What's the difference between....

[My2QTs]

...The disney dining plan and the deluxe disney dining plan? What is the price difference as well? Thanks.

[Princess Michelle]

I don't know the price difference right off hand but the difference is the regular dining plan offers 1 CS, 1 TS and 1 Snack credit per person, per day. The Deluxe Dining Plan includes 3 full meals that you can use at CS or TS and two snacks per person, per day.

[disneyfav4ever]

The basic plan is $38 a night, the deluxe plan is $70 a night.

[Princess Michelle]

Forgot to add that you also get a refillable resort mug for each person on the Deluxe plan.

[CoolDisneyCat]

Disney Dining Plan Board (http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=116)

[My2QTs]

wow, how in the world can someone eat three meals and two snacks a day at wdw? We had the regular plan last time and we didn't even use up all of our cs or snacks and we felt like we ate all the time. What is the best way to get your money's worth on something like the deluxe plan??? Can you get the delux plan for kids, and if so, what do you get and how much is it??
Thanks for all the great help!!

[suzimar57]

we love to eat, but 3 TS a day plus snacks?

as much as we can be piggies at the trough (oink grunt snort), we're not up to the Deluxe Dining Plan - it's Basic for us....

plus eating 3 sit-downs seriously cuts into park time

[TDC Nala]

It's not necessary to eat 3 TS a day plus snacks on the deluxe plan. The credits can also be used for CS. They can also be used for 2 TS restaurants.

[TiggerStac]

2 TS can, also, be used towards 1 signature dining restaurant.

[myladyisatramp]

I am debating on the DxDDP this trip with 3 adult children they can eat. I figure a breakfast or CS for lunch and a signature dining for dinner will be nice to chat over the day we spent at the parks and a little quieter I still have a few months to decide between the two,basically waiting for park hours to come out first.

[°o° Sally :)]

One other difference between the two plans is that the DxDP gives you an appetizer, entree, & dessert, but the regular plan does not include the appetizer.

We went a couple of weeks ago on the DxDP...a family of 4 with two young children. We really enjoyed trying all the different restaurants, and used two credits for several of the nicer meals as well as Hoop-Dee-Doo and Cinderella's Royal Table. It truly is a ton of food!!! We went into it with the idea that it was ok not to eat everything, but weren't ever hungry. We didn't use many of the snack credits during the week in the parks. We spent the remaining snack credits at Goofy's Candy Co. on the way out of town and had nice edible souvenirs for family and friends.

We are glad we planned this way, but next time we will probably elect to stick to the regular plan and just pay for any extras we feel we must have.

[mickey2000]

Just remember to do it for the Conveince
:lmao: :lmao: :lmao: :lmao:

Also don't forget to pack all those extra snacks in a 2nd suitcase that will cost $25 to bring home ! ;) ;) ;)

[danielle.st]

I think it's odd that so many people don't see the value in eating 3 meals a day.

[mefordis]

Just remember to do it for the Conveince
:lmao: :lmao: :lmao: :lmao:

Also don't forget to pack all those extra snacks in a 2nd suitcase that will cost $25 to bring home ! ;) ;) ;)

Good point. I think the dxddp encourages people to spend $$ on food they wouldn't normally spend. And not always in a good way. I mean, all of it is still being paid for, the money is being given to disney in advance instead of the guest holding onto it. Not good to let go of your money before you absolutely have to.

Also, it doesn't allow flexibility. People think it does, and so did I until I really thought about it. Flexibility is ordering what you want when you want it, or not at all. And if you don't order it you don't pay for it.

The convenience thing: I charge my food to my room. That is very convenient.

[TDC Nala]

I don't eat 3 meals a day. I don't see where there would be value in my paying to eat 3 meals a day when I only eat 2, or one big one and a snack.

[rt2dz]

Meal 1 = breakfast, Meal 2= lunch, Meal 3 = dinner. I don't find that outrageously weird.

We also tend to eat at quite a few of the signature restaurants, which require two credits. So it still is really only two meals a day for us on most days. We love TS, as it gives us an in-park break (instead of going back to the hotel with kids that don't want to switch gears).

2 snacks could very easily equal a box of popcorn and a drink for one of my kids. Another for the cookie he has to have and he'll take two bites of and decide he doesn't like (my kids are such snobs; they love the way it looks, but hate the pre-packaged taste!) and then get the ice cream he does like. Then 2 snacks are great for my never-stops-eating third child. He eats 5-6 meals a day, but well-planned snacks can easily covers those other meals. And the less I have to carry through the parks, the better.

The above is why I am considering the DDP/DxDP, despite already having a DDE card with my AP--the rest of the family doesn't have APs anymore.

[KigerKat]

My husband and I went back and forth about which plan to choose. We decided on the deluxe plan, mainly because we like the fact that we will have to sit down and enjoy a nice meal, rather than eat and run on to the next event. This is supposed to be our anniversary trip, and we will want visit a few signature restaurants that will use 2 credits for each meal - so, no, we won't be eating 3 full, table service meals every day.

We also like the fact that everything is paid for when we go. The only thing we will have to pay for that week is gas and souvenirs!

[disneydreamin247]

I originally booked the DxDDP, but I don't want to spend all day eating and only 2 hours playing.

[fey_spirit]

I think the DxDDp encourage some folks to spend more money on food they they normally would even want usually. And then there are families like mine who despise counter service, and were going to desperately miss the amount of good (as opposed to CS) food and signature dining that came with the platinum plan last time. It's the only thing I was going to miss from that plan until the deluxe plan came out and saved the culinary section of my trip.

I don't think it's the plan that has stripped away flexibility, I think it's the fact that we can't eat at a decent restaurant without planning months in advance. Even without the plan I would have to make these ADRs the plan just pre-pays them for me and saves me some cash overall.

For me flexability is not getting to the world and not being able to eat at any of the places I want to eat the nights I want to eat there because I didn't make an ADR.


Good point. I think the dxddp encourages people to spend $$ on food they wouldn't normally spend. And not always in a good way. I mean, all of it is still being paid for, the money is being given to disney in advance instead of the guest holding onto it. Not good to let go of your money before you absolutely have to.

Also, it doesn't allow flexibility. People think it does, and so did I until I really thought about it. Flexibility is ordering what you want when you want it, or not at all. And if you don't order it you don't pay for it.

The convenience thing: I charge my food to my room. That is very convenient.

[mefordis]

I think the DxDDp encourage some folks to spend more money on food they they normally would even want usually. And then there are families like mine who despise counter service, and were going to desperately miss the amount of good (as opposed to CS) food and signature dining that came with the platinum plan last time. It's the only thing I was going to miss from that plan until the deluxe plan came out and saved the culinary section of my trip.

I don't think it's the plan that has stripped away flexibility, I think it's the fact that we can't eat at a decent restaurant without planning months in advance. Even without the plan I would have to make these ADRs the plan just pre-pays them for me and saves me some cash overall.

For me flexability is not getting to the world and not being able to eat at any of the places I want to eat the nights I want to eat there because I didn't make an ADR.

But what if on a given day/time you are simply not hungry? Or someone (God forbid) feels ill and wants to skip a meal? Or if you are too tired to trek all the way out to the restaurant, whatever. That meal has been paid for, and I doubt you could make it up on another day, since each day you have 3 ts credits to use. This is the thing that is holding me back most from the dxddp. A scenario where I would go to the meal just because I paid for it, not because I really want it.

[fey_spirit]

There has never been a day when I wasn't hungry... that just doesn't happen. Besides with Diabetes I need to eat at least 2 a day to keep my meds in check. Even when I did get sick on the last trip, the wife still had to eat. And it wasn't difficult to use the credit for a meal from the food court she could easily bring back to the room.

I also can't imagine being too tired to "trek" to a restaurant. I would have retired long before that point, and by the time it was time for a meal would have been rested up again.

Besides given your logic why bother going to the parks at all?
I mean you pay your tickets ahead of time, they aren't refundable. What if you don't feel like going to any park on a given day? Or what if someone gets sick, or you're just too tired to take in a park? All of these things are possible as well - yet what would you tell someone who said they figured they would just show up at the park and buy their tickets day by day according to what they felt like doing that day?


But what if on a given day/time you are simply not hungry? Or someone (God forbid) feels ill and wants to skip a meal? Or if you are too tired to trek all the way out to the restaurant, whatever. That meal has been paid for, and I doubt you could make it up on another day, since each day you have 3 ts credits to use. This is the thing that is holding me back most from the dxddp. A scenario where I would go to the meal just because I paid for it, not because I really want it.

[mefordis]

There has never been a day when I wasn't hungry... that just doesn't happen. Besides with Diabetes I need to eat at least 2 a day to keep my meds in check. Even when I did get sick on the last trip, the wife still had to eat. And it wasn't difficult to use the credit for a meal from the food court she could easily bring back to the room.

I also can't imagine being too tired to "trek" to a restaurant. I would have retired long before that point, and by the time it was time for a meal would have been rested up again.

Besides given your logic why bother going to the parks at all?
I mean you pay your tickets ahead of time, they aren't refundable. What if you don't feel like going to any park on a given day? Or what if someone gets sick, or you're just too tired to take in a park? All of these things are possible as well - yet what would you tell someone who said they figured they would just show up at the park and buy their tickets day by day according to what they felt like doing that day?

You bring up some good points. Since the parks are the main reason for going, I'm not hesitant to pay for those in advance. Especially since we got a free parkhopper upgrade.

I never skip all meals in one day, but sometimes I don't feel like trekking to a table service meal. That's what I meant by skipping meals. So I'd pick out a few things at a food court. It's so hard to determine your appetite while you are at wdw, since there is so much to do to distract you from eating.

I'm still going back and forth. I calculated oop costs for what I THINK we'd be eating: $948 with tax. DXDDP for all 3 of us would be: 959.00

[fey_spirit]

And I completely see your pov, I really do. Not everyone eats the way my family does. As I said I can't stand CS (rarely eat Fast Food at home) so being able to get lunch and dinner at a TS really works for me.

Food is every bit as important to me as the parks are, so for us this works.
Last time I got injured and couldn't go to Disney as we had planned I took the money for the trip and spent it to get a room in the nearest large city and we spent the week just touring the best restaurants and eating our way through the city. So we're serous foodies (And we were eating at least 2 meals a day during that trip).

As for the distractions from eating?
We eat a later lunch (around 2) on most days - just in time for the crowds and the heat to be getting really bad. Use the 2 hour ts meal as a rest break from the aforementioned and are ready to head back into the parks with a small rest that didn't require us to go through all the drama of actually going back to the room.
Then we always go in off peak times (Parks close early) so we go to one of the Resort restaurants for dinner after the parks have closed.

Sounds like you would just about break even if you followed your plan exactly, so for you not having the plan might actually be the better deal. The way we eat the plan is saving me quite a bit more and that leaves me with more leeway to change plans if I get sick again. :goodvibes


You bring up some good points. Since the parks are the main reason for going, I'm not hesitant to pay for those in advance. Especially since we got a free parkhopper upgrade.

I never skip all meals in one day, but sometimes I don't feel like trekking to a table service meal. That's what I meant by skipping meals. So I'd pick out a few things at a food court. It's so hard to determine your appetite while you are at wdw, since there is so much to do to distract you from eating.

I'm still going back and forth. I calculated oop costs for what I THINK we'd be eating: $948 with tax. DXDDP for all 3 of us would be: 959.00

[CoolDisneyKitten]

We're doing the DxDDP for our next trip b/c we really enjoy signature dining. We're doing a signature almost every night with this plan, something we otherwise wouldn't be able to do.

We wouldn't want to do 3 meals a day, either - we don't like to get up early at Disney, and for us that's too much heavy eating when it's so hot and so much walking. But this way we can either do breakfast and a signature dinner, or a sit-down lunch and a signature dinner. We get really amazing food at a great value!!