Are Canadians still doing the DDP?

[Canadian Girl]

We stopped when they put the prices up for 10 and over to accommodate those who want an adult beverage. My kids are young teens and I don’t usually drink so this is not to our advantage. Disappointed that they do not offer two tiered dining for families like mine. With the huge dollar difference however, it still might not be enough to entice us to pay for it again.

 

[deedubb]

Totally not worth it for us. We never order appetizers or dessert for our TS meals, and we usually like to drink water. Way too much food, and in the end, we would end up wasting snack credits on junk we don't want or need.

 

[disneyfantotheend]

Not Canadian, but I think the price increase due to adding alcoholic beverages was not a good decision. Now if they separated 21 and over from 10-21 with a price difference, it would have been more acceptable.

 

[keaster]

Before we joined DVC we did the regular dining plan one trip. Next trip we saved our meal receipts and found we spent less out of pocket than what we would've paid for the plan.

I know people like the idea of pre-paying for the meals and the convenience of it. But for us (3 Disney adults) it's just way too much food and too expensive (especially now given the exchange rate!)

 

[kuhltiffany]

We are trying it out (The QS plan), during free dining this summer. I’m curious to see how we’ll feel about the ease and value...

 

[ellbell]

I'm doing the dining plan for my family of 6 when we go in April. But I have 3 teenage sons and one of the. Is 6'2" and weighs over 200 lbs. He packs away the food. Even my little who will be 8 will be ordering the milkshakes with his meals. We will be doing all buffets and all you care to enjoy meals for our table service meals just because it suits our family. For us just one meal would be almost 300US and for the regular dining plan for a 6 night stay we spend about 1000. I save tons.

 

[dis_guy]

DW and I had the regular DDP on our last trip. In the past we would usually have a glass (or two) of wine with dinner but with the new plan including alcohol we'd only have the one included drink. We took advantage of the alcohol for quick serve meals three times. Other than that we just ordered as we usually do and when I did the math, I found we were about $200 US to the good for our 7 night stay. In the past we'd break even or be just a little short of what the plan cost.

 

[Disneylover99]

We are trying it out (The QS plan), during free dining this summer. I’m curious to see how we’ll feel about the ease and value...

It's not something I'd ever pay for, but you'll love it if it's free. Enjoy!

 

[dis_guy]

I’m curious to see how we’ll feel about the ease and value...

The value of the dining plan is something that has always been debated and probably always will. However, I don't think anyone will deny the ease of having it all prepaid before you arrive and just tapping your Magic Band. That's the BIG feature for us, really. So much so that in the past it didn't matter to us if we didn't quite get full value for what it cost us.

To comment on some other posts, yes, it's a lot of food. We justify it by the amount of walking we do at Disney...still manage to come home with a few extra pounds though.

Having a table serve dining reservation every night that you have to get to doesn't suit everyone's style of touring either. We like the various EPCOT restaurants which makes park hoppers a necessity, so that needs to be considered. But we have learned to leverage our dining reservations to enhance our visit. For example we book the latest time we can at Rose&Crown and can usually get waterside seating for Illuminations for no extra cost. We did have to wait 15 mins past our reservation time for a table but it was worth it.

 

[flav]

We used to take the DxDDP when the kids were younger and we wanted to do a lot of character dining. It was convenient and meant that we were ok if someone was not eating a big plate at Chef Mickey for example.

On the last trip, we choose a better resort deal instead of free DDP. We did the comparison on what DDP would have cost and concluded that we spent a lot less on food even if doing one normal TS per day: Sometimes one of us would want just an appetizer.

There are online calculators in which you can enter where you plan to eat and that gives a good idea.

 

[hdrolfe]

We used the QSDP in April, it was only for a couple days but it was good for us. My son is still only 8 but we were able to use the meals to share and I think I only paid $5 out of pocket on food. I would do it again. I am not sure I would do the plan for table service meals as we don't do them much any more, but if we were doing a lot of character meals I could see it being worthwhile.

 

[kiford]

However, I don't think anyone will deny the ease of having it all prepaid before you arrive and just tapping your Magic Band.

I'm not sure how being able to tap your MB is easier if meals are prepaid versus paying OOP.? I'm still just tapping my MB to pay for my dining whether it's prepaid or not.

We've never found it to be worthwhile for us. We don't eat the way that they intend for you to eat even since they've modified to allow appetizers (I think they have?) and alcohol. We wouldn't use the refillable mugs (we don't drink soda and I'd rather have a decent brewed coffee from somewhere other than the dispensers) and don't eat snacks so that's paying for something that just isn't really going to be used. We eat at 2 TS per day - breakfast and dinner. We have appetizers (sometimes I'll eat 3 appetizers and no entree), have 1-2 alcoholic drinks, no dessert. Being Canadian has no bearing on whether it's of value to us or not. It's how we eat that determines that. It's just never going to work for us.

 

[roxysmum123]

We haven't done the dining plan for years, except for over last Christmas when we managed to get free dining on an 11 night trip. Honestly, we find american portions are so large compared to what we're used to that we rarely have room for dessert anyway - we can budget better paying OOP than buying dining plan

 

[Canadian Girl]

We have done it during a split stay ( we have DVC points) but usually end up using snack credits for things to take home. To make it worthwhile you have to order expensive items but then get hit with the higher tips. This past March we still did some table service meals but liked the freedom of not being tied to certain entrees. Even after buying the refillable mugs we came out way ahead by paying OOP and trying out some cheaper restaurants such as Beaches and Cream which we probably wouldn’t have used a table service credit on.

 

[Ahmne]

We have DDP for our upcoming trip during free dining. According to the calculator, we would come out ahead even if we paid for it due the character meals and buffets we have booked.

I think the 9 year old to be eating his portion plus his 5 year old sisters at regular TS. I'm also planning to get alcohol to go and put in our room at QS meals at our hotel.

 

[Scar1199]

Our first 2 years we did the dining plan but once both our boys got over the age of 10 we stopped, too much money for what our kids eat at adult prices. Last year we just paid OOP and I compared cost when we got back and we saved a lot paying OOP plus we weren't always trying to meet a reservation time.

 

[BLAZEY]

Definitely not a value for us. Though about it for our first trip, and decided to just set aside the amount of money the dining plan would cost and see if we could do better. Cam home with quite a bit of $$$, turns out we don't eat a tonne when we are hot. We had a couple of TS meals but couldn't be bothered to do it each day. I occasionally have a drink with dinner, DH doesn't drink alcohol at all. The dining plan would be a waste of money for our family.

 

[cdnSpinalTap]

I did a pretty in depth analysis for our January 2018 trip for our family of 5, where I compared our non-DDP spend to what it would have cost had we been on the DDP. You can see the analysis here.

In the end, we saved around $950 by not going with the Dining Plan and we still ate like kings. We charged everything to the room using the MB, so it was seemless in that regard. For us it's now a no-brainer, we will not use the Disney Dining Plan - it just does not make sense for us.

Everyone's eating habits are, of course, different so you have to figure out what is right for you.

 

[DisneyRookie2007]

Totally not worth it for us. We never order appetizers or dessert for our TS meals, and we usually like to drink water. Way too much food, and in the end, we would end up wasting snack credits on junk we don't want or need.

I completely agree. No apps or deserts for us, and usually always drink water instead. We prefer a room only discount, when offered. Having all those meal and snack credits can be stressful trying to "get your $$ worth".

 

[Sue M]

My thoughts are: it’s not really free, you have to pay rack rate for your room. And now with the devaluation of the DDP at moderates to only QS, even less of a deal. Free DDP at deluxe resorts has never been a deal for us.

When we first weaned ourself off the DDP, I took what the cost of the DDP was and put it on a gift card and used that for all dining. So it was like having the food pre paid, just tap the card.
What I found was we had a lot of cash left on the card at the end of trip just eating as we like, and ate well. Like others, I’m happy with water at meals, we aren’t soda drinkers, and don’t want a dessert after lunch and dinner plus daily snack. We ended up buying a bunch of wrapped treats our last day to take home just to use up all the snack credits.

Our first few trips we used the DDP but that was back when appie and tip was included in plan and it was a reasonable cost. As the cost kept rising and value of plan decreased we just stopped using it.

I still use a gift card loaded with what I figure we’ll spend on dining and use that card just for dining. It’s still prepaid as I know what we spend on food and have saved that amount in our budget.