DDP Vs OOP - Live! June 2018

[BrightlyBob]

Fascinating thread as I faced this dilemma last year when booking my first ever, just me and the wife trip. Previously with the 2 of us and 3 hungry over 10s OKW/SSR with Free Dining were no brainers. But for 2 of us wanting to be in the Crescent Lake area giving is a walk to our favourite park, Epcot, I had to struggle with Yacht and Beach club pricing at £5600 for the fortnight, even with Free dining it seemed very, very pricey.

Enter stage left the Starwood hotels (now part of Marriott) Swan and Dolphin and it’s BRG program led to paying points the first night then a BRG claim giving me a rate of £2000 for the remaining 13 nights - but no DDP - “for the first time in forever” - yeah, old pun, I know!

I’ve kept a rough record each WDW holiday on DDP spends and found:

1. 2012 - Free DDP for 5. Over a fortnight we got pretty close, but even so it would have been about £200 cheaper to buy OOP than buy the DDP. Result OOP win.

2. 2014 - Free DDP for 5. Over 3 weeks we would have lost £500, we weren’t at all helped by having 30 snack credits and 25 QS (which we converted to another 75 snacks!). Filling our cases with Goofy Candy does not make good value of DDP! Result OOP win!

3. 2017 - Upgraded to full DDP for 2 but shared with a third. Here we booked 2 rooms at the ASMusic with Free breakfasts (1QS/day) and upgraded the room with two of us to full DDP for £360 for the 6 days we were on-site, sharing the credits with our second room. Here we made out like bandits and received £560 of value form the 12TS and 24 snacks we received from the upgrade. The important point here was that by sharing 2 DDPs between 3 we used all the credits on food we wanted when we wanted it. No goofy candy to take home! Result DDP win!

Essentially the problem with DDP is that it’s too much food. The TS credits are easy to use and we never ended up with leftovers on them, it’s the QS and especially the snacks that defeat the value.

So I’m going to be doing the exact opposite of you and keeping a close record of what it actually costs when I don’t dine on the plan. For instance on DDP I would buy water in the park. Now I’ll get it free from QS, or just bring it in with me. We won’t dine out every evening, and we will Uber to some nearby offsite eateries. We’ll also have the opportunity to try Shula’s and BlueZoo, two very well regarded restaurants that arent on DDP.

I’ll be honest here, as entertaining as it was to see your thread develop “live” I’m not going to manage that, I just don’t have the commitment to spend that amount of time in Disney posting on thedibb (sorry fellow dibbers!) but I will post from the opposite end.

And yes, I agree, it’s important to realise that DDP changes behaviour. There are just some places I’d never pay the money for that I’ve done on DDP, the standout being Chef Mickey, and things I’d get on DDP that I’d never pay for in the Park (bottled water when I can get it free) but doing these things makes the holiday more convenient, carefree and, for the kids at Chef Mickey, special. Then there are some dishes that are just poor value that you’d get on DDP, but wouldn’t touch paying OOP. This thread is a great and detailed look into DDP and it is clearly obvious that there were adaptions to your behaviour reflecting DDP but that your choices were certainly not maximising the value, goofy candy never does that, nor does prix-fixe Chefs de France! A really honest and hence informative thread!

And for my opposite case, well my DDP cost would have been £50pp, if we could have it, which we couldn’t as the Swan and Dolphin aren’t Disney hotels so we couldn’t buy the DDP, even if we wanted to. Total cost to buy would be £1,400...

[hipthehippo]

Thank you! Fab report and it's great to see the breakdown of costs. We've always shied away from dining plans as, having had bypass surgery, I don't eat much - it would be a waste, and like others, I'd end up with a suitcase full of Goofy candy just to use the credits. I am, however, so jealous of those of you that can eat...

[Lisa29]

Fantastic report, thanks for taking the time during your holiday to post updates.

My understanding is that a lot of US guests buy the dining plan for the very same reason, to have everything paid for in advance.

[loubyloulou]

This was a great report, so helpful and great to see what choices you made when it came to the ddp. Thanks.

[WeHeartOrlando]

Thanks for this Adam. Really interesting to see how the costs compare. And most of the food looked pretty good. Agree that alcohol would certainly have pushed DDP over the winning line, but would've bumped your tip costs up too.

I never feel that we eat very much when on holiday, especially in Orlando, but I am looking forward to our first ever free dining plan trip this year, the snacks and cocktails are calling!

I've booked a few ADRs but I think we are going to stick with just the QSDP as it's much more convenient for us to eat quickly and get back to the fun. Relaxing meals don't really work with a toddler in tow.

[ShezMcQ]

I've just binge read this whole report. Thanks so much for taking the time to do this. Its been really informative! I had been havering about Sat'uli so its great to read another positive report on it. Think you've tipped the balance for us to go again

[halloweenbaby2]

I'll always read your reports as I love your honesty. Some really great choices that have given us some thought. I know what you mean about having things paid for upfront - takes the worry about cost's whilst your there.
Thanks for taking the time to do another fab report.

[mrsdjh]

Thanks for taking the time out of your holiday to do the report - some places to add to my possibles list and definitely some to avoid!

We paid for QSDP last year (family of 4 on site for 2 weeks at Easter) for the comfort of knowing it was paid up front. We did the same as you - ate and drank what we wanted rather than working out how to get maximum value - even using snack credits for bottles of water which is always a big no no on here 😱 When we came home I added up our receipts and we had saved by pre-paying for the plan. Luckily next year our Easter school holidays fall into the free dining period - yippee!

Ps we have Mod Pizza in Leeds and it is delicious 😋

[Tiki Jo]

Great report, really helpful.

We’re on-site with Qsdp for the first time next year and judging by the portions in your pics we are going to be stuffed!

I think we’ll struggle to use all of the snack credits too but will give it a go - definitely going to the Cheshire Cat tail.

[DisneyStacey]

Great report, Adam!
Thoroughly enjoyed reading this, and I salute you for managing to keep it going.
I had every intention of doing a food report from our trip in April, but failed miserably after about 2 days of taking photos of half eaten food!
Never mind doing it live - it really has been fab to read!
It seems you had a better experience than we did at Planet Hollywood.
Food was absolutely dire and the service even more so. We were on DDP, but turned down the offer of desserts as we were all full-up and fed-up by that point. Our server proceeded to then bring out 3 portions of the sticky toffee pudding and add them onto our bill - no doubt in order to get a bigger tip. Needless to say, it didn't happen! Awful experience from start to finish.
Also ashamed to say that the ultra caramel coffee frappuccino was my favourite