What's the Downside of DDP?

I get that some may find it less stressful to simply pay for the DDP and not worry about how much they are spending, I get it...but would any of you care to share how much you actually save? Maybe my math or the math that I've seen is simply not accurate.

We should separate how you feel vs the math...I mean If you want to work out a deal with me I can pay for all your meals..but you'll be paying me more than your meals are worth :-)

We do the DxDDP, which is without a doubt the easiest plan to save money with. I'm just starting the planning for our March trip, ahead of an ADR date about a month from now, and I so far have 59 of 75 credits planned. Between those meals and the refillable mugs, which we like to have regardless, we're already saving with the plan. That's with 16 credits assigned no value whatsoever and using an average snack price of $4, which is probably on the low side as we're going during Flower & Garden and planning to use many of our credits for grazing around the food booths on our Epcot day.

I haven't priced the basic plan in years. We like signature restaurants and appetizers too much for it to be a good fit. But the DxDDP definitely works out to a savings based on the way we like to eat on vacation.

I think that Disney makes money on the dining plans - if not, they would not offer them. So - people spend more on the dining plans than when not on them. It's Vegas, and the Dining Plan is The House. Almost everyone I talk to who goes to Vegas claims to have come out ahead at the casinos, but that just can't be true.

But they don't necessarily have to make money by charging more than guests would pay at menu prices. They make money on the fact that people are locked in to eating all their meals at WDW, which in turn means they're less likely to venture offsite to shop or visit other attractions. They make money on the psychological aspect of an "all inclusive" plan, where meals don't figure into the day-to-day spending while on the trip so people are likely to spend a little extra on drinks or shopping or special experiences. They make money on the fact that people are eating more table service meals than they would otherwise, and are therefore more likely to have alcoholic drinks with their meals than if they were eating at food courts and snack stands. And they make money with the fact that you have to stay on site to get the convenience of the dining plan so if it is attractive to guests it means more full rooms.
 
We do the DxDDP, which is without a doubt the easiest plan to save money with. I'm just starting the planning for our March trip, ahead of an ADR date about a month from now, and I so far have 59 of 75 credits planned. Between those meals and the refillable mugs, which we like to have regardless, we're already saving with the plan. That's with 16 credits assigned no value whatsoever and using an average snack price of $4, which is probably on the low side as we're going during Flower & Garden and planning to use many of our credits for grazing around the food booths on our Epcot day.

I haven't priced the basic plan in years. We like signature restaurants and appetizers too much for it to be a good fit. But the DxDDP definitely works out to a savings based on the way we like to eat on vacation.



But they don't necessarily have to make money by charging more than guests would pay at menu prices. They make money on the fact that people are locked in to eating all their meals at WDW, which in turn means they're less likely to venture offsite to shop or visit other attractions. They make money on the psychological aspect of an "all inclusive" plan, where meals don't figure into the day-to-day spending while on the trip so people are likely to spend a little extra on drinks or shopping or special experiences. They make money on the fact that people are eating more table service meals than they would otherwise, and are therefore more likely to have alcoholic drinks with their meals than if they were eating at food courts and snack stands. And they make money with the fact that you have to stay on site to get the convenience of the dining plan so if it is attractive to guests it means more full rooms.


I will have to compare my food bill at the end of my next trip with DxDDP ...I'm definitely interested

If you don't mind sharing how much are you ahead by?
 
I will have to compare my food bill at the end of my next trip with DxDDP ...I'm definitely interested

If you don't mind sharing how much are you ahead by?

Based on probable orders at the restaurants I have on my list so far, just $135.07. That does include a lot of steaks and seafood because my kids are spoiled that way (my brother was a fast food addict; in pushing my kids to like "real" food I created a whole different kind of monster!). But that's with 16 credits still to account for. We have three signature and six one-credit meals planned right now, and my spreadsheet automatically figures the snacks (@ $4/ea) and the mugs. We'll probably add two more last-minute table service meals - one at Epcot that we're going to wing depending on how we're feeling with the Flower & Garden grazing and a breakfast/lunch on our check-out day whenever we happen to get up and going - so those will increase the savings, and if we have credits left over we'll use them for take-out at Earl of Sandwich or something similar to have a picnic for the drive home. I also haven't factored any alcohol into my calculations, though I'll certainly have a glass of wine or mixed drink with many of our meals, because until we start hearing back in January about what exactly is included it is impossible to assign a value to that aspect of the plan.

I'd be doing the plan almost regardless of the value for this trip, since my son is bringing his SO and they'll be going their own way some of the time which makes the all-inclusive factor is very attractive. But I've been pleasantly surprised as I put my ADR plan together that there is still savings to be had with the deluxe plan.
 


Based on probable orders at the restaurants I have on my list so far, just $135.07. That does include a lot of steaks and seafood because my kids are spoiled that way (my brother was a fast food addict; in pushing my kids to like "real" food I created a whole different kind of monster!). But that's with 16 credits still to account for. We have three signature and six one-credit meals planned right now, and my spreadsheet automatically figures the snacks (@ $4/ea) and the mugs. We'll probably add two more last-minute table service meals - one at Epcot that we're going to wing depending on how we're feeling with the Flower & Garden grazing and a breakfast/lunch on our check-out day whenever we happen to get up and going - so those will increase the savings, and if we have credits left over we'll use them for take-out at Earl of Sandwich or something similar to have a picnic for the drive home. I also haven't factored any alcohol into my calculations, though I'll certainly have a glass of wine or mixed drink with many of our meals, because until we start hearing back in January about what exactly is included it is impossible to assign a value to that aspect of the plan.

I'd be doing the plan almost regardless of the value for this trip, since my son is bringing his SO and they'll be going their own way some of the time which makes the all-inclusive factor is very attractive. But I've been pleasantly surprised as I put my ADR plan together that there is still savings to be had with the deluxe plan.
$135 so far sounds pretty good..how much did the plan run for your family? (Just trying to figure out the % of savings..IE 135 off of 1000 or 2000 etc.)
 


we went all out for disneymoon in 2011... we got the dlx dining plan and were thrilled. however, we had to do several 2TS signature places to use all of our points. It felt like we were always eating, because we were. We weren't rushing from attraction to attraction but from restaurant to restaurant!

I have been calculating cost of DDP vs OOP and so far, OOP wins hands down each time now.
 
What cracks me up is seeing someone running around on their last day trying to use those snack credits. Seen it a few times. SMH! Last trip we were at BW general store and a couple were absolutely frantic running around trying to find snacks before they went home. I was waiting at the register for a CM and he was off helping them and he finally came over and apologized. We both just laughed!
Just saw this at POR last month! There was a woman sitting on the floor with a red basket FULL of snacks! I watched her counting them and she had 37!! She sent her husband back to get 3 more!! 40 snacks!! I was like that is either 20 unused QS credits, or 40 unused snack credits....I,was doing the math in my head!! At LEAST 200.00 just for bagged snacks!! ( assuming you go with the 5.00 snack credit recommended amount)
 
Just saw this at POR last month! There was a woman sitting on the floor with a red basket FULL of snacks! I watched her counting them and she had 37!! She sent her husband back to get 3 more!! 40 snacks!! I was like that is either 20 unused QS credits, or 40 unused snack credits....I,was doing the math in my head!! At LEAST 200.00 just for bagged snacks!!

I am a member of a POR group on FB, and someone posted that they are leaving tomorrow and have 100 snack credits left. Now, they are from the UK and get the QSDP in all of the packages they book, apparently. But that is a LOT of unused credits.
 
I AIM to have snack credits left over (although we do just get what we want as we want it) because I *love* being able to take a haul of mickey head rice krispie treats home with me to make my holiday last longer!
 
I AIM to have snack credits left over (although we do just get what we want as we want it) because I *love* being able to take a haul of mickey head rice krispie treats home with me to make my holiday last longer!

I don't aim for it, but I do think it is a nice perk. My daughter's class only has 8 students and she just loves picking out fun snacks to bring back for all of them.
 
I AIM to have snack credits left over (although we do just get what we want as we want it) because I *love* being able to take a haul of mickey head rice krispie treats home with me to make my holiday last longer!
We aim for a couple.

Then we have snacks for the road trip home.

But more than 2 each, is too many.
 
never do disney without the dining plan - you pay way more oop if you don't

(disclaimer - we LOVE the dinning plan and never do disney without it)
Maybe maybe not. For DH and I the DDP doesn't . We usually share a dessert if we get one at all, aren't big snack people, and have an adult beverage with lunch or dinner. We got it for free a few trips ago and just ordered what we wanted. As an accounting major I came home and checked what we got against what the plan would cost (to see if we should buy it next trip). We were under the DDP price even with 3 CS meals at Wolfgang Puck Express. Maybe with the changes next year we might look at the getting it but I will run the numbers ahead of time.
 
This is a lie......unless you do DxDP. OOP is most often cheaper than the plan 9 times out of 10.

Well... DDP is more expensive than the cranky mommy dining plan, which is what our last OOP attempt was dubbed.

I think they've finally engineered the value out of QSDP to the point that I probably can't break even on it anymore. I still might regard it as preferable.

I'm definitely even or better on the DDP, and while we're probably going to upgrade to DXDP for this trip, I ran the numbers for DDP, and we're definitely still ahead for the way we like to order. And it's definitely not too much food (I think the entire family would have to come down with cholera or something equivalent for it to be problematic to eat that much).

And this way it's paid months in advance, it's done, and we don't have to worry about it. It's not money sitting in the bank account ready to mysteriously disappear into some household expense so that we're worried about money when we're in the park (we don't use credit cards and we run on a very tight budget). Instead we get to do fun vacation eating and we don't decide it's a good idea to pack lunch in a cooler in the car and have kid's QS meals for dinner.

If the way you would actually prefer to order is a good match for optimal or nearly optimal usage, you can get value from it. (I'm not going to say "save money", because even not on the cranky mommy plan, we're just not going to pay out of pocket for everyone to have the most expensive meal on the menu and dessert.)

This isn't everybody, but not only is it possible, it's not necessarily a lot of work if your dining preferences match up well with it.
 
Well... DDP is more expensive than the cranky mommy dining plan, which is what our last OOP attempt was dubbed.

I think they've finally engineered the value out of QSDP to the point that I probably can't break even on it anymore. I still might regard it as preferable.

I'm definitely even or better on the DDP, and while we're probably going to upgrade to DXDP for this trip, I ran the numbers for DDP, and we're definitely still ahead for the way we like to order. And it's definitely not too much food (I think the entire family would have to come down with cholera or something equivalent for it to be problematic to eat that much).

And this way it's paid months in advance, it's done, and we don't have to worry about it. It's not money sitting in the bank account ready to mysteriously disappear into some household expense so that we're worried about money when we're in the park (we don't use credit cards and we run on a very tight budget). Instead we get to do fun vacation eating and we don't decide it's a good idea to pack lunch in a cooler in the car and have kid's QS meals for dinner.

If the way you would actually prefer to order is a good match for optimal or nearly optimal usage, you can get value from it. (I'm not going to say "save money", because even not on the cranky mommy plan, we're just not going to pay out of pocket for everyone to have the most expensive meal on the menu and dessert.)

This isn't everybody, but not only is it possible, it's not necessarily a lot of work if your dining preferences match up well with it.

This exactly- except ours would be "Cranky Daddy". Vacation eating should be fun! We have saved money on the plan- last time we ran the numbers (a few years ago) we made out fine. As long as we at least break even, it is worth it to us to save the nit picking over every item that would occur.
 
But they don't necessarily have to make money by charging more than guests would pay at menu prices. They make money on the fact that people are locked in to eating all their meals at WDW, which in turn means they're less likely to venture offsite to shop or visit other attractions. They make money on the psychological aspect of an "all inclusive" plan, where meals don't figure into the day-to-day spending while on the trip so people are likely to spend a little extra on drinks or shopping or special experiences. They make money on the fact that people are eating more table service meals than they would otherwise, and are therefore more likely to have alcoholic drinks with their meals than if they were eating at food courts and snack stands. And they make money with the fact that you have to stay on site to get the convenience of the dining plan so if it is attractive to guests it means more full rooms.

I completely agree w this. Well said.
 

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