DDP Experiences 2024

[elsbit]

I agree. But Disney loses money that way. I'm sure they are banking on the cost of the adult DDP not to include alcoholic drinks for everyone. That's a money maker for them.

I am sure that not every adult will order alcohol with their meal, even if the entire world knew that some servers do this. Not everyone drinks alcohol. But yes, Disney just cares about the $$$.

 

[SL6827]

I am sure that not every adult will order alcohol with their meal, even if the entire world knew that some servers do this. Not everyone drinks alcohol. But yes, Disney just cares about the $$$.

Yes, as I drink very rarely.

 

[Bearval]

We have paid out of pocket for QS Dining as an add on to our package from the UK. Now we’re here I honestly don’t think we will break even. I am though keeping all my receipts and will add them up at the end. I think Disney will need to tweek this dining plan a lot to hook the majority!! If anyone one has any specific questions I’ll see if I can answer them while I’m here.

I doubt Disney is going to " tweek" the DP to make it a better value then paying out of pocket. Disney offers it as a convenience.

 

[Beachmom0317]

We stayed 1 night at BCV 2/22/24 on our DVC points and had the dining plan. We used our QS at Hurricane Hanna's (the pool bar). The pool bar has an actual bar, and then there is a separate counter to order food from. They told me I could get an alcoholic bev with my QS credit at the counter, but it had to be one of the drinks they sold at the counter only (prepoured/sealed wine, beer bottle, Cuttwater, Truily, etc), not from the actual bar (where bartender mixes drinks).

We ate dinner at San Angel and were told we couldn't swap our dessert for an appetizer.

We liked trying out the DDP for one night- but when we go back in April for 6 nights we're paying OOP. We like signature restaurants and our very active son is 9 with a big appetite so he prefers to order adult meals sometimes.

 

[jillt2ph]

We stayed 1 night at BCV on our DVC points and had the dining plan. We used our QS at Hurricane Hanna's (the pool bar). The pool bar has an actual bar, and then there is a separate counter to order food from. They told me I could get an alcoholic bev with my QS credit at the counter, but it had to be one of the drinks they sold at the counter only (prepoured/sealed wine, beer bottle, Cuttwater, Truily, etc), not from the actual bar (where bartender mixes drinks).

We ate dinner at San Angel and were told we couldn't swap our dessert for an appetizer.

We liked trying out the DDP for one night- but when we go back in April for 6 nights we're paying OOP. We like signature restaurants and our very active son is 9 with a big appetite so he prefers to order adult meals sometimes.

Thanks for the first hand info. That is a bummer about HH, because I was going to use a QS meal there in July.

 

[jcolvin5]

We used the DDP in early Feb, 11 night trip. Some good, some bad in our experience.

Going in, my main objective was to pay a couple months before the trip as to avoid looking at a large dinner bill every night. Saving money, or breaking even, wasn't really considered. Can that happen? I'm sure someone can make it work, but not our family of 2 adults and 2 kids under 10. We like what we like, regardless if it's accepted when using the DDP. I hated approaching each meal with "what's the most expensive thing on the menu". SPOILER ALERT -- that's usually steak. Do I love steak? YES I DO! Do I want to eat steak 7, 8, 10 times during a trip? No I do not

We are learning that we enjoy too many of the TS restaurants, many that charge two credits. So we found that we needed more TS and less QS. It was also difficult to cram in a snack everyday around all of the other meals. QS and Snack credits left over. We don't drink sodas and felt the cups are pretty useless, for us anyway. Not very convenient for walking around or attaching to a pack.

When my wife and I discussed it post trip, we just decided it's not worth the squeeze for us. Now that we have pretty much eaten at every Signature dining, Character dining, etc. we may gravitate back to the DDP in the future. TBD

 

[pixiedust33]

We're back from a trip last week and loved having the dining plan and thought it worked very well. From our experience, the kinks seem to have been worked out with cast members not understanding it. We didn't have any issues with things being rung up incorrectly. I did the math before we bought it and thought we would more or less break even, but we ended up saving about $175 dollars. I think it did change our habits somewhat but in a good way, that enhanced our vacation (like the first night, my husband was going to order a turkey burger or something at Kona cafe and I reminded him he could get whatever because it all cost the same and he was delighted and was like "what? Really? I can get the $40 sirloin?!") and we did probably tack on more cocktails than we otherwise would have but, again, that enhanced the stay for us!

It is annoying that the app still does not denote what counts as a snack credit at places that don't have mobile ordering but it seemed virtually everything at Flower and Garden counted as a snack (lobster tail for $11.25! Scallops! Beef tips!), so we used four credits there. We were also able to get our 2 year old son a souvenir glow cube non alcoholic drink at Flame Tree BBQ in AK that cost $9 as a dining plan snack. We also got blue and green milk, a cookie cookie, and mickey pretzels (twice), so maximized the snack credits pretty well (because we also got more snacks and just paid out of pocket for those, so we only used it for something that was at least $7, ideally more)

Otherwise, it did work for us naturally because we already planned to go heavy on character dining (Chef Mickeys, Crystal Palace, and Ohana breakfast) plus Ohana dinner and Kona Cafe dinner, and we had already selected some more expensive QS (Flame Tree BBQ, Docking Bay 7 and the Oasis Pool Bar at the poly), and we took daily resort breaks where we got use of our resort mugs, but we also did all of our character dining at breakfast, used a QS credit for resort breakfast and at MK where no alcohol is available (CHH), and didn't ALWAYS get alcohol, and still came out ahead.

We were also helped by the fact we have a 2.5 year old who didn't have a meal plan of his own but definitely helped with big servings at places like Flame Tree BBQ and some of the snacks, that otherwise might have felt like too much food. I don't know that we'll do it when he's 3 and we would have to pay for all that food for him too, but I'm sure it will come in handy again at some point as he gets older. We also really enjoyed having it!

Happy to answer any questions!

 

[csjordan]

Has anyone been able to trade two QS for a table service? I thought I saw a report from someone who had done this, but I cannot find it now. Maybe I dreamed it LOL!

Edited to say AJ on DFB says "Nope".

 

[vinotinto]

Has anyone been able to trade two QS for a table service? I thought I saw a report from someone who had done this, but I cannot find it now. Maybe I dreamed it LOL!

Edited to say AJ on DFB says "Nope".

This has never been a thing. What was allowed before (and maybe that’s where the confusion comes from) was trading a QS credit for multiple snacks, which doesn’t seem to be allowed anymore. It’s much more strict now.

 

[Llama mama]

We stayed 1 night at BCV 2/22/24 on our DVC points and had the dining plan. We used our QS at Hurricane Hanna's (the pool bar). The pool bar has an actual bar, and then there is a separate counter to order food from. They told me I could get an alcoholic bev with my QS credit at the counter, but it had to be one of the drinks they sold at the counter only (prepoured/sealed wine, beer bottle, Cuttwater, Truily, etc), not from the actual bar (where bartender mixes drinks).

We ate dinner at San Angel and were told we couldn't swap our dessert for an appetizer.

We liked trying out the DDP for one night- but when we go back in April for 6 nights we're paying OOP. We like signature restaurants and our very active son is 9 with a big appetite so he prefers to order adult meals sometimes.

Question,
Hurricane Hanna walk up only has canned alcoholic drinks.
Hurricane Hannah order from server at pool or the bar side has mixed drinks.
Which did you order from ? The actual bar( left side with bar stools )Or the walk up food service side ( right side).
Ordering from a server has allowed mixed drinks in the past. So just curious if it has changed.

 

[Beachmom0317]

Question,
Hurricane Hanna walk up only has canned alcoholic drinks.
Hurricane Hannah order from server at pool or the bar side has mixed drinks.
Which did you order from ? The actual bar( left side with bar stools )Or the walk up food service side ( right side).
Ordering from a server has allowed mixed drinks in the past. So just curious if it has changed.

We ordered from the walk up counter on the right side and from there were told that we could pick an alcoholic choice from what they had at the counter only- which were the items like the sealed single serving wine glass, cut water, truily, etc. So we would NOT have been able to order like a margarita or something that the bartender on the left makes.

 

[Nancyg56]

I doubt Disney is going to " tweek" the DP to make it a better value then paying out of pocket. Disney offers it as a convenience.

I actually do not believe this is true, although I believe Disney pitches it as such.

I think the DDP is a tool that is used to keep guests onsite. To fill their resort rooms, to encourage people to prepay for meals, keeping food dollars on site as well.

I bet that it would be even more effective if Disney brought back DME.

 

[CaroM8]

We're back from a trip last week and loved having the dining plan and thought it worked very well. From our experience, the kinks seem to have been worked out with cast members not understanding it. We didn't have any issues with things being rung up incorrectly. I did the math before we bought it and thought we would more or less break even, but we ended up saving about $175 dollars. I think it did change our habits somewhat but in a good way, that enhanced our vacation (like the first night, my husband was going to order a turkey burger or something at Kona cafe and I reminded him he could get whatever because it all cost the same and he was delighted and was like "what? Really? I can get the $40 sirloin?!") and we did probably tack on more cocktails than we otherwise would have but, again, that enhanced the stay for us!

It is annoying that the app still does not denote what counts as a snack credit at places that don't have mobile ordering but it seemed virtually everything at Flower and Garden counted as a snack (lobster tail for $11.25! Scallops! Beef tips!), so we used four credits there. We were also able to get our 2 year old son a souvenir glow cube non alcoholic drink at Flame Tree BBQ in AK that cost $9 as a dining plan snack. We also got blue and green milk, a cookie cookie, and mickey pretzels (twice), so maximized the snack credits pretty well (because we also got more snacks and just paid out of pocket for those, so we only used it for something that was at least $7, ideally more)

Otherwise, it did work for us naturally because we already planned to go heavy on character dining (Chef Mickeys, Crystal Palace, and Ohana breakfast) plus Ohana dinner and Kona Cafe dinner, and we had already selected some more expensive QS (Flame Tree BBQ, Docking Bay 7 and the Oasis Pool Bar at the poly), and we took daily resort breaks where we got use of our resort mugs, but we also did all of our character dining at breakfast, used a QS credit for resort breakfast and at MK where no alcohol is available (CHH), and didn't ALWAYS get alcohol, and still came out ahead.

We were also helped by the fact we have a 2.5 year old who didn't have a meal plan of his own but definitely helped with big servings at places like Flame Tree BBQ and some of the snacks, that otherwise might have felt like too much food. I don't know that we'll do it when he's 3 and we would have to pay for all that food for him too, but I'm sure it will come in handy again at some point as he gets older. We also really enjoyed having it!

Happy to answer any questions!

Thank you so much for your detailed report!

We are going in September and lucked out with the free DDP promotion, but even before we knew about the promotion we were thinking of doing it anyway. We are also going to maximize it and do lots of character meals (Crystal Palace, Akershus, Story Book (2 credits, I know!), Tusker at AK, Ohana).

How does it work, in the moment at the restaurant (more for the table service)? Do they already know that you are on the DDP based on your reservation? At the end, will they still give you a bill with the amount it would have cost without the plan (I'd like that so it's easier to calculate tips)?

 

[jillt2ph]

Thank you so much for your detailed report!

We are going in September and lucked out with the free DDP promotion, but even before we knew about the promotion we were thinking of doing it anyway. We are also going to maximize it and do lots of character meals (Crystal Palace, Akershus, Story Book (2 credits, I know!), Tusker at AK, Ohana).

How does it work, in the moment at the restaurant (more for the table service)? Do they already know that you are on the DDP based on your reservation? At the end, will they still give you a bill with the amount it would have cost without the plan (I'd like that so it's easier to calculate tips)?

You will usually be asked if you are on the dining plan by your server. If they don't, feel free to mention it at the beginning of you meal so the server can answer any questions you might have. Like which specialty beverages might be included

I did the quick service plan in January, and I was happy to see this go-round that your final receipt does show what your food totalled. It was down at the bottom of the receipt. That is how I was able to easily include the value of my meals in my earlier post.

 

[Bearval]

I actually do not believe this is true, although I believe Disney pitches it as such.

I think the DDP is a tool that is used to keep guests onsite. To fill their resort rooms, to encourage people to prepay for meals, keeping food dollars on site as well.

I bet that it would be even more effective if Disney brought back DME.

I would love to see DME come back but when Disney announced it was going away they stated " changes to consumer preferences" which I call " Bullsh!$t " on. There was nothing better then arriving at MCO knowing that all you had to do was now get on DME and enjoy the comfortable bus ride to your resort. Now you have to get a Uber or rental car. Bottom line it was a cost saving move to end DME and wont be coming back. I am surprised they haven't tried adding "resort fees" to the rooms yet. I was at Epcot a could of years ago and was chosen for a survey. One of the questions asked was would I be willing to pay resort fees for added amenities.

 

[Fenway1970]

Now you have to get a Uber or rental car.

Or do the Mears Shuttle which is the "paid" version of DME without the in-ride movie and you have to pick up your baggage and bring it to the bus. It's definitely not "magic" anymore but I found it more convenient than Uber.

You're right though, dropping DME was absolutely a cost cutting move. It's a shame, the DME was once one of the best parts of a Disney trip for us. The ride to the resort with the movie built the anticipation for the week ahead, and even the "Tragic Express" at the end of the trip somehow softened the blow of having to return to the real world and got us looking forward to the next visit.

Now, it's just a bus.

 

[voxparse]

We (2 adults and an 8 year old) just returned from a full week at WDW with the DDP. I'll start by saying that we loved having DDP in years past and were very excited to have it again. This was our first trip since it came back. The short version is that we will probably not purchase DDP again unless there are major changes in the future.

Problem #1: Cheeseburger springrolls are no longer a snack. I'm partially kidding but this was a sign of things to come as we discovered a lot of favorites that either weren't in the plan at all or had odd rules like the springrolls where you have to get a drink to use DDP and it counts as a QS meal.

Problem #2: Our 8 year old has out grown most of the kids meals but isn't really eating as much as the adult meals. He is just at a weird age for food. This isn't a problem specifically with DDP but more a problem for us.

Problem #3: The kids meals in some locations were very limited. We are always careful to scope out kid options at table service but I didn't think to check that the QS in our hotel would have the right options as I assumed they were going to have the standards. This was not the case and the options especially at Coronado Springs were really limited for kids.

Ultimately, the value just isn't there for us any longer. A big piece of that is a growing kid but also we just found that all of the extra thought that went into what counted for what options was more complex than we're interested in dealing with in the future. The hypocrisy is not lost on me because I'm one of those people never understood people calling Genie+ overly complex, but here I am saying that about DDP. Life comes at you fast I guess.

 

[nursejackie]

Disney offers it as a convenience.

I am soaking up all the information in the DDP threads as Disney is offering free DDP plan to UK guests who stay on site in 2025 (some restrictions apply of course). I've never used a DDP before. I'm getting it free but still feel I need to make use of it, however it just doesn't seem worth all the effort! What's included, what's not, where we can and can't use it. I don't feel it gives us the freedom we are used to. I know you're probably thinking don't look a gift horse in the mouth, but there's always an offer or two on trips from the UK, I'm just gutted this is the offer for next year.

 

[Mle8308]

I am soaking up all the information in the DDP threads as Disney is offering free DDP plan to UK guests who stay on site in 2025 (some restrictions apply of course). I've never used a DDP before. I'm getting it free but still feel I need to make use of it, however it just doesn't seem worth all the effort! What's included, what's not, where we can and can't use it. I don't feel it gives us the freedom we are used to. I know you're probably thinking don't look a gift horse in the mouth, but there's always an offer or two on trips from the UK, I'm just gutted this is the offer for next year.

Free dining really isn't all that great, it forces you to pay full price for a room and buy tickets you may not normally purchase, at least for US guests. The DDP is ALOT of food, especially on the TS plan. It's a pain trying to run to reservations every day, we found we often had to stop what we were doing in the parks to make it to a meal. And we also found that the food, during the free DDP timeframes, was not as good. It was often lower quality cuts of meat, fish, etc. (I am a former CM and I remember the chefs hated free dining because they were more limited in what they could purchase and serve). For most people (not all), if not drinkers at every meal, it does not end up being any savings. It probably costs more, as most people don't normally eat that much each day. Hopefully a different offer will come out for you.

 

[Bearval]

We (2 adults and an 8 year old) just returned from a full week at WDW with the DDP. I'll start by saying that we loved having DDP in years past and were very excited to have it again. This was our first trip since it came back. The short version is that we will probably not purchase DDP again unless there are major changes in the future.

Problem #1: Cheeseburger springrolls are no longer a snack. I'm partially kidding but this was a sign of things to come as we discovered a lot of favorites that either weren't in the plan at all or had odd rules like the springrolls where you have to get a drink to use DDP and it counts as a QS meal.

Problem #2: Our 8 year old has out grown most of the kids meals but isn't really eating as much as the adult meals. He is just at a weird age for food. This isn't a problem specifically with DDP but more a problem for us.

Problem #3: The kids meals in some locations were very limited. We are always careful to scope out kid options at table service but I didn't think to check that the QS in our hotel would have the right options as I assumed they were going to have the standards. This was not the case and the options especially at Coronado Springs were really limited for kids.

Ultimately, the value just isn't there for us any longer. A big piece of that is a growing kid but also we just found that all of the extra thought that went into what counted for what options was more complex than we're interested in dealing with in the future. The hypocrisy is not lost on me because I'm one of those people never understood people calling Genie+ overly complex, but here I am saying that about DDP. Life comes at you fast I guess.

The DDP at one time was a great value (especially when it was "free"). They used to give you so much food I remember staying at Pop Century and getting the chicken alfredo and they gave you so much food that two people shared it and we still threw food away and they did this with practically any meal you got that wasn't a sandwich or hamburger. We would always go in November for the food and wine event at Epcot and convert all of our unused QS dining credits for snack credits and ate around the world. Now as I understand not so much, they cut the portions a lot and from what I am hearing you can no longer trade QS meals into 3 snack credits. In my opinion, the DDP is now just for convenience and doesn't offer a value unless you work it which is not what I want to do on a vacation.