We just got back a week ago and we kept every receipt, wrote every food related cost down and then added them up to see what our food totals were for a 7 night stay. I then compared that to what we would have spent had we purchased the DDP. To get real comparative numbers...you have to make sure you keep track of every extra snack you buy (i.e. bottle of water, soda, etc), tips you pay on top of the meal cost at every TS restaurant and how many more CS meals you might eat in addition to the plan since the plan does not accommodate a 3 meal a day scenario, either CS or TS. I have included a link to a blog where I wrote an article discussing the benefits/non-benefits of the DDP. For the sake of taking up so much room on this post...I will just let you click on the link if you are interested to see our numbers. I would be interested to hear your comments and feedback of our little study. Now keep in mind that it is just my wife and I so the numbers are for 2 adults compared to what 2 adults would pay for the DDP for 7 nights.
Dining Plan Comparison
Edit: The info on the link has been revised. I had some numbers entered wrong on my spreadsheet which over inflated the cost of the DDP so now the report is a true comparison between the plan and what we spent out of pocket. It is a money saver...bottom line. But not near a 40% savings unless you really work hard at making it that way.