DDP for DVC Members Is it Worth It

[TheDonns]

Good Afternoon Dibbers
We joined the DVC on our visit last year to WDW and we are planning our first Welcome Home visit next year. I know we need to pay for the DDP plan but was wondering if it was worth while. We will still want Character Meals and dine in the Castle

[Mr Tom Morrow]

We bought into DVC back in 2003 but have never bought the DDP.

We have had a few 'cash' stays when we were short of points a good few years ago and before we bought Annual Passes. Way back then you got an appetiser, entree and the gratuity included so it was a no brainer.
However about once a year up until recently I used to do the maths and couldn't ever get the DDP to be financially beneficial, far from it in fact.

The best value is the Tables in Wonderland card. Excellent value at $150. I must say that without it I wouldn't dine in Disney at all!

[Dendycat]

We came back from 11 days at Disney just last week and used TIW instead of the DDP.
We still did a character meal and a few signatures and ate and drank as we wanted but still saved money. We always used to struggle to use up our snacks so I’d rather save the money, paying for just what we need, than waste it.

[Mr Tom Morrow]

OP. I should clarify that my Wife and I never ever eat desserts. Plus my Wife is a small eater and we tend to share a lunch in the Parks as well.

Also we never eat snacks.

Finally I'm not a steak lover which tends to be the more expensive item on the menu.

So as you can see the DDP is a no brainer for us. I would though encourage you to do the maths as it can be ok for some and it must be nice to know that financially it's all taken care of beforehand.

Happy decision making.

[lov2dibb]

I sometimes get the QS plan for the first night or two then use the mug for the rest of my stay.
Of course that means you have to have a separate reservation at the start but if you are resort hopping (as I often do) then it's no bother and works out good value.
I wouldn't buy the regular plan for a long stay though as it's too expensive and too much food that I wouldn't want to eat.

[KarenG]

No, never. We would be massively overpaying compared to what we'd actually want to eat.

Historically we have often bought the TIW card for years when we've had a good few weeks onsite, and it was worthwhile for us. Last trip we only had three weeks in the year and it wasn't worth it, at least partly because the increased cost of dining onsite now (plus the exchange rate!) has driven us to eat offsite more.

[Bella1]

We did the calculations and couldn't make it work for us either. We found it made us eat more than we would normally to "get our moneys worth" and since the food is dear the tips then start to get pricey too! Often in the parks we use QS for food and then eat offsite.

This year we were there over the New Year period and it was busy and we ate all our meals onsite. We did the calculations when we got home and we would still have been worse off if we had bought the plan and that was includding Tusker House Character and Candlelight processional. That was with 4 adults.

[YorkshireT]

No chance for us either. In fact it's got even worse value with the alcohol- my wife hardly drinks and 2 of the family are kids! And on DDP my kids don't need even more fat, sugar and calories by drinking two 'speciality shakes' a day.
I know I'm a bundle of laughs (so my kids tell me as I say no they can't have yet more junk food) but it's true.
Much like Tom, we never order desserts, and my wife isn't a big eater either.
My kids are 11 and 14 and may still eat from kids menu.
Tips are too much.
Price/ quality ratio is in decline.
Huge calorific intake on DDP isn't good. People say 'Well I did 15,000 steps' not realising that's the equivalent to just the huge donut got as a snack credit.
We have had it before on free dining cash bookings, and I've enjoyed it before but no chance I'd pay.
We are eating some more in room, more QS and off site this year.
I'm doing a report and will report back on how much saved, and whether I got any less enjoyment.

[PoohBears#1fan]

Nope, FAR too much food, we just pay as we go, eat what we want, when we want and spend far less. We are very much 'foodies' btw.

[missdopey]

We would never buy it for our entire trip but we do buy it when we do short stays. This will be our 4th getting the deluxe dining plan for a 2 night stay. We’re doing 2 nights at wilderness lodge before moving to BLT for 12 nights, we’ve bought the deluxe dining plan at a cost of £390 for 2 adults 1 child. Our refillable mugs will be good for our entire trip and we will do either a breakfast/lunch each day and a dinner each evening. It enables us to do all the character meals/favourite places of our daughter at a reasonable cost. Only downside is them being all on our first 3 day. At Easter we worked out we got $1050 of value out of the plan, that’s not to say we would have spent that if paying cash, we wouldn’t have had apps and desserts at a la Carte restaurants and we enjoyed an alcoholic drink with most meals which was a novelty. We see it as a few days of indulgence, without worrying about cost and we usually buy our 12 snacks and store them in the fridge for later days having cupcakes for breakfast for the 4 days after our stay. It means I can do the neurotic Disney dining planning but DH doesn’t feel like it takes over our holiday. It wouldn’t work for everyone but it definitely works for us.