Is it worth paying for the DDP?

[PumpkinCupcake]

We've just booked a last minute (in Disney terms) trip for October. I'm going to be positive and hope that it goes to ahead, and plan as if nothing is happening in the world We only booked last night and I'm trying to plan our ADRs quickly as we're only a few days away from having to book them. I've already checked with ATD and they have said we can add it on at a later date if we wish. I know that the QS plan wouldnt work for us, as we booked it last time, and the more research I done on it I realised that we'd end up paying OOP for a few sit down meals and pay extra anyway.

What do people think on paying for it for 7 nights?

[sha9]

We had a week onsite in 2018 and I went back and forth on paying for DDP. In the end we decided not to but when I added up what we spent we spent what DDP would have cost and in hindsight I’d rather have had it as I felt like I was constantly watching what we were eating. However, having since been with free QSDP and managed just fine with hardly any TS meals I think if we were to have a trip without free dining I probably wouldn’t pay for a dining plan.

[Gill H]

Most people would say no. However, we might.

Our first trip was Dec 2010 - I can't remember whether there was no free DDP on those dates, or whether we just didn't know about it back then. So we paid for the DDP and got every penny's worth out of it easily. It was freezing cold (minus 2 C some days) so we didn't have a problem with loss of appetite! We are two adults with no children so didn't really share meals. We had a QS breakfast in our resort most days and then went to a park for EMH or opening, and then weren't hungry until dinner.

By juggling credits from days when we were off site or 'off plan' we did five Signature meals. We used snack credits mostly for cold drinks and the occasional snack. By the time we left we had used them all easily.

On our second trip we went in Nov 2014 and got free DDP. We went during Food & Wine so easily used all our snack credits grazing round the stalls. Again, we had five Signature meals. No credits left and we never felt like we ate too much. We mostly spent evenings over a long, relaxing dinner in a quiet restaurant, which for us is as much a part of the holiday as the parks.

We've done the maths and tried to be honest about what we would choose on a menu. It works out about the same to be honest - and I know that if we put the equivalent money aside on a card, we'd be looking at the menu thinking 'that's HOW MUCH?' and choosing something cheaper. Disney prices are seriously high, and it was nice never to have to look at them.

Also, we don't drive so only had offsite meals when we went to Universal.

If you intend eating offsite, or have young children or small appetites, it might not be worth it for you. For us, it is.

[Shooby doo]

Ok you have to ask yourself if you would buy the components of DDp anyway? In our case we would definitely not buy a dessert every day,so when you factor in that the cost of that dessert is in the price then for us it's not good value. The second question is do you want value or pre-paid food? Value wise IMO DDP isn't good & I'd expect over the course of your 7 days that you would spend less OOP. Last question is, will you eat onsite all the time? Disney food is expensive, I'd go as far as to say that in some cases overpriced! You can eat a lot cheaper offsite for instance.
SD

[nothingless]

It differs so much from family to family! If you like to eat a lot of meat, always order dessert, and tend to get alcoholic drinks with most of your meals, it's probably worth it.

I know for my family (me, DH, and DD who is 3), it's not worth it. We don't drink alcohol, and eat mostly vegetarian/vegan. On our last trip we spent an average of $82 a day on food on WDW, whereas the QSDP would have cost us $136 a day. That said, if you have older kids that do eat a good bit, that'd change things - my 3-year-old would never be able to finish a kids meal and is usually happier with a $2 banana and some fries off our plates, for example!

[slimhead]

We loved it, it was our first time in Disney last May and we didn’t really know what to expect from the DDP but it was great didn’t have a bad meal, plus there was no worrying about prices and stuff there was the odd time where we’d have gone and done something else if it weren’t for a reservation but on the whole the experience was brilliant, we are looking to book again for next year and will be waiting to see if there is free dining, I understand you can eat off site for cheaper maybe but for ease it’s highly recommended from me

[Lostbrain]

You will eat very differently if you choose/don't choose ddp. Ddp will give you permission/opportunity to spend a lot more on dining. The choice I think is no ddp and saving some money, plan and budget for the things you really want or ddp and go all out on dining.

Always remember though that tips aren't included so you need to add them to the cost of the ddp.

[the_weird_one]

We wouldn't be without the DDP; we're on holiday and like knowing that our food is paid for in advance so we don't have to worry about money during the holiday.

By taking our couple of days off site as well we were able to do Hoop-Dee-Doo and California Grill on the plan.

For us the piece of mind of knowing that our meals are paid for makes the plan worth more than just the material cost.

[pammiep]

We've been to Florida loads of times and have only done the all day dining at Seaworld and Busch Gardens (totally worth it).

After saying I wasn't going back again, we're going next October and swithering about DDP. It'll be 4 adults so I'm thinking it will probably be worth it for us especially as we are all big eaters. My hubby also likes a beer with his dinner at night so I'm thinking it should be a no brainer for us.

[PumpkinCupcake]

Thanks so much for all your responses everyone! It's a lot to think about

We're two adults, so there won't be any sharing. I am a vegetarian so for just me I don't think it would be worth the money, however, my husband isn't and he normally would like to get steak etc when we're out, so depending on what he ordered, and where, it could add in a bit extra. When we had free dining last year we made sure to take full advantage and ordered alcohol with every meal to get our moneys worth, so we could end up doing that as we've booked to celebrate our first wedding anniversary.

Dessert is a funny one, as I always order it at home, whereas the portion sizes are so big its hard to know whether I'll always want one. I think last year we only brought our dessert to go once, so we did make use of it then.

We've actually added this week on as an addition to a two week California trip we're doing immediately before, so we don't plan on eating off site as we just want to relax on Disney property for a week as we'll have no car, and we don't want to start spending money on Ubers to get to where we want to go. Normally I would do that as I'm a big fan of American chains, but it's not something we'll be doing for this trip.