Contemplating first time without the DDP.,,

[Jessica Meier]

So really thinking about not doing the DDP this upcoming trip. Problem is, my husband is a serious cheapskate. Afraid we will be eating PB&J out of a backpack for most of our trip. Which will totally take away a lot of the pixie dust for me. I enjoy our meals there. It's a time to relax and enjoy each other. My question is how much do you budget per day if you go sans DDP?? I figure we will eat one big meal a day and small bites for the rest of the day. It will be myself, my husband and my daughter. We seem to enjoy the buffet style or family style meals the most.

 

[MickeyMomV]

For us part of being at Disney is the food, all of the different options and trying new things. For this reason we always get the DDP. Every day we do a quick breakfast (we pay cash as it is the cheapest meal of the day), CS lunch, and a TS meal for dinner. Opponents of the DDP like to say you save a "Ton" if you pay cash but in all reality you only save a couple of dollars or even end up paying a little more if you are eating the same meals (1 TS and 1 CS).
The OP said she likes Family style meals. Well a Family meal at Whispering Canyon is $30 plus $3 for Drink and if you get a dessert its another $7. So you're up to $40. You grab lunch at Casey's Corner; a dog, fries, and drink will run $13 - $16 if you get the cracker Jacks to snack on later. Now you are up to $56. If you grab a snack during the day and you are at another $5-$10. So you finish around $61 to $66 just doing average meals. If you pick the cheapest or most expensive items on the menu the cost adjust accordingly. Now if you are getting the cheapest item on the menu, drinking water, and forgoing any extras then go ahead and make a case for the DDP being evil because you will pay more for it.
The dining plan for our 02/2015 trip is only $58/person/day. For us it makes total sense to get the DDP and if they offer the Play Stay Dine it makes even more sense.

Moral of the story is everybody has different eating habits. You need to look over all of the menu's with a calculator and crunch the numbers if you are considering not getting it. Saying you can eat at WDW on $30-$40/day is possible if your doing CS most days mixed with PB&J's and TS on others. And it is possible to drop $80/day if your ordering the good stuff.

 

[DisneyDebNJ]

It's been years since we didn't do DDP. I admit, my main reason for always going with the DDP was to prepay everything prior to our trip. Other posters made terrific suggestions, especially about adding up your costs first. However, having to plan months ahead, there is no guarantee that the prices will be the same. The buffets are expensive, REALLY expensive. Have hubby look over menus, see where he would like to eat, add up the costs, then compare them to the Dining Plan prices. (also, dont forget the snacks too)

 

[Jessica Meier]

@DisneyDebNJ the buffets are so expensive! Just on 5 character meals we are looking at $550. That doesn't include any counter service or snacks which can easily equal that much. Wish I knew what to do...

 

[DisneyDebNJ]

@DisneyDebNJ the buffets are so expensive! Just on 5 character meals we are looking at $550. That doesn't include any counter service or snacks which can easily equal that much. Wish I knew what to do...

WOW!!! i would go over costs w/hubby. You may be better off doing the Dining Plan

 

[Jessica Meier]

The issue is getting him to sit down and talk about it.

 

[Jessica Meier]

I correct my earlier statement 4 character meals and one meal at O'Hana. But still.

 

[Mawg]

If you enjoy one Table service and one Counter service meal a day and more than 50% of your TS meals are Buffets, Character Meals or One Price Meals then it's time to study menus with a calculator to see if the DDP will be a better option. If not then no need to even look as the DDP will be more expensive. Also the number of kids under 10 you have can make a big difference. If you have 2 or more kids and like the Buffets and Character meals, these are expensive out of pocket, you may want to study menus with a calculator. If you have more than 2 kids and don't like Buffets and Character meals, then most TS meals are pretty cheap for kids and a better deal to go out of pocket.

Wanting to eat all the food that the DDP provides, doing mostly character meals and ordering the most expensive thing on the menus is the key to the DDP being the better deal. If these things are not for you then get Target Gift Cards and also look at a Grocery that delivers.

If not on the Dinning plan we find that a buffet around 2 pm is best. Moring snack in the room for breakfast and bring another to the park, The big buffet holds us over way past dinner time and then we get a snack or share a QS around Fireworks time. All this also helps make the best use of ride times and avoids crowds. We always make sure to have our one TS a day our best memories have been made during these.

 

[Jessica Meier]

We tend to eat our largest meal at breakfast for fuel for a long day at the parks. It holds us over until about 3 and we either get a CS or snack.

 

[Mawg]

We tend to eat our largest meal at breakfast for fuel for a long day at the parks. It holds us over until about 3 and we either get a CS or snack.

If that's what you like its fine. But the best time to ride the rides is at rope drop to about 2 hours afterwards. You can accomplish so much more if you do not have a TS meal at this time. A 2 PM TS meal means you are inside during the hottest time of the day and not in lines for rides when they are the longest. I'd rather be sipping on an Ice Tea and taking my time at a buffet knowing that I'm not missing anything at 2 PM. Also, it usually doesn't rain at breakfast time so don't waste the sun being inside for an hour. I'm a big advocate for late lunch or early dinner at the parks to make the best use of time, crowds and weather.

 

[Jessica Meier]

That does help. We don't usually eat desserts. If we did, it would be using snack credits an hour or two after a meal. I would be much more likely to just order an appetizer somewhere for my meal as I usually enjoy them more. My husband will eat and eat to get his money worth and then feel miserable. So in some ways I think we would be about equal money wise and just going using GC may give us more freedom to not feel like we have to eat in certain ways.

 

[Jessica Meier]

That's the thing we were discussing last night. I definitely have some places I want to "experience" like O'hana and Crystal Palace, but the only must do I think is a Princess Meal. Otherwise we don't feel the need to have to do anything. To us, the food hasn't been as good the past two trips at any restaurant so just not sure how much we HAVE to do.

 

[Mawg]

Basing my math on these posts and having read your trip report, thus knowing you have 1 child and about her age. And you just said your largest meal is breakfast.

So, for the dining plan, standard 1 QS, 1 TS, 1 Snack. I'm assuming 7 nights, since I think you went for about a week last year.

We have:
60.64/adult = 121.28
19.23 for your daughter = 140.51/ night for a total of 983.57.

I'm not going to include tip in either analysis, since it's a factor either way.

Here's what I see for your meals if you paid OOP:
Akershus
Chef Mickey
Crystal Palace
Tusker House
O'Hana

I think you've been to most of these, and I know you said you prefer breakfast. So that's what I used in my analysis.

Akershus:
Average price is $43.66 * 2 = 87.31 + 26.09 (avg child) = $113.40

Chef Mickey:
$35 * 2= $70 + 19 = $89

Crystal Palace:
$26.87 * 2 = 53.74 + 14.98 = $68.72

Tusker House:
$31.5 * 2 = $63 + 17 = $80

O'Hana (I went with dinner here, since you didn't mention it as a character):
$39.4 * 2 = $78.8 + $19.17 = $97.97

Total For TS: $449.09 (without tip).
Money left to meet dining plan = $534.48

Okay now let's add snacks and late lunch dinner.

Let's say you get three Mickey bars (one per person), every day, for the 7 days:
$4 * 3 = $12 / day * 7 = $84 on snacks.

Now let's say you all go to your average priced QS, Cosmic Ray's, everyday for 7 meals. You each get an entree, dessert, and a beverage.
Entree ~$10, Dessert $4, Beverage $3 = $17/adult = $34.
Kid's Meal = $6
Total = $40* 7 = $280

Now for 7 nights, I've only got 5 sit down meals, so I'll add two more quick service since you'll likely eat two meals on those days, or another $80.

Our total is:
TS: $449.09
CS: $360
Snacks: $84
Total: $893.09

So our dining plan was $983.57 with 7 table service meals, 7 QS, and 7 snacks.

The difference is $90.48.

In other words, the difference is about the cost (before tax) of a meal at Chef Mickey. So, if you were to add just one more meal at a sit down restaurant to your plan, you would come out ahead. And that's without any other snacks, "Mom, I'm thirsties," etc.

It's all up to you, but I thought laying this out would help. This does make some assumptions on what you and yours eat, for example if you never got a CS dessert you would save $80 right there and that would make it break-even for two more table service - essentially the same OOP for the number of meals.

Yep, this is a close one because of the Type of TS's chosen. Lot's of Buffets and Character meals. If you were to go with a TS for all the days of your trip DDP would be the better bet for you. But, since you are not, OP is better and most often is. But, remember if you are trying to save gift cards and want to know how much to save you need to add drinks and tips to the $893 and save up close to $1200. You said your trip was a year away, that's $100 a month or every other week one $50 GC and you'll save $60 at target using your Red Card. Go ahead add another TS, but then wait DDP would become cheaper...now use the GC's towards the pay off of the vacation closer to your final payment due date.

 

[Figaro928]

I did the SAME EXACT thing you are doing right now - debating the DDP. I too have a cheapskate hubby who i thought would too being eating PBJs the entire trip. I figured it EVERY SINGLE WAY. Had both OOP and DDP figured down to the dollar. I figured out that for us the DDP was a wash - we'd save about $30 on it. Off it we'd save at least $150 - probably more once the hubby saw the prices and decided to go on a hunger strike. Once I presented HIM with all the information HE decided to go on the DDP - he didn't want to be a cheapstake and worry about the money we were spending while on vacation. Go figure - talk to your husband - see if it's even worth the savings for you guys.

 

[Britt]

Benefit of DDP is just not worrying about it at all! It's prepaid and it's done! You can get what you want without a care! I love that I don't have to touch my bank account while on vacation!

 

[BigRedDad]

My experience with the DDP is that it is overpriced, forces you to unrealistically follow a schedule, and you are not ordering what you want but what makes the best bang for the buck already paid. You literally have to plan for where you are going to eat and exactly what you are going to order from them menu to break even. We always have left over credits and come home with a bag full of Mickey Ear Rice Crispy snacks. On top of that, portions are so large we can share the meals.

You don't have to eat cheap to eat well. There are great counter service restaurants throughout the parks with a variety of things that are different than the next. The portions are big enough that 2 adults can share the meal. For dinners, where the bills start to add up, most are still in the $20-$30 range that is not outrageous off the DDP. When I have to look at the menu for the 2 items over $30 to start coming close to even, it is a waste of money.