DDP vs Gift Card

[DaddysPrincess]

Sorry if this is in the wrong place (maybe this is best for budget board, idk?) or if there's already a thread regarding this (I searched but didn't see any).

Anyway,
I got to thinking.. would putting the money that we'd spend on the DDP onto a Disney Gift Card be a better option?
I've been learning about how you can get discounts/money back by purchasing DGCs. I've also been going thru all my options for snacks, QS, and TS. The DDP has some restrictions (like no appetizer) + I kinda want to try some snacks and meals that wouldn't necessarily be a good value per credit.
Basically, I'd like to know if there's any restrictions they have on using DGCs at restraunts or at Disney Springs. I looked up the general rules but imo, personal experiences are best.
Sorry again if this is out of place or already been discussed :/ and thanks in advance for any info

 

[ellbell]

Some people think the gift card is a better idea because it's a better value for them. I personally think for myself the better value is not having to look at prices. With a gift card you still have to know the cost and make sure you have put enough away. That being said I generally only do quick service dining plan and don't worry about tips.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

We would not eat as good if we did a gift card. We'd scrutinize prices.

 

[Nancyg56]

The whole gift card thing would be a fiasco for me. I would not stop looking at prices and would be eating chicken or pasta all week. Dessert? No.....I will have a bite of yours. I understand the reasoning, but I cannot let the prices go, and would come home with a lot of money on the card. That woudl be fine if that was my goal, however I like to treat myself on vacation, and do not want anyone looking at cost. It's paid for. Order whatever you want.

 

[22Tink]

We did the GC thing on our trip in March and it worked great. I budgeted high on everything so we never looked at prices, we just ordered whatever we wanted and it was still cheaper for us than getting the dining plan. We charged our meals to our room and used the GC to pay off the charges.

 

[loves to dive]

To answer your question as to whether you can use gift cards, yes as long as the restaurants are disney owned. That is if the gift cards are disney gift cards. If they are visa or mastercard, you can use them anywhere credit or debit cards are taken. As far as which is better, it's personal preference and depends on the way you eat. For us, the dining plan doesn't work. #1 I don't want to have to think about am I wasting a credit or what kind of credit or am I getting value. #2 it doesn't suit our style of eating. There are days when all I want for breakfast is a yogurt or a sweet roll, other days I'll eat a kid's breakfast at QS. If I'm eating QS, any meal, I always get a kid's meal because I'm a light eater and they are actually more food than I eat. When we eat at TS restaurants, more often than not I'm getting an appetizer or two instead of an entre or my son and I are sharing an appetizer and we rarely eat dessert, if we do we share one. We rarely snack between meals and if we do it's usually a piece of fruit or a few grapes. I don't drink soft drinks, it's a cup of coffee for breakfast I make in the room if we are at a moderate or deluxe resort, water all day and a refreshing adult beverage or two for supper. There are days we don't want a formal meal at all, we might grab a danish for breakfast at a park, go to Mexico and have guacamole and chips mid day, go to the wine bar in Italy and get a few cheese plates and wine for supper. Or we will eat at Spice Road Tables and share a couple of small plates, or go to HBD lounge, etc. We just don't structure our meals and pretty much eat what we want when we want. We don't look at prices on the menu, I tend to go for chicken or fish because I'm not a big red meat eater. We don't book ADRS in advance, we make them in the afternoon for that night since we just never know what we want to do that day. I have an annual pass so we get a discount at some places and I have TIW so we get discounts at other places as well. The dining plan just doesn't work for us, it might for you.

 

[DaddysPrincess]

Ty sm for your replies!! I'm kinda thinking on the same page as @22Tink regarding planning to get the most expensive stuff; however, the likelihood of that is low.
the issue I'm having now is I'm scrutinizing prices in opposite way! I feel like with the plan, I have to get the most expensive thing on the menu. Let's take BoG for example. We both reeeeally wanna eat there. Dinner is out of the question since it's a signature meal. Lunch imo has the best food options but is not a good value if using a credit. Breakfast is an awesome credit value but the menu isn't that great (for us).
But then I start thinking about Crystal palace, Boma, Ohanas, and the RoL package at Tusker. All are things we'd like to do. .. Jeez, first-world problems, right?
Sigh..... decisions, decisions.
Again, thank you for commenting

 

[DaddysPrincess]

@loves to dive your eating habits sound a lot like mine. Ty for answering my question about where the gift cards are taken, too I believe we'll only be at Disney owned restaurants but the standard visa gift card is a good idea!

 

[cmarsh31]

I use gift cards for the buffets, etc - once I have ADRs booked, I know how much it's going to cost so it's easy to budget. Then I use a cc, etc for the other meals.

 

[Karebear]

We did the GC thing on our trip in March and it worked great. I budgeted high on everything so we never looked at prices, we just ordered whatever we wanted and it was still cheaper for us than getting the dining plan. We charged our meals to our room and used the GC to pay off the charges.

This is exactly what we do. I order what i want...it is vacation! And still we spend less than if we bought the dining plan. Part of it is we might not always eat where the credits would be maximized...for example if I get a lesser expensive entree at Rose & Crown or at the Plaza. We still do buffets...Tusker House, Biergarten (my kids fave) and still come out paying less than the dining plan would have cost. I like not be tied to the plan, but it works for some. Good luck planning!

 

[Farro]

So we normally always got the dining plan, but this last trip changed it for us.

We found there were many instances where we wanted to get a few appetizers (which you have to pay for), or we wanted to eat an appetizer instead of the entree which you can't do on the plan, we rarely wanted the dessert, and honestly we did not tend to go for the most expensive as often as we thought we would. I don't eat a lot during the day, so the two snacks and counter service were kind of wasted on me. So, in the end, we decided it's just not for us anymore.

So next trip we are budgeting $2500 for one table service a day, snacking as we choose, counter service (some days, some days just snacks and dinner) and BOOZE!!! It's two of us, we will be going for 9 nights so that's about $278 a day total for both of us.

We plan to either put the cash on a gift card or a pre-paid VISA. Or perhaps use our American Express and just pay it off when we get home.

I'm assuming we aren't going to spend $278 everyday on food, so I'm sure I will come home with a few souvenirs!

 

[NYIrunDisney]

It depends on your preferences. I personally see no value in the DDP. My wife was always a believer in it and had always used it. I convinced her to try without it our first trip, and she's never gone back. We rarely want to sit for a breakfast in the morning, and because we get groceries delivered to our resort, we also pack snacks up in our backpack for the day. We rarely snack in the parks, so we saw it as a reinvestment into our funds for nicer dinners each night, up to and including those not included in the DDP. There have been plenty of days where we maybe had a burger at DS for dinner and headed back to our room and that was all we did. We actually came out on top for the day. It's how we do it, but that doesn't mean its right for everyone. If I had a family of 5 and was going with little ones, I'd probably be inclined to do it.

 

[DaddysPrincess]

If I had a family of 5 and was going with little ones, I'd probably be inclined to do it.

lol yeah, it's just me and the man so I'm definitely starting to lean towards not having the DDP. He's not a dessert person and he was bummed to hear appetizers weren't included. I normally eat kids meals, appetizers, and/or share an entree. I do love dessert but don't need one at that exact restaurant. There are lots of snacks I wanna try that could be considered dessert + most of them are less than what snack credits are worth.

All you guys have been so helpful, ty again sm!!

 

[kstruchen]

We did this when we visited last time. We took the room discount in lieu of the free dining offer. I collected disney gift cards up until our trip (many purchased at discount). I consolidated the amounts of the gift cards onto 2 cards through the disney gift card website. We charged all food back to our room. Every few days I went to the concierge and paid down the balance with the gift cards so our credit card wouldn't be charged. We didn't have any leftover gift card balance, but I also didn't feel like we were budgeting while looking at the menus. I had no probably ordering whatever I wanted. I'm a YOLO on vacation type of person. LOL

 

[TIME4DIZ]

Don’t forget you can pay for the DDP with gift cards. This won’t change how or where you want to eat, but it may change your math if you’re calculating the cost/value of discounted gift cards vs the full cost of the DDP. No reason to pay full price for the DDP if you’ve already committed to getting discounted cards.

 

[Shanti]

Sorry if this is in the wrong place (maybe this is best for budget board, idk?) or if there's already a thread regarding this (I searched but didn't see any).

Anyway,
I got to thinking.. would putting the money that we'd spend on the DDP onto a Disney Gift Card be a better option?
I've been learning about how you can get discounts/money back by purchasing DGCs. I've also been going thru all my options for snacks, QS, and TS. The DDP has some restrictions (like no appetizer) + I kinda want to try some snacks and meals that wouldn't necessarily be a good value per credit.
Basically, I'd like to know if there's any restrictions they have on using DGCs at restraunts or at Disney Springs. I looked up the general rules but imo, personal experiences are best.
Sorry again if this is out of place or already been discussed :/ and thanks in advance for any info

If you actually want to save money, don't get the dining plan.

 

[CynBeth]

We have never done the DP. We eat all meals TS because I have a few family members with food allergies. We estimate how much we are going to spend and I buy Disney gift cards using my Disney Visa card so I earn rewards. We pay as we finish eating at the restaurant for the meal and the tip.

 

[maryr1oz]

We have decided to go the way of the gift card instead of the DDP, even when calculating on the high side for all our ADR's it still seems like it makes more sense than outlaying the DDP dollars and not having any flexibility. I don't plan on ordering the cheapest thing, but i don't need dessert for every table service meal and there are so many apps i want to try instead.

 

[HopperFan]

We stopped getting the DDP when it finally became a loss for us financially. When we started it included an appetizer and gratuity. They slowly took those away while raising the price. Now they have added an alcoholic drink, but I still don't think we'd get our value (unless I drank DS drink and mine), and I tired of always ordering the expensive items just to get my money back.

We don't use the refillable mugs much since we rarely eat or hang at resort. It's easier to bring packs of soda & bottled water and put in the fridge.

We like appetizers and some meals would get a few to share as our meal.

We don't need desserts at each table service meal.

We wouldn't drink soda at meals, but would order water.

We don't normally eat much in the way of snacks and using it for water/soda is wasting value.

We don't need character meals (a good use of DDP).

I think it totally depends on your eating style and if you can maximize what you order to at least break even the DDP works. I would totally be fine with the GC method and then ordering what I want. The DDP forces us to eat in a style we would not normally eat.

 

[rwdavis2]

We would never pay for the dining plan due to the restrictions. Besides, it's not designed to save money anyway. We just order what we want. I've never understood buying DDP to avoid caring about prices. Over the course of a trip the difference between inexpensive and expensive choices is almost a rounding error given the overall cost of visiting WDW.