DDP First Timers... is it as good as it sounds?

[Sophj]

Hi, we are considering buying the DDP for the first time. Is it really as good as it seems? Is it a hassle having to plan where you want to eat and can we (if we want to and reserve) go more than once to restaurants?

How does it work?

Thanks!

 

[WDmommyof4]

My family loves the dining plan. We usually upgrade to deluxe now, but we love the freedom it gives you to pay off your meals before arrival. You may go to the same restaurant as many times as you like as long as you have a reservation. It is not too hard to plan out your dining locations ahead of time and for many (myself included) it can be quite fun.

All you have to do with the dining plan is choose on table service meal, one quick service meal, and a snack to eat each day. It is best to have an ADR for dining at the locations where you will be, but you may find that at some of the less popular locations you can simply walk up and ask about seating. There are no reservations needed for the counter service meals. Hope you have a wonderful time!

 

[Cindy's Mom]

Hi, we are considering buying the DDP for the first time. Is it really as good as it seems? Is it a hassle having to plan where you want to eat and can we (if we want to and reserve) go more than once to restaurants?

How does it work?

Thanks!

Remember that you will have to plan and make reservations whether you are on the DDP plan or not, unless of course you will only be doing counter services meals.

IMO DDP is fabulous. I love having our meals pre-paid. The only money we need when we travel is for souveniers (and grown up drinks)

 

[csmom]

We've been to Disney many times, but did the DDP in June for the first time. We loved being able to order what we wanted without looking at the prices. I know some people think the desserts are too much, but my family enjoyed having dessert which we don't always order other wise. We did save money too.

 

[Sophj]

Thanks very much, it seems like a great idea!

 

[tarak]

I love the dining plan. As others have pointed out, if you want to eat at a TS, you'll have to make ADRs anyway. We go to a lot of the character meals because our kids are young, so it ends up working in our favor.

 

[buzyanne]

I love the freedom of not having to worry about having money on hand to purchase food. Since you have to have ressies with or without to get TS dinning I think that it is well worth the money. Just remember that tips are not included.

 

[Sandy321]

to the DIS!!

There are people that have posted speadsheets to help with the dining - as well as going to a website like www.allears.net - I figure out where my family would like to eat - character meals for instance - then go to allears and figure out the price - for us I think its pretty close to a savings of about $100...

We will share CS meals - at our resort I'll order a BIG breakfast, and then dh and I will split that. then we go to the parks - and order something - like a combo meal, or a dble cheeseburger with a LARGE drink - and split that - then for the evening - we have a TS meal... it works perfect for us.

 

[connie1042]

We love the dinning plan and will probably never go without it unless the price gets totally out of control. We leave in 4 days and I have all of our tip money in individual thank you cards. (Small and Homemade). This is not necessary, I just had fun doing it. So each day I will take out the card I need for the day,write our waiter or waitresses name on it, give it to him/her after the meal. So I don't even have to worry about tips either. I picked out what we would probably order then calculated the tip from there. I added in an appetizer at some places and adult drinks at some. I will keep some 5 dollar bills on hand to add to the cards if I need to. Planning is half the fun of the trip!

 

[aubriee]

We love the dinning plan and will probably never go without it unless the price gets totally out of control. We leave in 4 days and I have all of our tip money in individual thank you cards. (Small and Homemade). This is not necessary, I just had fun doing it. So each day I will take out the card I need for the day,write our waiter or waitresses name on it, give it to him/her after the meal. So I don't even have to worry about tips either. I picked out what we would probably order then calculated the tip from there. I added in an appetizer at some places and adult drinks at some. I will keep some 5 dollar bills on hand to add to the cards if I need to. Planning is half the fun of the trip!

I agree 100%. I can't imagine not going with the DDP. In fact, I already have 19 ADRs booked for my upcoming Sept 26th-Oct 4th trip and 18 ADRs booked for my upcoming Dec 12th-20th trip. I'm doing the DxDDP both trips and have several 2 TS credit Signature restaurants booked. I was able to go online at exactly 90 days out and got every ADR I wanted. I did have to change my days around a little, but still got everything I wanted for around the same time I wanted.

We usually play around with the menus on allearsnet.com, have a good idea what we'll proably order, and prestuff tip envelopes also (with a few extra bills tucked away in case we decide to order something different at the last minute and need to up our tip). For my solo Sept/Oct trip I'm doing something different though. I just got a $500.00 Disney gift card that I plan on using for tips and the Food & Wine Festival booths. I hate carrying cash in the parks, but also hate having a credit card bill to come home to. This way my trip is completely prepaid.