What am I missing re DDP?

[pmaurer74]

for us it works out better. 2 adults and 1 child. The dinners we had averaged $90-100 and that in itself pays for almost the day. Lunches were usually around $30 for quick service and the snacks = $12 so for us it basically gave us free desserts and snacks every day but we ate at expensive restaurants and didn't waste the credits on breakfast very often.

 

[NMW]

The plans will save you money, IF you get a plan that is structured the way your family normally eats.

If you normally have a TS dinner every night and grab CS for lunch every day, the Basic plan will save that family money. The cost of a TS dinner (at Tutto Italia for eaxmple) alone pretty much equals the cost of the Basic dining plan. So for this family it's like getting the CS lunch and snack credit for free.

If like our family, you do a character/resort breakfast every morning, a few TS lunches, and about 5 signature dinners in an 8 day trip, the Deluxe dining plan is going to save our family money. It DOES save our family money. The cost of our dinner at Yachtsman and our breakfast at AKershous in a day (for example) is MORE $$ than the deluxe dining plan cost us for that day. Plus, we got 2 snack credits and a refillable mug, so yeah for us! We would order the same items whether we are on the plan or not. It is a plan that is structured perfectly to fit our families needs. Now for a family that would prefer to eat a CS breakfast and lunch every day, the deluxe plan is not going to save that family money.

In the case of the OP, a dining plan is probably not a good fit.

I have friends that do the deluxe plan as well, but eat some CS meals with it...something we would never do. I pointed out that they'd get a better bang for their buck if they did mostly TS meals and more signatures, but they don't care. What they like about the deluxe plan is that every meal is covered and paid for ahead of time. They eat whatever they want and don't think about it, like an all-inclusive. So for their family, it works. Even if it's not saving them as much as it saves our family.

Every family is different. We know a family that just went in Nov and they have 3 teenage boys. The DH booked the trip with AAA as a surprise for the family. When he told DW that he just picked the regular dining plan she freaked out. She told him that those boys would cost them a fortune in extra food and how could he be so crazy to book a plan that only included 2 meals a day when their boys (all over 6 feet tall and skinny ) eat like 5 meals a day!! Needless to say he called the travel agent and switched to the deluxe.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

OP, the reason it doesn't work for you and the math doesn't add up is because you are only eating 4 of 7 TS meals. It just doesn't work with the way you'd like to eat.

 

[delmar411]

the ddp works for us since we get the QSDP. Costs us $140 per night for the 6 of us and includes 2 counter service meals and 2 snacks per day. My kids are grazers so we end up having them split meals and snacks. I don't tend to track prices but I did notice that our breakfast at WPE was over $100 as was the one dinner we ate there. That was just one meal in the day and it nearly covered the entire daily cost of the plan. We do always end up with meals and snacks leftover, there seems to be more leftover on longer trips than on shorter trips for some reason, but we just get food to go on our last day so the credits don't go to waste.

If we eat at a TS, it is normally either the castle breakfast or the norway breakfast so we just pay for that OOP and use TiW to discount the meal.

 

[Rebecca924]

The plan works for us because we have two rapidly growing pre-teen boys. Our oldest (12) is already 5'9 and is constantly hungry (I'd pay money to burn calories the way he does!) Our family enjoys a sit down meal at the end of each day. I suppose if you have little kids or picky eaters it might not benefit you.

That being said - I miss the old plan. Our first trip to WDW we had the dining plan and appetizers, entree, dessert AND gratuity were included. Now I'm pretty sure it's just entree & dessert.

BTW - I eat each meal and usually LOSE 3 to 5 pounds each trip from all the walking! Good deal! I could never eat so much food at home.

We usually use our snack credits for breakfast so basically all of our meals are taken care of with the regular plan & we don't have much left over.

Do what works for you and have a great trip!

 

[tartemis]

I boycott DDPs on principle because I think they are ruining the quality of food at Disney.

 

[rubato]

We won't ever do it again, so don't worry, you aren't alone.
I think a lot of people add their receipts up at the end and think they got a good deal. What they don't figure in is that they may not have ordered all that if they weren't on the plan. I wouldn't order an expensive soda and dessert with my dinner, much less my lunch. I'm a simple person and I like to drink a lot of water with my meals. So, it just doesn't add up. Even free, it wasn't a good deal this time because I could have gotten a room discount. Lesson learned.

 

[ScottOKW2K]

You are not missing anything.

We've done close to three dozen trips to WDW and have only done the ddp 3 times. The only time that I have found that the numbers work out for my family is when it is a short trip during a holiday - Thanksgiving is the best example as we have used it twice during this time period. The reason it works then is (1) we want to maximize park time so we know all of our meals will be on site , and (2) there will be day(s) there the TIW discount is not available. for longer trips than that the numbers just don't work for us.

We're also part of that group that feels that there is a lot of food provided on the ddp. After each of the Thanksgiving trips where we use the dining plan we felt that this was too much food for us. We would not even WANT to do the ddp for a 10 ~12 day trip.

 

[2DisPrincesses]

I have run the numbers over and over- it saves us money (I don't include the prices of the desserts in the numbers, because we would not order them if not on the dining plan). As a PP mentioned, for us, we would spend the daily cost for the dining plan on our 1 TS meal, so the CS meal and snack are essentially free.

There is rarely something we want that is not on the dining plan, but if there is, we pay OOP.

The best part for me, is having it payed for ahead of time and not looking at prices on the menu! I am normally very frugal and it's nice while on vacation to not worry about it.

 

[Redheaded Sunshine]

We are a family of 5 (4 adults and one child),we always do the regular dining plan and save money!

The way we figure it, the cost of the plan is just about equal to the cost of a table service meal for us, so it's like we are getting a quick serve meal and snack almost for free!

We spend about $190 - $200 for a TS meal and CS meals are about $50 and if we each got a snack for $4 that would be another $48 as long as the price for the plan is less than that - we save money!

Also, by using the plan and paying in advance we can not look at the price of entree's and we can each order an AWESOME dessert! Usually at home we never order dessert but in Disney the desserts are so amazing how can you not want to try one!

Usually we use our snck credit for breakfast, however this year we will be staying at the BWV's so we will bring along breakfast and get to use our credits for FUN snacks!

I know the dining plan is not for everyone, but it works for us!

I agree...except we're generally 3 adults and 2 kids. Of course one of these kids is tending to eat like a grown man lately (wish I knew where he put it all so I could do the same!) LOL buffets will probably be our best friends!

I also like the fact that we don't have to worry about setting aside the money for our food, it's already paid for. The only thing we have to have to worry about is souveniers.

One thing that we do is bring extra snacks from home (we may do CL this time though) and save the snack credits for F&W festival! Yum!

 

[lblume91]

We have done the math & love the DDP. We eat a light breakfast in the room (pop tarts, granola bars, etc), early CS lunch, snack mid-afternoon & then late TS dinner. While it's not the value it used to be when tips & appetizers were included, it still works for us. Granted, we don't usually order desserts at home but it's nice to splurge for the week while we're on vacation. Money-wise, we usually come out ahead with the plan. If you deducted the desserts that we wouldn't order if paying OOP, we would break even. We like the convenience of having our meals prepaid.

We scored free dining for our upcoming trip so it was a no-brainer. Everyone has to do what works for them. For every fan of the DDPs, you'll find someone that absolutely hates them.

 

[klacey1]

For us, two adults, we love the convenience of the DDP. Being able to pay (or not, we love going during Free Dining) in advance and not having to worry about money and vacation is totally worth it. Plus, part of vacation for us is having a nice sit down dinner very night. We never use credits on lunch or breakfast, which not only would be a poor use of credits, but pointless for us. We're not breakfast eaters and would feel heavy and gross eating in the middle of the day. Having a CS lunch recharges our batteries after walking around all day. We use our snack credits for fun treats that we might hesitate on if we had to pull out our own money. For us, it always pays off.

 

[Figment2]

Here is how I prepay for my meals without using the DDP - Disney gift card. So far I've not had a problem paying for my meals with a gift card.

JMHO

Cyn

 

[RalphinSC]

With the large increases in OOP costs for table service dining the past couple of years, it seems Disney is starting to corral everyone into the DDP. I initially booked my MArch trip with the free QSDP. We'll it only took one Fantasmic dining package and one character breakfast for my DS6 for the math to make it cheaper to upgrade to the regular DDP. For the three of us, the upgrade was $154 for the week.

Well now that I do have all the TS credits, I made sure to set up ADR's to ensure we use every one of those and just looking through my itenerary, it's not going to be particularly hard to sqeeze out the CS credits and snack credits on our park days.

One big meal a day suits me fine and when you start adding in the costs of any character dining or signature dining, the DDP was what fit for me. I can certainly understand why it wouldn't work for others also.

 

[ariel_]

I agree that it depends on each individuals preferences but I loved the Dining Plan. We got free dining and upgraded to DXDP, I'm not sure how much we paid for that alone but what made the difference was that we had paid for it in advance and so could eat wherever and whatever we liked without having to worry about it. I was in DLRP last summer and bring a student at the time was constantly aware of how much we were spending on food every day. We have decided to go with the same dining offer for the next trip as we liked the freedom it gave and we enjoy going to sit down restaurants as opposed to counter service.

We didn't ever do the math to find out if we had saved or not, but as it was my first trip to WDW we went to just about every character meal and signature dining restaurant and the experiences I had were worth the price alone! I also tried lots of new foods and never worried about price when I was ordering which was awesome

 

[dmxwidget]

I always get the passholder dining plan...same as the others, except I don't get tickets. The dining plan usually saves me money, either the DDP or Deluxe.

 

[Hawk]

I boycott DDPs on principle because I think they are ruining the quality of food at Disney.

I am not sure I ever thought Disney had quality food; good food, but not quality food. The DDP would never work for us as we travel offsite for most meals and get higher quality food for far less than the Disney offerings. The DDP is good for those that stay onsite or who are at WDW for a very limited amount of days, but is most definitely overrated and not worth it to those who eat or have the ability to eat offsite. Far better food at much lower prices awaits elsewhere. JMHO.

Tim/Hawk

 

[kennedyandkailey]

I agree with PP that it just depends on your eating habits. We did not have the dining plan for years, but did last trip and will again this trip and the following. We actually do Deluxe. Reason being is that DH and I enjoy the meals more than anything else at WDW. We do not eat out regularly at home... I am all about feeding the family homemade healthy meals every day. As a result, vacation is the time we just sit back and enjoy eating out! I also enjoy being waited on! We do 3 TS meals every day! Yep... breakfast, lunch, and dinner. DS is like a clock when it comes to eating so we book ADRS at 8am, 1pm, and 7pm every day and he is happy as a clam with no meltdowns from low blood sugar. DD and DS see most of their characters at the character breakfasts and that cuts that out of our touring time. We always use the snack credits with a small snack in the afternoon (4pm or so) and a bottle of water. The refillable mugs are HUGE with our kids as well and they use them quite a bit!! When we do the math, we come out ahead on the plan. However, if we were not big TS people, I probably would not use it! I do not feel you get as great of a bargain using a lot of CS meals. I do really, really like knowing that every thing is paid for in advance and we can sit down, escape the crowds, and just enjoy not caring at all what the prices are. It's done and we can eat whatever we want with no record keeping or budgeting! It is like being at an all-inclusive resort! It is our big Disney vacation splurge!

 

[Colleen27]

As with any vacation add-on, it has to fit your travel style or it has no value. We don't get hoppers because we don't want to waste time traveling between parks in the middle of the day, and we don't usually get the water parks add on because we travel mostly during the winter when using those admissions is iffy at best. Those ticket upgrades are great for the people who like them, but they aren't a good fit for us.

The DDP is the same way. If you want a TS meal every day and order more or less along the lines of what the plan includes, there is value in it. But the more your travel habits vary from the plan's structure, the less worthwhile it is going to be for you.

 

[tndisneyfan]

The DDP isn't for everyone. We are planning a trip in June and are not planning on getting any of the DDP's. We aren't doing the basic DDP because we don't like to be tied down to an ADR every single day, plus some of the places we want to eat are not "good values" on the plan. For example CP for breakfast and 50's Prime Time.

We have done QSDP a few times and enjoyed it but we are wanting to do too many TS places OOP so we will have a hard time using up all our QS credits. So we are just going to do TIW.