My two sentence DDP Financial Analysis

[bwbuddy5]

hmmm... I hate that the Moderator felt that they needed to smack our wrists and move this thread to the DDP board after two days -- I personally found the discussion to both healthy and helpful, and there's not near the action on this board.

Nevertheless, as the OP, I will at least partially base my decision on your answers to this -- for those of you who do your analysis and decide OOP is best for your party, do you insist on sticking to your analysis once you're actually on vacation? By that, I mean, if you go to a restaurant that has something that looks fantastic, but costs much more than what you initially calculated, do you go away from your analysis and just go ahead and order the expensive meal? And if you do, do you re-evaluate your analysis when your return home, or, instead, perhaps try to eat something "cheaper" later in your week to get back to your overall budget plans?

 

[Farro]

Our trip in October is paid off (cash) completely. 9 nights, hoppers and our food!

THRILLED about that. All I have to do now is relax. And that is why we get the dining plan. Do we lose money? If we do, not much. At home we always seem to gravitate to the more expensive items on the menus as they are usually the best quality, or maybe a little more adventurous. I won't turn down a dessert either! I only wish I could buy an alcohol package...heaven....and going during food/wine all our snack credits will come in handy.

I don't care that Disney makes money on us. We are paying a stupid price to stay at the Polynesian, a "deluxe" - they already make money on us!

We only go to WDW every few years, why not go all out.

 

[sharonabe]

Nevertheless, as the OP, I will at least partially base my decision on your answers to this -- for those of you who do your analysis and decide OOP is best for your party, do you insist on sticking to your analysis once you're actually on vacation? By that, I mean, if you go to a restaurant that has something that looks fantastic, but costs much more than what you initially calculated, do you go away from your analysis and just go ahead and order the expensive meal? And if you do, do you re-evaluate your analysis when your return home, or, instead, perhaps try to eat something "cheaper" later in your week to get back to your overall budget plans?

I'm old. I pretty much know what I want to eat at any given place at WDW and can plan it out ahead of time. Disney doesn't change their menus all that often. If I were to get to the restaurant and what I had planned on eating wasn't there, I'd just take my second choice. We choose what we WANT to eat and don't worry about the cost. The reason the DDP doesn't work for us is we are four Disney adults and we don't WANT four desserts on the table. We are perfectly happy with just one dessert and sharing it. That saves us about $20-25 per TS meal. We also PREFER to drink water, so that's another $12-15. I think that would cover any "ooohh I think I'd rather have that."

So, let's turn it around. You're towards the end of your vacation and your really tired of eating all those steaks and rich desserts. Do you still get them because you'll lose money if you don't? Do you eat one bite of whatever you order just to say you "got your money's worth?" What if your kid doesn't want one more "build your own sundae" with their kid's meal....do you let them order an adult dessert?

I think we could both go on and on for either side. Do what is right for your family and leave it at that.

 

[disneyvoice]

Sounds like you were on DxDP? Regular DDP doesn't come with an appetizer at each meal

It was YEARS ago the one time we did it and that was when there was only one dining plan - they hadn't even created the QS or deluxe at that point. At that time an appetizer and dessert came with every TS credit, I don't think they came with your QS credit. It was still way too much food for us and we ended up wasting quite a bit of money on it. The bigger issue for us though is that we like to be able to eat whatever we want, whenever we want it. I don't want to feel like I have to eat a ton of snacks I don't want or horde a bunch of junk food to bring home with left over credits. We just tend to split meals more often than not or only order appetizers for dinner.

 

[amberpi]

I am curious, however, for those of you who do your analysis and decide OOP is best for your party, do you insist on sticking to your analysis once you're actually on vacation? By that, I mean, if you go to a restaurant that has something that looks fantastic, but costs much more than what you initially calculated, do you go away from your analysis and just go ahead and order the expensive meal? And if you do, do you re-evaluate your analysis when your return home, or, instead, perhaps try to eat something "cheaper" later in your week to get back to your overall budget plans?

I don't care if the entree I want at home is $18 more than the cheaper choice, if its not what I want, why would I eat it? Although I eat healthy, and deliciously, $ isn't something I think about in terms of food. Not that I'm going to 5 star meals every night, but if I'm going out, ESPECIALLY on vacation, I just don't care. This may well be because half the time I want the cheapest vegetarian option on the menu as my local places have to serve a good number of vegs/vegans, and they just look better. I know it works out over time. OOP I don't have to not getting my money worth...but overall, its just far too much food and not in the way I care to eat. I'll often have 2 TS meals a day, one with 1 app, the other with 2, or 1 and a salad and the occasional snack (or intentional during festival time). I love WDW croissants, and its easy for me to run to the Swolphin coffee place while my companion is still getting ready and get an espresso and a couple of breakfasty things, because that and some fruit is a big breakfast for me, but needed for WDW, and also what I want! So I don't run the numbers, because I know the DDP would force me into eating in a way I wouldn't care to. I can DEFINITELY see how it'd work for people with kids, especially if you're staying 4 in a room and its free dining, with character dining, etc. That's not something I'm EVER going to do though It doesn't work for my situation, and I know it won't, because I'm not the norm and the DDP is looking for that normal. They can't build custom plans. Also, the Swolphin is my favorite resort, except when I want some SAB time, or I'm feeling childhood nostalgia for the CR which we stayed at as a child until the Swolphin opened, so about every 1 out of 3-4 stays would it even be a choice.

I don't see it as a cut and dry choice, but there's a not way I've seen that it would work for me. The last time I used it was accidental (free dining, but I didn't care my ex just wanted to stay at the YC) when they still had the apps and it was so much food. I felt gross after a day and a half and just started doing my own thing. My ex felt gross after 2 full days. So, I do like to share my experience because their may be others who have similar eating habits.

Curious about your suggestion that you may do a split stay and do half DDP and half OOP? Is that to gage, while in the environment, your feelings/habits of both to make a better comparison?

 

[bwbuddy5]

Curious about your suggestion that you may do a split stay and do half DDP and half OOP? Is that to gage, while in the environment, your feelings/habits of both to make a better comparison?

No, since we are a party of 9, it would be a way for us to use DDP even if not all of our large party wanted to cough up $400 each for the week. I would book the DDPers in one room and the OOPers in the other.

You know it's funny, a lot of you give reasons for using OOP that I would give for using DDP. OOP would be more worrisome for me, as I would look at a menu and try to weigh what I really want vs. it's price and staying within my budget to make OOP cheaper than DDP. On the other hand, I don't see DDP being worrisome at all - believe me, I will have no trouble tracking my credits -- there's no way I would not eat two snacks, 1 QS, and one TS every day.

So, I'm glad each of us can come to their own conclusion and be happy about it. Party on, Garth!

 

[amberpi]

You know it's funny, a lot of you give reasons for using OOP that I would give for using DDP. OOP would be more worrisome for me, as I would look at a menu and try to weigh what I really want vs. it's price and staying within my budget to make OOP cheaper than DDP. On the other hand, I don't see DDP being worrisome at all - believe me, I will have no trouble tracking my credits -- there's no way I would not eat two snacks, 1 QS, and one TS every day.

So, I'm glad each of us can come to their own conclusion and be happy about it. Party on, Garth!

About the entree thing? Yeah, that COULD be a reason either way, but I rarely, rarely order an entree at all I'd prefer an app or 2, no way I'm eating 2 snacks, a full QS and at TS I'd just be grumpy I couldn't get what I wanted. I'd want an app or 2 and that's not possible on the DDP.

But I'm also glad people can do whatever works for them and I see how DDP could work if you could eat all that food, or if money influenced your food purchases.

Mainly I wanted to respond - Party On, Wayne!

 

[bwbuddy5]

Interesting podcast this week from Backside of Magic about the Disney Dining plan, concerning use of QS credits, and split stays. Let me know what you think.

 

[GoofyPrincess]

May I offer a different perspective?

I'm taking my sister, her husband and my nephew to Disney next year. They have already started fretting about the cost of everything and arguing with me about who pays what. By getting the Deluxe Dining Plan, I can ensure that they have a few "date nights" at signature restaurants and that we have "credits" for meals so that they aren't worried every time we look at a menu. We pay tips and alcohol and that's it. I can also add it as part of the resort package so that they don't pay for it. No arguing over checks after meals.

Is it necessarily the better financial decision? Absolutely not. But will it make the trip much more fun and less stressful for everyone? Definitely. That is why the plan is worth it to me for that trip.

 

[bwbuddy5]

May I offer a different perspective?

I'm taking my sister, her husband and my nephew to Disney next year. They have already started fretting about the cost of everything and arguing with me about who pays what. By getting the Deluxe Dining Plan, I can ensure that they have a few "date nights" at signature restaurants and that we have "credits" for meals so that they aren't worried every time we look at a menu. We pay tips and alcohol and that's it. I can also add it as part of the resort package so that they don't pay for it. No arguing over checks after meals.

Is it necessarily the better financial decision? Absolutely not. But will it make the trip much more fun and less stressful for everyone? Definitely. That is why the plan is worth it to me for that trip.

That makes as much sense as anything any of us have said. Enjoy!

 

[sharonabe]

Interesting podcast this week from Backside of Magic about the Disney Dining plan, concerning use of QS credits, and split stays. Let me know what you think.

I'm not sure what you find interesting. Your credits are good until midnight of your check-out day with or without a split stay.

 

[bwbuddy5]

I'm not sure what you find interesting. Your credits are good until midnight of your check-out day with or without a split stay.

Two separate topics on backside of magic podcast: QS credits AND split stays. I would encourage you to listen to it, they actually lean towards your side of the discussion.

 

[sharonabe]

Two separate topics on backside of magic podcast: QS credits AND split stays. I would encourage you to listen to it, they actually lean towards your side of the discussion.

I did listen to it, and still don't know what you find interesting. There was nothing new there.

 

[bwbuddy5]

Speaking of booking your larger party into two different rooms, have any of you added DDP just to one of those rooms, and then shared the credits across both rooms? Seems to be one way to compromise and not be obligated to it each and every day. What problems did you encounter when doing so?

 

[smiths02]

May I offer a different perspective?

I'm taking my sister, her husband and my nephew to Disney next year. They have already started fretting about the cost of everything and arguing with me about who pays what. By getting the Deluxe Dining Plan, I can ensure that they have a few "date nights" at signature restaurants and that we have "credits" for meals so that they aren't worried every time we look at a menu. We pay tips and alcohol and that's it. I can also add it as part of the resort package so that they don't pay for it. No arguing over checks after meals.

Is it necessarily the better financial decision? Absolutely not. But will it make the trip much more fun and less stressful for everyone? Definitely. That is why the plan is worth it to me for that trip.

When we went with the ILs, we did the DDP just to not worry about who was paying what or to have to hear anyone worry about the prices. Now, they did pay half of the resort package, but this way, they knew going in what was going to be spent, pretty much. Now, that was 2009, so it probably did work out money wise as well, but even if it didn't, it was worth not arguing over the check every meal or my ILs not ordering what they wanted (or us not ordering what we wanted because we didn't want in-laws to pay).