It is not possible to make out like bandits on the DDP, care to show your math?
Happy to. We have the DxDP for 4 parks in 4 days, two adults, two kids (12 credits total). And before you ask, we are not eating more than we normally pay out of pocket to do. We always eat lunch and dinner at table service restaurants: always one character meal per day (we eat light at buffets; it is all about the characters and ambiance for us, which we value more than doing dessert packages for the evening shows because our kids have an early bedtime), and then a nice dinner with three courses. We like taking out time out of the heat, and are not park commandos. Obviously, we are probably pretty atypical as not everyone likes to eat at expensive time consuming restaurants two meals a day, but we are on vacation, and it is a highlight of the trip for us. The below amounts are after tax, since that is included in the plan.
Epcot Day
Biergarten lunch $35.15 per adult /19.17 per kid = $ 108.64
Akershus dinner $62.84 / $37.28 = $200.24
HS day
H&V Fantasmic lunch $61.77 / $37.28 = $198.10
Yachtsman dinner (2 credits) Adult $13 and $19 apps, $63 and $50 entrees, $16 and $10 dessert = $85.5 per adult / kids $30 each = $231 + tax = $246.02
AK day
Tusker House ROL lunch $58.58 / $35.15 = $187.46
Tiffins dinner (2 credits) Adult $14 app each, $54 and $43 entrees, $12 and $10 dessert = $73.5 per adult / kids $22 each = $191 + tax = $203.42
MK day
CRT (2 credits) $81.63 / $48.32 = $259.90
1900 PF dinner $52.19 / $30.89 = $166.16
Departure day
Cape May Cafe bfast $34.08 / $20.24 = $108.64
Alcohol (we often have a glass of wine or a cocktail, so I am estimating that saves on average $10 per adult per meal given variable pricing, but that is probably conservative given Disney drink prices) = $ 180
Total cost out of pocket: $1678.58 food + $180 alcohol = $1,858.58
Total dining plan cost: $1,249.36
Savings: at least $609.22 (not including the 32 snacks that we also get for "free" by adding the plan, which is at least another $100-150 value depending on what we get)