We saved $500 not doing the DDP

[Tricia1972]

We did the DDP last year and it just didn't feel 'right' to us and the way we eat. We looked at menus and pricing and decided we could save without it for our 2008 trip. As the trip drew closer, I worried more, did we make the right choice? Coming back I am happy to report that we did make the right choice for us! We loved our meals and always ordered exactly what we wanted.

Does our way work for everyone? Absolutely not, but likewise the DDP doesn't work for everyone either. I read many posts how people save hundreds with the plan, I thought it only fair to share how we saved hundreds without the plan.

Some information about us...

5 Adults, 1 Child and 1 Infant

When Dining off site (Outback and Captain Hiram's - kids both ordered a meal, which I include in the numbers against the DDP - not very fair because the DDP wouldn't cover the infant regardless)

We were renting a car for our day in Vero Beach anyway, but having a car enabled us to dine off site three times (Third meal is not figured in our calculations because my parents treated us that night at Bahama Breeze)

We own DVC, and stayed in a 2BR at SSR. Almost everyone ate breakfast in the room each morning, and some wanted to eat sandwiches for lunch there versus eating CS in the parks. This could be done in any room with a refrigerator.

Quite often we'd find ourself sharing or filling up on snacks throughout the parks.

Yes, we could have gotten more with the plan, but we got exactly what we wanted and never felt deprived doing it our way. It was nice for us to go to a cart and not care that something wouldn't figure into the plan, but just order whatever we wanted.

We had two extenuating circumstances that affected us - My sister had a bad kidney infection the day we were flying out and she didn't join us until Day 3. If we had been on the DDP we would have wasted her credits for those two days. OOP we just didn't pay for her meals. Also my husband got the stomach flu, and couldn't eat a whole meal at Jiko on day 7 - he came along with us as he was a bit better and just split my chicken with me. Two more credits that we would have pre-paid for that wouldn't have been used.

On the DDP we'd have had:
35 Adult TS Credits
7 Child TS Credits
35 Adult CS Credits
7 Child CS Credits
42 Snack Credits

We would/could have used:
30 Adult TS Credits (if our two off sites had been on site)
5 Child TS Credits
16 Adult CS Credits
2 Child CS Credits
38 Snack Credits

Yes, we have 'wasted' credits, but we never ate a meal in the room that we didn't want to - nor were we ever hungry and wishing for more food.


Our Cost Calculation:
DDP Cost for our Group: $1399.58
OOP Cost for our Group: $894.83 (includes all meals off site (we could have eaten on site and used credits for these meals), but it removes our OOP Costs for items not covered on the DDP)

Day by Day Costs:
Day 1 - Artist's Palette $6.38 (1 CS)

Day 2 - Beaches & Cream $80.29 (5 TS)
...........$21.99 Kitchen Sink Not in Plan and $14.00 Gratuity not in DDP
Day 2 - LeCellier $158.08 (5 TS)
...........$15.00 Adult Beverages and $27.57 Gratuity not in DDP
Day 2 - Sunshine Season's $2.76 (1 Snack)
Day 2 - Green Thumb Emporium $5.86 (2 Snack)

Day 3 - Artist's Palette FREE (Register wouldn't count discount and Concierge just comp'd us instead of applying the 20% discount like I requested - Should have been $7.60 ) (1 CS)
Day 3 - Offsite - Captain Hiram's near Vero Beach $139.15 ($21.23 of which is gratuity)

Day 4 - Main St Bakery $17.05 (1 CS + 2 Snacks)
Day 4 - Pecos Bill's $46.02 (5 CS)
Day 4 - Pinocchio's Village Haus $7.33 (2 Snacks)
Day 4 - Pinocchio's Village Haus $8.40 (1 CS)
Day 4 - Main St Confectionery $10.60 (1 Snack)
...........$7.20 Not in DDP
Day 4 - Aloha Isle $8.50 (2 Snacks)
Day 4 - Frontier Land Popcorn Cart $7.75 (2 Snacks)
...........$3.75 Not in DDP
Day 4 - Main St Confectionery $2.99 (1 Snack)

Day 5 - Artist's Palette $4.66 (2 Snacks)
Day 5 - Artist's Palette $2.51 (1 Snack)
Day 5 - Sommerfest $28.57 (2 CS and 3 Snacks)
Day 5 - Tangierine $37.12 (3 CS)
Day 5 - Land Pretzel Cart $11.50 (1 Snack)
...........$8.00 not on DDP

Day 6 - Beverly & Sunset $11.72 (2 Snacks)
............$5.50 not on DDP
Day 6 - Earl of Sandwich $35.10 (3 CS)
...........$11.95 not on DDP
Day 6 - Outback Steakhouse $131.86 ($25.00 of which is gratuity)
Day 6 - Goofy's Candy Company $30.30 (5 Snacks)
...........$16.46 not on DDP

Day 7 - Asia Slush Cart $3.51 (1 Snack)
Day 7 - Geoffrey's Tea Cart $6.51
...........not on DDP - whole cart is exempt
Day 7 - Jiko $181.07 (8 TS)
...........$18.50 Adult Beverage & $31.58 Gratuity Not on DDP

Day 8 - Crystal Palace $143.39 (6 TS)
...........$25.01 Gratuity not on DDP
Day 8 - Main St Confectionery $14.65 (1 Snack)
...........$11.00 Not on DDP
Day 8 - Main St Bakery $24.39 (10 Snacks)
Day 8 - Casey's $4.25 (1 CS)

Grand Total Spent: $1172.99
Less Gratuities: $144.39
Less Items Not in Plan: $133.76 (including tax on those items)
DDE Discount Applied to Grand Total: $112.33

Our average Snack Credit Value would have been $2.88

 

[tnd]

This is really helpful, thank you for posting it. I've been running the DxDP numbers for us if we end up going in January, so these comparisons are very helpful for me.

 

[Pumbaa_]

thanks for posting. I understand completely. As much as I want to do DxDP, I just can't get the numbers to work for me, nor can i work up the energy to plan all the meals.

The i think, what if we don't want to one day? Feel like you have to or lose the credits.

So we will continue to be DDE'ers

 

[angelmav]

Thanks for reporting back Tricia, hope it was a great trip!

 

[manwithabook]

Hi Tricia. First let me say that I appreciate the effort you put into this post.

It would be nice to see what your actual OOP would have been if not for the illnesses and free food, which reduced your spending.

It would also be nice to have factored in the grocery costs and the costs of the rental car, insurance, and gas, which are expenses (thanks to the Disney Magic Express) many WDW vacationers do not need to incur, but without which, one can not purchase off-site food. The daily expense of the car rental needs to be counted as part of the cost incurred in the "cheaper" offsite meals in order for this comparison to be a valid inclusion in your post.

Lastly, it would be nice to see what the costs would have been pre-DDE discount, since those of us who are non-Florida-Resident non-season-passholders are not eligible for the DDE and we would therefore find numbers created from within a DDE context to be less useful for our own cost comparisons when planning our trips (which is why you posted this in the first place, I assume.)

I know a lot of what I just said sounds critical, and I don't mean to be critical of you. I just want to make sure that other people who read your post remember to factor these things in when deciding whether your comments have any bearing on their own vacation planning.

Again, thanks for your efforts here.

 

[Tricia1972]

Hi Tricia. First let me say that I appreciate the effort you put into this post.

It would be nice to see what your actual OOP would have been if not for the illnesses and free food, which reduced your spending.

I understand, but it's impossible to accurately factor in what the costs would have been for my sister who wasn't there for Beaches & Cream, Le Cellier and Captain Hiram's (The three meals she missed). Also, I think that our circumstances prove an important point about the DDP. Things happen, not everyone is always hungry or even able to dine due to illness. Guesses would be Beaches & Cream - Approx $13 if she ate her own burger, she eats like a bird and may have shared. Le Cellier we definitely would have shared the chicken - I had half mine left over, so no cost there other than $2.19 for a soda, and Captain Hiram's would have been $20 for her because she would have gotten the 1.5 lbs of Crab Legs and a soda. (Crab legs were SO cheap there)

It would also be nice to have factored in the grocery costs and the costs of the rental car, insurance, and gas, which are expenses (thanks to the Disney Magic Express) many WDW vacationers do not need to incur, but without which, one can not purchase off-site food. The daily expense of the car rental needs to be counted as part of the cost incurred in the "cheaper" offsite meals in order for this comparison to be a valid inclusion in your post.

As I addressed in my post - rental car played no factor in it to us, we had a rental car anyway. For those planning to use the free DME then yes, you need to personally look at what a rental car would cost you for the week. Rental cars and prices vary greatly by type of car, when you're renting and various discounts that may or may not be available to you. If saving money by paying OOP is the only reason you're renting a car then it may well be cheaper for you to do the DDP. As I said, our circumstances don't fit everyone, but they do fit some. Not everyone uses the free DME for one reason or another. Some have already booked a rental car who may be looking at the DDP, and for them there is no additional cost to their trip renting a car. Again, this is why I was careful to share our circumstances prefacing my post. Some may look and say "a ha" that may work for us. Others, like you, look and say "a ha" their situation does not match mine. Either way my feelings aren't hurt.

Grocery bill was $100/week, but I did NOT factor that in, because that's our grocery bill with or without the DDP. (We did the DDP for two weeks in October and spent $200 at the grocery store using a Grocery Stop with our pick up service from the airport)

Lastly, it would be nice to see what the costs would have been pre-DDE discount, since those of us who are non-Florida-Resident non-season-passholders are not eligible for the DDE and we would therefore find numbers created from within a DDE context to be less useful for our own cost comparisons when planning our trips (which is why you posted this in the first place, I assume.)

If you read my whole post you see that I do show what the DDE discount is at the bottom. If you add that to the total we spent OOP that's our pre-DDE cost. I do not factor in the cost of the card, but for this trip it'd be about $15, figuring it's our fourth trip using it this year.

I know a lot of what I just said sounds critical, and I don't mean to be critical of you. I just want to make sure that other people who read your post remember to factor these things in when deciding whether your comments have any bearing on their own vacation planning.

Again, thanks for your efforts here.

You don't sound critical, you actually bring up quite a few points that I already addressed within my post. As I said it does not work for everyone, and I was careful to share as much pertinent information about our group and how we used it before sharing our savings. I too believe details like these are important for others when sharing information that may affect someone making their decisions. (Otherwise I'd have omitted them from my original post and just said "We saved $500 without the plan")

 

[Tricia1972]

Thanks for reporting back Tricia, hope it was a great trip!

It was wonderful and magical!!

 

[elump1]

Thanks for this post, it was very informative! We have used the DDP previously and LOVED it, but we are not using it for our upcoming trip. When I looked at what we would typically eat if we were not on the plan (which is a combination of CS and TS), it was not quite as much as the cost of the plan, although it was close. We will be doing mostly character breakfasts or lunches for our TS which happen to be a little less expensive than other options, so this I think is what resulted in the small savings. Our main factor this time though was the fact that we have two small children and don't want to feel as though we are losing money if we have to cancel any of our sit-down meals, which is definitely a possibility with a 2 year old and a 2 month old! My situation this time, like yours, is an instance where the dining plan does not necessarily fit our needs for this trip. I am sure that we will use the DDP again in the future, just not this time. I am going to try to do the same as you did here to see if we saved, lost, or came out about even compared to the DDP because I have gone back and forth about getting it for this trip!

 

[luv_my_grlz]

This is a great thread! Thank you so much for the info!

Like many here, I'm an avid planner when it comes to our Disney trips! We got the free dining in 2006 and were debating whether or not it would be worthwhile to get DDP this year. When I ran the numbers, it seems like it would kind of be a wash for us.

That said, DH convinced me to do it. To a large degree out of convenience, and also because we want to enjoy the vacation and meals and not have to "think" about the menu prices. Personally, I know I will enjoy it more if I'm not concerned about that.

Like everyone has said, it works for some and not for others, but I just thought i would throw in our reasoning as a possible consideration.

 

[MariDisney]

Does our way work for everyone? Absolutely not, but likewise the DDP doesn't work for everyone either. I read many posts how people save hundreds with the plan, I thought it only fair to share how we saved hundreds without the plan.

A very insightful post!! What I quoted above is really the crux of the whole thing. Different strokes for different folks. I don't really know why some people feel like they MUST get the DDP, and then feel tied down to too many ADRs or can't go with the flow or whatever. The best thing each individual party can do, I think, is figure out what they'd do "naturally" and then work out which is the best value and most comfortable situation. In our case, the DDP is the way to go. For plenty of others it's not. I am so glad you figured out the best way for your family. It doesn't sound like you have some great meals. WE LOVE the Kitchen Sink!

 

[Eganclan]

Still can't decide for our upcoming trip in May. We would save some $ and we can use DDP for Fantasmic and on Mother's Day but I feel like it would limit other decisions we may want to make along the way and we would be saving $ based on what we are allowed to eat not necessarily what we would normally eat. At this point I think that I may just stick to DDE and order what we want and just have one receipt for the server to deal with. I was so excited to be able to try it out with the AP room discount but the more I look at it I am not sure that it is for us. Thanks for your post.

 

[wezee]

I guess I am dumb or maybe just confused...but I do not understand how the food and $$s you posted for each day could feed 5 adults and 2 children. There seems to be a lot of "holes' in your vacation dining...unless I missed something somewhere. How does, 5 adults and 2 children share 2-3 CS? I agree, that having a rental car and eating off-site could save, in addition to sharing meals, especially with chldren....but a few of days you list, seem pretty scant??
Maybe I missed the part listing how many meals were eaten in room, at your resort????
Could an average person eating 2-3 meals a day....without a DVC ( no kitchen) and no rental car, expect the same savings as you experienced???

 

[mickey2000]

Quote "It would also be nice to have factored in the grocery costs and the costs of the rental car, insurance, and gas, which are expenses (thanks to the Disney Magic Express) many WDW vacationers do not need to incur, but without which, one can not purchase off-site food. The daily expense of the car rental needs to be counted as part of the cost incurred in the "cheaper" offsite meals in order for this comparison to be a valid inclusion in your post."
Just maybe the rental car was for the parks and being free IMO of the horrible buses and long waits. Gosh I have been there so many times I can drive from the airport to the parks without any tolls ! Also you do need gas however not insurance in 98% of cases... I heard this till I'm blue in the face CONVIENCE

 

[wdwmaw]

Thank you for your calculations. We too find it more difficult to pay for the dining plan. Our kids are now concidered adults and thats alot of money. We have the DDE card and we also eat small snacks in the room. If I plan our TS meals right it will be our only meal in one day.

 

[Tricia1972]

Weeze, I don't think you're dumb at all, just trying to clarify. I tried to provide as much information in my original post to answer all of the questions that you have, but I'm happy to clarify to avoid any confusion.

Our party 5 Adults, 1 Child and 1 Infant - infant would not have factored in DDP and would have been sharing with us regardless.

Breakfast - As I stated, we ate that in the room almost every morning. Generally we had a bowl of cereal, bagel, oatmeal, etc, and I feel that an average family could do the same for breakfast so long as they have a refrigerator in their room. Perhaps not as comfortably, which is why I shared that we have a kitchen. Everyone's mileage will vary according to their specific circumstances.

Lunch - Some would have CS and others would have a sandwich in the room. Nothing very special in the room - cold cuts with cheese, peanut butter & jelly, etc, but lots of times that's what some of the group would prefer.

Specifically our lunches were (beginning with day 2):
Saturday - Beaches and Cream - for all 6 of us there at the time
Sunday - Captain Hirams (Scant this day because we were all so full after our huge lunch that only one person wanted a real supper the boys had PB&J in the room and the rest had crackers & cheese versus a 'real' meal)
Monday - Pecos Bill's CS for Lunch for all 7 of us
Tuesday - Artist's Palette for 2 and room for rest
Wednesday - Earl of Sandwich for 6 of us - 7th person didn't want to come to DTD and ate a sandwich in the room. We split 3 sandwiches and 3 bags of potato chips because nobody was hungry enough for their own sandwich.
Thursday - In room
Friday - Crystal Palace - all 7 of us

Our Dinners were:
Saturday - Le Cellier - 6 of us
Sunday - See above
Monday - Bahama Breeze (Paid for by my parents, as stated in OP) - 7 of us
Tuesday - Snack around WS - equivalent of 5 CS meals, 4 Snacks and $8.00 of items not covered on DDP - 6 of us - 7th stayed behind in room
Wednesday - Outback Steakhouse - 7 of us
Thursday - Jiko - 5 of us, 4 ordered meals due to illness as mentioned in OP - PB&J for kids and babysitter in room.
Friday - Airport and leftover snacks from our earlier indulgences at MK

Regarding Day 1 (Friday) we didn't arrive at the resort until almost 9:00, we grabbed one sandwich for the boys went to the store and got our groceries for the week. That's why it's just 1CS on Friday (Day 1).

I don't know that you could experience this much savings without the rental car. You'd probably have to give up the three TS meals we did off site and replace them with CS. Again, this is why I was careful to mention that we did have a rental car and why I listed where we ate by name. I don't want anyone to have the impression that we ate all of our meals on site at a CS or TS location OR that we did this with the DME.

As I posted in a different reply - some will look at this and think a-ha, and others will not. I know you personally love the signature dining experience, wine pairings, etc. I am sure that our way will not work for you. It may, however, work for others with similar situations to ours.

 

[Tricia1972]

Quote "It would also be nice to have factored in the grocery costs and the costs of the rental car, insurance, and gas, which are expenses (thanks to the Disney Magic Express) many WDW vacationers do not need to incur, but without which, one can not purchase off-site food. The daily expense of the car rental needs to be counted as part of the cost incurred in the "cheaper" offsite meals in order for this comparison to be a valid inclusion in your post."
Just maybe the rental car was for the parks and being free IMO of the horrible buses and long waits. Gosh I have been there so many times I can drive from the airport to the parks without any tolls ! Also you do need gas however not insurance in 98% of cases... I heard this till I'm blue in the face CONVIENCE

That is EXACTLY why we were renting a car, that and we wanted the trip to the ocean. I HATE busing with our kids and the stroller and the other 500 people waiting for our bus which shows up every 20-45 minutes. This isn't a Disney transportation thread, so I shouldn't be going there, but while busing is great for some - we are not huge fans personally.

 

[wezee]

We hope to buy a DVC in a couple of years....and will prolly re-think our dining sched. then. But I doubt DH will ever rent a car or eat off-site. He loves the fact that he never has to drive on vacation and he is a WDW foodie...especially the signature rest.

 

[mickey2000]

Oh and thank you for the report! I agree with you!

With my family, if its not free, it doesn't work either. We also would save money by NOT having the plan. We wouldn't be eating daily with all the choices that are given day after day. We usually go for at least 9 + days at a time and also like to eat off property. If its free I don't feel bad skipping a meal. Disney knows what they are doing and now with the tips there is very little to NO savings IMO. With the deluxe plan multiply that savings (little to none) by more expensive meals and higher tips. Each time I hear people say I'm doing it for the CONVIENCE I have to laugh! What about the tip ??? You would be better off on a cruise .
I enjoy food at the parks however its not my main concern. I'm there to have fun and in September the parks close early! Oh I know, I can eat at 9PM, hover thats not a choice that I desire..
I won't be buying any of the plans in my future as I don't want to ..............................