DDP or not - trying to decide

[MamaOfTwoPrincesses]

We're still on the fence on this, but it looks like it may be a good choice, as we are trying to get a bunch of princess meals. Looks like by doing this alone, the DDP is a good idea.

But aside from that, we'll likely just do CS, as we have 2 young kids who won't want sit through a long TS dinner anyway. So, how much can we expect to pay for a CS meal in general ? We're a party of 3 + one young toddler, who will just mooch.

 

[JimMIA]

Here's a link that will give you all of the menus for all of the restaurants at WDW...including the counter service. http://www.allearsnet.com/menu/menus.htm

I would compare the value of the dining plan to the cost of what you would really spend -- not to menu prices. If you compare the cost of the dining plan to the receipts for what you get, you'll think you won the Lottery, but the real comparison is to what you would actually have spent without the dining plan.

The dining plan works out to about $30 per day for food for adults and a little less than $9 per day for 3-9 year-olds -- plus tax and 18% tip, which are included in the dining plan. One character meal is more than that for a 3-9 year old, and that much for many of the adult meals...especially if you do dinners.

Don't underestimate your kids' ability to withstand the torture of TS meals. Sure, Alfredo's is slow, boring, and mediocre (IMHO), but if it's with the entertainment of Tepenyaki, or the aquarium at Coral Reef...they may find a way to bear it. DD4goingon24 loved both of those!

Also, don't underestimate the value of those snack credits. It's amazing how good an ice cream or a bottle of water tastes when it's "free!"

We also made a parting visit to Earl of Sandwich and loaded up with sandwiches and water for the trip back. We were driving, but both would have been very good to have on a flight!

 

[LizinSTL]

We're still on the fence on this, but it looks like it may be a good choice, as we are trying to get a bunch of princess meals. Looks like by doing this alone, the DDP is a good idea.

But aside from that, we'll likely just do CS, as we have 2 young kids who won't want sit through a long TS dinner anyway. So, how much can we expect to pay for a CS meal in general ? We're a party of 3 + one young toddler, who will just mooch.

It depends on a lot of factors. If you would like to do several character meals, I'd even say 4 on a 7 night trip, the dining plan will probably be a good option for you. I'm assuming you have 1 child between 3-9 years and one under 3? If so, your cost for the dining plan would be about $87/per night of your trip. Since dinner at 1900 Park Fare would be right about $90 (tax and tip included) for your family, you can see that you wouldn't be "losing" money on that days meals.

I'm a big fan of character meals because you get to see the characters without standing in long lines, you get a nice picture and a chance for an autograph and a decent meal on top of it all.

We used the dining plan and I really liked it. I think what I enjoyed the most was that my meals were paid for before I arrived. I didn't have to choose an inexpensive entree because I felt like our room charge was climbing too fast and I didn't have to feel annoyed because my 5 year old insisted she wanted mac n cheese but only took 2 bites. I could smile and say "of course you can have a mickey bar" rather than inwardly groaning that it'll probably melt before it's half eaten. We got to enjoy 7 nice meals over the week, including a couple character meals rather than one or two character meals and a bunch of fast food b/c I was worried about the cost.

 

[Brian Noble]

We find that with two adults and two kids, we ordinarily spend about $30 give or take on a CS meal. That's usually not the largest thing on the menu (I don't really need the double bacon cheeseburger!), and it doesn't include dessert (we don't eat dessert at lunchtime), but does include bottled water for the adults.

Our last trip, we ate 4 TS over seven days: three character meals (Donalds, Norway lunch, and Garden Grill dinner) and a lunch at Sci-Fi. Adding everything up, we spent about $100 less than the dining plan would have cost us. We would have needed two more TSes to break even. But, 4 over 7 is about our limit---maybe 5---while the restaurants are good, we can eat in good restaurants at home, but we can't ride Space Mountain at home!

And, in hindsight, three character meals in a week was a bit much for us. By the third one, it wasn't quite as "special". I think our next trip will still have 4TSes (or maybe 5), but at most 2 character meals, so that we can branch out and try new places.

 

[JJ&JSMOM]

I'm on the fence too. Kids have to order off the kids menu. I've printed all the menus for the places we want to eat and I tell ya the kids menu is not great. On the DDP kids have to order off the kids menu.

We'll probably do counter service most of the time but we might schedule 2 or 3 character meals and 2 TS. So I guess the best thing to do is add it all up and see which is better. It may be worth it but if my kids are not going to order off the kids menu not sure if it will be.

 

[UtahMama]

We've done it both ways and eat ENTIRELY differently when not on the DDP. We eat without thought to the price (Captain Jacks! Hel-lo? That was a place we'd never ever go in the real world.) Not necessarily because we cant afford it but we're "cheap"(in a good way!). Not doing the DDP, we'd stock up at the grocery store with quick and easy meals and snacks or do mostly counter service meals and share (the servings are always super-sized anyway). In the real world, appetizers and desserts are a rare treat for us. But at Disney World we are on vacation and love the extra goodies-even if we take our dessert to go because we didn't 'save room'! My husband LOVES saving the reciepts and tallying up what we would have spent on our meals (ok, we'd probably get the fish n chips and NOT the lobster but it's fun). We have always been treated wonderfully and have NEVER experienced server rudeness EVER! Believe me, I'd let em have it if we were treated poorly!

P.S. My Goofy DH who is reading over my shoulder wants to tell you when we are eating the good life, we like to try "different" foods that we normally wouldn't and are very often pleasantly surprised! My kids, however, even when the skies the limit, gravitate towards mac n cheese and chicken nuggets!