live to vacation
02-19-2008, 09:16 AM
Hello all,
We've purchased the DDP in the past and it was always a great deal for us - we usually save upwards of $300 for our family of 4 for 8 or 9 days onsite.
We have breakfast in the room each morning from groceries delivered by Goodings.
We then we hit a park each morning, taking bottled water from Goodings with us.
We eat a counter service lunch at the park of the morning. This years selections are Sunshine Seasons, Electric Umbrella, LottaWatta Lodge, Pecos Bill, Columbia Harbour House, Flame Tree BBQ, and Toy Story Pizza Planet.
Then we head back to the resort for a swim and to relax. We use the snack for an ice cream or such at the resort each afternoon.
We then either hit a park for a table service dinner and that parks evening entertainment (SpectoMagic/Wishes, IllumiNations, Fantasmic) or we hit a dinner show (Spirit/Hoop). This year we will be doing Chef Mickey's, Biergarten, Spirit of Aloha, 1900 Park Fare, Crystal Palace, MaMa Melrose's Fantasmic Package, and Hoop Dee Doo. As you can see, it just happened to turn out that all our TS are Buffet or Family Style, so the deletion of the appetizer from the DDP isn't affecting us.
We have figured the cost of the cheapest meal (entree/side or combo, dessert and drink) including tax at each CS using the menus at All Ears. We've also figured the cost of the cheapest snack including tax. And we've gathered the prices for the TS meals including tax. We included 18% tip on the two dinner shows, as that tip is still included. All totaled it comes to $1338.27 plus tip at the non dinner show TS. The cost of the DDP is $867.72 plus tip at the non dinner show TS. Since we are doing two dinner shows and each will use two TS credits, we will be short one TS dinner on the DDP. We booked the Cat 2 seating at Spirit (that's what the DDP allows) and will use the DDP there and will pay $206.96 out-of-pocket for Cat 1 at Hoop. Also, since we use a CS both arrival day and departure day, due to travel times, we are short one CS on the DDP, we will pay for the cheapest one (est. at $37.28) out-of-pocket. That means we will pay $1111.96 for the DDP plus the Hoop and last CS Lunch. Bottomline we save $226.32 if we eat the cheapest thing at every CS and Snack, which we won't.
It still seems like a good deal for us, but we are concerned given all the negative remarks we've read about the new 2008 DDP. Are we missing anything in doing this calculation?
Also, I would be interest to hear from people who have used the new 2008 plan to see how the servers treated you, I read some horror stories about the tip being a BIG issue and people being hounded for the tip, even asked how they would be settling their tip portion before they ordered or even seated in one case. I can't believe Disney would let the CMs be so rude about the tip.
Thanks
We've purchased the DDP in the past and it was always a great deal for us - we usually save upwards of $300 for our family of 4 for 8 or 9 days onsite.
We have breakfast in the room each morning from groceries delivered by Goodings.
We then we hit a park each morning, taking bottled water from Goodings with us.
We eat a counter service lunch at the park of the morning. This years selections are Sunshine Seasons, Electric Umbrella, LottaWatta Lodge, Pecos Bill, Columbia Harbour House, Flame Tree BBQ, and Toy Story Pizza Planet.
Then we head back to the resort for a swim and to relax. We use the snack for an ice cream or such at the resort each afternoon.
We then either hit a park for a table service dinner and that parks evening entertainment (SpectoMagic/Wishes, IllumiNations, Fantasmic) or we hit a dinner show (Spirit/Hoop). This year we will be doing Chef Mickey's, Biergarten, Spirit of Aloha, 1900 Park Fare, Crystal Palace, MaMa Melrose's Fantasmic Package, and Hoop Dee Doo. As you can see, it just happened to turn out that all our TS are Buffet or Family Style, so the deletion of the appetizer from the DDP isn't affecting us.
We have figured the cost of the cheapest meal (entree/side or combo, dessert and drink) including tax at each CS using the menus at All Ears. We've also figured the cost of the cheapest snack including tax. And we've gathered the prices for the TS meals including tax. We included 18% tip on the two dinner shows, as that tip is still included. All totaled it comes to $1338.27 plus tip at the non dinner show TS. The cost of the DDP is $867.72 plus tip at the non dinner show TS. Since we are doing two dinner shows and each will use two TS credits, we will be short one TS dinner on the DDP. We booked the Cat 2 seating at Spirit (that's what the DDP allows) and will use the DDP there and will pay $206.96 out-of-pocket for Cat 1 at Hoop. Also, since we use a CS both arrival day and departure day, due to travel times, we are short one CS on the DDP, we will pay for the cheapest one (est. at $37.28) out-of-pocket. That means we will pay $1111.96 for the DDP plus the Hoop and last CS Lunch. Bottomline we save $226.32 if we eat the cheapest thing at every CS and Snack, which we won't.
It still seems like a good deal for us, but we are concerned given all the negative remarks we've read about the new 2008 DDP. Are we missing anything in doing this calculation?
Also, I would be interest to hear from people who have used the new 2008 plan to see how the servers treated you, I read some horror stories about the tip being a BIG issue and people being hounded for the tip, even asked how they would be settling their tip portion before they ordered or even seated in one case. I can't believe Disney would let the CMs be so rude about the tip.
Thanks