Question regarding DDP - What would you do?

[scoobydooby]

Currency card. Without a dining plan I’d generally eat a couple of appetisers and a couple of glasses of wine and ditch the main and desert. That’s what I’m doing when the kids don’t want to come any more. They’re 19 and 16 and no sign of that yet 😂

[Guest]

I voted dining plan because I like the way it works and I will then have that prepaid and out of the way and won’t be monitoring the spending.

[Shooby doo]

Currency card or just OOP, last time I checked the break down was approx. $40 for TS & $16 for QS so every time you have chicken, it's "costing you". I've used the planner a couple of times & nearly every time, without changing our eating habits, we have been $100's of better off without it. My other reason of course is that we also like to eat off-site, in many cases better quality for less.
If you want to try it, the advice on 2 bookings is a good one, you basically just need 2 booking numbers.

Sd

[YorkshireT]

Originally Posted by act1980

Not sure what to do with DDP, looking for opinions.

Given that the $ has risen this week if I were to purchase the DDP in the US (DVC Owner) it now works out around £1530 which is over £100 cheaper than it was a couple of weeks ago. If I buy it now I secure that price.

Or, do I buy a currency card and stick the same money on it and just pay as I go for dining?

I know some of you don't like buying the DDP as it's not good value for money and paying OOP for each meal works out better value.

What would you do?

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Only about 25% of DVC owners ( source poll with hundreds of responses on DVC Facebook page) go for the DDP, generally because they know it's poor value.
Using distripplanner.com, I could never make the maths work.

[YorkshireT]

Originally Posted by Eloise73

I love DDP but if I had to pay for it i'm not sure i'd want it. Can you make 2 dvc bookings, get the DDP for one part of your 'stay' and then pay OOP for the other half?

We are taking some money on a Transferwise debit card - excellent exchange rates and like having an american bank account - or any other bank card, its borderless.

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Yes you can only take plan for one stay.

[Andi]

I voted to put the money on a currency card. This is what I am doing for our August trip.

We purchased the DDP for our visit last November, purely because I wanted to have it paid up front and as it was for my special birthday trip and we would eat each day at a table service restaurant.

When I looked at the prices for this year it had increased again, that and the fact that by the end of the holiday on DDP we feel too stuffed I didn't feel it was good value.

So opted to start now putting money on our Fairfx Card, which we will only use for counter service meals because when we used it at the Nine Dragons Restaurant for the Candlelight Dining Package, wanting to pay oop for this, even though we paid the tip in cash they still held the tip on the card which wasn't released until we got home. Any table service meals we go for, which will not be many, we will either charge to the magic band or pay cash.

[catlady]

Another dvc owner here! I voted ddp as I personally prefer to have the majority paid for before we go! But it was a very close vote between other! As this year we will get the TIW card and pay as we go! Still not sure that I am happy with that decision?

Part of me was hoping for the AP discount to be 20% again this year .

[Dendycat]

I’m a dvc owner who loves the convenience of the ddp but just can’t get it to make sense financially. If you have a lot of kids in your party or plan lots of character meal then it might start to pay back.

[Flimsey]

I wouldn't pay for it, as you are likely to spend less. We were onsite without DDP and we went to Walmart and brought breakfast and lunch food for the holiday. We have DDP this year but only because it was included for free, we wouldn't normally have a table service meal everyday, in fact we had 5 on our 14 day trip last only

[Elise79]

What are your eating habits usually?

We have done free dining quite a few times over the years but I have never paid for it.

We prefer the freedom of not having an ADR every night. We eat mainly at signatures, lounges and off site.

We sometimes go out for breakfast and have a snack for lunch. Last time we did a character buffet for breakfast the tip was nearly as much as our whole breakfast offsite.

If it fits you then it can be worth it - personally it would drive me mad as I would need to break even and end up eating for the sake of it or like when we had free dining bringing a ton of sweets home that got given away or thrown away