For those of you still trying to figure out whether the DDP is worthwhile for you, I thought I'd share my research. It's lengthy & detailed, but it helped me, and may help someone else, so here goes.
DW and I are planning a trip in June. I figure we probably eat at one CS and one TS restaurant per day, so I did some pretty thorough investigation into the DDP. For our 5 day trip, I looked at each park we were planning on visiting, and each restaurant we'd probably eat at. From there, I looked at menus, figured out what we would want to order (I know DW's tastes pretty well). For TS, I picked the entrees we'd want, appetizer (for most TS restaurants), and included drinks, tax, & tip. All menus and prices were from allears.net.
For our 5-day trip, I came up with the following "menu"
Sunday
Dinner: Tonys Town Square - MK ($33 shared, or 1 TS)
Monday
Lunch: counter service at hotel or Epcot ($25, or 2 CS)
Evening: Dinner AK - Pizzafari, Tusker House, or Flame Tree ($20, or 2 CS), or maybe late dinner at Epcot / Resorts ($60)
Tuesday
Lunch: A) hotel - Boardwalk- Spoodles, or Big River Grille ($15-$40, or 2 CS or TS)
B) Epcot - Le Cellier, San Angel Inn, Alfredos ($35-40)
Dinner: Alfredos, Nine Dragons, Cantina de San Angel ($60)
Wednesday
Lunch: counter service still at AK, or back at resort ($25)
Dinner: Mama Melroses or 50s Prime Time Café ($50)
Thursday
Lunch: A) hotel - Boardwalk- Spoodles ($15), or Big River Grille ($40)
B) Epcot - Le Cellier, San Angel Inn, Alfredos ($35-40)
Dinner: Alfredos, Nine Dragons, Cantina de San Angel ($60)
Friday: ?? counter service, $25
Totals
Sunday: $35
Monday: $45-85
Tuesday: $75-100
Wednesday: $75
Thursday: $75-100
Friday: $25
Totals: $330-420
There's a "range" for each day because I thought there were good TS and CS options for each meal. If you add them up, you'll see that I more than used our TS allotment, which means you can't just say we probably would have spent the higher amount every day we'd choose the "higher" range on some days, and the lower on others to use all of our TS and CS allotments.
What does this tell me? For 5 days & two adults, the DDP would run $380, which is right in the middle of our range: there's a good chance it would save us some money, and a good chance that it wouldn't. If ease of planning was the main concern, I'd probably go with it. However, for us the budget is the main issue- if the DDP isn't "guaranteed" to save us money, I'd rather have the flexibility to eat when and where I want.
So, in conclusion, the DDP is not for us- at least on this trip. If you have the time to do this sort of calculation for yourself, you might find it enlightening.
DW and I are planning a trip in June. I figure we probably eat at one CS and one TS restaurant per day, so I did some pretty thorough investigation into the DDP. For our 5 day trip, I looked at each park we were planning on visiting, and each restaurant we'd probably eat at. From there, I looked at menus, figured out what we would want to order (I know DW's tastes pretty well). For TS, I picked the entrees we'd want, appetizer (for most TS restaurants), and included drinks, tax, & tip. All menus and prices were from allears.net.
For our 5-day trip, I came up with the following "menu"
Sunday
Dinner: Tonys Town Square - MK ($33 shared, or 1 TS)
Monday
Lunch: counter service at hotel or Epcot ($25, or 2 CS)
Evening: Dinner AK - Pizzafari, Tusker House, or Flame Tree ($20, or 2 CS), or maybe late dinner at Epcot / Resorts ($60)
Tuesday
Lunch: A) hotel - Boardwalk- Spoodles, or Big River Grille ($15-$40, or 2 CS or TS)
B) Epcot - Le Cellier, San Angel Inn, Alfredos ($35-40)
Dinner: Alfredos, Nine Dragons, Cantina de San Angel ($60)
Wednesday
Lunch: counter service still at AK, or back at resort ($25)
Dinner: Mama Melroses or 50s Prime Time Café ($50)
Thursday
Lunch: A) hotel - Boardwalk- Spoodles ($15), or Big River Grille ($40)
B) Epcot - Le Cellier, San Angel Inn, Alfredos ($35-40)
Dinner: Alfredos, Nine Dragons, Cantina de San Angel ($60)
Friday: ?? counter service, $25
Totals
Sunday: $35
Monday: $45-85
Tuesday: $75-100
Wednesday: $75
Thursday: $75-100
Friday: $25
Totals: $330-420
There's a "range" for each day because I thought there were good TS and CS options for each meal. If you add them up, you'll see that I more than used our TS allotment, which means you can't just say we probably would have spent the higher amount every day we'd choose the "higher" range on some days, and the lower on others to use all of our TS and CS allotments.
What does this tell me? For 5 days & two adults, the DDP would run $380, which is right in the middle of our range: there's a good chance it would save us some money, and a good chance that it wouldn't. If ease of planning was the main concern, I'd probably go with it. However, for us the budget is the main issue- if the DDP isn't "guaranteed" to save us money, I'd rather have the flexibility to eat when and where I want.
So, in conclusion, the DDP is not for us- at least on this trip. If you have the time to do this sort of calculation for yourself, you might find it enlightening.