To DDP or not?

[cmshelton1979]

Do you and your family use the DDP or do you pay for everything OOP? What is your reasoning for what you do?

[jonahbear2006]

We have done it both ways and I will explain each, but I will tell you that we have run excel spreadsheets on a comparison of ddp, oop, and tables in wonderland and the cheapest to most expensive goes...tables in wonderland, out of pocket, ddp.The downside to tables in wonderland is that as of this year it has become extremely limited to which places accept the TIW card.


DDP is a way of pre-paying for food, so that you can go on vacation and not have to think about what you are spending. You can not look at the charge and just really enjoy eating without considering what you are ordering as an extra charge. This works great if you are going to do all buffets. Buffets in Disney are extremely expensive and if you eat them then you are basically going to get your counter service and snack free. that is your 20% that you are saving, that you see on their fliers. If you like to eat this way, then this is your way to go. We pretty much looked up all the restaurants and booked the most expensive they had, to get the most for our money. but consider you have to pay tip on that, too..

Out of pocket opens up new options. You can decide halfway into the trip that you have spent too much money on food and can slow it down. You can not order so much because you arent hungry. If someone gets sick and doesnt need the counter service or snack that day, just don't but it. If you have dining plan, its already paid for and you really need to get it or you lose it. Out of pocket you can order off of the appetizer menu or just order soup and salad, and if you are going to choose casual dining restaurants or signature dining, then it is your better bet to pay out of pocket. You can eat a signature dinner for the same price as a buffet in Disney BUT if you have ddp it costs two credits. That is not worth your money to do it that way. Eating at grand floridian cafe, the wave, kona cafe, beaches and cream, 50s prime time, sci fi dine in theatre, etc...these places your meals range from $10.99-$17.99. It isn't worth the dining plan to order a meal that is this cheap, in my honest opinion. You end up saving money or almost breaking even with dining plan. We saved hundreds of dollars on our last trip paying out of pocket and especially since we found that we really dont need that counter service. We can get refillable mugs, get something small in our room for dinner or order a pizza out for $16.99 at any of the resorts.We were happier, we weren't overstuffed, and we didnt bog down most of our day with eating. Counter services are time consuming.
I am not stricken from the DDP. I would do it again but it would greatly depend on where I wanted to eat that trip. With 5 children, we have learned how much work a buffet is and that we would rather be waited on, esp. since we are still going to give them a huge tip (since we are more than 6, we are gratted) anyways. My advice to you is to look at menus and prices online, find what it is you and your family wants to eat and decide if it is worth it to you to pay for the ddp. if it is, and you always order dessert and soda with your meals, then get it. It is nice to go on vacation and not have to think about what you are paying for. The food is so much fun. If you are hot and cold about how much food you need and you sometimes like to forego dessert and just order light, then id say dont do it. If you wanna book 6 signature dining meals, dont buy ddp.

[McLiberal8]

I personally love the DDP. it allows me to go to WDW without a huge chunk of cash, and not have to worry about a thing.
I can schedule my ADRs and have it all set - plus, you get extras like dessert and a drink that I usually wouldn't shell out on, if I was paying on my own. I find myself limiting my choices when budget dining, and with the DDP, I can go pretty much wherever I feel like to eat, and it's all the same points.
I love flying down, getting picked up by ME free of charge, getting to my room, it's all paid for, going to the parks, and not having to worry about paying for meals or tickets.

[jonahbear2006]

thats not necessarily true though. if you want to eat at cinderella's royal table or brown derby or california grill, etc.....you have to pay two table credits when, if you actually break down the price of two table services, ddp is not financially sound. it is only true if you choose the restaurants that fall into the category of 1 credit and your entree meal is at least $30.00

[jonahbear2006]

I will say that it is cheaper for children to have ddp...their daily cost of ddp is actually cheaper than feeding them at a buffet, so if you have a lot of kids, then it pays off. Its cheaper for adults to pay out of pocket.

[McLiberal8]

True, that's what I meant by 'pretty much' wherever I want.
Props to anyone who does the math and finds it isn't for them; I personally like it more for the convenience, than the possible savings it provides.

[Strmchsr]

Props to anyone who does the math and finds it isn't for them; I personally like it more for the convenience, than the possible savings it provides.

And that's the real key to this whole question. Do you want to save money or be more convenient. It definitely does NOT save money. I crunched numbers time and again and it's not a money saver at all. But it is very convenient. So, if you have the extra money and don't care about spending a little extra then the DDP is worth it, especially if you're going to do a TS and CS every single day anyway. In those cases the cost difference between OOP and DDP is minimal. But, we've found it's too much food to eat a CS and TS in one day. Usually we bring our own breakfast, do a TS, but not CS, and a snack. That's plenty of food. Or we might do 2 CS in a day. Either way, the money saved is better than the DDP.

[caryrae]

If you do the basic dining plan where you get 1 Table Service Meal, 1 Quick Service Meal, and 1 Snack, if you decide one day you don't want to do a table service can you use the table credit at a QS place or basically do you have to use it at a TS place or lose the credit for that day?

[gerald72]

You can use it any day

[DizneyRox]

I've never found the Disney dining plans to be a value. i don't even bother to do the math. If Disney is offering it, there's GOT to be a catch, as they don't do anything without figuring out the profitability of offering it.

My last trip I did run the numbers, I vacationed OOP and ate what we normally would. After the fact I went and took the receipts compared the credits vs meals, added tips, etc, and the DDP came out to be the most expensive option had we choose it. OOP was in the middle and TiW was the best cost option for us. This was during a holiday time period which adds additional charges for the Holiday AND prevented us from using the TiW card one day for a discount.

Based on that I will continue to pass on the plan and keep the money in my wallet where it belongs.

[Jared]

I've never found the Disney dining plans to be a value. i don't even bother to do the math. If Disney is offering it, there's GOT to be a catch, as they don't do anything without figuring out the profitability of offering it.
I absolutely agree with this point. I've actually expressed similar sentiments in the past, and the results are always the same. Somebody will come into this thread and post about how he crunched the numbers and discovered the dining plan did save them money. I don't doubt that. But realize that makes you the exception, not the norm. If you were a typical guest, Disney wouldn't offer the plan.

I always pay out-of-pocket. I completely understand the plan's appeal. It allows you to sample lots of different items, and it's nice psychologically to feel like you're getting food for free. Ultimately, though, I don't eat the way the plan requires me to eat. My family would never order more than one or two desserts maximum at a table service meal. We almost never order soft drinks for the table, and we like appetizers.

[BugeyedMuggy]

We have found we eat way too much when we used the DDP. We felt obligated to eat dessert to get our money's worth. We would order the most expensive thing on the menu, even if it was vegeterian lasagna I really wanted but the fillet mignon would break us even for the day. Not to mention the tip has gone up considerably with the higher priced entree and the dessert I really never wanted. If you want the convience get a disney gift card and put X amount of $$$ on it. You can get more cards as you have the money while you plan your trip. By the time you go, you will have your meals paid for. This is just some of the things we have noticed for our family. They don't apply to everyone so you have to decide what is best for your situation.

[Strmchsr]

If you do the basic dining plan where you get 1 Table Service Meal, 1 Quick Service Meal, and 1 Snack, if you decide one day you don't want to do a table service can you use the table credit at a QS place or basically do you have to use it at a TS place or lose the credit for that day?

First off, I don't think that's possible. But, even if it is, why would you want to? That would be a colossal waste of money. A CS meal, on average, is about $10. A TS meal is $25-30 (or more). If you don't like doing a TS every day, then the DDP is definitely not the way to go.

[AllDisney]

On our last few trips to WDW it's been free & we've really enjoyed it. We eat a big breakfast (CS) everyday and find time to have a snack around 1:00 PM. By the time dinner comes around we are hungry & look forward to a nice TS meal. We love the down time to talk over what a great day, so far, that we've had.

I think in the future, if dining is not free, we'll pay OOP. We'd rather have a salad or soup than a piece of cake or pie. I think it will cost less, for us anyway, to pay OOP:thumbsup:

[jonahbear2006]

Last time we got Dining plan, we were there for 6 nights. We gained 9lbs. It was August and we park pounded because it was my inlaws first trip so we showed them around. I was nursing, park pounding, and still gained 9lbs. Typically, I am a vegetarian and love to order a salad, baked potato, and an ice water. When I have dining plan I stray to the most expensive thing on the menu and the most expensive dessert and I think this is probably typical. I just cant keep eating that way. I will be overweight and diabetic. Disney Is the reason I am still holding onto a few baby lbs. Last time we went we didnt get dining plan and I actually lost a lb there. We got one table service a day and it satisfied us. So, no the money isnt the only reason, you also should look at health. You are on vacation but if you go 2-3 or even 4 times a year, you need to consider the ddp may change your style of eating bc it has totally changed mine and Im trying really hard to go back and thats hard. I love the convienence of the plan but after we added up the numbers last time and saw that dining plan was going to cost us $2400 for the trip we said NO WAY are we spending THAT much money on food in 10 days. We paid oop and ordered groceries to the room and we paid a fraction of that and didn't lose our food in the parks. It IS nice for new comers, I will give you that. It IS nice if they offer free dining to splurge. But as regulars, I dont think that it is practical, esp. since it does exclude certain menu items and since it doesnt efficiently allow you to eat signature dining.We are signature people. We love that ambiance and the service and we tip well for it but we dont want to use double credits for it, esp. if im ordering vegetarian. To each his own. If x number of people continue to buy ddp, then those people are keeping it an option. I dont want the option to disappear, but I certainly cant see getting it every time.

[RedSoxFan]

We had free dining last December. And while it was nice to have a sit down meal every night; it was still costly. Taxes and tips do add up. And for us, it was way too much food. I'm not a fan of dessert and most of the time didn't eat it. And the lunches I never finished. Would rather split chicken nuggets with my daughter as she didn't finish hers either. And I also found it time consuming getting to the restaurant, etc. I felt all we did was travel to/from the restaurant and eat. But I will say, I was glad to have tried and now I know it's not for us. So if we do go in November (very hopeful); we will not be getting the dining plan.

[kellykelly]

We too have free dining for our upcoming trip. I am grateful, as I have two teenage carnivores. For me it is less stressful to have the meal already paid for. I cringe at the cost of soda x 3. Then if there is steak on the menu, that's what they want every night. We went to Hershey park last summer and the price of food almost caused a nervous breakdown. I probably would not pay for the plan, I would do out of pocket and set aside $$ on a gift card as mentioned. To me the little things add up, like soda - but were in Disney and I don't want to stress over that. Therefore I am soooo grateful for free dining!!

[stitch34]

We always do the ddp for one reason so we can eat at that many table services. You don want to make sure your picking good choices for your sit down to make sure your getting your moneys worth, but if we were paying out of pocket we would sit at at most 2 maybe 3 table services vs getting my 10 on the dining plan...As an adult going there one of my favorite parts of my trip is going to my favorite restarants I look forward to this (as to when I was a kid and it was all about the rides :mickey:)

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

I guess it depends on what works best for your family, but we will never go without doing the plan again. We find it does save us money (we like to eat) and the convenience is nice...plus I don't have to guess how much money to save for food and then worry we stay in budget the whole time.....

[princessgirls]

I personally love the DDP. it allows me to go to WDW without a huge chunk of cash, and not have to worry about a thing.
I can schedule my ADRs and have it all set - plus, you get extras like dessert and a drink that I usually wouldn't shell out on, if I was paying on my own. I find myself limiting my choices when budget dining, and with the DDP, I can go pretty much wherever I feel like to eat, and it's all the same points.
I love flying down, getting picked up by ME free of charge, getting to my room, it's all paid for, going to the parks, and not having to worry about paying for meals or tickets.

That's kind of my mentality with the whole thing!!!!
Julie:mickey:

[joonyer]

Bottom line for our family: WE are always going to WDW on a relatively tight budget, and we can eat all our meals for less than what the DDP costs. We have tried the DDP before, back when it included appetizers and tips. We enjoyed the food, and we ate more food than what it would have cost us had we ordered all the same food and paid out of pocket. But we would have not ordered 4 appetizers at every meal, for instance.

The DDP (TS) costs 45.99 per person per day, and for the four of us, thats a total of $919.80 for a 5 night stay. But the last time we went, we spent less than $600 on food paying out of pocket, including 2 breakfast buffets, a dinner at 'Ohana and Teppan Edo. (The rest were CS meals). That $300+ we saved paid for 3 nights of our stay.

If we could get the DDP for free, we might try it again, depending on the room rates and the total cost of our trip. Last year, we figured that it would cost us less overall to use the room discount instead of free dining, based on the way we eat at Disney. If you eat lots of TS meals every day anyway, you might be able to save a little.

[Narawen]

It just doesn't fit with the way we eat. On the up coming trip, we have 1 TS per day (including arrival and departure day), but two of those would be 2TS credits so we'd have to pay for some meals OOP anyway. Also, a typical day for us may be TS breakfast, share a CS for lunch, then each get our own CS for dinner. We'd rarely use snack credits, and apart from pre-fixe meals or buffets, we don't really order dessert. I've never done the math but the DDP probably wouldn't save us money. What's more important to us is that we're not having to work to fit our eating around a plan other than our own.

As for the convenience of having it pre-paid, a lot of our TS meals this trip are buffet or pre-fixe menus, so those costs are easy to estimate. I also estimate the cost of other TS and CS meals, then tax+ tip. We factor all costs into saving for the trip, including a generous dining estimate. If you have accurate or generous estimates ahead of time with the cash saved, I don't see much difference in charging to your KTTW card and paying it off at checkout vs. using the DDP.

[PlutoPlanet]

We did the Dining Plan several times. We used to like it. Now we have annual passes, and I got the Tables in Wonderland card. I like that so much better! I don't like the dessert you have to get with the Dining Plan. I'd prefer the choice of either an appetizer or dessert. I know many people can't get the TIW card, but if you qualify, it's worth consideration.

[ThanxForNoticin]

We've done Disney with dining plans and without, and we just feel more comfortable and more in control of our trip when we do the meals on our own - no dining plan. When we do the dining plan, we spend too much time worrying about eating. Generally, we're more of a 2-meal a day family when we're at Disney - breakfast/lunch, and dinner. And some nights we like to be real informal about dinner. It's not unusual for us to share some appetizers, skip the entrees, and share desserts. You really can't do that on the plan, and that's OK.... It's just not for us. However, based on how difficult it's gotten to obtain ADRs at the Disney restaurants in the last couple years, the DDP is obviously very popular for many folks.

[Checkers]

When we take our DD & family with us (DD,SIL,3DGC) the DP works well for us as they like to go to buffets since they have more healthier selections for the kids. On the other hand, when it is just my DH & me, we much prefer using our TIW card. We prefer appetizers to dessert, too. Now if only Disney didn't require everyone staying in the same room(s) to be on the DP!:mickey:

[olivegirl]

The DDP works for us!!! My husband is a big eater not so much for myself and my DD. We do love trying new rest. each year we are in Disney. My DD is a picky eater but there is always something for her to get!! :thumbsup:

[javamama]

We've done the DDP ever year since we started going to WDW again in 2007. It's too much food for us, we are not big dessert people at all. My kids like a popsicle, or an icecream every couple of days that's it. I'm not a cake person at all, give me a dole whip once during my trip that's good. So this year we are not eligble for the DDP, due to a discount we can get so we went for the Club Level room instead. That way we will get a great start every morning in our own room, then eat a small lunch, during the day come back hang at the pool, grab some apps, and cocktails then head back to the parks. Then a CS if we are hungry still or snack. We have maybe 2-3 TS ADRs for this trip booked, just because my kids look foward to them, and then one for Mothers Day.

[crazygoalie39]

I personally love the DDP. it allows me to go to WDW without a huge chunk of cash, and not have to worry about a thing.
I can schedule my ADRs and have it all set - plus, you get extras like dessert and a drink that I usually wouldn't shell out on, if I was paying on my own. I find myself limiting my choices when budget dining, and with the DDP, I can go pretty much wherever I feel like to eat, and it's all the same points.
I love flying down, getting picked up by ME free of charge, getting to my room, it's all paid for, going to the parks, and not having to worry about paying for meals or tickets.

:ditto: We love the DDP. We know that it's probably more expensive than paying OOP, but it's just sooo convenient to not have anything to worry about.

[ransam]

i honestly believe that the dining plan is cheaper than out of pocket, if you order the same thing. LIke people have said, it is more convient, and it's nice not having to worry about eating something cheaper to save money as opposed to that steak dinner you really want.
I do agree that if you're going to eat at a signature resturant, using two credits is not the way to go. what we usually do is if we eat at a signature restrurant, just pay for it. since the dining plan is based on the number of nights you're there, as opposed to the number of days...we usually will pay for our signature, then use the extra sit down meal for the extra day we're at the park w/o a meal. we've also used the two credits for a signature breakfast...then that night just paid for a conuter service meal, and the next day we've just used two counter service meals for our meals....
but the bottom l ine, for me, i don't make much money and i save every penny i can for my vacations, and when i get on a plane to head to WDW, i don't want to worry about anything, i don't want to worry about money, or scrunching money when i'm there, the dining plan helps me to do that.

i'm not saying its' right for everyone, just right for me.