Do I upgrade to deluxe, or is this TOO MUCH?

[Tam1067]

I've become the most confused middle aged mom in Illinois recently because I can't decide if we're going to do the DDP or the Deluxe plan. Of course, the piles of laundry, my job, whether it's time to start coloring my hair, all those mundane things are not as important as this all-consuming decision.

The story: we're in Disney at the Poly in August for 8 nights. I've booked the DDP which we've used twice before. Usually, we pay OOP for breakfast or use snacks, and then we do a CS lunch and TS dinner.

This year, the kids wanted to try a few signatures (Narcoosee's and Brown Derby for some reason), and they're pushing for TS breakfasts because they have complained about getting sick of Captain Cook's every morning. I, being the dutiful mom, have tried to comply. DH thinks the deluxe is way too much food and that we'll never eat it all, and I was inclined to agree until I realized that as we now stand, we have a ton of TS reservations we'll need to pay OOP for unless we upgrade.

I've made reservations at the following:

Day 1 (arrival): Dinner at Kona
Day 2: Breakfast at The Wave, dinner at Chef Mickey's
Day 3: Breakfast at 1900 Park Faire, dinner at Tusker House
Day 4: Lunch at Chefs de France, dinner at Coral Reef
Day 5: Breakfast for DD and me at CRT, dinner at 'Ohana
Day 6: Breakfast at 'Ohana, dinner at HBD (Fantasmic package)
Day 7: Lunch at Teppan Edo, dinner at 1900 Park Faire
Day 8: Lunch at 50s Prime Time, dinner at Narcoosee's
Day 9 (departure): Breakfast at Kona

I'll probably also add in a lunch at the Plaza or the Wave on our departure day as well, if we upgrade to deluxe, and I was even thinking about one of those places for lunch on Day 5 as well, since the CS places in MK are not pleasant experiences. The other meals which aren't listed here would be CS or snacks--generally CS for lunch and a CS or snack for breakfast.

I've run the numbers every which way, and it seems we'll be saving some money if we keep these ADRs and use the deluxe instead of paying OOP for the extras not covered on the regular DDP.

I think I'm most concerned that we'll be doing too many TS for the happiness of my kids. I'm averaging two TS meals a day, which seems OK, but I'm curious.

Should I cancel some of these and just stick with the DDP?

My kids generally do OK in restaurants. I just don't want to feel like all we do is eat or wait for our food.

I'm so indecisive.

Thanks for understanding.:hippie:

[tiger4me2]

Sound to me the deluxe dining would work for you :goodvibes

[faindrops27]

Sounds like deluxe. If you feel good about deluxe go with it. I chose not to. I am not a big breakfast person. And this is the only way the plan would work for my family, and I. A big breakfast, then dinner at night. I dont think I could eat three "Disney meals" a day plus two snacks. Especially without feeling sick. But, alot of people have, do, and enjoy it. So, I say go for it. If it works for you, and yours.

[merky]

I'm having the same problem I have booked reg dining plan but everyone of us hate CS and we all love breakfast We have done the DP in the past and always use all the TS but end up with the CS left as noone wants them , I am going back and forth on the deluxe we are going at Christmas to mostly see the holiday stuff as we have been to disney several times so the parks are not the big thing I am thinking to see all the decoration at the different resorts to book breakfast/ dinner and tour them in that way , but I just:confused3 dont know .

[mom2aredhead]

Honestly, it sounds like too much for me...but that's just me. When we're in WDW, it's more about spending time in the parks together and seeing shows and parades than the restaurants. TS meals take a minimum of an hour, and when you add in the travel time to get to/from, that's an awful lot of time spent on food, and a lot of running around just to eat.

We were on the regular DDP last trip (came home last week) and honestly toward the end of the week, there were a few TS meals I would have been happy to blow off had they not already been "paid for" by buying DDP.

How much money would you be saving using deluxe vs regular and paying OOP for the extras? If it's not a ton, I'd consider just paying OOP so you have the flexibility to cancel a few if need be. Sometimes it's not all about the "savings", but about the convenience factor too.

[girli565]

If you change to deluxe than you can add some signature restuarants to your ADR list and really indulge! I'm a huge fan of the signature places so I am doing the deluxe dining during free dining. It's discounted to it's a really good deal!

[Wendy5055]

We are a family of 3 and for our Aug/Sept trip I have upgraded us to the DlxDDP because we are going to do as many character meals as possible (DD is 6) and we are also eating at CRT and doing HDDR (both are 2 ts credits!!).

I don't want to stand in long lines for CS (but that is me)...however, if you like that sort of thing, you can certainly do so with the DlxDDP as well since the meal credits are interchangeable between TS and CS.

I have our breakfast ADR's at either a monorail resort or in the parks themselves. Our lunch and dinner ADR's are in the park(s) we are at for that day (with exception of HDDR...we are in AK that day though).

I still managed to go one ADR over our DlxDDP credits!!!!:lmao:

[brandylouwho]

DH thinks the deluxe is way too much food and that we'll never eat it all


It would be way too much food for my family, but you don't have to eat it all...dining together is about way more than eating, it is about talking & being together and at disney it is also about enjoying the theming.

I think I'm most concerned that we'll be doing too many TS for the happiness of my kids. I'm averaging two TS meals a day, which seems OK, but I'm curious.

2 TS /day would be a lot for us everyday...but maybe it would work for your family. I could maybe see doing a breakfast and a dinner everyday...or early lunch and late dinnner. Plus, August is HOT, my appetitie always dimishes in the Florida heat. Then again-sitting in A/C restaurants is a great respite from that FL heat.

And if you are doing TS breakfasts most days I am assuming you are not "rope drop" type of people, as a TS breakfast would cut into your morning park time.


I just don't want to feel like all we do is eat or wait for our food.

That would be my worry too. I think any TS I have ever done has at least taken an hour, often much longer. It depends how much park time is important to you & your kids.

I see why you are confused. If you & the family is on board for all these ADRs then it sound like the Dlx plan would be a good idea. But maybe everyone needs to think through the ramifications of all the time spent on TS meals...so they don't try to change their minds/back out on you or whine about it once you are on vacation & have already shelled out the cash for the Dlx plan.

Whatever you end up doing--just enjoy yourself and don't worry/wonder if you should've done the opposite. :)

[newgirlatdisney]

We will be at the Polynesian for 7 days starting next week and we decided to get the Deluxe Dining Plan so that we could get In-room dining. It is included on the plan but uses 2 credits so by getting the Deluxe plan we will have the extra credits for it. My kids are so looking forward to it!!! So if you do decided to go with deluxe and have too many credits you could try that for breakfast or lunch someday.

[haveitall]

we are going for 14 day for free dining. We upgraded to deluxe because my DH needs to eat 3 meals a day. for medical reasons. So I planned 42 TS meals. We get to try out new places and will be there long enough to see everything that we want to.
If we had done just the regular dining we would still have to pay OOP for all breakfasts. That was more then upgradeding and we get 2 snacks and the refillable mugs. YEA!!!!

Can't wait til Aug/Sept.

Sylvia in MN

[GoofySon'sMom]

DS and I also upgraded to deluxe during free dining but I had planned on paying for it if free dining wasn't offered. For us, we don't really like to take the time to go back to the hotel during the day so having the nice air conditioned meal breaks works for us. Part of the Disney experience for us is the restaurants. There are only a few days that I have 3 ADRs planned, most are only either breakfast or an early lunch and a later dinner.

[ExtinctDino]

I think most kids would not want to sit in restaurants for so much of the day every day. Two TS per day will mean at least 2 and as much as 3 hours in restaurants. And if your DH thinks it's too much food, it probably is.

[JLKennedy]

We have the deluxe plan, we have 2 kids used to eating 3 times a day, and as another poster said, our breakfasts, lunches and dinners correspond to either a monorail resort or in the actual park where we'll be that day, we don't hop (even though we buy the hopper option). And remember, no one is forcing you to eat all that food. I looked at it this way:

Free dining....1snack 1CS and 1TS....which means for my family...crowded counters and no seats, MISERABLE kids & husband....I'll just stroll across the park with the family and sit down and actually "enjoy" a meal.

[myladyisatramp]

I certainly can relate, I haven't cleaned in months :) planning is way too important I have the same problem but I think we are going to go with the DxDDP. Hopefully if the Nov hours ever come out I can get some housework done

[RFrank9504]

I just went to the allears.net website and printed out the menus for the restuarants we will be eating at during our trip as we have ADRs. I calcuted based on the highest items on the menus, and a glass of wine each with dinner, tax and 18% tip and we are still saving almost $450.00 by not selecting the dining plan. I think if you plan on eating all week and want a full meal-appetizer, entree, dessert then consider the deluxe, but if your not going to be able to eat all that and then walk around all day/night, and go on rides-dont spend the extra money. Just because they say "free dining" doesnt actually mean its free. And then to pay extra to upgrade is wasteful. This is just my opinion. I wish you the happiest trip ever.. :rolleyes1

[catne]

Couple of points to consider...

First, Disney dining, regardless of plan, is a lot, and I mean A LOT of food. We just finished a week on the regular DDP. DH is about 20 lbs. overweight with a good-sized appetite. I'm extra-large-Pooh sized (wayyy overweight! And an appetite to go with.), DD is normal weight & height, & her friend is 6'2 normal weight/very fit guy. None of us was able to finish the amount of food on the regular DDP, not once. That's with no appetizer and only one table service meal per day. The portions on everything, everywhere are LARGE! We ate breakfast in room (poptarts or pastries), counter service lunch at parks or resort, & table service dinners. After the first day or so we hardly even wanted to use the one snack credit per day because we were full from lunch & dinner. We were eating dinner between 5 & 6:00 p.m. every night, and would be going to bed at 11 or 12 midnight, still full. I do not see how you could possibly eat all the food on the Deluxe dining plan...JMHO.

Second consideration is how much time it takes to do Disney table service meals, especially the "signature" meals. Cindy's royal table takes a minimum of 1.5 hours out of your schedule...but count on closer to 2 hours, especially when including wait-times, which you always have a least a few minutes to wait after checking in. Ditto for Le Cellier. The Cali Grille is a two hour experience, minimum...with no appetizers. Add in an appetizer course and you'll be there well over 2 hours. So, do your kids realize how much "Park" time they'll be losing by doing the "signature" restaurants. And there really is no way to speed-up the process, either. (our 19 & 18 yr. olds tried!) Even the buffets will take you at least an hour. If you have 2 table service meals a day, you could be using as much as 4-5 hours of daylight, including travel to&from, waiting & eating time. This could be a 1/3 of your day...just something to think about.

[aribelle]

With that many TS, it does sound like the Deluxe would work for you....but your kids are 5, 8 and 10....so the question I'd be asking myself is while they may want to eat at those places, do they understand that it's a minimum of an hour each (and some like Narcossees would be 2+ hours). So at a minimum that will be 2 hours a day (plus any traveling to the restaurant time, waiting to be seated and getting back to the park travel) EACH day, out of their riding rides time?

Much as I love fine dining, 1 TS a day is all I can handle to be away from the park. Grabbing a CS meal, even if it's not as yummy, is a 15-20 minute thing instead of an hour....PLUS, I can grab CS whereever we happen to be, so no travelling to a specific restaurant because that's where my ADR is. That saves not only time, but walking on my already tired feet, lol


If your kids would handle the time element, then I say go for it. If you think they'll start regreting losing that time in the park, then I suggest that you have each child choose a "must do" TS and make those your one choice per day. Making a TS in the early morning or later evening means less time away.

I would remind the kids too, that this is not the last time you'll be in Disney, so the other places can be saved for a future trip. We have several binder pages in the back of my calendar where we write down things we hear about or see on TV, or read about, etc, that we "must" do next time we're at WDW. I'll use these when it comes time to plan our daily itinerary. Suggest that they list those restaurants that you don't do this time, and make them a priority for the next visit.

[asmit4]

I think DDDP is a lot of food for a 5, 8, and 10yo and a lot of time.

I'd let everyone choose 1 place they really want to try, add in a couple TS breakfasts and pay OOP for the least expensive places.

[mickey2000]

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[simonmunro]

What a relief to know I'm not the only one who's abandoned my chores and other interests to count credits and fill up a thousand sheets of paper with dining senarios!

[RACHELSMOM1]

I think most kids would not want to sit in restaurants for so much of the day every day. Two TS per day will mean at least 2 and as much as 3 hours in restaurants. And if your DH thinks it's too much food, it probably is.

Oh, but it depends on the restaurant, and my kiddos (8, 7 and 4 yrs old) love to sit down in the cool restaurant and be served their food. Gives us all a chance to rest, relax, talk about our plans for the rest of the day. Character meals are so much fun for them, and they never complain about spending too much time there. Even at signature restaurants my little ones have a great time....

[smidgy]

It sounds like way too much food and way too much scheduling for little kids. what they say they want at home, and what happens in reality are 2 dif. things. sometimes we need to pick and choose, and can't have ALL our choices. even children need to learn that. (actually, it's best if they learn that from little on... we can't have everything.)
I think the time it would take for all those TS meals would keep them from enjoying the park attractions. just my opinion. I would save the money.
let them spend it on a nice souviner.

[faindrops27]

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Exactly.

[simonmunro]

Well I called today added deluxe to ours. We want the appetizers, double snack credits can be used for light breakfast. A couple pastry items and coffee in the refillable mug also included! Not for everyone, there were lots of good points both ways.

[mmmcq]

I am in the same quandry. I haven't actually signed up for the Dining Plan yet, but think we may want the Deluxe. We have our favorite restaurants and want to add some new ones. I've made all our ADR's but I haven't done the math yet. We tend to do more TS and signature then most people. We really enjoy good meals and tend to eat 2 x's day - rather than 3. My DD8 will need the snacks or CS mid-day.

For our family since we tend to be at WDW for long trips of 7-10 days (every other year with DVC), we don't do 6-8 hours in the parks each day. We tend to go to one park in the am for a few hours, then back to the hotel to swim/rest and then out to dinner at night - back into the MK for a parade or the fireworks, to Epcot for Illuminations, etc. If it's an EMH night, we might stay till 11pm or 12am. We even did this when my DD8 was an infant.

So the hour or so at a TS experience is wonderful down time for us. We don't feel stressed about what we're missing in the parks. We love our WDW vacations together and our meals are always enjoyable. Our California Grill dinners have been some of our best family memories. We're lucky in that two of our girls (including our DD8) like trying new foods. My DH is a foodie and loves to pair wines with our food. Eating at these great restaurants at WDW is like heaven to him.

We can't take our girls out to these kinds of restaurants at home - nor do we get that chance anyway. Our older DD's scatter on the weekends and one is away at college. So we indulge and for us it's money well spent.

[aribelle]

What a relief to know I'm not the only one who's abandoned my chores and other interests to count credits and fill up a thousand sheets of paper with dining senarios!

I homeschool my kids, so this was their math lesson, lol.

[LIBLULA]

We are trying the Deluxe plan for the first time in September. I like the fact I don't have to worry about price of meals--just tips. I know it's going to be way too much food, but I like having the option of eating where we want.:cool1:

[mickmse]

Same problem here with my family of 5. We were worried that it would be too much food and still are but the thoughts of counter service everyday in July was enough to decide that the deluxe would be worth it as we have a 2 year old who can share off everyones plate or we can order OOP for her. Also the air conditioning sounds great especially if she wants to nap during lunch. We have all TS restaurants scheduled with lots of character meals scheduled. Just make the decision thats best for your family

[Wendy5055]

We even scheduled CRT for dinner (enjoyed this on a previous trip) w/DD6 and the HDDR (DD6 has never been!!!). We would not have done these two if we didn't upgrade to DlxDDP.

I never feel forced to eat all my food (even at restaurants here at home!), but we like being able to have an appetizer, entree, and dessert...it is a treat and we are on vacation!!!

We are doing mostly ALL character meals(except HDDR, Y&Y and Coral Reef)...that's right folks!!!...ALL character meals!!!! We :love: us some characters!!!!! :lmao:

I even went OVER our allowed credits!!! :lmao: That was arrival day...I thought we were going to arrive MUCH later...oh well...Sci Fi here we come!!!

I MUST say that in our case, our DD6 is a very adventurous eater and loves seafood and various other "grown up" foods. I have never made a separate meal for her at home...she eats what we eat.

[DaddyBeast]

I tried to imagine 8 nights at the Poly in August and where we would eat on DxDDP. After looking at this, it does sound like too much, but since the crowds will be heavy, it might be nice to concentrate on fun meals rather than long lines. (8 x 3 = 24 TS credits)

Day 1 (arrival): Dinner at Kona
Day 2: Breakfast at Chef Mickey's, dinner at California Grill
Day 3: Breakfast at 1900 Park Faire, dinner at Jiko
Day 4: Lunch at Chefs de France, dinner at Coral Reef
Day 5: Breakfast for DD and me at CRT, dinner at Luau
Day 6: Breakfast at 'Ohana, dinner at HBD (Fantasmic package)
Day 7: Lunch at Teppan Edo, dinner at Hoop Dee Doo
Day 8: Lunch at Brown Derby, dinner at Narcoosee's
Day 9 (departure): Breakfast at Kona, Lunch at Plaza

This way you get some fantastic dining experiences, but never more than 2 sit down meals per day. Normally I wouldn't splurge for these places OOP, but on DxDDP I'll order the appetizer and the dessert.

Good luck!

[Tam1067]

I can see that 3 TS meals a day would be too much. I guess my issue is that 2, with the other meal being either a CS lunch or snacks for breakfast might be OK. I'm just so unsure!