What do you do without it???

[wgwtgb]

What do ppl without the ddp do?? Skimp? Counterservice most days and a few ts meals?? The wY I'm looking at it seems like 1 ts meal a day would equal the daily amount. Am I looking at it wrong? How much is an "average" ts (please don't burn me...I know every restaurant is different...just asking for an average...entree, dessert, beverage just like the myw+dining)

 

[LilyWDW]

What do ppl without the ddp do?? Skimp? Counterservice most days and a few ts meals?? The wY I'm looking at it seems like 1 ts meal a day would equal the daily amount. Am I looking at it wrong? How much is an "average" ts (please don't burn me...I know every restaurant is different...just asking for an average...entree, dessert, beverage just like the myw+dining)

We save up just like anyone does. We make the reservations for the restaurants we want. We do not limit table service just because we do not have the dining plan... why would we? In fact, we do at least one table service a day, sometimes 2 depending on our plans that day.

Personally, I would never pay for the dining plan. It is, in my opinion, too restrictive. I don't always want to eat the way the plan "dictates". I often prefer an app over a dessert. Sometimes I only want an app and dessert for my whole meal. Example, Les Chefs de France. I would prefer some French Onion soup and a flat bread for my meal. As such, I simply don't think the plan is worth it to me.

 

[havoc315]

What do ppl without the ddp do?? Skimp? Counterservice most days and a few ts meals?? The wY I'm looking at it seems like 1 ts meal a day would equal the daily amount. Am I looking at it wrong? How much is an "average" ts (please don't burn me...I know every restaurant is different...just asking for an average...entree, dessert, beverage just like the myw+dining)

Hard to say what the "average" is... It depends on the restaurant, it depends on what you order. At a place like Tutto Italia, it may be easy to exceed $40 per person. But at a place like Plaza Restaurant, an entire meal can easily be under $20.

Also -- As a family of four, it would be very rare that we would have any desire to order 4 desserts at one meal. It has nothing to do with saving money -- we don't skimp when we eat out. We often spend $50 per person on a good restaurant meal -- But that's without desserts. At most, we will split 2 desserts for 4 people. (Most of the time, we skip dessert altogether).
And beverages.... Half the time, we just drink tap water, because that is what we prefer. Ice cold water is usually preferable to us, over a paid beverage.

So let's look at reasonable use of the DDP for 2 adults, versus reasonable eating OOP:
The DDP costs about $94 for 2 adults, I believe.
Let's say they went to Columbia House for a QS lunch:
Both got sandwiches for lunch-- About $17 combined. Got 2 bottled waters, another $5. Shared an apple crisp for dessert -- $4. Total lunch OOP == $26

Dinner at Tony's -- 1 Spaghetti and Meatballs -- $17. 1 Shrimp Scampi -- $19.
Tap water to drink. Share Tiramisu for dessert -- $6.50.
Dinner total -- $42.50. (About $47 if you chose to drink soda).

Total on meals for the day -- $68.50 (about $73 if you got beverages with dinner).

Throw in 2 mid-day snacks... About $3 each...

And it's still about $15-$20 cheaper, than doing the dining plan. (And to me, there was no skimping involved in the choices... got mid-priced items, shared the most expensive desserts).

 

[Nadjalu]

Have to disagree with PP's calculations.

We are just back from a 7day/6 night trip last week (Jan 30-Feb 5) and DH loves to keep our receipts (we were on the DDP).

Each day our lunch at a CS ranged from $30-$42 per day for the 2 of us.
(the $42 price tag was lunch at WPE at DTD)

For dinner we averaged around $78-$85 per day for the both of us.

Our dining plan was free but if we would have paid for it, it would've been around $90 per day for both of us.
As you can see we would've saved money with the DDP. As lunch and dinner every day would've averaged $108 - $127 OOP.
Now that doesn't include the snacks we got, which avereged $4 each, so that is another savings.

Of course if you don't eat dessert or have a drink with your meal it is cheaper, but when on vacation we like to do so, so we save money with the plan. (it is even so much better when it is free dining)

Go ahead and take a look at the menus, most prices aren't totally correct, but they give you a good idea. Just think it will be a bit more and you will be ok.

FYI....2 hot dogs and 2 med sodas at Casey's in MK was over $15!!! That was no fries, no desserts. Repeat...2 hot dogs and 2 drinks.......CRAZY!!!

 

[sau418]

It really depends on family dynamics. We did several ts restaurants last trip and while those were a little on the pricy side as we had to pay for both kids at the buffets, the total balanced out because none of us are big eaters so at cs restaurants we frequently shared two adult entrees for the four of us. We are also water drinkers and even with the dining plan we order water delivered to the resort. We rarely ever get dessert, not our thing, and if we did get a treat we usually shared it.

We are doing the dining plan next trip for one main reason the ILs are going with us and they are cheap, if DH and I have it all planned out and paid in advance there will be no issues with them balking at prices.

 

[lblume91]

Our 1st two trips were in the pre-DDP years. Our last 3 trips (+ the one coming up in May) have included the DDP. On our 1st two trips, we would take breakfast items & eat in our room, split CS meals for lunch, then go offsite for TS-type dinner to save money. My DH is a super-tightwad so I really had to sell him on the DDP. He saved every receipt & did lots of number crunching when we got home to find out if we saved any money by using the DDP. We did. After doing it for a few trips now, we love it for the convenience of pre-paying for our meals. Plus, we like being able to let the kids enjoy desserts & snacks that we wouldn't do if we were paying OOP. My theory on DDP now is that as long as we're not losing money, we'll keep using it.

 

[MikeandReneePlus5]

Have to disagree with PP's calculations.

We are just back from a 7day/6 night trip last week (Jan 30-Feb 5) and DH loves to keep our receipts (we were on the DDP).

Each day our lunch at a CS ranged from $30-$42 per day for the 2 of us.
(the $42 price tag was lunch at WPE at DTD)

For dinner we averaged around $78-$85 per day for the both of us.

Our dining plan was free but if we would have paid for it, it would've been around $90 per day for both of us.
As you can see we would've saved money with the DDP. As lunch and dinner every day would've averaged $108 - $127 OOP.
Now that doesn't include the snacks we got, which avereged $4 each, so that is another savings.

Of course if you don't eat dessert or have a drink with your meal it is cheaper, but when on vacation we like to do so, so we save money with the plan. (it is even so much better when it is free dining)

Go ahead and take a look at the menus, most prices aren't totally correct, but they give you a good idea. Just think it will be a bit more and you will be ok.

FYI....2 hot dogs and 2 med sodas at Casey's in MK was over $15!!! That was no fries, no desserts. Repeat...2 hot dogs and 2 drinks.......CRAZY!!!

I think your post and the PP are good bookends that sum up the bottom line for me...sometimes you make out, sometimes you don't.

As shown, if you eat CS at MK and then Tony's you lose on the deal. OTH, if you eat at Chef De France and Wolgang Puck Express (for CS) you will be ahead.

It all depends.

But one thing I say, is I can't see how you will ever make out consistently if you don't eat at a nicer restaurant every day.

 

[patsal]

Well for me, I order what I want where and when I want it without being a slave to the plans...much easier and usually less expensive than a dining plan.

 

[havoc315]

I think your post and the PP are good bookends that sum up the bottom line for me...sometimes you make out, sometimes you don't.

As shown, if you eat CS at MK and then Tony's you lose on the deal. OTH, if you eat at Chef De France and Wolgang Puck Express (for CS) you will be ahead.

It all depends.

But one thing I say, is I can't see how you will ever make out consistently if you don't eat at a nicer restaurant every day.

Absolutely. The OP made it sound like it was impossible to eat more cheaply than the ddp. I was pointing out that for many people --- you can eat just as well, with no skimping, with oop being cheaper than the ddp.

If you always want dessert and beverages for each person, if you get the most expensive entrees, then the ddp saves money. If you skip or share desserts, if you order mid priced entrees, it is cheaper to go oop.

 

[Allison]

Eat wherever I want and pay cash.

 

[Minnie Lor]

We'll purchase a gift card before we go and use that instead. We have a TS planned each day and sometimes two. I crunched the numbers on what we would really want to eat vs what the DP allowed and it only saved us $40. That's a pretty good amount when you are on a tight budget but what if you decide one day that you're not really hungry or maybe a light snack would do. We opted for more flexibility while still benefiting of prepaying.

 

[vicki_c]

Eat wherever I want and pay cash.

LOL - that was exactly what I was going to write!

 

[Tara922c]

We do the DDP out of convience, and not have to worry about paying for food, but honestly, I think we could eat cheaper without it. For one, we never order dessert. (well I lie I always order a cannoli at my favorite pizza joint) We like sweets, but we are always too full. We rarely order dd her own food because she likes what we eat, and portions are always so big. We also drive to wdw, so going off property is always an option for us. If not on the DDP I would most likely order smaller items, or we would share an appitizer and meal. Our first year we didn't have the DDP, and for the three of us we spent around 600 on food including tips, and including 150 bucks plus a 30 dollar tip at Cali-grill. We ate off property alot because it rained so much while we were there. Being said, we enjoy having the DDP, and not having to worry about paying for meals out of pocket. I like being able to order what I want, and splurge on my diet while on vacation. I like knowing that my food budget is paid for before I go on my trip. I could do without DDP, but my dh wouldn't dare! There is no way I could get him to go to 35 dollar a person buffet without it! The DDP is a great value for kids as well. 12 bucks a day for dd, and one buffet is around 20 bucks! It really pays for itself there.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

We don't use a dining plan, & I don't think we skimp. The basic DDP definitely wouldn't work for us. We like to do 2 TS meals a day, & don't like CS. We eat a TS breakfast or an early lunch & a signature dinner. If either worked for us it would be DXDP, but it doesn't cater to our style of eating. Our DS(18) often (but not always) orders an appetizer, entree, & dessert, but my DH & I never order all 3 each. I can't eat that much. Normally, I prefer appys & dessert. Often, my DH & I will order 1 or 2 appys, 1 entree, & 2 desserts to share. If an entree looks really good to me, we'll order 1 appy, 2 entrees, & usually only have room for 1 dessert to share. While our DS usually gets a snack, we rarely do. It makes more sense to us to pay for what we actually want, than pay for food we wouldn't normally order just because it's on a plan. To me, the plans only make sense, if you would normally order everything that the plan offers.

 

[La2kw]

We eat what we want, when we want to. We don't eat an entree and a dessert at every meal. We eat appetizers if we want. We eat offsite because there are some great restaurants in the area that we enjoy as well. We eat at restaurants that don't accept DDP like HOB or Bistro de Paris. We also like to have a few meals in our DVC kitchen.

We have been visiting WDW well before there was any DDP. Menus used to be better, restaurants used to be less crowded, there were fewer character meals cluttering up all the unique restaurants. Those were the days. Restaurants at WDW just don't have the appeal for us that they used to have, so dining there is really no big deal.

 

[DCDisney]

We only do the DDP when it's free now. We like doing signature meals which since they cost 2 TS credits but aren't twice as expensive aren't a good value on the DDP. For example a NY strip steak at Le C is $35 at Yachtsman which we strongly prefer the same cut of steak is $42. The DDP doesn't work well in terms of value if you like to do lunches and breakfasts which we also like to do a few times per trip. I have kids who are 11 and 13 and many times a whole adult meal is way too much food for them even without desserts. If they share CS a few times and usually split a dessert doesn't make sense on the DDP but in real life it's healthier and we don't throw away half of 2 meals. We are also big water drinkers and tap doesn't bother us so free sodas, bottomless shakes, and smoothies offer no value to us. When we get free DDP and it saves us over a room discount we take it and still eat our way as much as works and find when we total up reciepts we typically save about $100 over the cost of the plan. BUT we usually end up having spent about $50-60 at MK confectionary using up snack credits that we take home and don't really need at all. We also left 10 bottles of bottled water behind on our last trip that we got with meals and never used. So ultimately we really saved less than $20 over the cost of the DDP which is not worth it to us because in some cases on the DDP we ordered desserts we didn't eat more than a bite of. If we went OOP we would eat the same way just order less desserts and share a few things here and there. On past trips when our kids were WDW kid aged the DDP did save us money but we also did maximize by booking expensive meals like Le C, Coral Reef, Sunshine Seasons, Wolfgang Puck Express. We had one trip where we saved almost $800 using the DDP but that was one of the first years it existed.

 

[A_Princess'_Daddy]

It's funny to hear you ask that question, because we're doing the Deluxe Dining Plan on our upcoming trip to prevent our guest from arguing with us about paying for each meal (this way we can just say "sorry, we've already paid, put your wallet away") and I am finding the complete opposite to be true. It seems like so much work to make sure that all of our ADRs add up to the number of credits we'll have, and while I don't think it will cost us more money than paying OOP, I also don't think it will save us much and we now have to hit every meal if we want to "get our money's worth".

It's also going to definitely provide us with far more food than we'd otherwise choose to eat, but we're not going to obsess over it, since we're primarily trying to prevent our friend from trying to pay, and so if we skip an appetizer or dessert or miss an ADR, it's not the end of the world, but it seems like so much extra work to me!

 

[NYEmomma]

I've been going back & forth whether to do the dining plan. I love pre-paying and not looking at or worrying about the prices at all during our trip. DH is a tightwad so having it paid for upfront is less stressful for him.

I've spent the better part of the past week putting together several different meal scenarios for our 6 day trip so that I can compare the costs.

I included 1 CS & 1 TS per day (sometimes 2 TS per day with a character meal) and ordered how we typically would. We're both water drinkers & though *I* love sweets, I wouldn't typically order dessert at every single meal. DH has a food allergy that prevents him from eating chocolate so he rarely gets desserts. I rarely eat meat and neither DH or I go for "fancy" food.

With every scenario, we save ~$50 per person not doing the dining plan. It's not a lot & I'm sure there will be extra costs that I haven't envisioned. But even if we break even OR go slightly over, the flexibility is worth it IMO. We'll have DD with us & I don't know whether she'll like sitting for many TS meals. I'm going to play it by ear... and without the dining plan, we'll be able to do that.

 

[JJsmama]

For me this year, it is about my kids' ages and flexibilty. The older two are now Adults and the younger is 3. Sometimes my olders would want kids meals - especially at Contempo and Sunshine seasons where they have the plain little subs. My kids like things PLAIN. If the sandwich already has avocado mayonnaise for expample, they are not going to eat it. If I order them Kids Meals, but have to pay the adult price, it seems like big waste. Other times, my little guy might want something off the adult menu because the kid choices are not good. If he split with me, his credit would be wasted... We would never eat apps, entrees and desserts in one sitting. None of us can eat that much. We would rather eat what we want at the meal, walk around for a while and then go to one of the bakeries or ice cream places for dessert an hour or two later.

This is the first year I will do OOP. I am keeping at least 1 TS per day and we will eat 3x a day. I may pay less OOP (almost certainly will) I may pay the same or more, but I want the flexibility to pay for what I actually want.

 

[bumbershoot]

We've just had the one trip, but it was a long one so we had a lot of eating opportunities.

We upgraded to APs and bought the Tables in Wonderland card, which paid for itself in just that trip.

We sometimes got just an appetizer and an entree, and split that between DH and I. The entree would be covered with the dining plan, but not the appetizer, and then there would be an extra entree going to waste...and we'd have to pay OOP for the appetizer. The only things we drink are coffee and water, and I don't drink the coffee at Disney (nasty stuff for the most part); I'll also get a mixed drink every few days, and that's certainly not covered by the dining plan. We ate quite often at the room (DVC so we had a kitchen), our yummy frozen vegetarian Amy's meals, and sandwiches, bagels, eggs...our own coffee, and we also would keep desserts back there so that we didn't have to quiz the servers on what exactly was in each dessert (some ingredient issues).

We had one table service per day, but apart from the Boma (and Crystal Palace, but we didn't pay for that) and Hollywood and Vine days, the table service NEVER hit any sort of level that would have made up for the DDP, especially over the whole trip.

We didn't skimp, we ordered exactly what we WANTED, and it all came in under what the DDP would have cost (yes I did the math), even adding in the booze and not-covered items.