Would the DDP have been better? - A Quick numbers analysis

[DISbot]

Just curious if you are adding the OOP on the dining plan as well, for tips etc...

Nt sure what numbers you are asking about? In what I ran I did not include the tip values because this was an OOP trip, so the DDP tips would have been exactly the same as the OOP tips (because there is nothing the DDP forced us to order that we could have saved money on).

 

[KT0191]

Love love love this post. Thanks for this!

 

[♥ Mandi ♥]

I've seen people saying they purchase the DDP simply for the convenience of having their meals prepaid - why not just put the same amount on a Disney gift card to use exclusively for dining? That's what I'm planning on doing - that way, it's already paid for, no worries about costs, what's covered, etc.

 

[crazylady]

I've seen people saying they purchase the DDP simply for the convenience of having their meals prepaid - why not just put the same amount on a Disney gift card to use exclusively for dining? That's what I'm planning on doing - that way, it's already paid for, no worries about costs, what's covered, etc.

This is what we did on our last trip but we ended up cancelling two of our TS reservations for QS and pizza which left us over a $200 balance. Not a huge deal, I guess we'll have to plan a other trip! I loved not coming home to a big credit card bill, but next time I think I'll just charge it and be prepared to pay it off when we get home.

 

[DISbot]

I've seen people saying they purchase the DDP simply for the convenience of having their meals prepaid - why not just put the same amount on a Disney gift card to use exclusively for dining? That's what I'm planning on doing - that way, it's already paid for, no worries about costs, what's covered, etc.

One of the things that I found on this trip was that even though I wasn't technically limiting my spending (similar to a gift card method) I still made choices and restrained myself based on price, even though I was actively trying not to. At this point for large dispatities in price the DDP still doesnt make sense to me, but I can understand the "convenience" argument if you have run the numbers and know that it will most likely be less than a $50 loss. It is similar reasoning in my mind to paying for a taxi after the park with exhausted kids even though there are free buses. If the convenience is worth the cost, then ok; but if the cost exceeds the convenience (a $200 taxi with a free bus option, or dining plan knowing you will likely lose $500) then it isn't a good option for that family. Each family will have different cost/convenience thresholds so there is no fixed rule.

 

[shruley]

This was nice to read. I like the DDP for reasons you mentioned (grimacing at the price of everything) but I just can't make it make much financial sense at all anymore, even though we are people who eat 1 QS a day, 1 TS, AND we are BIG dessert people. (When we go out at home, we almost always get a dessert, although probably more often we share rather than each person getting their own, but...) We ended up with "free" dining this year. There are 5 of us (4 disney "adults") and we're staying CBR, so with free dining and gift cards, it was a decent price. We upgraded to the regular plan, which was a no-brainer, because we had two absolute "must-do" meals, Norway for DD 4's birthday, and Tusker House for the River of Lights package, and just with those two meals, it basically almost cancelled out our "upgrade price". We're in a tough spot with kids age 4, 10 and 13. My 4 year old (and honestly the 10 year old) still like character meals and it's efficient for meeting characters, but man paying $50 for a 10 year old girl whose the size of a bird is tough!

Before we got free dining, I went through and basically tried to make a realistic, but generous, food budget. I did a TS with some desserts every night but 1 (2 character meals), mostly gave everyone 2 snacks a day, gave each kid their own meal, even though I think there are several times they'd probably share. It wasn't quite as much food as the dining plan, but darn close. And for $700 less than the cost of the plan. Then added that on to my hotel and ticket cost, and decided, "Yup, that's an amount that falls within the money I have saved for this vacation." I knew, logically, we weren't actually going to eat quite that much food. So in my mind I had told myself that basically I had the freedom to eat whatever I wanted while we were there, and we could easily afford it. We got free dining so I can't test my theory, but I feel like with my calculations I had done, that mentally helped give me the freedom from the worrying about the cost of food all the time. For others, having the money on a gift card may do that too!

I read your DxDP trip post too. Very interested. On a next trip I thought about maybe doing 2 rooms somewhere, and adding on the DxDP to 1 room. With the sharing allowed now, that seems to be somewhere you can still get good value!

 

[DisOrBust]

The other problem with the DDP is if you can't make your reservations. We had the stomach flu go thru our party on a trip we were on the DDP and it played hell on my reservations. In the end we were eating TS meals, at places we would have never chosen, just to burn the credits or we would lose them.

 

[taurus8012]

This was nice to read. I like the DDP for reasons you mentioned (grimacing at the price of everything) but I just can't make it make much financial sense at all anymore, even though we are people who eat 1 QS a day, 1 TS, AND we are BIG dessert people. (When we go out at home, we almost always get a dessert, although probably more often we share rather than each person getting their own, but...) We ended up with "free" dining this year. There are 5 of us (4 disney "adults") and we're staying CBR, so with free dining and gift cards, it was a decent price. We upgraded to the regular plan, which was a no-brainer, because we had two absolute "must-do" meals, Norway for DD 4's birthday, and Tusker House for the River of Lights package, and just with those two meals, it basically almost cancelled out our "upgrade price". We're in a tough spot with kids age 4, 10 and 13. My 4 year old (and honestly the 10 year old) still like character meals and it's efficient for meeting characters, but man paying $50 for a 10 year old girl whose the size of a bird is tough!

Before we got free dining, I went through and basically tried to make a realistic, but generous, food budget. I did a TS with some desserts every night but 1 (2 character meals), mostly gave everyone 2 snacks a day, gave each kid their own meal, even though I think there are several times they'd probably share. It wasn't quite as much food as the dining plan, but darn close. And for $700 less than the cost of the plan. Then added that on to my hotel and ticket cost, and decided, "Yup, that's an amount that falls within the money I have saved for this vacation." I knew, logically, we weren't actually going to eat quite that much food. So in my mind I had told myself that basically I had the freedom to eat whatever I wanted while we were there, and we could easily afford it. We got free dining so I can't test my theory, but I feel like with my calculations I had done, that mentally helped give me the freedom from the worrying about the cost of food all the time. For others, having the money on a gift card may do that too!

I read your DxDP trip post too. Very interested. On a next trip I thought about maybe doing 2 rooms somewhere, and adding on the DxDP to 1 room. With the sharing allowed now, that seems to be somewhere you can still get good value!

Quick question with you staying at CBR was the free dining offered to you the QS plan. I see the deluxe rooms are offered the regular DP

 

[shruley]

Quick question with you staying at CBR was the free dining offered to you the QS plan. I see the deluxe rooms are offered the regular DP

Yes, it was the QS plan. That was why I said we "upgraded" to the regular plan. I think it was like $20 PP a night to upgrade. So just with my two "must do" meals of Norway and Tusker House at $50 per person, I had already recouped most of my "upgrade" cost, so that was a no brainer.

 

[Veronique]

I have a really thrifty brain and so does my husband. We wait for the free dining promo because if we don't we will take a uber to the groceries and pack lunch everyday and skip meals or split QS.

I've done OOP dinner + packed lunch + breakfast in room, I've done OOP for every meal and I've done the free dining promo with QS. I'm trying the free dining + upgrade to regular dining plan next. I'm sure we'll have way more food then we need but I know we will just feel the dread of the spending if we don't !

 

[elaine amj]

I have a really thrifty brain and so does my husband. We wait for the free dining promo because if we don't we will take a uber to the groceries and pack lunch everyday and skip meals or split QS.

I've done OOP dinner + packed lunch + breakfast in room, I've done OOP for every meal and I've done the free dining promo with QS. I'm trying the free dining + upgrade to regular dining plan next. I'm sure we'll have way more food then we need but I know we will just feel the dread of the spending if we don't !

Haha - DH and I are uber frugal, especially with eating out. We LOVE free dining sooo much. We have so much fun maximizing our credits. It's become a major part of our Disney vacations and a part of why we love Disney so much. No way we can spend that much without the dining plan on our regular vacations.

 

[goulagirl2]

I'm new posting so excited I took the plunge and instead of just reading responses and posts I've decided to finally join in. Well actually tried once , not sure what happened and it never would take was always an error . Don't know what took so long guess I'm computer illiterate and wasn't sure what to do. Any way this is a topic I'm also struggling with mainly because each trip I go on is so different in terms of who is going. My thoughts are if you are a person who is going to eat the traditional lunch and dinner and high end or rather costly meals it's worth it , but if you aren't then it doesn't pan out . I just find that I'm trying to justify the cost and ordering the highest price item even though I may not want that if I wasn't paying for the dining plan. The best is free dining even staying at pop and upgrading it was only 170 for 2 adults to upgrade . People always say take the room discount but in my experience the free dining was a better deal... anyway I really think different trips dictate what I do.

 

[goulagirl2]

I've seen people saying they purchase the DDP simply for the convenience of having their meals prepaid - why not just put the same amount on a Disney gift card to use exclusively for dining? That's what I'm planning on doing - that way, it's already paid for, no worries about costs, what's covered, etc.

 

[goulagirl2]

That's a great idea because I think you would still get to eat at signatures if u want because there are days you may not want a lot or maybe just more snacking type foods which in turn you would save money that day and then have more money on another day when you were wanting more