Has anyone used the DDP while staying at FW?

[Beachmom0317]

Hi everyone,

We’re planning our 2nd cabin trip to the fort in December 2018. When we last visited in 2016, I liked the convienence of assembling breakfast and park snacks in our cabin, but I am not sure how much money I actually saved since it seemed that the garden grocer prices were kinda expensive compared to my local grocery store.

This time around, our kids will be 2.5 and 4, and our trip will be very character meal heavy. Our kids are super into the fab 5 right now, and I thought of taking advantage of how our daughter will be under 3 when we go, thus being free for park tickets/character meals.

So I am trying to price out DDP for our meals, but to make it worth it I think I’ll have to shift from garden grocer to using QS and snack credits. Can you use redeem those at FW? We’ve only eaten at Trail’s End and that was a full meal. Just wondering if anyone has any experience with QS and snacks at FW. Thank you! Looking forward to visiting our new favorite place again!

 

[G719]

Hi everyone,

We’re planning our 2nd cabin trip to the fort in December 2018. When we last visited in 2016, I liked the convienence of assembling breakfast and park snacks in our cabin, but I am not sure how much money I actually saved since it seemed that the garden grocer prices were kinda expensive compared to my local grocery store.

This time around, our kids will be 2.5 and 4, and our trip will be very character meal heavy. Our kids are super into the fab 5 right now, and I thought of taking advantage of how our daughter will be under 3 when we go, thus being free for park tickets/character meals.

So I am trying to price out DDP for our meals, but to make it worth it I think I’ll have to shift from garden grocer to using QS and snack credits. Can you use redeem those at FW? We’ve only eaten at Trail’s End and that was a full meal. Just wondering if anyone has any experience with QS and snacks at FW. Thank you! Looking forward to visiting our new favorite place again!

We actually scored free dining in November 2015 (yay!) So here's the options for QS that we used: the pool snack bar and the take out at trails end. I think there is a food truck at the campfire now that you could use QS at. You can get prepackaged items for snack credits at the trading posts - Mickey bars, candy, etc. We also used the boat over to the lodge and contemporary to eat at their QS. One night we were on the way to MK so stopped and ate at the lodge and then moved on to mk. We ate at the contemporary on a day we were resort hopping. My girls had a make over at the GF in the morning and we did the Christmas party that night.
We didn't use the mugs as much as we did when we stayed at AoA and all star music. It's just not very convenient at the fort. The pop stations are at the pool and by trails end. You can take them to use at the other resorts QS if you eat there.
Since you have one kid under 9 and one under 3 and you are planning on doing character meals, you're at the spot where the dining plan makes sense. Also you don't have to use any QS on kids meals. The CM at the contemporary even encouraged my youngest to order from the adult menu there.

 

[Jimsig]

We have stayed 3 times in the cabins and used the DDP each time.

Even with using the DDP I have always used Garden Grocer as we like having breakfast stuff and snacks for the room. But I could not believe how much the prices went up. This past trip in Oct we used Amazon Prime Now and thought there prices were great so if you have Amazon Prime give that a shot. If not see if you can use Amazon Prime Now if you get a free trial.

 

[FtW Mike]

Beachmom welcome back. When we are considering where we want to eat I like referring to AllEars.net they have a very comprehensive list dining locations, menus and any meal plans/discounts accepted. I also post and read on another forum where many others have been using AMAZON PRIME instead of Garden Grocer They claim selections are very close but far cheaper might be worth looking into

 

[Beachmom0317]

We actually scored free dining in November 2015 (yay!) So here's the options for QS that we used: the pool snack bar and the take out at trails end. I think there is a food truck at the campfire now that you could use QS at. You can get prepackaged items for snack credits at the trading posts - Mickey bars, candy, etc. We also used the boat over to the lodge and contemporary to eat at their QS. One night we were on the way to MK so stopped and ate at the lodge and then moved on to mk. We ate at the contemporary on a day we were resort hopping. My girls had a make over at the GF in the morning and we did the Christmas party that night.
We didn't use the mugs as much as we did when we stayed at AoA and all star music. It's just not very convenient at the fort. The pop stations are at the pool and by trails end. You can take them to use at the other resorts QS if you eat there.
Since you have one kid under 9 and one under 3 and you are planning on doing character meals, you're at the spot where the dining plan makes sense. Also you don't have to use any QS on kids meals. The CM at the contemporary even encouraged my youngest to order from the adult menu there.

Thanks for the help! Thankfully we don’t drink lots of soda or juice so it’s really not a biggie as far as the limited options for our refillable cup. Good to know we can use our QS at the takeout at trails end! We did that last time and I recall some of the options are a lot of food. we’re going early December again, I can’t remember if the pool snack bar was open or not!

 

[Beachmom0317]

Even with using the DDP I have always used Garden Grocer as we like having breakfast stuff and snacks for the room. But I could not believe how much the prices went up. This past trip in Oct we used Amazon Prime Now and thought there prices were great so if you have Amazon Prime give that a shot. If not see if you can use Amazon Prime Now if you get a free trial.

We do have amazon prime! Maybe I’ll try that option for breakfast items. Since we will be in the parks a lot we could always use the majority of our QS/snack credits there and then buy breakfast items from amazon! Last time I really didn’t buy much in the parks; we did pbjs, pouches, cliff bar, etc.- all stuff from garden grocer and I was like this is so expensive it isn’t even really saving me anything!

 

[G719]

Thanks for the help! Thankfully we don’t drink lots of soda or juice so it’s really not a biggie as far as the limited options for our refillable cup. Good to know we can use our QS at the takeout at trails end! We did that last time and I recall some of the options are a lot of food. we’re going early December again, I can’t remember if the pool snack bar was open or not!

Pretty sure the snack bar had short hours when we were there in November. They closed up late afternoon I think.
Yes the take out is good food and a lot of it. We got 2 of the giddyap and go meals which gave us 4 pieces of chicken, 4 sides, and cornbread. That was plenty of food for the whole group. Plus they have strawberry shortcake!

 

[Jimsig]

Pretty sure the snack bar had short hours when we were there in November. They closed up late afternoon I think.
Yes the take out is good food and a lot of it. We got 2 of the giddyap and go meals which gave us 4 pieces of chicken, 4 sides, and cornbread. That was plenty of food for the whole group. Plus they have strawberry shortcake!

We were there at the end of Oct and want to say the Meadows snack bar closed at 5p, at least I think that's what the posted hours said.

 

[G719]

We were there at the end of Oct and want to say the Meadows snack bar closed at 5p, at least I think that's what the posted hours said.

That does sound right.

 

[FtW Mike]

The refill mug is steep when paying OOP for it but it does make a good souvenir I use mine all the time When I get coffee from local WaWa or Royal Farm I pay discounted price. Plus when I am for mydriving now I have a covered cup

coffee​

 

[PaHunter]

We have done the DDP while staying at the Fort. It was a trip just DW and I being park ninja's. When you are there from Rope Drop to the Kiss Goodnight, DDP worked well for us. And at the end of the week we still had some snack credits and picked up snacks in Hollywood Studios for the trip home.

 

[FtW Mike]

We have done the DDP while staying at the Fort. It was a trip just DW and I being park ninja's. When you are there from Rope Drop to the Kiss Goodnight, DDP worked well for us. And at the end of the week we still had some snack credits and picked up snacks in Hollywood Studios for the trip home.

Reading that reminded me that prior to getting our coach we stayed in the cabins on MYW package with dining option. The day before we left we would go to the Trading Posts and get the Over sized Chocolate Chip cookies to bring home with all those credits.

 

[cassie58]

We have stayed 3 times in the cabins and used the DDP each time.

Even with using the DDP I have always used Garden Grocer as we like having breakfast stuff and snacks for the room. But I could not believe how much the prices went up. This past trip in Oct we used Amazon Prime Now and thought there prices were great so if you have Amazon Prime give that a shot. If not see if you can use Amazon Prime Now if you get a free trial.

Agree with this - we have always used GG, and went to order for Nov trip, and while it was previously more than I would pay, it wasn't bad for the selection and convenience, couldn't believe some of the costs, like $9 for a 12 pack of soda! We also trued Amazon Prime Now - you will need to download the app. I think over $40 you got free delivery in 2 hours(also savings over GG's $14) - we ordered while in MK our first afternoon, and it was in our room when we got back at night. My only complaint is less selection, for example there were no basic cheese sticks like we usually order - they had string cheese(not a fan) and some expensive organic ones, but not our usual cheddar Sargento,etc. However they had other things besides food you could order(warning - TMI!) like the uw I ended up ordering for DD! I had gotten her a new pack before trip that I threw in the suitcase, and discovered I had grabbed the wrong cut and she was uncomfortable, and was going to try and make an Uber run to Target/Walmart early the next morning, when I checked and lo and behold they had the one I needed! Not as much as on Prime, but just in case you forgot something else, it was handy!. The only other problem we had was a few things we had picked in our cart originally (like pack of small cereal boxes) were not available later when we went back to finalize, so just bought a regular box of cereal. Overall a better buy, you can download and put in zipcode for resort, and play around to see what they have.

 

[Jimsig]

The selection is fluid with Amazon Prime Now. The one thing that amazed me was the price of water. GG only had a 40 pack and Prime Now had both a 24 pack and a 40 pack. I want to say at the time the Amazon price for the 24 pack was $3.50, but both GG and Amazon had pretty much the same price for the 40 pack which was around $11.00!!! So I ordered 2- 24packs for $7.00. Just for fun I went to the Prime Now site just not and they had a 36 pack of water for only $8.50.

 

[Beachmom0317]

We have done the DDP while staying at the Fort. It was a trip just DW and I being park ninja's. When you are there from Rope Drop to the Kiss Goodnight, DDP worked well for us. And at the end of the week we still had some snack credits and picked up snacks in Hollywood Studios for the trip home.

That sounds like it worked well! With our little ones we won’t be able to be park warriors this trip, we usually come back for naps mid day and I love the playgrounds around FW! So we will be hangin at the fort a lot

 

[Betty Rohrer]

That sounds like it worked well! With our little ones we won’t be able to be park warriors this trip, we usually come back for naps mid day and I love the playgrounds around FW! So we will be hangin at the fort a lot

only problem with coming back to resort for naps is the down time getting back to cabin and kids not going back to sleep

 

[rayana]

We have stayed at the cabins every year since 2009 and have always used the dining plan. When we arrived we would always hit up the grocery store or a Super Target for groceries. Even when we flew in we would rent a car just to get groceries. It was very worth it for us with a family of 6. Next week is our first time not staying in the cabins. We have a new TT still using the dining plan. With 3 young kids it was definitely worth it for the character lunches and dinners. Bonus is being able to get free dining! Have fun!

 

[2goofycampers]

Just a reminder, free dining is NOT available for campsites. It is available for cabins.

 

[Beachmom0317]

Hi everyone! I am bumping this. We are a little over a month away from booking our ADRs and as this is going to be a super heavy character meal trip for my littles I just crunched the numbers and going dining plan will totally be saving us money. I think it'll save even MORE than I calculate when I factor in that DH and I will likely now also order an adult beverage a few times and all the snacks we will get. I don't think my Garden Grocer (or whoever we use) will be very big except for coffee, milk and maybe a few diapers so I don't have to fly with tons of stuff (I need coffee the second I wake up). So I am bumping in case there is anyone else in the same boat as me or who would like to share their experiences with DP at the Fort! I like the idea of taking the boat over to WL and using their QS too. Any word on if the food truck at the sing a long can be used as snack credits? I am also wondering if P&J's Southern Takeout can be used as a QS credit.

 

[G719]

Hi everyone! I am bumping this. We are a little over a month away from booking our ADRs and as this is going to be a super heavy character meal trip for my littles I just crunched the numbers and going dining plan will totally be saving us money. I think it'll save even MORE than I calculate when I factor in that DH and I will likely now also order an adult beverage a few times and all the snacks we will get. I don't think my Garden Grocer (or whoever we use) will be very big except for coffee, milk and maybe a few diapers so I don't have to fly with tons of stuff (I need coffee the second I wake up). So I am bumping in case there is anyone else in the same boat as me or who would like to share their experiences with DP at the Fort! I like the idea of taking the boat over to WL and using their QS too. Any word on if the food truck at the sing a long can be used as snack credits? I am also wondering if P&J's Southern Takeout can be used as a QS credit.

Yes the take out is considered QS. We would get the 2 piece chicken meal. They have some meals that are meant for more than 1 person so you probably couldn't use credits for those. The chicken meal comes with 2 sides plus cornbread so it is a good size meal.