This will be our first time using the DDP when we go in January.
I'm looking for any tips I can use with the DDP.
For example, when I added the DDP today, the Cast member told me for a TS meal if you ask the waiter or waitress most of the time they will let you swap dessert for an appetizer.
Another one is getting 3 snacks for a QS.
Anyone have any others ?
I like the DDP and use it frequently. I think that if you are already planning ahead to use extra credits for snacks, and are hoping to swap the dessert for an appetizer, this plan is probably not for you. Using the plan as a convenience is fine IMO, we do this as well. However, we know going in about what our meals will add up to because I have already made ADR's and know my family ordering preference and dining style.
For instance, we like dessert with dinner, and we always order some sort of soft beverage at some point during the meal. We include water, but some of us have coffee with dessert, and others have a soft beverage with the meal.
We also choose our CS restaurants ahead, for the most part, and will often share a meal. It stretches them, but we just do not want to finish the entire portion at lunch or breakfast, so this works for us.
It sounds to me like you were on the fence about the value of the plan, and the CM sold you on it. I suggest looking at your meals booked, cost out what you believe your family would order. Then look at how you dine in regards to CS meals. If you are not going to want all of the components on the plan, you may want to rethink the value. I think the reason so many people who have purchased any dining plan are opposed to them now is because instead of having the plan work in conjunction with the family dining habits and preferences, they felt forced to make their preferences work to fit the plan. That may be okay for a day or so, but that gets old very fast.