DDP -would you recommend for our family?

[minnie-mouse]

We are family of 4 and usually eat breakfast in our hotel room (cereal we bought at supermarket before checking in), CS lunch then TS dinners (preferably character or buffet dining). Would this be worth it do you think for us? We don't eat dessert every day and usually pack snack bags of crackers for the kids each day for the parks.

[Strmchsr]

If you usually don't do dessert and don't eat the snacks every day you could probably do the meals better OOP - especially with buffets and character meals.

[forever a child]

If you are eating 1 TS and 1 CS a day and do not order alcoholic drinks or appetizers then I think it is possibly a good option.

For example, for our Dec Trip we have 6 nights and will get the DDP for both DD and myself. She will be 16 then so it will be for 2 adults. We have 6 TS ADR's made (4 of which are buffet; 1 Breakfast Buffet and 3 Dinner Buffets, 2 of them are Character Buffets). I figured out for the other two TS restaurants what we will likely order and calculated out our costs on these 6 meals alone to be $413.80 with Tax before tips. Since I do not drink alcohol and for the two order off the menu meals I never order appetizers, I won't have any additional costs not covered by the plan. I do want to order deserts here (Le Cellier and WCC...so yes, I want to try the deserts:eat:) So it is not like I am calculating costs for something I would not necessarily order.

Since my 6 TS equal $413.80 and my DDP cost is $503.88 for the two of us for 6 nights, That means I only have to spend $90.08 on my counter service and snack credits to break even! (Basically $15 a day!) But on our Last trip our CS meals were easily running us about $20-30 with out drinks and that does not include snacks! We will gladly take our snacks home if we don't use them all up, actually we usually do grab extra snacks to take home to keep the Disney feel a day or two longer after our trip!:D
So for our Dec trip is would be a good value for us. Our May trip would not have been as we did not want to be tied down to ADR's and we ate only 4 TS out of 8 days.
We also took breakfast to eat in our room and will probably take some this next trip too...just not as much since we are on the DDP.

I would suggest looking at menus which you can find here on intercot and more complete menus on other disney sites. Calculate based on the costs and what you would more than likely order and figure out it it makes sense.
Have fun planning!

[DizneyRox]

Character meals and buffets are not good values on the plans. From the sounds of it, you'll probably be hard pressed to break even on the dining plan with how you eat.

I'd go OOP, but that's what I do all the time. That way you'll also have more choice come feeding time. If you didn't want to snack, no biggie, if you wanted to do a TS instead of CS, you could (not that you can't on the DDP, but it takes more juggling to get value. Having to keep track of credits, what you used, what you need to use, how many days, where are you going to be, etc.

[crltkcagle]

This is exactly what our family does. We eat breakfast in the room then head out to the parks. Pick up a CS meal for lunch and then do a TS meal for dinner. We usually grab an icecream for our snack option at some point during the day. We also pack snacks cause our kids sometimes get hungry. I would recommend the DP for your family. We love it!

[Alaska Disney Fan]

We are a family of 4, both kids are considered adults (12 and 14). We have always used the DDP and would never go without it. We don't usually eat desert with our meals at home, but we do on vacations (after all we are on vacation, you gotta have some extra "fun"). We usaully do the regular plan but on occasion have done the CS plan. We do a couple of buffets with characters and a couple of nice sit down meals. We keep all our receipts and always end making out better with the plan than without it. Would we eat as much or go to the same places if we did not have the plan probably not. BUT, it is a vacation and when we are on vacation we like to go the extra mile and enjoy all the extra things that make a vacation fun! It is also very convienient to have it all taken care of in advance.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

I think this varies with family to family...we too eat breakfast in the room, then CS for lunch and TS for dinner....we find it saves us money and the convenience is worth it...

if you are splitting meals or if you tend to order the cheapest item on the menu, maybe it won't save money. I think there is a DP calculator on Intercot somewhere...if you know where you are eating and what you are likely to order you can figure it on this

[cordovacordova]

Our family has been several times without the Dining Plan and have used the Dining Plan the last couple of trips and would never ever go without it again, it's a great value. You would be able to count on using your snack credits instead of having to lug around your own snacks. We usually are not big dessert eaters either, however when we are eating in Disney we always seem to crave dessert! :ack:

[minnie-mouse]

Thanks everyone for your opinions. DH's thought is that the DDP would allow us to go to more expensive table service places for dinner (like buffets and character dining) that we would not go to normally if we had to pay OOP. We could get dessert that we normally wouldn't have at home. I personally think not having to watch DH cringe everything he gets the bill after every meal would make me happy. ;)

[KAT1811]

If you usually don't do dessert and don't eat the snacks every day you could probably do the meals better OOP - especially with buffets and character meals.

:ditto:


From the sounds of it, you'll probably be hard pressed to break even on the dining plan with how you eat.

I'd go OOP, but that's what I do all the time. That way you'll also have more choice come feeding time. If you didn't want to snack, no biggie, if you wanted to do a TS instead of CS, you could (not that you can't on the DDP, but it takes more juggling to get value. Having to keep track of credits, what you used, what you need to use, how many days, where are you going to be, etc.

:ditto:

I don't think the DDP is a good deal for any family. The only thing it is good for is paying for your meals in advance. I think you'll find it much more cost effective to pay OOP for your meals. I find the dining plan forces me to eat more food than I would normally eat. Some times I would rather have an appetizer or soup or salad instead of an entire entree. When we used to do the DDP I always felt like I had to get my money's worth and ended up eating much more than I would typically in order to do so. Take a look at the menus and think about what you would typically order. Then figure you still have to tip on top of that. Good luck.

[magicalmom]

Assuming that making the trip more affordable is your first priority:

If the dining plan is free, and what you spend on food at WDW is usually more than any room-only discount available for the time of your visit, I'd jump on it.

Remember, if you're willing to split entrees OOP, you can also do so on the DDP, and use the credits you save for a nice character breakfast or two.

If you're going at a time when the DDP isn't free, you'll have to spend quality time with the menus and do some serious number crunching to decide if it's a good choice for you

If the DDP and OOP are close to a break-even, consider: will you be able to eat more TS meals than if you went OOP? (And do you wish to?) Do you value the convenience? Do you like knowing in advance what you will spend?

Do you like to make a meal of appetizers? (I don't think you can on the plan.) A glass of wine with dinner? (Not covered).

You'll be tipping based on the menu price of whatever you order, regardless of whether you're on the plan or OOP. (Your tips will end up being bigger on the plan since you'll be more willing to order more expensive entrees.)

We had the plan one time when it was free, and loved it. It's not worth it for us to pay for it, though, as we don't usually eat that expensively :mickey:

[GBBT]

The 1st year we did DDP,the appetizer and tip was included.Was well worth it then.We get QS free this year so that will be great!:thumbsup:

[mrmcgiv]

if you do a lot of buffets and character meals and plan to get on ein a day I would do the DDP. We did it our first 2 trips, but will not get it this trip b/c we are gtting the $750 giftcard promo and will use that to eat.

This time we will eat at less expensive places Isci-fi, 50's primetime) which I would not have considered going to on DDP. On DDP yoi can go to Chef Mickey's ohana, 1900 PArk Fare to name a few high priced char meals nad notr have to worry about the cost or the fact that you just paid 14.99 for your kid to eat next to nothing.

I did feel tied to our reservations on DDP and we ate too much as well. But I still like DDP!

[Hammer]

Character meals and buffets are not good values on the plans. From the sounds of it, you'll probably be hard pressed to break even on the dining plan with how you eat.

I'd go OOP, but that's what I do all the time. That way you'll also have more choice come feeding time. If you didn't want to snack, no biggie, if you wanted to do a TS instead of CS, you could (not that you can't on the DDP, but it takes more juggling to get value. Having to keep track of credits, what you used, what you need to use, how many days, where are you going to be, etc.



I don't think the DDP is a good deal for any family. The only thing it is good for is paying for your meals in advance. I think you'll find it much more cost effective to pay OOP for your meals. I find the dining plan forces me to eat more food than I would normally eat. Some times I would rather have an appetizer or soup or salad instead of an entire entree. When we used to do the DDP I always felt like I had to get my money's worth and ended up eating much more than I would typically in order to do so. Take a look at the menus and think about what you would typically order. Then figure you still have to tip on top of that. Good luck.

I would be careful with saying that the Dining Plan is not worth it for any family. Every family is different and while it would not work in your case, that is not true for all. As the OP stated, her DH is the type that cringes when he sees the bill, and that anxiety is taken out of the vacation experience. What price tag do you put on that?

As for saying it isn't a good deal if you are going to eat at buffet meals, there again it depends. How old is the poster's children? If the kids are younger than 10, the plan for the day is basically paid for the day and like a poster said, you did not shell out $14/99 for the kid to eat practically nothing.

I'm just pointing out that every family and every situation is different. Sometimes I use the Dining Plan and sometimes I don't. It depends on who is on the trip, the length of trip and the focus for that particular trip.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

We usually eat breakfast in room, one CS for lunch and TS for dinner and find it is a good deal for us....I would say it would be a good idea to check out the menu section and see what you're likely to order...you can figure it up that way to see if it will be a good deal for you or not:)