disney next August. While it's a complete budget breaker, we're staying at the CR so we're within walking/monorail distance of the Magic Kingdom.

My husband and I, our 10 year old son (who eats anything and would be happy with adult portions), and our 2 girls (8 and 5) who are incredibly picky... I can probably assume that they'll eat chicken nuggets, pizza, and mac & cheese for the entire week.

Additionally, we have some issues with characters in costumes... everyone from Santa to Chuckie Cheese. So while I'm assuming we'll do Chef Mickeys and possibly a princess meal (breakfast?? lunch??) , I'm not thinking that we'll do a whole lot of character meals.

So, at the moment at least, I'm thinking that the DDP would mean over-paying. Right now (and my opinion changes on a hourly basis) I'm thinking of booking 2 or 3 ADR's, and doing counter service for the rest of the trip.

So....... can someone:
a) comfirm that this isn't a horrible idea

b) make some suggestions for those ADR's? I haven't been to Disney since 1990, so for all intents and purposes I'm a total newbie.

 

[laurabelle]

Just because "everybody's doing it" doesn't mean you have to...
Sometimes I do DDP, sometimes I don't. I have an AP and DDE card, so that works well for us. But my kids are older and love eating at the TS restaurants.

As far as scared kids and characters goes, I found that doing a princess meal worked better for my scared dd. The characters tend to keep their distance when kids look afraid. You could see how they do in the parks. Honestly, I never did so many TS meals until my kids were older...it just wouldn't have worked well for us.

Breakfast and lunch are usually cheaper for table service meals. If you're not on the DDP, I would do a couple of lunch table service, not every day, but as you said 2 or 3. You could have a light breakfast in the room or at counter service, nice lunch, then counter service dinner. It will give you a break in the middle of the day, and save your budget.

There's always the possibility that Disney will offer Free Dining again next August. If that's the case you'll have to compare any possible room discount you would receive at CR (maybe AAA?) as compared to the free dining plan where you'll pay rack rate for your room and have to buy park tix through Disney. Without knowing if Disney will offer any special promos, I would plan on the assumption that you'll pay for your meals OOP. HTH

 

[myweefeet]

I think you could add up (and perhaps you have done this already) the cost to eat at the places you have thought about making reservations at. What would that cost per person going at each place. Then add up with the DDP would be for each person. You might find it is worth it. I just said in another post some of those meals are almost $30.00 for an adult. Then I am guessing even just a snack is going to be $5.00 or more. So $40.00 per person per day might not really go that far. Thus meaning you might spend less if you get the DDP.

We are going this coming Sep. We are doing the DDP. I also like that it has allowed me to plan ahead, make reservations through our agent an just get that all taken care of.

 

[beth_cam]

This is how I figured to ddp or not to ddp...(since I don't know how many days you will be going I'm throwing in 7 nights, so 7 days worth of food meaning a total of 14 meals)

DDP cost for 7nights = 938

2 sit down dinner buffets with tax and tip = 270
12 counter service meals = about 600
Total = 870

I figured dinner buffets but you could definitely get that number down by doing breakfast or lunch buffets or by skimping and sharing at a non buffet/ayce restaurant. I also figured CS meals at $50 each which may be a bit high if you are going to be doing lots of sharing of drinks and food etc. So just looking at 2 sit down dinners, my budget works our to only $68 less than the ddp and doesnt include any snacks. I actually when figuring for myself had my cs budget really strict because I knew my two little ones would share a lot but then realized that for an extra $250 or so instead of skimping sharing always reading the menues etc we could all get our own meals, and also eat at a nice restaurant every day. There are plenty of sit down meals that don't have characters that are good food and lots of fun.

 

[beth_cam]

I forgot though that with the new ddp for 2008 you will have to also pay the tip. So adding that for 7 ts meals assuming they were at the cost of what I put above, would add 20ish per day to your ddp cost.

 

[Luv2Roam]

Also consider you are going to FL in August.
You will be (or at the least should) drink a lot more fluids.
One year DH vacationed here in late August and did not eat near as much as usual because we were so full from drinking cold liquids.

 

[ntsammy5]

Just because "everybody's doing it" doesn't mean you have to...
Sometimes I do DDP, sometimes I don't.

How true, how true! I've used DDP twice and will again in December and gone 3 additional times in the last 2 years where I haven't gotten DDP. Sometimes it's a good deal (especially when it's semi-free) and sometimes it isn't. One thing I can categorically say is that when you're on DDP the trip becomes somewhat centred on food. Last September during free DDP, DS (28) and his GF were on the plan with us and he complained about all the time we spent eating! Didn't have enough time to do some of the things he wanted to do! Also we seemed to spend a lot of time at Epcot. Just our experience.....