Disney Dining Plan.. Value ?

[Guest]

On our last trip we heard about this Disney Dining Plan. My family and I are returning in january 08 and wondered if this is value for money.
we tried almost all disney restaurants and found them to be superb quality and value (except Epcot, mixed revues there) so is it really worth going on this plan ? (Also to bear in mind we will be Disney Cruising mid holiday)
Suggestions appreciated...

[Guest]

The DDP is a great idea if you have a large appetite, be prepared for lot's of food. Childrens menu's are very limited and so if you have little ones I'd keep that in mind.

We tend to split our Bookings so that we can do the DDP for five days... any more than that and we're struggling, not to mention waddling.

Hope this helps
Pete

[derynifan]

Well we didn't do the DDP. For the two of us, plus our 9 year old, it would have been $89 per day, and because DD is 9 she would have had to have had her meals from the kids menu. In order to have her choose from the adult menu she would have had to pay full whack, so $117 per day for the DDP, and also have an adult park ticket. She doesn't like mac n cheese, and would have had to eat a depressing number of chicken strips and hot dogs. Places like Wolfgang Pucks and Teppanyaki she more than did justice to adult meals, and enjoyed them too.

We calculated that with all food, taxis (we didn't take a car), ride photos, souvenirs, presents, tips et al, we averaged $130 per day in total, so we wouldn't have saved money on it. Also we simply couldn't eat that much food - we had 6 table service meals in a fortnight and the rest were counter service or snacks, and still we felt like we had eaten an uncomfortable amount most of the time. On one of the days (Chef Mickeys at 11am) that was all we ate all day! So if you are not big eaters you will struggle to eat all that is provided. We only ate dessert once, I think, and that was at Ohana, and only had one appetizer and that was at Teppanyaki as we were seated with a family on the DDP and felt awkward sitting watching them eat theirs!

If you are asking if it is value for money, then yes it probably is, as you will have more than $39 per day worth of food available to you. If you are asking if you will get the value out of it, that depends on you and your eating habits on holiday. We wouldn't, but other people undoubtedly are.

[Guest]

We have been to Orlando many times (without the DDP) and have always spend far less on food than if we had purchased the DDP. We usually had 4 or 5 meals in Disney restaurants and rarely had room for dessert and shared a starter (unless it was an 'all-you-can-eat' type restaurant). We also had 3 or 4 moderate meals off site (eg TGI's, Outback Steakhouse, Cheesecake Factory)... again, sharing starters and desserts,.. and several budget meals (eg Dennys, Shoneys, Disney counter Service meals etc.)

We are lucky enough to be on the free DDP this sept so of course, we will be taking advantage! However, we wouldn't personally pay for it as we can eat so much more cheaply without it

[Flo]

I was gutted last year Thomson were useless and couldn't add DDP to my booking, in 08 I am definitely having DDP, hopefully free if the timing is right. I can't wait to book all the ADRs and eat in some new places without worrying about the cost. I will also be using some table credits to do CRT and some dinner shows - I can't wait.

[digdisney]

I think its very good value. I had it for free last year, but will have to pay for it this August (except my last 4 days) If your like us and like to stay and eat onsite it will save you a fair amount of cash.

Also I never found the kids menu to be that bad, At counter service places I would order my 9 year old an adults meal. No one ever said a word, maybe this has changed? As for restaurants choose somewhere that offers a good choice for kids or go for a buffet. My DS didnt complain once about the food, although I thought the kids starter choices were a bit poor.

All in all worth it though I think.

[crux]

We tried the DDP last year, paying for it rather than for free. We did find that we 'saved' quite a bit of money against the actual cost of the food, but we had the plan for 14 days and found that we ate way too much food. I would recommend it if you stay on-site and eat at the Disney resturants, especially if you normally have a table service (or Character Meal) every day or two. You will have to make ADR's for your table service meals, the DDP is popular and the resturants are busier.

We're not using the DDP this year, more of a 'going with the flow' holiday this year, but will use it in future - but may split our trip into two 7 day bookings so we can used the DDP for one weeks meals and diet for the second week

The Kings Feast at Resturant Marakesh was the best meal we had - our least favourite was the buffet at the Hollywood and Vine, it was still good, but I think we'd eaten at one too many buffets by then.

Ian

[DIBBadmin]

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