To get DDP or not

[Dyanna]

We have always paid OOP for all our meals but giving a small thought to the DDP. This is how we normally go thru our day of meals.

Grab food on the go for breakfast like a box of doughnuts you can buy at the hotel.

Get a snack like pretzel later on. We will usually get CS for lunch but DD 4 will usually eat from whatever DH or myself order as she is a light eater.

Maybe a second snack during the day but mostly purchase drinks like soda, water or juice.

Dinner we always eat at a sit down meal. So far we have not had a meal that would have utilized 2 meal points.

Is the DDP for us? What plan would be best if we did purchase from one. We are also DVC owners if this helps or not. Thanks for all your input.

[DisneyMom12]

I think it would be good for you. You would get 1 CS, 1TS, and 2 snacks per day. I love the dining plan, it really does save my family money on food.

[VWL Mom]

I think I saw from your other post that you are leaving today? What I suggest is that you save all your receipts from this trip and then add them up and compare when you return.

If you are going to do more than one trip per year as DVC then you also have the option of upgrading to an AP and buying a TIW card which we generally found to be better than DDP for us.

This trip we will be using a meal plan for the first time (DlxDP) and our TIW card. DS16 is in training (competitive weightlifting) and eats a lot of little meals through the day so he'll be using many of the credits and we have signature dining each night plus F&W. I'm interested to see how it works out.

[DizneyRox]

If you're leaving today, it's not possible to add the DDP, so this isn't even a question.

We ALWAYS opt to NOT participate in the dining program. If you break each component out of the dining plan an compare what you would normally eat against that component, that is a fair assessment.

For example, if the DDP includes a snack valued at $4 then that's the value of a snack credit. If you get water with that at $2.50, you just lost $1.50 in value. Cheaper OOP.

If a CS is valued at $15 and you get a drink and an entree (usualy pass on dessert) and the cost of a sandvich and soda OOP is $9.50 you just lost $5.50 in vlaue on the plan.

If a TS is then valued at $26 and you order the chicken ($17) and soda ($2.75) and get a dessert for $6, you just lost another $.25.

When the DDP started, we did the math and it was a ripoff. Our most recent trip we did the math again, and it's still a ripoff.

We pass on it without regret.

We too have found the TiW card to be a really good value. We basically eat without tipping (the discount basically voids the tip and then some). The TiW card add a 18% surcharge to any TS bill, and then you deduct the 20%. For us, when you surcharge gratuity, that's it. Nothing more, nothing less goes on that bill. We usually tip well, but don't agree with forced gratuities.

[Jared]

I agree with virtually every word in the above post. The dining plan is a rip-off for a vast majority of parties, and it's imperative for you to seriously crunch the numbers before committing.

[Hammer]

I think if the DDP is a good value is truly up to the individual, as only you know what sort of foods you like to order. Please note that the Tables in Wonderland card is only available to you if you purchase an AP (which may not be cost effective depending on how many days you will visit WDW in a year) or are a FL resident.

Before I was eligible to purchase the TiW card (pre-2008) the DDP was good deal for our family, even when you add in the cost of the appetizer and tip. We tend to like the more expensive entrées on a menu (beef, seafood, duck) no matter if we are dining at WDW or not. Also, we like to order dessert at a restaurant when we go out, especially if a creme brulee is on the menu :tasty: . We usually do not eat at many buffets as it is more involved for our family with my Mom in a wheelchair.

Also, we liked to get the DDP when my Dad was alive and would go to WDW with us at Christmas time. My father, like me, would be very conscious of the price of something and not order something he would enjoy if he thought it was too much money. With the DDP, I could tell him to order whatever he wanted for dinner as it was included. That has a value that can only be measured by me.

[tinxmom]

I agree that's its a very personal preference. We love it for many of the same reasons - don't have to pick what we want based on price - it all costs the same on DDP. Plus, kinda fun when we are on vacation to always have dessert included - probably wouldn't spring for it if it was OOP. We also try to look at it as were on on acation, so splurge a little more than we would at home.

[disneyfan328]

I have to say that it really and truly depends on the family and the indv. that make it up. If your 4 yr old normally shares a meal with you then no its probably not worth it since all of the parties would have to be on the ddp.

My family has opted for the CS DDP on our last 2 trips and we love it! Even if we normally wouldn't have bought dessert with our meal, you can always get that to go in the form of a mickey rice crispy treat or something else so it really works as an extra snack somewhere along the way. We also always try to only use our snack credits for things that are 4.00 or close to it. If someone wants a pop, we pay for it oop and save the snack credit for something like a 4.00 smoothie at auntie gravities. this way we make the most of the plan. Although with the changes that come to the 2012 CS plan we are now getting one less snack per day so I don't know that it will "save" us any money any more - it was nice having the 2 snacks per day - I think that we will def. save our receipts from this trip and add it all up when we get back to see if we "save" any money. However in saying that even if we break even I would still do it just to know that the meals etc. are paid for ahead of time.

We are also getting free dining this time so I am pretty sure that's a good deal. If we go and I have to purchase it I will make sure that I weight out all of the costs based on what we spend during this trip.

[Polynesian Dweller]

Getting the DDP is one of those things which you hav to calculate yourself and really before purchasing it. You need to know what it costs for you to eat 'normally'. If you get the DDP first you will tend to use up all the credits. But that may not be how you'd normally eat.

We have done both the DDP and not DDP and now we won't use it again. For us, it just costs us more. For others I'm sure it works but you have to cost it out honestly based on how you 'd eat without the DDP.

[A Big Kid]

We stopped doing the DDP a couple of trips ago and found out two things:

#1) We spent much less money
#2) We did not eat ourself into a state of misery.

With regards to #2: we found ourselves eating way too much because we did not want to "waste" our credits.