How Many DVCers Get the DDP?

[mjaclyn]

DH and I are headed to WDW for our first stay in BLT in two weeks. We had initially signed up for the DDP but now I'm rethinking it because of all the negative reviews I've been reading about dining. How many of you get the DDP when you go? We'd be paying for it, and using the Intercot Worksheet we end up saving about 30% off the regular bill, but I'm not sure now... DH says 'we have to eat' so I guess the quality of the food won't change that...but I'm wondering if I should spend less time in the restaurants, cancel the DDP, and just hit the better CS locations? Right now we have ADRs for the following:

Rose & Crown (Dinner)
Tony's Town Square (Lunch)
Crystal Palace (Breakfast)
Akershus (Breakfast)
Brown Derby (Dinner)
Les Chefs De France (Dinner)
Kona Cafe (Breakfast)

Any suggestions?

[SBETigg]

With little ones, it helps to have some table service meals, I think. I like a lot of the places you have planned for meals, and I would keep my plans. Reviews usually don't affect my planning. I'm stubbornly determined to find out for myself. Whatever you decide, I hope you have a great trip with some good meals.

[Hammer]

I voted "sometimes depending on the situation". I've done both and actually like getting the DDP (we get deluxe as we eat almost exclusively at Signature Dining restaurants for dinner). We come out slightly ahead, but for me it is the comfort of not having to look at the price for anything.

Now, I have done trips without the DDP and they were fine as well. Service was good either way. You know your kids, though. Can your kids sit and behave during a sit down meal? That should be factored in. If you and your husband can't enjoy a meal, then maybe the DDP is not for you.

[Dsnygirl]

I'm not a DVC'er, but after running the numbers for our upcoming trip (DDP vs. paying OOP) we figured we'd pay less for our food if we just managed where/how we eat. We're carrying snacks in our backpack for some of our lunches, having a light bkfst in our room some days, and have at least a TS meal every day (sometimes two), quite a few CS meals planned, and we're estimating we'll pay about $400 less than the DDP would have cost us. Also, we have the freedom to order appetizers as a meal, whereas w/ the DDP, they'd cost extra, you'd still have a main course and often, too much food.

We're considering a DVC purchase in the future, and one of the things we look forward to is the kitchen. Mind you, I don't plan on cooking all that much, but you can be sure that once we buy in, we probably won't ever do the DDP b/c if we can save $$ w/o a kitchen, I'm guessing we'd save even more if we cooked even one or two meals!!

So -- my advice is to run the numbers and base it on where you want to eat, the approximate cost of those meals, whether or not you want to provide a few of your own snacks/meals and how that adds up to what they'd be charging you.

Good luck!

[GreenBeetle]

So far, the numbers have always been in our favor to do the DDP since we enjoy a sit-down meal and a quick service meal each day. Plus, my kids and husband are very good eaters (I'm the fussy one in the family ).

Another consideration for me is that although we stay in a 2-bedroom villa with a full kitchen, I'm not cooking on vacation. Pop-tarts or cereal for breakfast is about as far as I'm willing to go!

[Pirate Granny]

When we went I used the TIW, but watched what our average prices were. We at at one CS and one TC everyday...we did not have the DDP and the average lunch was around $10 and the average dinner was $35. not everyone got dessert; and some got an appetizer...so...the TIW adds 20% tip regardless...so TIW only pays for the tip...we would've been better off getting the DDP. The one good feature of the TIW we stayed at Pop and FQ so that the TIW discount was applied as these resorts only had CS...and that made a difference. Next time I take the family...8 adults and 4 children and various in laws...I will be purchasing the DDP and everyone can do breakfast on their own...(a couple mornings I spent 2 hours shuffling meals at the FQ--so that we could use my discount)...and CS & TS will be with the family and I won't have to worry except for the tip (which is automatic with a group this size).

[dlpmikki]

I have never done it because we usually stay too long and couldn't eat that much. I did price it up for a few nights in January as we are doing a split stay but it didn't look like it would work out for us.

[DVC Mike]

We always use the Tables in Wonderland (TIW) card instead and save 20% on food and alcohol.

[VWL Mom]

We use TIW. We usually have a grocery delivery for water, snacks, cereal and such so breakfast is normally in the room. There are 4 of us and we don't all have lunch each day unless the mood hits us. We do TS each night with 3 nights being signature dining but prefer appetizers instead of desserts. When I ran the numbers it was about the same dollar wise but the TIW works because of our eating habits.

[seanyred]

I checked no but my first DVC trip is still yet to come...49 days!!!

Anyway I was going to add the dinning plan but then we decided to return in March so we purchased the annual pass instead. Which opened the door for Tables in Wonderland. My major concern with the DDP is that we would become a slave to our ADR schedule. With my DS and my DW who is newly expecting, I just couldn't justify spending the money upfront. At least this way if I miss a ADR I won't feel like I'm loosing money.

[mjaclyn]

Yay! After looking at the menus for Food & Wine this year I am VERY happy to have booked the dining plan because almost all the food items can be purchased with a snack credit!! Yum Yum! I think we'll pay oop for the popcorn and mickey ice creams and pool our 18 snack credits for new england lobster rolls and canadian cheddar cheese soup!

[MinnieMommie]

The dining plan works well for many people but since we have been DVC members we haven't felt the need. I like to feel unscheduled while at Disney and the plan makes me feel too tied to a dining schedule rather than having a leisurely feel to my time. We have talked about maybe doing the plan again at some point while having a split stay. Right now I enjoy making reservations at our favorites and then winging the rest.

[SignguyTom]

Personally, I like the DDP. I wish it still included the tip and appetizer (at least a CHOICE of appetizer OR dessert) but oh well.

The ADRs and crowds are just part of it for me. We combat this a little by doing our TS meals during lunch. It is less crowded (but have never been during free dining) and frees up the rest of the day to do some park hopping or anything else spontaneous. Lunchtime ADRs seem less like an appointment and more like a break.

Sure, it would be nice to be able to walk up and eat when & where you want, but the convenience of having it pre-paid (at check-in) is worth it to me. We use the credits and charge the tip and alcohol to our room.

Just a note - When I see crowded restaurants, even in WDW, it tends to feel like there might be relief in sight for the cruddy economy. Busy places are almost always a good sign. I understand there is an element of illusion here, with free dining promos and such, but it beats these places closing up or becoming 'seaonal' due to lack of interest or poor park attendance.

My only gripe with the DDP is that the menus are starting to all look the same. Dumbing down to the masses, so to speak. There doesn't seem to be as much for the more adventurous eater anymore. It has been many years since we were there for the Food & Wine Festival, though. Maybe there is more variety then...?

The bottom line for us, actually, is the bottom line. We tend save $15-20 per day as a couple. It varies when the kids are along.

[Jennifer_and_Chris]

We have never had the Dining plan. Our oldest was only 9 months when we became DVC members. My parents have been on the plan 3 times and they love it.

This trip coming up (in 9 days) we will be doing the Quick Service dining plan for DH, me and my oldest... the youngest is only 2 and the way the 4 year old eats, they can split a meal. We like that our meals are paid for in advanced and my kids are snackers by nature anyways. We really want to play our meals by ear but, also don't want to have to worry about paying for everything "out of pocket." I know, its all physichological.

We are going with a group of 13 and everyone is on some form of a dining plan. We have 3 TS ADR's that we are paying out of pocket. We wanted to do a couple of nice meals (with characters of course) but, didn't want to do one every single day.

so, for us, for this trip, we said yes to the DDP.

Maybe the next one will not make sense for us to do it.... who knows.

[Friend of Figment]

We're sometimes people. We have TIW this year, because of the kind of trips we are taking. Other times we have used the deluxe DP. I like having the flexibility to choose the option that is best for that trip.

[mjaclyn]

Just wanted to say that we did get the dining plan this time, but it didn't end up working out for us because DH got sick towards the end of our trip. :-( We had to cancel 2 of our TS meals and ended up with 3 extra CS meals the day we were leaving and couldn't use them. I also ended up using a couple of snack credits for 0.79 Chip and Dale pretzels because that's all the Marketplace shop had at the Contemporary. Usually the DDP works out for us, but this time it didn't. :-(

[HeyMoe]

We have purchased the DDP for every trip we've made to WDW so far and for the most part we've found it to be a good deal. However, for our next trip we've decided not to get it and will probably go with the Tables In Wonderland card instead. We have a couple of reasons for this.

First, my oldest son is now 10. Disney now considers him an adult and I refuse to pay $40 a day for him when all he'll want is pizza and chicken nuggets. Disney really needs to create a new category for kids in the 10 - 12 range that don't want to or can't eat all the food that comes with a normal adult meal.

The second reason is that you change your eating habits to fit the plan instead of getting what you really want. You might be in the mood for $12 salad for dinner but you don't get it because you're not maximizing the value of the plan. Instead you opt for the $35 steak even though you'd really prefer the salad.

And lastly, 4 desserts is just too much for us. When we go out to a restaurant here at home, we usually get one dessert (if we get one at all) and split it amongst the 4 of us.

Hope this helps!

[VWL Mom]

When asked DDP vs TIW I always feel it depends on your habits. This trip I actually kept all my receipts and decided to share the results for our 7 night stay for what it is worth.

We are a family of 4: DH, myself, DS14 & DS17. We order from GG and have breakfast in the room, we are big on appetizers & not so big on dessert.

We ate at Plaza Rest, Mama Melrose, California Grill, LeCellier, Narcoossees (sp?); Kona Cafe; Room Svc (1nt); and Artist Point. Don't always have lunch but if on the plan would have used 11 CS. Note here: Roaring Forks sandwiches &
made to order salads are easily split between 2. We also spent an afternoon at F&WF grazing.

DDP would have cost 1118.60 + 294.22 for xtra TS + 67 room svc + 63 appetizers = 1542.82

TIW cost - 100 GG + 885.42 TS + 77.66 CS + 121.46 + 60 orig card cost last yr) = $1244.54

We also used the discount for beverages including some great wines. So for us, TIW works best.

[patandtwins]

We've been to WDW 5 times (not including our 3 night stay w/out parks) and used the DDP all but our first trip. Our last real trip was a split stay in which we had the deluxe for the second half. Don't ever need to do the deluxe again, unless we win the lotto and thus don't mind blowing a ton of money. I like the DDP, but DH does not. I like to sit down and plan the ADRs with the family(it builds the excitement for the trip). I don't mind doing it way in advance. I don't mind being tied down to our ADR schedule(I'm a 'follow a strict schedule' type-I even look up the extra am and pm hours and type up a schedule of where we'll be and when and I fit the ADRs into that). But, my DH prefers, and I'm starting to feel the same, a more relaxed vacation. He wants to take our own food for breakfast and some lunches and 'wing it' for dinner by going off resort some nights and doing our favorite TSs some nights. We've been to Disney enough to have done all the rides and shows multiple times, so there is no 'rush' to get everything in anymore. Plus, our kids are all now considered adults (10,10,12) on the DDP, but 2 of them still prefer kid meals. I think we'd be better off doing OOP or using TIW. We are thinking of going back in 2012. Don't know if we'll use DDP. It was more worth it when appitizers and tip was included.