Will the DDP really save us money?

[DisneyBliss7]

We are planning on getting the DDP. We have three adults and three kids plus a 2 yo. I'm just not sure if we will end up saving money? We will be going to parks for 5 days out of 7. We are going to eat breakfast in our room each morning, we are staying at AK Villas. So that leaves us buying lunch,dinner,and snacks at the parks all 5 days. We also have plans to eat at Chef Mickey, Rain Forest Cafe, and T-Rex restaurant. I've never used the DDP and I'm not sure of prices at any of the restaurants or quick services.

 

[Woodmnky]

The best way to figure this out would be to find out what the DDP will cost your family for your stay and then look at the menus of the restaurants that you plan to dine at to see what you would likely spend.

You can find menus here:
http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dining/diningmain.cfm

Unfortunately there is really no quick way to do this. I would start by pricing out the TS restaurants and if you really don't want to look at 7 days of counter service pick a mid priced one and find out what the price for your family would be and multiply this by the # of nights you will be staying.

Just going out on a limb and saying that if you don't plan to add more TS restaurants then you will likely be better paying OOP.

 

[bdklein]

We are planning on getting the DDP. We have three adults and three kids plus a 2 yo. I'm just not sure if we will end up saving money? We will be going to parks for 5 days out of 7. We are going to eat breakfast in our room each morning, we are staying at AK Villas. So that leaves us buying lunch,dinner,and snacks at the parks all 5 days. We also have plans to eat at Chef Mickey, Rain Forest Cafe, and T-Rex restaurant. I've never used the DDP and I'm not sure of prices at any of the restaurants or quick services.

Quick answer no. And maybe you can save a small amount of money if you order just right. But that means analysis of the menus and prcies before you go. And not really deviating too much from that. And if you ordrr the expensive items to get value, you might be looking to pay a higher gratuity. And do you defnitely want 2 desserts every day? Pay for appetizers? And will you want non-alcoholic drinks (besides just getting free water at the TS and CS)?

I just don't see the value in it (unless perhaps it is Free Dining).

 

[Cafeen]

The issue of "Will I save money?" is a tough one, and it's gotten tougher over the past few years as the prices of the plans have outpaced the pricing of the actual food along with changes to the plans that reduced the value overall.

There are a couple key things to keep in mind that do help gain value from the plan:
1) Stick to higher end TS locations. Overall, with higher menu prices, it'll be a touch easier to come out ahead, even if you're not ordering from the top end of the menu.

2) Avoid 2 credit locations (while paying on the plan). While some of these will work and you'd come out close, it's pretty tricky to make these come out ahead while on the DDP (DxDDP is a different story). If you feel you must, then 1 isn't going to kill all the value, so long as your stay is long enough to make up the difference at other locations.

3) Focus on dinners. Dinners are traditionally more pricey than earlier meals. Not in all cases, but as a general trend.

4) Do the math. I can't repeat this enough. It's all about the numbers. You can check the link posted above, AllEars.net, or even the menus on the Disney site itself to get an idea of the prices for both TS and QS (I use a combination of all 3 myself). Figure out roughly what you'd prefer to order (without taking price into account, one way or the other) and see what you come out to. If DDP is higher cost, check to see if adding any additional stuff that's covered will be worth the difference (e.g. if you normally don't get desserts, but you kinda want them, it may be worthwhile to get them with DDP if the prices are close enough).

5) Ask questions and don't be afraid to admit when a plan isn't right for you. We get a lot of people here who are stuck one way or the other. Always getting a plan or never getting a plan. The trick is to recognize when a plan works right for your trip (typically, when you're saving money ) and when it won't. Either way, so long as you figure out what's best for your trip and traveling party, then it's the right choice! (Don't let the DDP haters or DDP fanatics sway you! (A friendly note to my DDP hater and DDP fanatic friends, all in good fun )).

6) I really should be working, but with my trip less than 2 weeks out, I can't focus too well. I think I kinda lost my train of thought here...

 

[Travelingdad]

If you are planning on doing some character dining with the whole family it gets expensive so DDP is attractive for this reason. The real benefit of DDP for us was convenience and piece of mine so we wouldn't feel worried about our spend every day as 'over and above' paying ahead with DDP let us have it budgeted and all set. Just remember still have to pay tips so plan for that too.

 

[xipotec]

If you order all the food that is given you WILL save money, but if you normally do not order appetizers or desert with each meal then no, you won't.

For us it's more about a guaranteed , sit down family meal time 3 times a day which is important to us. No hassles , order anything you want.

Plus we use 2 credits many days at a character dining so its really 2 sit down meals, which is more than enough.

 

[DisneyBliss7]

Thanks for the info I should have added that at each park, if we do the DDP, we plan on eating at a nice restaurant at each park. I know we are eating at Coral Reef and we want to try to get into the new Beauty and the Beast restaurant. My dd also wants to eat at one princess meal

 

[bdklein]

If you order all the food that is given you WILL save money, but if you normally do not order appetizers or desert with each meal then no, you won't.

For us it's more about a guaranteed , sit down family meal time 3 times a day which is important to us. No hassles , order anything you want.

Plus we use 2 credits many days at a character dining so its really 2 sit down meals, which is more than enough.

So you mean the deluxe plan??

 

[goofyintoronto]

If you order all the food that is given you WILL save money, but if you normally do not order appetizers or desert with each meal then no, you won't.

For us it's more about a guaranteed , sit down family meal time 3 times a day which is important to us. No hassles , order anything you want.

Plus we use 2 credits many days at a character dining so its really 2 sit down meals, which is more than enough.

Im sorry but other than CRT, all character meals are 1 TS credit, not two.

HDDR & SOA are both 2 credits. As well as signature restaurants.



The Delux DP is A LOT of food. I personally couldnt do it, and we love to eat. Having an appetizer plus main plus dessert at every meal (two or three times a day) is a lot. I normally dont order an app because i love dessert. I couldnt do app AND dessert with my main. The best way to use the Delux DP is if you plan on doing a signature meal every night. In that case the delux DP is definitely worth it IMO. Its the way i'd use the plan anyway. Some folks actually enjoy eating 3 diff meals a day, and thats fine. But thats too much for us. And we love to eat! On the Delux DP i'd most likely book a breakfast and a signature meal for each day. Thats 3 credits right there. Snack in between if you get hungry.

I dont know how ppl who pay OOP do it and save money. I really dont. For two of our trips we've paid OOP for two days (we always start off our trips by doing a room-only at a different resort for the first two days of our trip) and let me tell you, we pay a fortune on food. So the dining plan (free dining plan) is definitely worth it for us. Without a doubt. We spend a fortune without it!

 

[xipotec]

Ah yeah , your right goofyintoronto wrong choice of words....

On the Delux DP i'd most likely book a breakfast and a signature meal for each day. Thats 3 credits right there. Snack in between if you get hungry.*

This is what I mean;
Cindy's
Narcoossee's
Garden Grill
Hoop Dee Doo
Brown Derby
Artist's Point
Spirit of Aloha

All double credit meals are well worth it though. You could eat at these fine places and still have another credit for dinner or lunch.
While I agree the DDP is alot of food, if you want to eat at the best sit down places and enjoy a nice meal, then I still say its well worth it.

We are eating at all of the above except Artist's Point and Hoop Dee Doo. (twice at Cindy's) We have been to all the other before and for a family of 4 you would easily spend more than 150 per meal at these places. Thats almost $1000.00 right there....

 

[DisneyBliss7]

I'm working on looking at all the restaurants we want to eat at and adding up how much it would cost us. I'm having trouble finding a set price for Chef Mickey's? We would a breakfast buffet...it keeps saying $15-35.99. Does that mean $15 for kids and $35 for adults? Having the same issue w/ finding that info for 1900 Park Fare too.

 

[kddisney502]

I'm working on looking at all the restaurants we want to eat at and adding up how much it would cost us. I'm having trouble finding a set price for Chef Mickey's? We would a breakfast buffet...it keeps saying $15-35.99. Does that mean $15 for kids and $35 for adults? Having the same issue w/ finding that info for 1900 Park Fare too.

the range of prices is sort of confusing. It could be kids vs adults. But the price also changes based on time of year (peak vs low season) and even sometimes for time of the week (weekday vs weekend). all ears menus usually has recent prices. For chef mickey's breakfast lists a genreal price of 30.88 for adults and 17.03 for child (3-9). For 1900 park fare breakfast they have a range of 22.36-26.62 for adults & 12.77-14.90 for kids.

 

[Granfan]

My experience is the free dining saves a lot, but buying the plan works out about even for us.

 

[Cafeen]

I'm working on looking at all the restaurants we want to eat at and adding up how much it would cost us. I'm having trouble finding a set price for Chef Mickey's? We would a breakfast buffet...it keeps saying $15-35.99. Does that mean $15 for kids and $35 for adults? Having the same issue w/ finding that info for 1900 Park Fare too.

The price ranges shown on Disney's site are not restaurant specific. They are simply categories that cover the expanse of dining at Disney. They simply mean that the average entree (or in this case, meal) for an adult is within that range (note: 1900 PF dinners are above that range, either they haven't updated properly, or they've changed their calculation to include all meals (it used to just be dinner)).

The best place for AYCE/fixed-price pricing has been AllEars.net. (The DIS has started using the Disney price ranges, which are just horrible). (Note: on AllEars they state that the price of the meal varies by time of year and even day of the week. The time of year is correct, I've never heard of or seen the prices fluctuate based on the day of the week, unless that day happened to coincide with a time of the year change).

 

[Hitchhiking Ghost]

One thing to be careful for, you say three kids (in addition to the two year old). For purposes of Disney dining and ticketing, an "adult" is any child 10 and over. So if any of your kids fall into the "adult" range, you cost of the plan jumps like $30+ a day, definitely making it a bad value.

When the DDP covered appetizers and gratuities, it was easier to view it as a convenience and a good deal, even if paying out of pocket for it.

This is one of the more frequent topics with the DDP and for the most part I rarely recall seeing a lot of posts stating how much money they saved. I think even Disney themselves in their promotional materials only describes it as a "20% savings". And like many have said, is it really a savings if you are paying for something you would normally never order?

I'm over simplifying it, but for me, if I were to ever pay OOP for it again, it would only be for the convenience of having it prepaid, not with any expectation that I'm saving lots of money. We (as a family of 5) are on the free dining plan offer come November, so its not that I'm against it, its just that I've yet to hear a strong argument that it still saves you money.

 

[Cafeen]

I think even Disney themselves in their promotional materials only describes it as a "20% savings".

For 2013, this has dropped to 15% savings. With QSDP dropping to 10% and DxDDP going to 20% (I think it used to be 25?).

You know, it brings something up that we heard here a couple years ago regarding Disney weening people off of discounts (why do I automatically capitalize anything that starts with dis? ). We haven't seen a dramatic drop in overall discounts for rooms and such (the percentages have been lower and more blackouts), but the dining plans are certainly dropping in amount saved. Perhaps they have been weening us off and we simply haven't noticed it yet? Of course, that's more a discussion for the News and Rumors section than here, it was just an interesting thought.

 

[Hitchhiking Ghost]

For 2013, this has dropped to 15% savings. With QSDP dropping to 10% and DxDDP going to 20% (I think it used to be 25?).

You know, it brings something up that we heard here a couple years ago regarding Disney weening people off of discounts (why do I automatically capitalize anything that starts with dis? ). We haven't seen a dramatic drop in overall discounts for rooms and such (the percentages have been lower and more blackouts), but the dining plans are certainly dropping in amount saved. Perhaps they have been weening us off and we simply haven't noticed it yet? Of course, that's more a discussion for the News and Rumors section than here, it was just an interesting thought.

Totally pure speculation on my part, and as you say better for the rumor section. But I wonder if the reason they haven't weened us off room discounts is so that they can implement price increases/more tier levels, at least at the moderates, without the cost being felt as much, yet...

Last time we were down there in 2010, POR had added the preferred buildings, now we go again and they've added the royal rooms, plus you still have waterviews. You have a lot of buildings with up charges. I'm sure these help absorb the losses of discounting, yet once discounting starts going away, the increases remain.

 

[The V Gang]

If you are planning on doing some character dining with the whole family it gets expensive so DDP is attractive for this reason. The real benefit of DDP for us was convenience and piece of mine so we wouldn't feel worried about our spend every day as 'over and above' paying ahead with DDP let us have it budgeted and all set. Just remember still have to pay tips so plan for that too.

We are debating this as well for our April 2013 trip. THe dining plan has almost doubled in price since we first visited Disney in 2005. We have 5 kids and a baby. We all enjoy the charcter meals but enjoy other restaurants just as much (The castle i tradition though). I've been crunching numbers and can't help but feel like the big value of DDP no longer exists (used to be advertised as save up to 40%). If it's free it's a no brainer but we have a 40% room discount. Not sure free dining or buying the DDP is worth it this time around.

 

[The V Gang]

I'm working on looking at all the restaurants we want to eat at and adding up how much it would cost us. I'm having trouble finding a set price for Chef Mickey's? We would a breakfast buffet...it keeps saying $15-35.99. Does that mean $15 for kids and $35 for adults? Having the same issue w/ finding that info for 1900 Park Fare too.

check allears.net. Their breakdown is much clearer.

 

[bdklein]

I dont know how ppl who pay OOP do it and save money.

And you spend plenty with it too. No bargain with the DDP.