Total rookie DDP question

I'm no expert, but it's my understanding that your dining plan credits are based on the # of nights you are staying, and not the # of days of your park tickets. So it shouldn't matter - but you can only get the DDP for the nights you are staying.

From the Disney Food Blog:

Guests on the Deluxe Disney Dining Plan receive: Three meal credits and two snack credits per person, per night of your package.

As far as runDisney, I don't think you can buy the DDP if you buy tickets through there. Also from the Disney Food Blog:

How do I buy the Dining Plan?

The Disney Dining Plan must be purchased as part of a Magic Your Way package which includes your Disney hotel stay, theme park tickets, and the Dining Plan. There are some modifications to this requirement for Disney Vacation Club members and Walt Disney World annual pass holders. Unless you are a DVC member or AP holder, you can ONLY get the Disney Dining Plan if you also purchase a hotel stay and park tickets as a package.

Here's a link to the Disney Dining Plan FAQ from the Disney Food Blog, which might help:

http://www.disneyfoodblog.com/disney-dining-plan-faq/

And I hope folks will correct anything I've passed along that is not current or correct

If you book your room through the rundisney phone number, you should be able to add both the dining package and the tickets there. I haven't priced the tickets through them to compare to the online store, but I would hope (key word: HOPE) that they are the same discounted price. I've made 2 reservations through that number (NOT the regular Disney reservation number - but the one on the travel page for rundisney.com) and both times I've been offered a dining plan and tickets. You can add them up until a few days before the check in date (I think - I'm a little fuzzy on that b/c I'm not planning to do a dining plan and I'm still debating buying park hopper tickets or just sucking up an annual pass).

Also - You mentioned that you are arriving early afternoon of the 9th, which is race day. Don't forget: you need plenty of time to pick up your race packet at ESPN Wide World of Sports. I've also heard all the fun schwag that you can buy (and any freebies from the vendors) sells out the first day, so you might want to consider getting in a little bit earlier.

^^ Now that is a true statement. It's so easy to get sucked into the excitement and spend WAY too much money. My running friends love to tease me b/c I LOVE me an expo!!

I also rented DVC points (just confirmed TODAY that I got into AKL, so I'll be calling to cancel one of my rundisney reservations later this week). I looked over the info I received and it says I can add the dining plan, doesn't mention that I have to do it along with tickets, but you do have to pay in full when it's booked - and it's booked by the member who sold the points that were used to book my room. I used David's DVC Rental, so I'm not sure if that varies from rental site to rental site (I would guess not, but who knows). Maybe it's a little less strict since it's a DVC member's points and many DVC members already have annual passes?? I don't know. If you want to go through David's and have questions, let me know.

My wife and I did the DDP our first time. NEVER again! We both eat well / love food / etc. However 1/2 way through our 9 day trip, we found it challenging to eat 3 huge meals a day plus and the tempting free snacks. Not to mention how many disney dining options aren't the most healthy, so we felt stuffed all day! At the end, we wasted a lot of meals, and spent a lot of days feeling guilty when we couldn't manage to eat 3 meals a day.

For our next trip we are buying to groceries to do our own breakfasts and carry in lunches. We'll budget for one fancy dinner per night, and we should be good!

Unfortunatley you are not misunderstanding this DH and I were really disappointed by this fact too as we were planning on buying one for our next trip with my sisters.