DDE vs Dining Plan or both?

[knudsos]

If you get the dining plan with your package can you also purchase the DDE for any additional food/drinks? How does that work in one person in your party gets a AP and the others don't. Do you all have to have AP? You don't have to be Florida residents to purchase a AP correct. Doesn't discounts off your resort come with this? Do you still get discounts if you are purchasing a package (i.e. tickets, dining plan)?

Any help or advise would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

[Monty]

If you have APs and get DDE it's not really cost effective to also pay for DDP, unless maybe if you eat a lot more table service meals than the one-a-day you get with the plan. DDE is only available to AP holders or Florida residents, it costs $85 for FLA res [$70 to renew] and $60 for AP holders.

AP holders can get discounts on resorts, but the DDE card doesn't get you any. DDE gets you 20% of your entire dining bill [including alcohol] where DDP gets you your whole meal [TS - app/entree/dessert/one non-alcoholic drink, CS - entree/dessert/one non-alcoholic drink].

If you want to research the DDE, there's fairly detailed info at Allears.net.

I would suggest you do the math as to which approach is better given your dining style.

EDIT: sorry, missed a couple of questions... No you don't all need an AP. One DDE card will cover up to 10 people at one restaurant, the member must be present.

 

[pinkrose]

To add to what Monty said... It also must all be one one bill for the DDE and only one card per table.

I'm an AP holder and the rest of my family just uses regular tickets. We tried the DDP in Dec. We liked it, but it was way too much food. We ended up using our last 14 snack credits at Goofy's Candy Co. on snacks for the road as we were leaving to come home.
I just ordered the DDE card yesterday for my trip in a few weeks. It's my first time trying it, so I don't have an experiences with it.

 

[Rob562]

Also, if you're on the Dining Plan *and* have a DDE card, you can use the DDE card on the portions of your sit-down meal *not* covered by the Dining Plan (i.e. alcoholic drinks, add-on lobster tails, etc).

-Rob

 

[Monty]

Also, if you're on the Dining Plan *and* have a DDE card, you can use the DDE card on the portions of your sit-down meal *not* covered by the Dining Plan (i.e. alcoholic drinks, add-on lobster tails, etc).

-Rob

True, but at the AP Holder price [$60], you'd have to eat and drink a lot of extras before the return on investment edged into the plus column!

 

[davinakb]

True, but at the AP Holder price [$60], you'd have to eat and drink a lot of extras before the return on investment edged into the plus column!

True that, so knudsos it really depends on what type of diners you are as to which one to do, so FWIW:

• DDP: have not tried it yet, but have heard it's too much food. We just rarely eat counter service meals, much less that AND a big sit down meal everyday. So for our family, we'd end up wasting the CS credits. But if you and yours eat a lot and like the counter service, it may work for you.
• DDE: We've had the card for a couple years. Love it and worth it for us, because we 1) prefer the nicer, sit down meals; 2) drink alcohol; 3) usually have several people eating (our family of 6 went last Oct., and we hit our ROI by the second nice dinner); and 4) it covers valet parking at the resorts (every little bit helps).