DDP really worth it?

[donna93]

Is the DDP really worth the extra money? Just wanted everyone opinions!

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

I think that the value of the dining plan depends on the individual group booking the trip. For us, (2 adults + 2 juniors), the DP would cost $152/night. Usually, I budget closer to $125/day for meals. For a 5-night stay, the DP comes to $760 while my OOP budget would be $750 (6 days x $125/day).

That makes it pretty much a wash, except that with the DP, the best discount that I can hope for is thru AAA (10-20% off of the room portion of the stay). And since it's a package, I would also have to purchase tickets, at least 1-day MYW base tickets. So, that drives the cost of the bottomline up a bit. If I pay OOP, I can order my tickets from a ticketbroker for less than Disney charges or even use the leftover days from tickets I already have. I can purchase an AP and use it for a room-only discount if one is offered. So, in essence, being forced to buy a package in order to get the DP could cost me even more than just the price of the DP.

Another factor to consider is that the DP offers a lot of food for that amount of money. We certainly will eat "better" on the DP than we would by paying OOP. With my OOP plan, we would definitely be sharing TS meals, skip desserts entirely and drink water with our meals. For CS meals, we would order a combo meal and a couple of entrées and then share the sides from the combo. We'd also drink ice water with the meal and again, we would skip dessert. For breakfast, we would end up dining on bagels, PopTarts or cold cereal in the room prior to heading out to the parks.

The last factor to consider is whether your group is inclined to take the time out of their busy park schedule to sit down and eat a TS meal that includes everything from appetizer to dessert. For some people, the dining choices at WDW is a major reason for their trip and they plan their ADRs months in advance., while others prefer to "take things as they come". If you're the latter, then the DP may feel a little restrictive to you.

 

[Redwitch]

I agree that it depends on your eating habits. We bought the plan in January. But, only after we figured out where and what we would eat without it. We pulled up menus and picked food, added tax and tip, since the plan covers it, and got totals. Basically, the TS were break even, without getting a full three course meal per person at each of our choices. The research took a little time, but I enjoy the planning part of our WDW trips.

Since eating one TS meal a day is part of what we enjoy on vacation, it worked for us. If you are not the types that would take the time to do a full sit down meal, it might not work for you. We do not return to the hotel for a rest, so the meal is our break and recharge time. Plus, once we decided on the plan we were able to order anything off the menu without money worries or guilt. So, I had filet instead of chicken and tried appys that I had never had before without worries of "suppose I don't like this?"

I think we are hooked on the plan and it will be hard to ever do WDW without it!

 

[bicker]

Is the DDP really worth the extra money? Just wanted everyone opinions!

I added things up both ways, and found that the Dining plan wasn't "extra money" but actually would cost less than paying for our meals out-of-pocket. YMMV.

 

[LizinSTL]

Is the DDP really worth the extra money? Just wanted everyone opinions!

For us it was. We had 2 adults, 2 children on the plan for 7 nights. We didn't have to pay out of pocket for a single meal our entire week. We had enough CS credits to share breakfasts and lunches. Enough snack credits to bring Disney snacks home as souveniers for nieces and nephews and enough table service credits to satisfy us for the week. Even having a breakfast buffet, using cs credits for breakfasts and letting kids credits pay for kids meals, we had PLENTY of food. It's not designed to be an all-inclusive meal experience but we found that for our family it was- especially combined with the refillable mugs at our resort.

Look at allearsnet.com and see what types of food you'd tend to eat, look at the costs for the meals you would imagine you'd order. Do you like a TS meal every day or almost every day? IF so, then I don't really think you can lose money on this deal. When you consider 2 pancake platters, 2 milks at the resort was $20; 2 double cheeseburgers, 2 desserts and 2 drinks at Pecos Bill's was almost $30 and even a breakfast buffet for 4 at Chef Mickey was $75 after tax/tip, etc then just using your TS credits pays for the plan. One sample day w/o snacks was $125 and our cost for the plan was $97.

 

[justplaingoofy]

I would figure out if you generally eat counter service meals with a couple of table service, etc.

I am thinking if you generally do a bagel/coffee for breakfast($6), counter service meal for lunch(?$7), and a casual sit down (ESPN type ?$14) plus tip and a drink or so would be about $30. If you think you would do more sit down dining with appetizers/desserts than the extra $9 a day would be worth it Especially if you want to do some character meals.

When I go in Sept. I plan on stuffing myself like a pig
I never feel guilty about eating alot in Disney because of all the walking..plus it is vacation!

 

[JimMIA]

I added things up both ways, and found that the Dining plan wasn't "extra money" but actually would cost less than paying for our meals out-of-pocket. YMMV.

This was our experience too during our recent trip. We have three people: me, DW, and DD4goingon24, and we ALWAYS do one nice dinner each day.

On our recent five-day trip, I calculated that we actually spent about $70 less than we would ordinarily spend for the five TS meals -- and then all the CS and Snack stuff was free.

We used two TS meals for character dinners -- we would ordinarily have done breakfasts, and probably only one, due to the cost -- so those experiences were better than we would have had otherwise.

DDP definitely worked well for us and we're using it again in November.

 

[jtlover]

It worked out very well for us - we saved a lot of money. I enjoyed the planning and knowing it was paid for up front was great - also not having to worry about how much to tip (being from the UK).

It was lots of food though. We ate in restaurants that we probably wouldnt have tried had we not had the dining plan. Well worth it for us.

2 adults and a teenager.

 

[Evil Queen]

I can't answer for sure, until we go, but on paper-yes. It looks like we will save approx. $400.00 for 3 adults, 1 child, 10 years old, (might as well say 4 adults by Disney standards) for 7 nights.

 

[DisFam95]

We don't order appetizers or desserts with our meals except maybe 1 or 2 times. Eating a Disney entree is usually plenty of food. I too went through the menues and picked what I would order. Just basing it on only what I would typically oredr it came out cheaper (we had an expensive dinner at Wilderness Lodge and a character meal so that helps the "value"). So this way we can order some extra food just to taste more things.

I personally think that all the food that you are able to get is way too much. Some justify "hey it's vacation" but I don't want to feel like a stuffed cow while trying to enjoy my vacation. I don't want to wait 2 hrs before riding the teacups

You need to do some math and make a list. If you're staying 5 nights then go to allears and look at the menus and pick your top 5 counter service and table service places that you think you'd eat at. Pick your items and compare. I made my list of what I could get on the plan and figured that and then only added it up if I did not get the appetizers and desserts at most places and that number was still more than the cost of the package so it does seem to work.....as skeptical as I was..darn it!!

 

[Cookie Princess]

We thought is was sooo worth it. We have been on all-inclusive vacations before and it was similar to that (except the booze isn't included). You can order what you want, try new places and foods you normally wouldn't try and not be thinking about how much you are spending. With the "enhancement" of the snack credits the plan just got even better! Last year we paid for the plan and were going to again...but now FREE DDP!

 

[kcashner]

It depends on how you eat. I could have eaten for less than we spent on the DDP. However, we tried several new (more expensive) restaurants, ordered more food (never would have ordered appetizers and desserts for each person), and I never worried about what my teen was ordering.

Bottom line....we probably broke even if I based the cost on what I would have ordered on an OOP basis. DDP was a great bargain if you considered what we actually ordered. Provided that you eat one TS per day, it is a good deal.

Of course, unless you are a DVC member, you need to consider the difference between the rate you paid for your room and any discounts you might be qualified for (which you couldn't use if you got the DDP).

 

[NMW]

When we went in Dec 2005, we knew that the DDP was going to be available to DVC members for our next trip, so we payed close attention.

Now, we had to DDE card which gave us 20% off, so we compared the DDP to that savings. For our family the DDP would have blown the DDE card away. I mean, by ALOT. If we didn't have the DDE card, the savings would have been even greater.

Our TS dinners for a family of 2 Adults, 3 children all averaged about $150 AFTER the 20% was taken off. The dining plan would have cost us ( 2A 3C) aprox $112 a night. Then we bought counter service lunch everyday (about $50) and bottles of water or soda daily (about $15). We would have saved just on the dinners alone, but with the DDP it would have been like getting the CS lunches and snack credit sodas for free!

We still like the DDE card, and we will keep getting it for alcohol and the character/resort breakfasts we do (not using the DDP). Plus, we plan to do a couple OOP lunches that we can use the DDE card for, but the DDP will save us some serious money.

We like TS dinners every night, and that alone makes the DDP worth it for our family. Plus, we tend to eat well on vacation and don't really pay attention to prices on the menu. It is our vaction after all. In Dec, we had dinner at Cape May Cafe, Rose and Crown, Kona Cafe, Brown Derby, House of Blues, 'Ohana, and San Angel Inn. The only one not in the DDP is HOB, and we wouldn't mind not eating there in favor of a place that does take it.

In Oct when we go again, this time WITH the DDP, I'm looking forward to using it. Our oldest son evens turns 10 in Sept, so we're paying adult price for him and it's still worth it. He wanted to order off the adult menu at some places anyway.

Every family is different, but for us, it's so worth it!

 

[thelobstershanty]

We just got back and used the DDP. We are DVC members so the price of the room was not a factor. We LOVED the DDP. For us it was really worth it. We ate in some great restaurants and saved a fortune.
I do not know how Disney is making any money off of this plan. I know they are because it is Disney, but I do not see how. They certainly did not make any money off of us. Our table service meals alone were much higher than $37.99 a day. For example: one night we ate at Wolfgang Pucks. My appetizer was $16.00, entree $34.00, dessert $8.00 and lemonade $2.50. That did not count my $15.00 CS lunch or my $4.00 snack. We thought it was an amazing deal.
We have already booked the DDP for our Oct trip and are waiting for '07 prices to come out so that we can book it for our NYE trip.
I hope they never get rid of this plan.

 

[NMW]

We just got back and used the DDP. We are DVC members so the price of the room was not a factor. We LOVED the DDP. For us it was really worth it. We ate in some great restaurants and saved a fortune.
I do not know how Disney is making any money off of this plan. I know they are because it is Disney, but I do not see how. They certainly did not make any money off of us. Our table service meals alone were much higher than $37.99 a day. For example: one night we ate at Wolfgang Pucks. My appetizer was $16.00, entree $34.00, dessert $8.00 and lemonade $2.50. That did not count my $15.00 CS lunch or my $4.00 snack. We thought it was an amazing deal.
We have already booked the DDP for our Oct trip and are waiting for '07 prices to come out so that we can book it for our NYE trip.
I hope they never get rid of this plan.

I hope they never get rid of the DDP either! It IS an amazing deal!

 

[lovwdwalot]

We are thinking about doing the DDP for our up coming trip at the end of this July, but my DW has brought up one very good question. The food that you can order from, is it from the same menu as if you are not using the DDP. Or are the menus diffrent? If they are not this will tip the scale for us.Plus all the food we would eat if we go with the DDP!

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

The menus are the same but there are some restrictions as to which restaurants you can go to, what constitutes a "non-alcoholic beverage", whether an appetizer for 2 can be ordered using the credits for 2 diners, and whether a certain addons are permissible under the plan (like shrimp with your steak).

 

[IDoDis]

The dining plan was sooooooooooo worth it for us! I would never go to Disney again w/out having the dining plan. For our family of 4 (2A 2C) had we paid out of pocket for our meals and snacks, we would have spent $200 per day for the same food (some days were up to $250 while others were lower than $200). The dining plan was around $96 or $98 per day for everyone. The snacks each day were from $10 - $12 that we didn't have to pay. Lunches ran around $45-50ish and dinners were around $150 each day! Also, you don't have to pay tax or tip on the DP. For TS meals, that came to $25 - $38 per day just for that tax and tip that we didn't have to pay!

I figured had we not had the dining plan, we would have eaten all counter service meals with the exception of maybe 2 character meals. We still would have had a snack each days, as well. Also, since we would have only eaten CS meals, we would have been more likely to have needed 3 meals a day (we chose to bring cereal and eat it in the room and then have an early lunch since there was so much food on the DP).

So, had we gone the non-dining plan route, we would have spent this:

Breakfast $35
Lunch: $40 (no dessert)
Dinner: $45 (maybe one dessert to share)
Snack: $12

Total: $132 we would have spent w/ out the dining plan and no TS meals!!!!!!!!!!! And... that amount doesn't include the 2 character meals we would have done.

Disneyland does not have a dining plan like this. We spend a lot more money there eating greasy CS meals every day. Can you see how worth it the DP is???? You must not miss it with all of the great TS meals you can have. It does take some pre-planning, but that's half the fun.

 

[Golf4food]

My DW and I sat down and decided what restaurants we wanted to eat at - 1 CS and 1 TS per day - looked at the menus and decided what we would order if we paid cash, and added up the totals. We then did the same thing only picking what we would order if we were on the DDP and money wasn't an object. In the end, the cost for the dining plan came out to about $60 more total (2 adults per day for 5 days) compared to what we would pay in cash. That meant that for just around $6 per day per person extra we could go on the DDP and eat anything we wanted without worrying about it and get more food to boot. Well worth the extra $6/person/day to us.

So we will be using the DDP in December and relaxing and not counting dollars and cents and just enjoying our time instead. We have our TS ADR's all set, and know which CS we intend to use as well. Instead of worrying or scrambling, we are going to just enjoy each day with no food worries (we hope!). Well worth an extra $60 to us.

 

[Fionasmommy]

We just got back from our first trip using the DDP, and it was incredible! I completely agree with the above poster who said they would never go to WDW again without the plan. It was so easy, and saved us tons of money!

I'd heard that it was a lot of food, but when I booked I mainly wanted the convenience of having everything paid in advance. I compared it with going the AP and DDE (because I already knew that we were going back for MNSSHP) but DDP was a better deal for us and it would be paid off.

So when we went, we didn't force ourselves to eat everything we could. Breakfast was in the room, as we're not big breakfast eaters. Lunch was whatever CS meal was nearby and never included an appetizer. For the TS meals we usually shared one appetizer between 2 adults and 1 child, ordered what we liked for an entree and then we each got our own dessert. I was on a diet, so I never finished a dessert, but there are so many wonderful desserts at WDW that I had to try some of them!

It honestly never felt like too much food, and I managed to lose weight while I was there so it couldn't have been that bad!

But, getting to the savings.....

Most of our TS meals were over $100. We spent $118 at Concourse, $122 at Le Cellier, $111 at Kona, etc. Only 2 of our meals were under $100 - Chef Mickey's was $88 and Ohana was $80. Averaged out, our TS meals were easily more than $90 each day, so the plan paid for a large chunk of those those and the CS and snacks were free. In our case, that was about $50 a day saved on snacks and lunches, in addition roughly $20 saved each night at the TS meal. That's around $70 a day, or $560 for the whole stay!!! And it was all paid in advance, so we didn't have to worry about anything!

I loved it, and I just can't imagine going without it. It was absolutely worth it.