2017 DDP Changes

[Faldred]

I'm trying to figure out if a dining plan is worth it for our family. We are a family of 3, our child is 11 so she's an "adult" who honestly hates most food on adult menus. We've got reservations already for Yak & Yeti, Sanaa, Be Our Guest, Cinderella's Royal Table (breakfast), Chefs de France, and Biergarten (lunch). I just don't see how the dining plan would actually be more cost effective since my daughter often orders from the kids menu when she can get away with it and we have several things we would order that don't appear to be covered by the dining plan (bread service at Sanaa, the grey stuff cupcake at Be Our Guest, appetizers at Yak & Yeti, etc). Also, my margarita budget is not factored into this at all lol.

Can anyone tell me what I'm not seeing? I think the dining plan would actually cost us quite a bit more than paying cash but based on what I've read people prefer it and I'm afraid that maybe I'm missing an expense it would cover. (1 QS, 1 table, 2 snacks right?)

Most likely not. The QSDP and DDP are only cost-effective (without extreme attempts to maximize each credit) if you have at least as many kids as adults on the plan; with 3 adult, no kids, I can't see it making financial sense to pay for it directly. (Potentially a different story if you're getting a promo package that includes dining as a component, depending on how it compares to other available discounts.)

If you were to use the DDP, you could pay for the kids' meals OOP when possible (not at CRT/Biergarten) and have extra credits left over to do one or more additional meals.

 

[NDFamily]

No, most likely you are correct. In general, the dining plan does "cost" more than if ppl. just ate regularly and paid out of pocket. What I've done in the past is write out each place that I know we'd want (want is very different than the cheapest places etc.) to eat and write down the amount that we'd spend based on what ppl. would most likely order etc. and also write down prices of snacks we'd get etc. - I'm always overly cautious and plan that we'd eat a more expensive item or more snacks than I realistically think that we would and almost always we come out ahead by paying out of pocket as opposed to using the dining plan without even trying to save money or cutting back on what we'd want to eat etc. I think it comes down to convenience for a lot of ppl., so you have to factor that in as well. There's nothing wrong with just paying as you go or purchasing a gift card ahead of time, but some like to just have it paid for in advance and not have to worry about it again.

Ok good! I thought I wasn't calculating some cost. We live in a rural area so when we go to Disneyworld a big thing for us is the food. We don't have access to much at home beyond American fare unless I cook it (and I've become very good at cooking because of that). So we love to utilize all the different options that aren't available to us here. I feel like if we utilized a dining plan we'd actually lose some convenience. I like to plan things out very thoroughly so if we were on a dining plan I'd likely end up having almost every meal and snack already selected before arriving at the park to make sure we utilized the plan effectively. Yeah... this is why I have a huge margarita budget lol.

 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

Ok good! I thought I wasn't calculating some cost. We live in a rural area so when we go to Disneyworld a big thing for us is the food. We don't have access to much at home beyond American fare unless I cook it (and I've become very good at cooking because of that). So we love to utilize all the different options that aren't available to us here. I feel like if we utilized a dining plan we'd actually lose some convenience. I like to plan things out very thoroughly so if we were on a dining plan I'd likely end up having almost every meal and snack already selected before arriving at the park to make sure we utilized the plan effectively. Yeah... this is why I have a huge margarita budget lol.

PP is correct in that the child's plan is more cost effective than the adult DDP.

However, the adult plan is cost effective if your choices of restaurants were the most expensive restaurants. These tend to be the character meals, which, again, are the restaurants you would most likely go to if you also have children under 10. So, if you are going to do character meals, and have children under 10, DDP is absolutely the way to go.

In your list, the only restaurant that could potentially result in savings on the DDP for adults is Cinderella's royal table. Just for comparison, if you ran the numbers with your restaurant choices including Akershus, Hollywood and Vine dinner, 1900 Park Fare dinner, Tusker House, Crystal Palace, and Ohanna, you would find the DDP would save you money, even with everyone over the age of 10.

 

[saksn4]

My family is considering adding the dining plan to our June reservations. I am trying to determine if this would be cost effective for my family. I have read conflicting information. My question is this: are character ts dining such as Garden Grill, 1900 Parke Fair and Crystal Palace counted as 1 ts credit or 2 ts credits? Thank you for your help!

 

[eeyoresmom]

1 credit each

 

[LindseyJo22]

My family is considering adding the dining plan to our June reservations. I am trying to determine if this would be cost effective for my family. I have read conflicting information. My question is this: are character ts dining such as Garden Grill, 1900 Parke Fair and Crystal Palace counted as 1 ts credit or 2 ts credits? Thank you for your help!

I think only a few things are counted as two credits - the only character experience I can think of specifically is Cinderella's Royal Table, so all your selections should just be one credit!

 

[GenGen22]

My family is considering adding the dining plan to our June reservations. I am trying to determine if this would be cost effective for my family. I have read conflicting information. My question is this: are character ts dining such as Garden Grill, 1900 Parke Fair and Crystal Palace counted as 1 ts credit or 2 ts credits? Thank you for your help!

I went to Allears.net and guestimated what we would eat and the cost as I was questioning if it was cost efficient for us to add the DP as well. I added it as it would save us $116 if we ate in the restaurants we wanted to go to and paid out of pocket so, to me it was worth it. We are only doing one selection which requires 2 TS credits which is the Spirit of Aloha Dinner show.

 

[calleger]

no Via Napoli? nm, I think the link I used is to an older brochure.

 

[Macprincess]

I feel silly to ask this but I posted about this and haven't been able to find an answer anywhere else. If there are entree items listed in their own categories like pasta, pizza, etc even though there is a separate category for entrees, do those items still count as entree for the DDP?

I'm wondering this as well. We are considering going to Wolfgang Puck Grand Cafe at Disney Springs. This is a 1 table service meal. (1 entree, 1 beverage, and one dessert per table service meal.) In this case the menu shows both pizza and sushi as well as entrees. I have 3 sushi loving teens. Does anyone have experience with tying this? Are they allowed to order the sushi platters (not appetizers- they're a combo of different sushi pieces that run between $25 &$29 each) instead of an entree? Or are they stuck ordering under the listed entree selections?

 

[elaine amj]

I'm wondering this as well. We are considering going to Wolfgang Puck Grand Cafe at Disney Springs. This is a 1 table service meal. (1 entree, 1 beverage, and one dessert per table service meal.) In this case the menu shows both pizza and sushi as well as entrees. I have 3 sushi loving teens. Does anyone have experience with tying this? Are they allowed to order the sushi platters (not appetizers- they're a combo of different sushi pieces that run between $25 &$29 each) instead of an entree? Or are they stuck ordering under the listed entree selections?

I imagine so.

I ate in the Dining Room at Wolfgang Puck (so the signature portion) and was able to order the sashimi platter as my entree. Yum!

 

[Faldred]

All I can say is that back in 2009, we were able to get the sushi platter as a TS entree. But that was 8 years ago.

 

[beck00]

This is our third trip on the dining plan. I'm happy about the changes (one less dessert, one extra snack). We will continue to use it as long as we get it for free or @ reduced prices and our daughters want to do many character dining experiences.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

Most likely not. The QSDP and DDP are only cost-effective (without extreme attempts to maximize each credit) if you have at least as many kids as adults on the plan; with 3 adult, no kids, I can't see it making financial sense to pay for it directly. (Potentially a different story if you're getting a promo package that includes dining as a component, depending on how it compares to other available discounts.)

If you were to use the DDP, you could pay for the kids' meals OOP when possible (not at CRT/Biergarten) and have extra credits left over to do one or more additional meals.

It works for us as 3 Disney adults. We almost always save some thing, although its rarely very much, but we like to enjoy our meals on vacation, order what we want (which is usually something pricey) and would order 3 desserts anyway.

It definitely doesn't work for everyone, particularly with small appetites and people that tend to share.

 

[MrsIncredible1974]

My family is considering adding the dining plan to our June reservations. I am trying to determine if this would be cost effective for my family. I have read conflicting information. My question is this: are character ts dining such as Garden Grill, 1900 Parke Fair and Crystal Palace counted as 1 ts credit or 2 ts credits? Thank you for your help!

Heaps of character meals are 1 credit - Tusker House breakfast, Cape May breakfast, 1900 Park Fare (breakfast and lunch) are all on our plan for this Summer.
There's also Ohana breakfast, Norway (I simply cannot spell that restaurant name!!!), Garden Grill. And that's just off the top of my head.
We prefer our characters to come to us while we eat rather than spend unnecessary time queuing to meet them