In everybody's opinion, is the DDP worth it when you have small children? My kids are 2 and 5 and, like most kids, don't eat a ton of food, nor do they have the patience for a two hour sit down meal. We did the DDP last trip and enjoyed it, but felt strapped by the reservations and the kids lost it in a couple of restaurants at night. I think we will just pay $$ for our meals next time and make reservations at a choice few places. Opinions?
My family and I have participated in the DDP for several trips now and here's what we've learned:
-the DDP with the sit-down meal plan: not really worth it for our family. Depending on what cards you may be holding
(i.e. Disney Visa, DVC, AP, TiW, D23, AAA), you could receive a better discount using one of said cards vs using up a table credit.
-the DDP with the 2 QS & 1 snack/day: almost worth it with little ones
(especially if they're picky, which mine are)! First off, you have a child under the age of 3, so said child does not have to participate in the meal plan
(child ages 3-9 on the reservation are eligible). My family and I got creative with how we used our plan: i.e. ordering meals to take back to the room "for later;" "treating" other members of our party or strangers; or depending on which resort you're staying at, you may actually be able to convert a QS meal into 3 snacks
(can be done at CT & AK for sure). I have experience will all 3 of the above suggestions and have not run into any problems, only "thank you's!"
(oh wait, save the time when we stayed at BWV were having an insurmountable amount of trouble with our reservations & room cards...long, long story)
FYI: With the DDP,
you get a TOTAL of how many meals you have per reservation. For example, if you're staying 5 nights, with 2 a., 1 c. participating in the QS plan, you'd have: 30 QS & 15 snacks TOTAL.
Remember, a QS meal includes: entree, drink, & dessert (or juice or coffee at breakfast). Whenever you swipe your room card to charge a QS meal or snack to your plan, you'll receive
a running total of the remaining meals or snacks. Disney does not differentiate between remaining adult points and child's points.
My family and I enjoy the convenience of swiping our room card. In April, we took a weekend trip to WDW & did not participate in the QS DDP & found that we actually spent MORE money, so the DDP would've been worth it for us. We try to get the best bang for our buck: spending the equivalent of at least $16/meal/adult & $7/meal/child (entree, drink, dessert) & more than $4 per snack (think giant cupcakes). Honestly, I feel that the kids get the most for their buck.
IF you don't think your family will spend at least that much per QS meal (not sure about the sit-down meal plan), or IF you don't think that you'll want dessert with every meal, forgo the DDP.
We are taking a trip to DL in Feb. 2014, and there really is no good DP offered. Instead, I am saving $ to put onto a Disney gift card...that way, we're not carrying around a ton of cash, are not swiping our credit cards all the time, and if there is money left over on said gift card (hahaha, not likely), we can save it for a future trip or souvenirs.
