Figgy1
Well-Known Member
You may want to go to Disney's web page and take a look at the menus, they have prices to see what works for you
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News Disney Dining Plan Returns in 2024
- Thread starter DCBaker
- Start date
Fido Chuckwagon
Well-Known Member
You are only going to eat two meals per day and one snack per day and nothing else?
TheMaxRebo
Well-Known Member
Just to give you an idea, I had some some work analyzed costs vs price of DDP - here are two sample days, one at AK where you do the character meal and a QS and get an adult beverage at each meal, and then a day at DHS where you do a TS (with a shake) and QS (with a beer)
For Day 1 you are about $7 ahead for day 2 you are about $13 behind ... It just can be challenging to get full value
So why I said before I think you need to find value in having things prepaid and not having to worry about what a price on the menu is and know you might not get full $ worth. And for a honeymoon especially I can see value in that, just getting what you want and enjoying it and not stressing about specific costs
Goofnut1980
Well-Known Member
How is crashing the system still a thing for them? Oh that's right. They keep getting rid of IT folks. I forgot
KateKirisit
New Member
Well we would have breakfast in our room before going to the parks. and yes probably do a QS meal for lunch and then the TS meal for dinner and then a snack in between all that (plus we will have our own little snacks on hand) - yea that should be okay. (i think? --- am i wrong?)
Jon81uk
Well-Known Member
I would suggest taking a look at menus and prices then figuring out how much you might actually spend. You are likely to spend a lot less than you are expecting. Or you might want more snacks or other alcoholic beverages outside of meals.
Allears.net is a good site for menus.
For example at the Magic Kingdom, Be Our Guest is $67, a burger and soda from Cosmic Rays is $17 and a sundae as a snack is $8. Total spend is $92 that day although could be higher if you choose to have alcohol at be our guest. But go to liberty tree tavern instead of be our guest and it’s only $39 for dinner, plus $9 for a beer so that would total $73 for the day, $22 less than the DDP.
Kingoglow
Well-Known Member
The hate you sense about the DPP comes from people's personal experience when trying to make the DDP work for their family. Generally speaking, we don't want to overpay for our meals simply because we prepay for them. So what the system does, is make guests do homework on what their family would eat (in the future) and compare that cost to the daily price of the DDP.
Most guests find it difficult to predict what their family will want to eat in 2024 after a long day in the parks. It is easy to say, 'hey if I get the steak for every meal, I will come out ahead of the cost of the DDP,' but it is a whole other thing to eat steak everyday after having walked 10 miles in the parks.
So the value proposition is what makes most people turn away from the DDP. You have to make sure that the value is there for your family. If it is, great! For a lot of people in the comments, there are concerns about the price value.
You mentioned that you budgeted $2,000 for a week's stay for two people. If you had that budget set aside, in cash, there is a good possibility that you would come home with some of that money. If you buy the DDP, then what you pay is a sunk cost, and you could find yourself just coming home with some overpriced rice crispy treats and bananas because you didn't use all your snacks and you wanted to spend them before you left.
It is just hard to forecast what families will actually spend on food during their vacation. I know from personal experience that when I goto WDW, I can/will eat at one QS and one TS restaurant everyday, and order exactly what I want to eat, and still not pay $95.00.
Figgy1
Well-Known Member
BOG is 2 credits which throws the math off even farther
KateKirisit
New Member
Thank you sooooooo much.
THIS was wat I needed to hear! (LOL)
Looks like I definitely have more research and homework to do on this. thank you everyone for your advice, i truly appreciate it!
Jon81uk
Well-Known Member
Then is it actually possible to have a QS and a TS meal in the Magic Kingdom and break even on the DDP? Maybe if you went outside to Ohana instead, but at $59 that still doesn’t bump it up enough even if you add another $10 for alcohol it’s barely break even.
At the other parks you could get alcohol with the quick service meal which ups the costs by another $5 or so but I wouldn’t want to anyway!
Kingoglow
Well-Known Member
As others have said, since it will be your honeymoon, I can totally see leaning on the convenience of the DDP. There is value to be had for not thinking about food prices and math when you are trying to relax and be in the moment; especially after planning a wedding. If you or your partner ever look closely at a restaurant bill, will the sticker shock of Disney prices ruin your day? If so, then prepaying would be a way to avoid that.
Ultimately, it is your money and you don't have to listen to this forum at all. But your question comes up often 'is the DDP worth it?' It is not an easy question for this group to answer. For a lot of families, they will be overpaying for food. But does that matter to that particular family? Maybe, maybe not.
We can only share if it works for us or not. For my family of two adults, it doesn't.
Enjoy your honeymoon!
cranbiz
Well-Known Member
On average, a TC credit is $55 each, a QS credit is $25 each, snack credit $5 and the resort mug is $10.
I know these are not exact numbers and can shift a bit but if you figure dinner at Be Our Guest is $70 cash but requires 2 TS credits ($110 value), then it costs you $40 for that meal in value.
I know these are not exact numbers and can shift a bit but if you figure dinner at Be Our Guest is $70 cash but requires 2 TS credits ($110 value), then it costs you $40 for that meal in value.
eliza61nyc
Well-Known Member
you'll be absolutely fine. My family is kind of weird in that for some reason we don't eat on vacation like we normally do. We usually go to wdw in september and it's still pretty hot. so we tend to only want one big meal a trip.
As @Kingoglow mentioned "value" comes in different forms, one of them being connivence. we don't do the ddp anymore because we've been a bunch and we do go offsite at times. The times we used it we were going with 3 small kids and the simple fact of not having to worry about what the kids picked out was worth it's weight in gold.
Congrats on the wedding
JD80
Well-Known Member
It's not bad but it can be limiting. Personally if it's just you and your husband, the DDP probably isn't worth it, especially if you like to have drinks and eat. There will be some places you want to just get a taste at a lounge with an app and a bev, other places you may want something else. You may want to visit multiple locations just to sample food (food booths etc) and the DDP is not conducive to that.
Depends on your style though. If you like 1 sit down meal with a entree and desert only go for it. But as a HUGE foodie, the DDP is not great at all and it's really not about $$ but about flexibility.
DisneyDreamer08
Well-Known Member
New message at the bottom 
Disney updated the display message with a phone number to call for 2023 bookings, if that helps at all!
Message last updated: 12:40 PM ET
If you are interested in booking 2023 tickets, room-only reservations or resort packages, please call (407) 939-5277.
For all 2024 dates, we have paused bookings online and over the phone. Bookings will resume as soon as possible.
Weather_Lady
Well-Known Member
My family of 4 (all "adults" for DDP purposes) barely spends that much for food in a week, and that's with the majority of our lunch/dinner meals at TS (table service) restaurants, including some signatures/fireworks packages (in other words, more TS meals than the DDP would cover), the rest of our lunches and dinners at CS (counter service) restaurants, plus a couple of lounge visits and some snacks. We order whatever we want -- including appetizers that the DDP wouldn't include -- and still typically spend less than $300/day for four people.
Also, you mentioned that you are "foodies." In that case, you'd probably love some of Disney's signature, fine dining restaurants (perfect for romantic honeymoon dinners!) -- all of which will cost you 2 TS credits, and would be the worst possible use of the DDP, virtually guaranteeing you will lose money. (Simply put, all the best Disney restaurants "cost" twice as many dining entitlements on the DDP, but that same meal, while more expensive than a typical TS meal, wouldn't cost double the price of a typical TS meal if you paid out-of-pocket).
Are you sure that your meals are going to cost $2000 out of pocket? I'd take a look at some menus and do a little figuring before deciding that the DDP is a good deal for you. IMHO, if it's the "pre-purchased" nature of the DDP that attracts you, you'd be far better off buying $1,500 in Disney gift cards (at BJs or another place that offers them for a discount, if you can), and using them for all of your food purchases onsite. You'll likely have some money left over on them for souvenirs!
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TheMaxRebo
Well-Known Member
Well, fun to do a puzzle, let's see
Dinner at Skipper's Canteen:
- hanger steak: $38
- kingaloosh dessert: $9
- margarita: $16.50
Lunch at Columbia Harbor House
- lobster roll: $16.99
- happy haunts milk shake: $7.99
Snack:
- Mickey Bar: $6.25
Total: $94.73 - just about break even
KateKirisit
New Member
This is a fantastic example! - Thanks for sharing!
That hate may be true for some people, but our hate is different. I have spoken with several managers in the past (prior to COVID, obviously) and without exception, they had to find ways to cut costs since the DDP did NOT pay them what their food was costing them to buy. So instead of that good Angus or choice steak, they had to buy select or even commercial grade to cover their cost. Not what you want at a signature restaurant. In addition, because people were able to get that top tier item for no extra cost, the better restaurants, such as Narcoossee's, Citricos, Flying Fish, etc. had hard to find ADRs for them, when prior to the DDP and now, getting in when you want is fairly easy to most of them. And then of course there is the price. In order to make the DDP look better, Disney has raised the prices to ridiculous levels just to make it look like a good deal. That hurts those of us that dine differently and still have to pay cash. So our hate is on multiple levels. Less availability at our favorite TS restaurants, lower food quality and higher prices for us.
Now I have read on the Disney website that certain menu items will now be an additional cash cost in addition to the dining credit. It really should have been that way over a decade ago and maybe the restaurant managers wouldn't have had to lower their food costs to cover themselves. Time will tell if Disney actually does it right as no one should be able to get lobster or a filet mignon for 1 TS credit.
We are DVC members that have been going to WDW since the 70's. We visit at least twice every year and we are huge foodies, but we don't always want a full meal at every sit down TS, so there is no way the DDP ever makes sense for us. We enjoy just having a few appetizers and no entree at many of the TS locations. Now if they would bring back the TiW, we would jump all over that in a heartbeat as that at least brings the prices down to a more reasonable level with the 20% discount at most places. And since we enjoy adult beverages both at the restaurant and the lounges, the TiW saved us that 20% there, so that was worth it for us.
So saying all of this - if someone wants the convenience of prepaying for their meals on their trip - more power to them as long as they understand that the DDP is NOT a discount offer, but simply prepaying SOME of the costs of their meals. They also have to understand that tips are NOT included so please don't forget to tip your wait person for their service, even if you aren't paying cash for the meal.
/rant over