"Is the DDP worth it?" A 2012 per-credit cost analysis

[havoc315]

Don't forget to include the subjective value (up or down) of the plan itself after everything is done. For example, since I'm bad at saving money (I like my toys), the pre-paid and pre-budgeted nature of the plan works well for me. I typically place a "value" of about $50 overall on this, so even if I were behind by that much, I'd likely still pick it up as it's worth about that much to me to be able not to have to worry about the cash during the trip. This works inversely too, as if you feel that the limiting nature of DDP is something that's less than ideal, you may decide it's not worth it even if you're saving ~$50 or so.

Totally agree with this and just want to emphasize it more.
Many people claim they love the pre-paid nature of the plan -- Not having to "worry" about their budget once they arrive, knowing most of the food expenses are already paid. Some people claim that even if they aren't saving anything, even if they are spending more -- the peace of mind is worth it.
Some people claim there is a value of "not having to look at the prices" on the menu. Of being able to order the most expensive item, without second guessing their budget.
Conversely, some people feel the plan is too limiting -- You lose a lot of flexibility. If you decide your full and want to skip a meal, then all your savings may go out the window. If your 11 year-old eats children's meals, you can lose all the value. And some people feel the plan pressures them to order more expensive items than they actually desire, or pressures them to order desserts that they don't really want. (I may be in the mood for a salad for lunch.... but I know if I order that instead of the steak + ice cream, I'll lose money).

So really, there are some people who believe the plan is worthwhile, even if they are losing a few $$$. And conversely, there are some people who feel the plan is not worthwhile, even if saving a few $$$.

Personally, I find the plan worthwhile only if projected savings are 15% or more. Otherwise, I'd rather have the freedom to order what I want, when I want, without worry.

 

[MarkF0wle]

For me, this is a fascinating thread. Unfortunately, when I try to analyze this whole thing, my brain starts to shut down. Would any of you care to plug in my family of 5 (two adults, one disney adult who eats like a child, and two disney children) into your calculations and tell me where we would end up using the DDP? We typically eat one counter service and one sit-down dinner. We eat what we want---so the average works for us. One dinner buffet per trip. We are going for 9 nights. I already believe we will lose money on my "disney adult..age 11," but the rest of the caluculation is driving me slowly insane trying to figure it out.....

Firstly; I want to absolutely agree with the previous two posters. Applying a purely mathematical & financial approach to the DDP really doesn't solve everything. There are emotional things to be considered. Telling your kids for example you cannot eat somewhere for breakfast; or making other other decisions based on what might not be the most cost efficient thing. Might not make for the most enjoyable holiday. I know kids sometimes want what they want, I was one of those kids!

So that being said I won't overcomplicate things with numbers & such (if you want them I'll share them) but "on average" for your combination of factors it does suggest you'll save money with the regular dining plan. Some scenarios result in more saving & others in less; but everytime there is a saving. This is based on the price of the DDP now in 2011 so assuming you book it in 2011.

 

[DisOrBust]

Some other non-math factors to consider:

1. If you or anyone in your party gets ill(yes it happens even at WDW) and you can't use your credits you savings can easily be gone. I have read many threads where this has happened.

2. Kids meals. Most are not good,IMHO. Even at TS how many times can a kid eat meaty macaroni? If your are at WDW for a short trip it may not be an issue. My 8yo almost begged our server at AP for anything else on the kids menu. I just ordered her her own adult meal.

3. Many of the counter service desserts are poor as well but you feel forced to eat them to get your monies worth.


Disney is making it harder and harder to justify staying onsite.

 

[Mjkre]

"Some other non-math factors to consider:

1. If you or anyone in your party gets ill(yes it happens even at WDW) and you can't use your credits you savings can easily be gone. I have read many threads where this has happened."

I had never considered this! Do you know if, absent having trip insurance, you lose your dining credits if you have to postpone a trip because of illness? We have had to cancel several family vacations because we have a child who can become very, very ill at times. This could be a major factor for us to consider, so thanks for mentioning it!

Using the above analysis, it seems to me that any money we save with the two younger children on the DDP is negated by the loss on my 11 year old disney adult. However, assuming we at 1 CS and one TS per day, I think the DDP would make financial sense for us for one more year. It aggravates me because I hate spending money on things we do not want (desserts for adults, snacks every day for adults). But the numbers are what they are. In 2012 and beyond, however, I do not think it will make sense because then I will have two children who eat like kids who I have to pay adult prices for.

All the subjective advice has been great, too. You have given me many things to consider (especially the illness one....ugh!).

 

[havoc315]

I had never considered this! Do you know if, absent having trip insurance, you lose your dining credits if you have to postpone a trip because of illness? We have had to cancel several family vacations because we have a child who can become very, very ill at times. This could be a major factor for us to consider, so thanks for mentioning it!

Using the above analysis, it seems to me that any money we save with the two younger children on the DDP is negated by the loss on my 11 year old disney adult. However, assuming we at 1 CS and one TS per day, I think the DDP would make financial sense for us for one more year. It aggravates me because I hate spending money on things we do not want (desserts for adults, snacks every day for adults). But the numbers are what they are. In 2012 and beyond, however, I do not think it will make sense because then I will have two children who eat like kids who I have to pay adult prices for.

All the subjective advice has been great, too. You have given me many things to consider (especially the illness one....ugh!).

If you postpone the trip... and it's covered by trip insurance, the insurance should cover the entire trip, including the loss of dining.

Though having to cancel an entire trip is of course an issue, I'd be more concerned just with missing a couple meals due to a stomach ache.
On our last trip, our DD4 got sick for the last 2 days. She was good about it, but she couldn't hold food down. So she basically missed 3-4 meals.
As it was the DxDP, and it was children's meals being missed, it didn't ruin our savings.

But the DDP savings are so tight, that if just 1 person misses 1-2 credits, it could severely diminish the potential savings.

 

[wed100105]

I have a few questions myself. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help answer them!

1. We are hoping to exchange into DVC through RCI for next summer. I know DVC members pay just regular (non peak) prices. Will we qualify for that or pay peak prices?



2. Are taxes added to the OOP prices or are they included in the listing? For example, if CP is $34.99 for the dinner buffet, are taxes added to the $34.99 or does that include tax? (This would make the DDP be a bigger savings than what I'm currently figuring.)

 

[Mjkre]

Now that I have had a moment, I took the time to add up what my dh and I would likely spend on meals at the places we have ADRs. I left the three kids out because like I said I think they cancel each other out as far as savings or lack there of.

On average, using the highest entree we are likely to order, we would spend $27 per table service credit. So we would, it would seem (and contrary to my prior post) actually fare slightly better OOP then on the DDP. I think we would save $80-$100 by not getting the DDP.

Multiple factors could push this in one direction or the other. Would we order dessert--ever? Maybe once or twice and I did not factor that in. Would we order an appetizer anyway-- maybe we would share one or two (but that would be OOP no matter what). Drinks? Usually alcoholic at dinner so OOP for that too anyway. Could I suck it up and make one dinner back at the room or (more likely) share a dinner with dh? Probably. Could someone get too sick to enjoy eating? Of course (and I have probably jinxed us just by writing that).

Is Disney selling me on the ease of the DDP anyway...absolutely. Great marketing on their part!

Thanks to you all, I have lots to think about but my brain is not nearly as foggy as it once was!

 

[LynneyPooh]

To both of you guys doing the math for me- THANKS!!

(My head freezes up when I have to crunch the numbers- I love math people, God just didn't give me that talent.)

Cafeen, I downloaded your spreadsheet for my June trip and ran the menus and numbers. I had estimated that yes DxDP would save us, because we went in with a plan, it worked well for us
After returning home, I ran the "true" numbers and saw that we saved over $400.
Your spreadsheet was a huge help because it let me estimate what I thought could happen.
In Jan DH and I went on the DDP, and lost for 3 reasons:
1) while I made ADR's for dinner, I did not think out all the meals. Breakfast and lunch we floundered a bit trying to make the best use of our credits, but not having any type of plan with the snack credits
2) We had to leave WDW early and because it was a short trip did not take out insurance
3) We realized we didn't really want the desserts, we wanted apps, and just paid OOP.

We go back in Oct. and we're going Deluxe again. My estimated savings won't be as high as they were in June, but I have a plan for each meal. Notice I said plan, not ADR. By knowing the ins and outs of how to use the credits to the best advantage it is easy to be one of the few that come out ahead.

 

[sharonabe]

I have a few questions myself. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help answer them!

1. We are hoping to exchange into DVC through RCI for next summer. I know DVC members pay just regular (non peak) prices. Will we qualify for that or pay peak prices?



2. Are taxes added to the OOP prices or are they included in the listing? For example, if CP is $34.99 for the dinner buffet, are taxes added to the $34.99 or does that include tax? (This would make the DDP be a bigger savings than what I'm currently figuring.)

I can't help with the DVC question, but the tax question I can. If you're using allearsnet.com for your buffet prices, most of them already include the tax, but you need to read the fine print next to the price to be sure. All other TS and QS pricing does NOT include the tax which is 6.5%.

If you want the most up-to-date menus with pricing, easywdw.com has pictures of all the QS menu boards around the parks. It's not as quick as just looking at the menus on allears, but all of his pictures were taken in the last month or so. Look down the right side of the page for "menus and seating."

 

[Cafeen]

To both of you guys doing the math for me- THANKS!!

(My head freezes up when I have to crunch the numbers- I love math people, God just didn't give me that talent.)

Cafeen, I downloaded your spreadsheet for my June trip and ran the menus and numbers. I had estimated that yes DxDP would save us, because we went in with a plan, it worked well for us
After returning home, I ran the "true" numbers and saw that we saved over $400.
Your spreadsheet was a huge help because it let me estimate what I thought could happen.
In Jan DH and I went on the DDP, and lost for 3 reasons:
1) while I made ADR's for dinner, I did not think out all the meals. Breakfast and lunch we floundered a bit trying to make the best use of our credits, but not having any type of plan with the snack credits
2) We had to leave WDW early and because it was a short trip did not take out insurance
3) We realized we didn't really want the desserts, we wanted apps, and just paid OOP.

We go back in Oct. and we're going Deluxe again. My estimated savings won't be as high as they were in June, but I have a plan for each meal. Notice I said plan, not ADR. By knowing the ins and outs of how to use the credits to the best advantage it is easy to be one of the few that come out ahead.

Thanks for that . It's nice for people to have positive experiences with something I truly put together for myself.

I do have to edit it for 2012's inclusion of the DDP mug and exclusion of 1 QSDP snack... I'll get to that eventually (I won't have time for about a week and a half ).

 

[Faldred]

The formulas look like:

• QSDP: 2QS + 1S = $34.99
• DDP: 1TS + 1QS + 1S = $51.54
• DxDDP: 3Dx + 2S = $85.52

Those formulae look vaguely familiar...

One note about the way the math works out -- the DDP TS credit value is completely independent of the value you assign to a snack; the assigned snack value directly impacts the value of CS credits ($0.50 per $1.00 change) and DxDP credits ($0.67 per $1.00 change).

Also note that peak charges on DDP apply directly to the value of the TS credit, as the CS and snack credit values are "fixed" by the QSDP forumla. The $4 peak surcharge for DxDP applies as an extra $1.33 per meal credit.

 

[Faldred]

I have a few questions myself. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help answer them!

1. We are hoping to exchange into DVC through RCI for next summer. I know DVC members pay just regular (non peak) prices. Will we qualify for that or pay peak prices?

Since you'd be going through the DVC reservations system (which is actually separate from the resorts and "normal" DDP) I would assume that the same pricing applies for members or exchange guests.

2. Are taxes added to the OOP prices or are they included in the listing? For example, if CP is $34.99 for the dinner buffet, are taxes added to the $34.99 or does that include tax? (This would make the DDP be a bigger savings than what I'm currently figuring.)

Unless it specifies tax is already included, add 6.5% sales tax to any listed price. (7.0% at the value resorts because they're in a different tax jurisdiction.)

 

[Cafeen]

Those formulae look vaguely familiar...

One note about the way the math works out -- the DDP TS credit value is completely independent of the value you assign to a snack; the assigned snack value directly impacts the value of CS credits ($0.50 per $1.00 change) and DxDP credits ($0.67 per $1.00 change).

Also note that peak charges on DDP apply directly to the value of the TS credit, as the CS and snack credit values are "fixed" by the QSDP forumla. The $4 peak surcharge for DxDP applies as an extra $1.33 per meal credit.

Gee, I wonder why .

(Go figure, the one time I don't source it huh!)