DDP vs. No DDP - What Worked for Us

[travellady]

Before we left for last week's 5 night, 6 day, WDW trip, I went back and forth on the DDP. Reviewed all menus and prices on allearsnet.com, thought back to what we typically ordered on past trips, and what types of eaters we are. In the end, we decided to forego the DDP and pay as we go. After adding up all of our dining and snack receipts today, I'm glad we made this decision as we saved $30.00 per day over what the DDP would have cost the 3 of us.

Us:
DH, 49, 170 lbs
Me, 50, 145 lbs
DS, 12, 5' 0", 85 lbs

It is true that if we ordered what comes with the DDP, we would have saved money. But, my first thought after looking at the menus on allearsnet.com and what we can reasonably eat, I realized that was a heck of a lot of food. Rarely do we order dessert, sometimes an appetizer and if so, only salad if it doesn't come with the meal. So, to feel like we would be getting our money's worth, we would have ordered everything we could have, and probably the most expensive entree, to ensure we got our money's worth. But, we don't normally eat like this and more than likely, would have left food on our plates, all in the name of "getting our money's worth".

The second reason we shied away from the plan is the number of table service meals is equal to the number of counter service meals. In the past, we only did table service meals every other day, one of the reasons being we often go during peak times and getting a ressie can be tough. We honestly don't like to plan too far ahead and don't even know what park we'll be in when, we are definitely go with the flow people. It seemed like we'd need to do more planning than we're apt to do all because of the DDP.

In reality, we did 4 table service meals this past trip - 1 ESPN club dinner, 1 Gullivers dinner, 1 Boatwright's dinner, 1 Boatwright's breakfast. Had we had the DDP, we probably could have done the 5th table service meal without much problem.

So, we spent $150.00 less than we would have had we had the DDP and still felt we ate like Kings and Queens. I dined on Prime Rib dinner, Fettucine Alfredo, Omelots, Prime Rib sandwich, ice cream, ice cream, and more ice cream . Probably took in more calories this past week than the previous two, though expended them as well.

Personally, I would only choose the plan if it were a part of a package deal or a special. My family of 3 can't spend $120.00 a day on food and eat it all. Now when my 12 year old turns into a strapping teenager, I may be singing a different tune...

 

[formernyer]

I'm glad you made the right choice for you! It would have been frustrating if you added up your receipts and thought you made the wrong decision after the fact.

I think the DDP works best with families with small children, because the kids only cost $11 per day. It's hard to justify the $38/day for kids in the 10-13 range, unless they have unusually large appetites.

I purchased the DDP for the trip we took last week. It cost me $60/day for one adult and two kids. In my case it was money VERY well spent. Now that my daughter is 10 I would need to pay for her (if not for the free dining), but I think after having done the DDP once I would still do it again next time, even if I had to pay full adult price for my 10-year old. My logic is a little different than yours though...

I'm a very frugal person. It pains me to have to overpay for anything. I'm the mom who carries sandwiches into the park and goes off-site for fast food dinners. Eating out at "fancy" or expensive restaurants is a rare occurrence. A typical meal out for us is O'Charley's because kids eat free there until age 12. We never order appetizers or dessert when we are out. This isn't because we don't enjoy them...it's because I can't justify the price.

If I were to try to plan meals in the parks like you did, it would have eaten me up inside to have to pay cash for them. I also can't bring myself to EVER pay for snacks ($2.50 - $3.00 for an ice-cream??? OMG, what a ripoff)

By using this plan I basically committed to a flat $60 per day. I could have fed us for a lot less via sandwiches and fast food, but doing it this way we had an "experience." Believe it or not, something as simple as fancy meals and the ability to order desserts and cart snacks can be "magical" if you aren't used to it. My kids and I all felt like kings for the week and it really didn't cost us all too much more in the grand scheme of things.

We also did a lot of meal-sharing, particularly with the CS credits. This enabled us to use "saved" credits to pay for meals on the last day of our trip (which wouldn't have otherwise been covered). It also enabled us to get some breakfasts with the leftover credits.