We took a family vacation in December (me, dh, dd-6yo and ds-2yo) and used the
DDP. Dd and I are returning in July for a girls only trip to celebrate her 7th bday and I've opted for the Deluxe DDP.
I have to admit...I love the planning! In fact I think it is part of the vacation experience and makes it all that much more fun!
I get a general idea of "must do" restaurants as well as about how much time we want to spend in each park. Figure out any major activities/events that we have to work around and then just wait for the park time schedule to be released!
Sometimes I purposefully utilize EMH and other times I purposefully avoid it!
After I come up with a loose park schedule (I say loose because it isn't a ride by ride list of things to do, more of a day 1- park all day, day 2 parkam/park pm, etc.), I sit down and start plugging in meals.
Then I look at where else we would like to eat and what times would be good... balancing out our days so we aren't sitting down to TS meals too closely together. Do some research on TS meals that we would like in the area we are in...and make some more decisions.
For our family trip in December the DDP worked out perfectly for us. We actually ended up w/ NO extra credits and paid OOP for two meals(one TS and one CS) and a few snacks. We did have ds with us that turned 2yo during our trip and out eats his older sister by about half again! We used a lot of snack credits for him and sometimes split dd's cs meals w/ him as well.
For dd's birthday trip we knew we wanted to do at least one "signature" meal at CRT. I crunched a lot of numbers w/ an elaborate spreadsheet and figured out it was worth it to just upgrade to the Deluxe DDP. This allows us to splurge and dine at Hollywood Brown Derby one evening before Fantasmic and do CRT and Tony's on dd's birthday.
For our four night trip (12 meal credits) I have scheduled nine TS meals. That leaves three open for us to use as CS or pick up a last minute ADR somewhere if we are really tired/hungry. Here's the schedule...
Day 1 (arrival day - plane lands MCO first thing in the morning)
AM: Check in, travel to Blizzard Beach
Lunch: CS @ Blizzard Beach
PM: Travel back to Pop, change/relax
Dinner:
Chef Mickey's - later evening
Evening: Pop
Day 2
Breakfast: CS or Snack @ Pop
AM: Pirate Cruise at GF
Lunch: CS or Snack @ MK
Afternoon: MK
Dinner:
1900 Park Fare - later evening
Evening: MK (Evening EMH) or Pop
Day 3
Breakfast:
Donald's Safari @ Tusker House - early
AM: AK
Lunch: CS or Snack at AK or DHS
Afternoon: DHS
Dinner:
Hollywood Brown Derby - early evening
Evening: DHS / Fantasmic
Day 4 - Dd's 7th Birthday
Breakfast:
CRT - early
AM: MK
Lunch: CS or Snack @ MK
Afternoon: MK
Dinner:
Tony's Town Square - early evening
Evening: MK
Day 5 - Depart MCO late evening
Breakfast: CS or Snack @ Pop or Epcot
AM: Epcot
Lunch:
Akershus - Noon
Afternoon: Epcot, Return to Pop, Leave for Airport
I was able to plan out our schedule about a week before our 180 day mark and sent it over to our DU TA with approximate times. She was able to get everything within 10min of our targets...except one that was 20min later!
To be honest... even if the DDP wasn't making TS meals so popular, I probably would go through the same process at 180 days out...just because I love doing it so much!
And yes I realize I'm a freak!
I have to add though... the schedule above is as far as I go w/ it. I know what park we will be in and when our TS meals are... the rest we take as it comes. I mean I know that there are certain things we want to do in each park but I don't have a step by step plan, and won't make one. We would miss too much magic that way!
I guess my long post basically says this... I really enjoy the planning and figuring everything out. In fact after all my ADRs are made at 180 days out and my confirmation numbers are all copied into my Passporter... I have nothing to do for another 170 days until I have to start packing!