Why Share on DDP?

[hopelea]

I have read so many posts about people sharing while on the DDP. I guess my question is, why share? If you are on the DDP what does it matter if you clean your plate or not?

I can't see my DH sharing a plate with me. Neither of us are big eaters. But, I can hear him now "Order what you want, don't worry about not eating it all, we have already paid for it!!"

Does anyone else have that philosphy? I have also read that people have had credits left over because they shared. Is it worth it?

This is our first trip with the DDP. I can't wait to see what the big deal is...I mean I am used to eating lunch and dinner, why all of a sudden will it be too much for me when I get down there? Maybe my resturant choices are different. We are going to Coral Reef, Crystal Palace, SCI-FI and don't know where for the other two nights.

 

[Merriwind]

I think that the big appeal with sharing is that you can get to visit extra TS restuarants if you are sharing one credit, rather than using two.

 

[dianemb]

I think the whole sharing thing is silly. With some people I think it's trying to get as much as possible for the money spent. There are threads all the time about making the most of the DDP. Last year we went to Disney in December with out 10 year old son. We paid for him as an adult. We ate our own meals(no Sharing) and only one meal did He eat off the kids menu and we still came out way ahead. Just because each meal comes with extras (apps and dessert) doesn't mean you have to order it. Take it back to the room for later. We had some great dessert for breakfast a couple days.

 

[ReneeA]

We didn't share our TS credits, but we did some CS.

It's WAY more than enough food to order 3 CS meals and split it between the 4 of us. Out of our 8 day vacation, we only ordered what we thought we could eat at a CS and then saved them. Some days we shared our CS breakfast and then a CS lunch.

It worked out very well for us.

 

[Pooh Bear Hugs]

The thing with sharing for us is to stop food being wasted. My 10 year old will only eat a childs meal and my 5 year old will share my meal as I don't eat that much. I would be upset to see most of the food thrown away at the end of a meal. I won't order an adult meal for my 10 year old so will end up with about 12 adult credits left at the end of the week. Thats just the way I feel. Maybe he will change by next year.

 

[michelle1]

We shared alot of CS but not to intentionally save credits but because we cannot stand to waste food. A little waste I can live with but my DD10 eats like a bird and my DH, DS and myself are not big eaters and where we live restaurants do not give servings like the places in the US. At Sci Fi diner the onion ring appetizer is enough to feed my whole family! I know we could skip appetizers or desserts but part of the fun of Disney Dining is trying different things! The extra credits we have we would use for some breakfasts.

 

[ILVPOOH]

I agree about not sharing. We all like to get our own meals. This way you get what you want. We all have different tastes. Someone likes medium steak, someone likes well done steak, someone feels like fish, while someone else feels like pasta. If we weren't hungry for dessert, we would take it back to the hotel for later or just not get one. We didn't have a need to save our TS credits to eat at a signature restaurant.

 

[n2mm]

We are not into sharing either. I wonder if some of the folks talking about sharing have been to WDW lately. We go often (4-5 trips a year) and have found the serving sizes are getting smaller and smaller. AFter eating the filet mignon at a couple of places I would guess that there is no way someone could buy this entree and share it. I'm glad the serving sizes are smaller, because there is less waste. We too often bring our desert back to our room....desert for breakfast...wow.

 

[Sammie]

We did not share and we did not buy anything out of pocket. One CS, one snack and one TS per day was plenty of food for us.

 

[ILVPOOH]

We are not into sharing either. I wonder if some of the folks talking about sharing have been to WDW lately. We go often (4-5 trips a year) and have found the serving sizes are getting smaller and smaller. AFter eating the filet mignon at a couple of places I would guess that there is no way someone could buy this entree and share it. I'm glad the serving sizes are smaller, because there is less waste. We too often bring our desert back to our room....desert for breakfast...wow.

Some of the meals were small. Like you said I couldn't imagine splitting my Filet Mignon dinner. Also the appetizers we had weren't big enough to share. Shrimp cocktail at one place was 4 tiny shrimp. I'm always amazed at how people say it's so much food and they can't eat a whole dinner. We did just fine and used up every last credit, with none to spare.

 

[susan4875]

We shared our CS meals quite a bit. Often, we'd share a breakfast in the morning and a lunch in the afternoon. Or sometimes we wanted to make sure we had room for an ice cream later, so we'd share lunch. It's easier to say that you'll stop when you're full, than to do so when you have a delicous plate of chicken fingers in front of you.

 

[Redwitch]

We also share CS frequently. However, that left over credit is used for a "CS snack." We split a CS at a bakery; two pastrys and a beverage.

This frees up room for the main meal. I think the typical CS are just filling, even though we try to avoid the burger and fries places.

 

[honeymo78]

My husband and I must be little piggies, or big piggies I guess. While I can't say we've always cleaned our plates but whatever is left over certainly wouldn't be enough to feed another person. As for a CS, with the exception of a few fries there aren't any leftovers.

 

[UP Disney]

We share meals all the time at WDW because my DD21, DD18 & I are not big eaters. Even my DH doesn't eat an appetizer, entree & dessert at every meal. When we were at LeCellier last year, we ordered two appetizers, two entrees, and one dessert for the four of us. We still had trouble finishing all the food. DH & I are checking out the Dining Plan in December. I don't know if we will share or not but if we do, it will be because we aren't hungry enough to eat all that food not that we are trying to make the most of our money. I do not like wasting food if I can help it.

 

[Mad4Mickey]

we will share some meals but maybe eat a little more often because we dont want to walk around feeling sick . We dont like to waste food , even if we have leftovers at home I take them to work for some of the single Doctors or I send it with my Dh who has a couple of single Firemen on his shift.

We leave in less then a week and I have no idea how we will do but we will try to control ourself LOL

 

[jkmmah]

We're leaving next week and our family of four will definitely share most all CS and a couple TS while we're there. Why? 1. Because our dds are not big eaters. 2. I don't feel it's right to order so much food knowing some of it will be thrown away. People are starving in the world. I was brought up to "waste not, want not." 3. I've worked too darn hard to get to a healthy weight for the first time in my adult life. I will not gorge myself just because the food is available to me. A bite or two off someone else's meal/dessert/etc is enough for me to have the taste without the excess calories. I'm not niave enough to think that all the walking at WDW will keep the pounds at bay if I'm eating full meals twice a day and snacks. I was also brought up in a "clean plate" househole (ie:waste not, want not, again) so it's more feasible for us to only have one or two CS to finish off rather than four.

There ya have it. My reasons why sharing works for my family. To each his own.

 

[n2mm]

Some of the meals were small. Like you said I couldn't imagine splitting my Filet Mignon dinner. Also the appetizers we had weren't big enough to share. Shrimp cocktail at one place was 4 tiny shrimp. I'm always amazed at how people say it's so much food and they can't eat a whole dinner. We did just fine and used up every last credit, with none to spare.

You reminded me that my appetizer at the Concourse steakhouse was the scallops -- boy I was surprised when the server brought out this huge plate with TWO scallops on it -- if I had been paying for it, I would've sent it back. Yes, some folks will be surprised about how much the DDP has changed since last September. We did the free DDP in Sept 05 and the servings were pretty much bigger. We paid for the DDP in April and noticed the servings were shrinking, then wow, in August during the beginning of free DDP, the servings are even smaller. Like I said, it didn't matter to me, but it's scarey when I can finish a meal by myself, since I diet most of the year, I fill up very quickly. We ate at LeCell, Concourse, Coral R, Kona, Maya -- and I had no problem finishing my meals at any of them, as the servings are much smaller than in the past visits. We do take our deserts to go about half of the time -- so no waste there. CS is not usually a problem either--while I have no problem with the burger, I rarely ever eat all of the fries. CS at the Seasons food court, I usually get the chicken ceasear salad (and you get nothing else with it) and a great desert from the desert counter. I can't imagine trying to share a small salad and both folks feeling satisfied and not wanting to eat again very soon. If I had a toddler, sharing would probably be OK, but in April, we found ourselves paying OOP for our 1 year old grand daughter, because we felt she would not have been satisfied with grazing off of our plates. Our next trip is 3 weeks away and we are paying for the DDP, so I hope I don't see 2 scallops at Concourse or 3 shrimp at the Coral Reef for appetizers -- it was a little embarrassing considering these appetizers both cost $10 -- (more than a CS meal alone).

 

[The Sweetness]

I intend to eat on vacation, as I would if I were having a meal out at home. That would include sharing. for me, DD15, DH, and DD2, I can see us ordering a burger basket, an entree salad, with 2 sodas and deserts, and a kids meal of chicken tenders with milk OOP. this is what I would do at home, and it is ample for us as a CS. In a TS, we usually order 1 ap and 1 dessert. On the DDP, I imagine we will order 2. then pay OOP for an extra ap or entree (not both), and a kids meal (maybe) and a soda +a milk for dd2. This will be more than we usually get, and I am sure ample. Why would I order an extra ap/ dessert that will go uneaten? I will use the TS credits saved (3~ 1 each from Mama Melrose, PT50s and Le Cellier most likely, to have a nice lunch at WCC before we drive home. I dont see any need to waste our credits, free or not )

 

[katiedid0801]

We (DH & I) just got back on Tuesday and while we didn't share any TS meals we did share a couple of CS meals. Either we ate lunch too close to dinner and didn't want to fill up or we were just too stinking hot to eat a lot of food! We did take a chicken caesar salad to the airport and exchange our last CS for 2 snacks & a drink for the trip, but even if we'd left without using them I would have felt better doing that than wasting food (I can still hear my mother telling me there are people starving in China, don't waste that food!).

 

[hopelea]

I am such a picky eater. I never order an appetizer (sp). I am a meat and potatoes person. So, I know I will not stuff myself. I am just going to order what I can eat. Just because we CAN order it, doesn't mean you HAVE to order it. I am FLUFFY enough, I don't plan on over doing it just because we have already paid for it. I just like knowing I can eat anywhere.

When traveling with our kids I always shared. They never finished anything. I alway picked off they meals. It was plenty for me. But, since this is just my dh & I, we won't be sharing.

Thanks for all the input. I am so excited.