Poll: If you are a previous user of DDP, what will you do in 2008?

[Barbers2005]

Do you think that disney would rather appeal to people like us (who canceled a Premium package due to the abusers and not wanting to deal with them) and the money that accompanies it or the people that milk every dime and spend little money on souvenirs? I am thinking their overall bottom line dropped by appealing to the uber budget minded because appealing to them made people willing to pay for more avoid the parks due to the "6 flags" atomosphere that their dining plan brought in.

You know, I really doubt the ddp pulled in as many "low class" people as people are claiming. I mean, it's a good deal, but it's not that good of a deal, and it still isn't cheap. People who are genuinely frugal would opt to bring food in, eat offsite, or eat cs- all of which are cheaper than the ddp. My family used the dining plan and saved an average of $20/day- not exactly a deal breaker when you're talking about a vacation costing several thousand dollars. Anyone who could afford to buy the ddp can afford to pay oop for those same restaurants- it's just a matter of whether they will still want to. I doubt I would use the ddp in it's new incarnation b/c it's stupid to have an all inclusive plan and then have to pay for a bunch of extras (appys and tip). That doesn't mean I won't eat TS, though...I'll just reach for my cc instead of my ddp card.

 

[patsal]

it's stupid to have an all inclusive plan and then have to pay for a bunch of extras (appys and tip). That doesn't mean I won't eat TS, though...I'll just reach for my cc instead of my ddp card.

Exactly!

 

[Sammie]

Disney is full.... and I bet a lot of those folks aren't on the Dining Plan. (I know that only one of my friends and coworkers who went this summer used the Dining Plan and they were DVC members so Disney wasn't making as much off of them.) There have been at least two weeks that I have read of where EVERY room in the resorts were full. Thanksgiving week has at least a few sold out resorts....

Most all of the Disney resorts this summer were very close to 100% occupancy and only about 33% were using the dining plan. We just got back and I wanted to extend one day, and the only thing they had property wide was a handful of suites.

 

[kritter]

Is the tax included in the price of the new dining plan???

 

[tnkr_bell]

The tip amount doesn't matter in your savings if you would still eat there whether you got DDP or not - that seems to be what the poster was trying to figure out. If the cost of the meals themselves is more that the cost of the DDP for the day, and you would eat there anyway (not everyone only eats TS b/c of the DDP) the tip amount is moot.

Too many people are focusing on what they saved in the past. The old plan is gone and you can't base your new savings on those numbers. Ask yourself if you would eat TS anyway - if you would, either way you are paying the tip. Is what you would order, along with a CS more than $40? If so, buy the DDP. If not, don't buy the DDP. Same works for DxDDP. We eat 3 meals a day plan or no plan and will continue doing this in the future. A 1TS dinner would be at least $30-35, TS lunch $25-30, and character breakfast $20. That's more than $70 so DxDDP makes sense. Not counting snacks its about a $10 savings per person. Why wouldn't I like to save $10? I have to tip whether I buy a plan or not so that doesn't even go into my calculation.

 

[MomofCKJ]

I just got my email confirmation of booking and deposit from my TA tonight. We booked the regular DDP for our March trip. We loved it last time and while it is disappointing to have the appy and tip gone it is not the end of the world for us. I crunched numbers and found the regular plan better for our needs this trip than the deluxe. I still love that *most* of my food will be prepaid and I will just deal with appy and tip when I am there. It still works for me!

Allyson

 

[Markstudy]

My wife and I used the DDP over our 10 day trips,...we would skip a few meals (too much food) and then use the credits to go to the "signature"
2-credit resturants.

2008's new plan... means the extra tips ($50 is 18% of $275 right?) x 5 = an extra $250 in tips.....that just feels like a lot of money to pull out of the pocket (its not) but it feels like it compaired to my last few trips.

its all about the magic

 

[kapica3]

I don't like it one bit. I would rather have seen a price increase in the plan and have had the plan stay the same as it was (app. & grat included). I feel like those of us who are not paying too close attention are actually having the wool pulled over their eyes. There isn't too much Disney Magic in charging us $1 less and having us pay in the end 20% more. I don't like having things taken away (like the appetizer), but not adding the tip is hurting everyone involved. There will be many servers being "stiffed" and therefore unhappy, it will rub off on service. It won't be pretty. I'm actually a little angry that they can't just "give it to me straight" - that they have to sneek in this price increase.

With these changes and the new resort pricing changes (weekends more expensive, and also the season/price no longer staying the same for the entire visit-even if the season changes) our family will be looking into other options, where I can prepay EVERYTHING ahead of time and not have to be nickled and dimed sneekily (as if I wasn't going to notice.)

I loved Disney.....we're going to miss our Disney trips.
But I guess its time to move on from our almost yearly Disney Trips and start a new tradition....

 

[schoen]

I will do the deluxe. This is actually pretty awesome for my husband and myself. We like to eat a TS lunch and Dinner. We usually buy the dining plan and pay oop for at least one TS daily. This way we can eat at Signature restaurants everynight if we want, eat a TS lunch or breakfast and pay about the same amount of money. I would imagine though, that this new plan would put off most people. My husband and I see the dining plan as an intrugal part of the resort experience. I am hoping that they will release the ddp info for dvc soon. I want to plan a jan trip

 

[jon18uk]

I will not get the DDP as tips are no longer included, meaning all table service meals are now 15% more expensive! I would rather pay a higher price for the plan per day (an extra $2.50 a day or so) than add a cash tip.
Without the plan I would eat 80% counter service meals anyway.

 

[CarolA]

I will not get the DDP as tips are no longer included, meaning all table service meals are now 15% more expensive! I would rather pay a higher price for the plan per day (an extra $2.50 a day or so) than add a cash tip.
Without the plan I would eat 80% counter service meals anyway.

They are actually more then 15% more expensive. 15% would assume you were tipping on the cost of the DDP not the cost of the meals....

 

[Tat2ddisneymom]

No more DDP for us. I like everything paid for in advance -- including the tips.

 

[rluey29]

We figured it up and the Basic plan is not helping us and while the deluxe plan is interesting it would be WAY too expensive for us without the tips included. Now our 6 day Disney Vacation may be a three day Disney and three day Universal or Sea world Staying offsite for all of it.

 

[Eventer98]

We are not bothered by the DDP changes at all. We have rarely ate at a TS that wasn't a buffet so the appetizer loss does not bother us. It would have been too much food anyway. I love the idea of the Deluxe plan b/c we like to do 1-2 dinner shows per trip and used to have to pay OOP for them. The extra snack helps too b/c DH always gets at least 2 drinks during the day.

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

We used the DDP in 2005, 2006, and if we were going for a week in 2007 would have used it then, and will use it again in 2008. It just seems to work out well for our family. I don't think I will miss the appetizer, but I don't really like that they took out the tip, but oh well. We would be able to do as many TS if we didn't have the plan, so I see it as a benefit there. I like just handing over the card to pay for my food and not having to worry about it other wise, guess I will have to save up for tips though.

Suzanne

 

[bookgirl2632]

I see a lot of people saying they like everything being paid for in advance and that's why they don't like the new DDP. I get that, I really do. While I don't like the tip not being included, it's something we have to deal with now.

So how's this for a solution? Do the restaurants take Disney gift cards? If they do, you could estimate how much you'd be spending on tips for the week and load that amount on the gift card. Only use that card for tips. You could even overestimate, so that you'd be sure to have enough for each meal. Anything left over can be used at a shop or whatever.

This is all dependent on the restaurants taking Disney gift cards. If so, I think I'll do this.

 

[ReneeA]

We are a family of 4...2 adults, 2 children on the plan. The daily cost of the 2008 DDP for us is about $96 a day - plus tips - we normally added extra tips to TS meals so that's not a huge deal to us. Before the DDP, we would eat 2 CS plus snacks (this was before children BTW). This is what I just figured out:

Average adult CS combo meal: 8.00 x 2 = $16.00
1 adult beverage (DH & I share) 2.39
Average kid's meal 4.00 x 2 = 8.00
Total $26.39
(Probably close to $29 with taxes)
2 CS meals a day = $58
4 snacks (1 per person), a bottle or 2 of water, coffee for me, misc. = $25-30 a day.

So our total without the DDP only eating CS with no desserts or extras is $85-90 a day. On the DDP, we really didn't have much OOP expense - extra tip (since we chose that), I ordered water from Garden Grocer, and we had so much food with 2 desserts a day at each meal that DH and I didn't use our snack credits for snacks...mostly coffee drinks for me.


Even with the changes, it looks like the DDP makes sense for us. The $25 a day (difference between our above plan plus adding a tip) is worth it to us for #1, convenience of use, and #2 it's nice to be able to sit down for a TS meal once a day.

I still haven't booked our 2008 trip yet, and I will be watching closely to see if there are many more changes to the plan. There's still the possibility of changing my mind.

 

[patsal]

I thnk that for a family with young children the plan would still be a better deal than paying OOP for things like character meals--but once those "kids" magically become "adults" then much of the value is lost unless you continue to eat the character meals and buffets. Once you begin adding in ohter scenarios the plan looks less and less a value and more and more expensive--look at the tipping figures alone, and I have rarely had poor service at WDW so we'd be on the 20% plus side. We do order apps so that is going to cost me if I go with the basic plan. I just don't see the deluxe plan being anywhere near cost effective for a family of more than 2 or 3 people especially if the kids are "adults" or if people want to do much more than just eat on vacation.
I'm really trying to find a percieved value for it, but I'm not seeing it. I was considering something I may have missed but can't find it. I looked at menus, poured over pricing and found no savings with the tip removed and paying OOP for apps. My spending increases to the $70 per person per day scenario making the $70 begin to look good until I add the hurs of eating and the additional tip to that and I find myself moved from @$40 per day to @$100 per day per person and I just havew to remind myself that there is no way I'd be spending $400 per day for a family of four to eat no matter where, what or how much the kids wanted to eat. Apparently the key is "percieved value" and many others are finding this (about 30% from the poll). I guess I'll just keep in mind that perception and reality are very different and for $400 per day the reality is that no way would I spend $4000 on food for a 10 day vacation.

 

[CampbellScot]

The only reason we do the DDP is b/c we would most likely spend more per person each day out of pocket than the DDP costs. I suppose I thought that was the point...the new changes make purchasing the DDP a more costly choice, especially with the tip not being included. We love the TS meals and such, but if we can eat for less out of pocket, than that is what we'll do. We wouldn't ever eat so many TS meals, or get appetizers with every meal w/out the dining plan. It was fun to feel so indulged though!

I'm bummed. The DDP was part of the planning fun...

oh well. Perhaps I'll LOSE weight on the next trip!!!

 

[Laura.bora]

I've seen a lot of people complain about the tip for the DDP 2008 - That they tack on the 18%. I was under the impression that this was for parties over
6, but a lot of the people complaning are saying things like "My wife and I are going".....so which is it? 18% tip for parties of 6 or more, or 18% across the board?