Little E
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2016
Hi Dis Friends!
I'm in the early stages of planning a 2020 spring break trip. My family hasn't been to WDW since 2017, so we are anxious to get back to our happy place!
This will be a special trip as this might be the last WDW family trip for a little bit. My oldest DS will be a senior in high school, and we think there is a good likelihood that the two DS's spring breaks might not align after 2020 with one in high school and one in college. Additionally, one or two sets of grandparents might join us. Exciting stuff!
For all of our previous WDW trips, we have purchased the regular DDP because we like the "all inclusive" feel that it provides. I'm the planner and the budget manager, and I like that I have already paid for two meals each day before we get to WDW. I've actually never calculated to determine whether we break even, come out ahead, or come out behind on the DDP. I think I'm buying peace of mind more than anything, and I stress less when I can just use my magic band to pay for the meal, and cover TS tips with a Disney gift card.
I have DH and two teenage DSs, so I have four Disney adults that EAT. My boys don't care for character meal experiences, and they like yummy food. They are big meat eaters (think steaks, burgers, pork tenderloin, etc), and would laugh if I suggested sharing a meal with them. They chow down on the snacks, and we have often blown through all of the snacks on the regular DDP halfway through our past WDW vacations. DH and I enjoy an adult beverage with our TS meals at night too. We are from the midwest and we fly to MCO. I typically always bring breakfast-y things (small boxes of cereal, oatmeal packets, Pop Tarts, etc) shoved in our suitcases, and I buy milk when we arrive at our resorts. Packing that way is sort of a pain, but we scarf some breakfast in the room before we head out each morning and then typically eat a QS lunch and a TS dinner on the DDP.
So, I'm actually wondering if the DDPx is more advantageous for us? I'm not exactly sure how to calculate things to determine if the dining plan that would give us three meals a day and two snacks a day would be a better bang for our buck?
If anyone has any advice for how to crunch these numbers, I'd be grateful. Additionally, if anyone has any anecdotal experiences of upgrading from the DDP to the DDPx, that would be awesome too. I'd rather not pay the extra $ for the upgraded dining plan, but I'm wondering if it might make more sense for us?
I always appreciate feedback from folks here. Thank you so much!
I'm in the early stages of planning a 2020 spring break trip. My family hasn't been to WDW since 2017, so we are anxious to get back to our happy place!
This will be a special trip as this might be the last WDW family trip for a little bit. My oldest DS will be a senior in high school, and we think there is a good likelihood that the two DS's spring breaks might not align after 2020 with one in high school and one in college. Additionally, one or two sets of grandparents might join us. Exciting stuff!
For all of our previous WDW trips, we have purchased the regular DDP because we like the "all inclusive" feel that it provides. I'm the planner and the budget manager, and I like that I have already paid for two meals each day before we get to WDW. I've actually never calculated to determine whether we break even, come out ahead, or come out behind on the DDP. I think I'm buying peace of mind more than anything, and I stress less when I can just use my magic band to pay for the meal, and cover TS tips with a Disney gift card.
I have DH and two teenage DSs, so I have four Disney adults that EAT. My boys don't care for character meal experiences, and they like yummy food. They are big meat eaters (think steaks, burgers, pork tenderloin, etc), and would laugh if I suggested sharing a meal with them. They chow down on the snacks, and we have often blown through all of the snacks on the regular DDP halfway through our past WDW vacations. DH and I enjoy an adult beverage with our TS meals at night too. We are from the midwest and we fly to MCO. I typically always bring breakfast-y things (small boxes of cereal, oatmeal packets, Pop Tarts, etc) shoved in our suitcases, and I buy milk when we arrive at our resorts. Packing that way is sort of a pain, but we scarf some breakfast in the room before we head out each morning and then typically eat a QS lunch and a TS dinner on the DDP.
So, I'm actually wondering if the DDPx is more advantageous for us? I'm not exactly sure how to calculate things to determine if the dining plan that would give us three meals a day and two snacks a day would be a better bang for our buck?
If anyone has any advice for how to crunch these numbers, I'd be grateful. Additionally, if anyone has any anecdotal experiences of upgrading from the DDP to the DDPx, that would be awesome too. I'd rather not pay the extra $ for the upgraded dining plan, but I'm wondering if it might make more sense for us?
I always appreciate feedback from folks here. Thank you so much!