POLL: To DDP or not to DDP?

[Roakor]

That is the question! It seems to be a hot topic so I figured I start a poll.

I started planning our March vacation and spent about three solid days crunching numbers on wheather the DDP would be worth the cost. The result was with that the DDP was a wash - we wouldn't be saving significant money BUT wouldn't lose any either - it was a give or take $20-30. If we ate "normal" off the DDP, we would save probably about $300. In the end, my hubby said he didn't want to eat "normal" and din't want to worry about penny pinching while on vacation. ....

Pretty much the exact same reasons as you stated. sure we could probably save some money not getting the plan and just watching what we eat. Split deserts if we get one, drink water instead of soda etc.. But we are on vacation and splurging, especially on food, is part of the fun. So we opt for the DDP and then we don't have to worry about watching what we spend. Just order anything off the menu and get that desert too. I usually save the receipts and adding them up we generally tend to come out ahead. However we only go to WDW once every 3 years. If we went more frequently then I would probably consider not getting the DDP. but once every 3 years I'm going to stuff myself .

 

[erasure fan1]

We did it once and I have to say it was really not worth it. I felt like we planned our whole trip around meals. Aside from that, there is no chance I would ever spend $60 a person a day for food. I have added up the food for every trip and we have never come close to the dining plan cost. I get it, if you want to, you can make the plan worth it but we just don't eat that much or want to have that many sit down meals.

 

[MotherofaPrincessLover]

I'm doing the Deluxe Dining Plan for my upcoming trip but I'm only staying 2 nights. We are coming out way ahead because we are doing all character meals during this time. I have a feeling this will be my only time doing the DDP just because I will be more worried about making the plan worth the money than eating what I actually want to eat. I do agree that having the food paid for ahead of time is nice, but next time I just plan on buying gift cards from Target and getting my 5% discount.

 

[JillC LI]

free dining is never free - like @LAKid53 said, you have to pay rack rate for rooms. and there are so often discounts on rooms - 20% here, 30% there - that it is almost never necessary to pay full price for a room. back when it was first really introduced, it was a great deal. now, not so much. they've upped the price up so much that unless you always eat dessert and usually order one of the more expensive options on the menu, it's going to be a wash. if anyone is seriously considering paying rack rate for a room to get a free dining promotion, or considering adding it on, google 'see ya real soon dining calculator', download it (i never get spam emails from them) and plug in your info. that is the most comprehensive spreadsheet i've seen for the dining plans and it takes so many things into account. no matter which plan i use, no matter which meals i choose, dh and i *never* save money using the dining plan. i think it was close with the quick service plan, it still included things we almost never order - like desserts with quick service lunches.

With a tween and a teen, and staying at a Value resort as we usually do, the savings are much greater to get free dining and pay rack rates than to take 20-30% off the price of a Value room. We always come out ahead using the dining plan, and if we can get FREE dining? Well then it's the happy dance for me!

 

[PhilharMagician]

We always use Tables in Wonderland discounts and save more on food than we ever could on the DDP.

Now if you travel during times when free DDP is offered and you have 4 people with a single room than it could work to your advantage. In this case the DDP could work out better.

The value of the basic DDP has been reduced drastically with the removal of the appetizer from your meal and removal of the included server tips over the past 10 years while at the same time the price has increased nearly 75%.

 

[PigletIsMyCat]

The value of the basic DDP has been reduced drastically with the removal of the appetizer from your meal and removal of the included server tips over the past 10 years while at the same time the price has increased nearly 75%.

yes. yes. yes. this is exactly it. it used to be a great value, even if you had to pay full price for DDP. i remember when it changed to appetizer OR dessert - that was still a savings for us. once they pulled the tips AND raised the price, we stopped using it. i can see where it might be a savings for some people - but it just never is for us. we rarely eat dessert at a meal (and like never at lunch) and looking at the prices of table service meals, there is no way i would make it worth while. do the math and figure out if it fits your needs and wants for the trip.

 

[rufio]

I used to think DDP was a must-have! Then I tried without it and I don't know that I'll ever go back. We're able to book the amount of table service meals that we want without any constraints or we can eat in our room or quick service. I feel like with DDP I have a quota to fill. Not to mention, I can eat dinner at once place and get dessert with another. We definitely come out spending less than the basic DDP even with more TS.

 

[Figaro928]

ekkkk.... all you non-DDP-ers are seriously giving me second thoughts

 

[SAV]

We got QSDDP "free" one trip and my wife loved the idea of it. The next time we paid for it and she went and tallied up all of the receipts for each and every meal/snack. It was basically a break even for us. What I didn't like was that I felt that I had to eat the meal credit instead of just eating a smaller snack to make sure I used it. On top of that it is just so much food and drink that I wasn't really hungry for all of the delicious snacks across property. By the last day of the trip, I still had 2 unused meal credits left after eating our meals for the day. So in essence, we wasted 2 credits.

We now just skip any dining plan and get what we want when we want it. If I don't want to eat, I don't. If someone does, they get some food. Worked out much better for us.

 

[Philhar-Fanatic]

We no longer use DDP. We don't drink cokes, we drink ice water. You can ask for it at any QS. We share 1 dessert at a sit down or an app b/w the 4 of us. Sometimes we share, sometimes we dont, sometimes we eat apps as our meal, sometimes I (adult) eat a kids meal if I'm not that hungry. We also have one kids that doesn't eat fries, so we order just the burger. I put what it would cost us for us to have QSPlan on Disney Gift cards and just use room charge and pay it at the end of trip. March 2014,we ate 4 sit downs (instead of QS), had an adult beverage or two just about daily, and paid our tips for the sit downs. All the rest of our meals we ate QS and also had snacks here and there. For the price I would have paid Disney for QSPlan we ate all this and my bill was only $20.00 more. We didn't save money, but got MORE for our money and ate what we wanted to eat!! It was nice having those 4 table service meals spread out thru our 8 night stay and was almost like having them free!!

 

[epcot2004]

Never get DDP unless it is 'free'; would never plan a trip around that, would much rather get a room discount. Other than not being sure of the true 'value' we did not like the pressure of lining up meals right down to snacks. The last time we had it we went to the food court on our way out and got a sack of baked goods as snacks for the road. We get food to go when we leave every time now so I guess I can thank the DDP for the idea.

 

[SDisney90]

My girlfriend and I decided to do it last year to see how we liked it. Yes we probably did lose some money, and other times we made out very well. One word, convenience. It's simple as that, you're going to end up paying more one way or another. We enjoy the fact that all of our meals are paid for before we even get there. Going to a meal scanning our magic band and being done with it, is awesome. We just bring cash on hand to leave the tip.


Edit: We get the regular dining plan, not the QS or deluxe.

 

[RobnRachal]

The value of the basic DDP has been reduced drastically with the removal of the appetizer from your meal and removal of the included server tips over the past 10 years while at the same time the price has increased nearly 75%.

Ahhhhhh....the "old" plan....those were the days (Was it more food than anyone could conceivably eat? Of course, but it definitely was a deal)

 

[PigletIsMyCat]

ekkkk.... all you non-DDP-ers are seriously giving me second thoughts

google 'see you real soon disney dining spreadsheet'. plug in your info. it's INCREDIBLY accurate imho. if you're not feeling so excel-y, google 'disney dining plan calculator' - distripplanner(dot)com. it's less involved but not quite as accurate. i did it so many ways - including the old fashioned add up what we'll eat - and we never come out on top with the plan.

 

[PhilharMagician]

Ahhhhhh....the "old" plan....those were the days (Was it more food than anyone could conceivably eat? Of course, but it definitely was a deal)

Todays DDP is still too much food, but that does not mean you need to eat all of it. 10 years ago you did not mind not getting your included desert because the cost of the plan was fair. Now you have to eat the most expensive items and leave no credits just to break even versus paying outright for your food when you want it.

 

[G00fyDad]

There's an option missing in the poll.

We actually calculate the cost of have the plan versus out of pocket, then take the cheapest option.