To All Who Have Used Dxdp...

[mneira6598]

I have a question don't know if this is the right place to put. But for those who have had the deluxe dining so you have enough enjoyable time in the parks riding the rides, enjoying the shows. I am considering the deluxe but it just seems that thats al when is doing .. eating. Please provide input. Your responses would be greatly appreciated.

[ancestry]

If you choose to eat three table service meals a day then you well definately be spending a lot of time eating. For us that is exactly what we wanted - down time during the day. DH isn't a Disney fan by any stretch of the imagination and to keep him happy we did the DxDP. This gives us a guaranteed time to sit and rest several times during the day while not standing in lines or the heat.

We are alternating days on the plan --meaning one day we will eat three table service meals (around 7:30 AM, 1:00 PM, and 7:30 PM) and then next day we will eat two table service meals (around 11:00 AM and 5:30 PM). On the evening of our three table service meal day we will pick up a snack item as we exit the park and use that item as a small breakfast the next morning since we won't eat until 11:00 AM.

By doing this, we are able to eat at several 2 TS credit restaurants (Hoop de doo Revue, Narcoose's, etc) and are able to order room service for breakfast on the day that we depart since we have to be out of the room by 8:00 AM.

Of course if you are really worried about getting your money's worth from the DxDP -- meaning you want to eat more in value than you paid for it -- then you probably should stick to the 3 full table service restaurants every day.

[househunter]

We are doing the deluxe in April. We will be eating either a late breakfast or an early lunch and then dinner at about 7 or 8 usually at a signature restaurant. We do no eat fast food at home and for sure do not want to have to eat it on vacation. We won't always have a dessert especially at lunch. For us it will work out perfectly!

[PaulaSB12]

On the days that I am going to do 3 meals a day I intend to go for a 07:30 breakfast, 13:30 lunch and 21:30 dinner. I am going to go to all 7 signature restaurants :cool1:

[Trina7020]

We used DxDDP last June and will be using it again this year...

We never had 3 TS meals in one day last year... mostly because at ages 2 and 3 my boys couldn't do late dinners...

We did find that the kids and my DH still wanted full lunches (CS for us)...I often didn't eat lunch... at least more than fruit with a snack credit.

This year we will be trying a few 3 TS meals days since I think boys can better handle a late night...

Also... we usually having mostly full days on our arrival and leaving days... so like this summer we will have nearly 8 full days to use 7 nights of meal credits... makes it easier to spread the out a bit.

Things I love about DxDDP

1. It is HOT in June. I think to be to sit in A/C and enjoy a meal and just rest.

2. We just love character meals... then we don't wait in line in the parks to see them! :)

3. Everything is prepaid for. We do not try to maximize the plan. As long as I break even I am happy...

4. We like all the snack credits... I like when my 4 year old says.. Mommy can I have a ice cream Mickey Head...I can say... Absolutely! without thinking twice about it!

5. My kids like to eat at "normal" times... we found last year that the time we spent at a TS was very comparable to the time we spent waiting in line, finding a place to sit, eatting, etc. at a CS place... The only time we did CS in a park was the very last lunch of the trip in DHS and it was MISERABLE!!! DH and I were both very grateful we have been on DXDDP all week!

[flipflop]

Are you travelling with kids? How many people will be eating together? What time of year are you going?

We were on the deluxe plan in December. We made some changes while we were in Disney because we found that sitting down at a TS three times a day and eating three courses took up A LOT of time, was a whole lot of sitting and was just too much food for us. On the days where we had three meals planned, I had our reservations planned for 7:30/8 am, 12/1 pm, 6/7 pm. I did have ressies at signature places. What worked best for us was to have breakfast and dinner TS (mostly 2TS), and do CS/snacks for lunch if hungry.

As a previous poster noted, I expected that the TS would be better than waiting at CS and finidng a table - but because we were there during a slower period of time, this turned out not to be the case.

[Faldred]

Going in two weeks with 3 small kids following the same basic strategy as Trina, above. I'll let you know how it goes...

[hthrbells]

We are debating on the deluxe too. Esp if they offer free dining and we can upgrade. Thanks for the start of this thread!!!:thumbsup2

[Colleen27]

We did the deluxe plan for 11 nights in Jan 2008. In that time, we only had one three-meal day, and that was because I wanted a specific counter service breakfast (Main Street Bakery - YUM!). We used the plan for either a late breakfast or early lunch and then a signature dinner most days. We tried all the signatures except Brown Derby, Flying Fish, and Citricos. We also had room service twice. It didn't feel like too much food or too much time eating, particularly since we wanted a slower paced trip. It is also important to remember that the credits are per night, not per day, so if you arrive early and/or depart late, you have extra time to use the credits. We usually have 2 meals on our departure days.

And we agree with Trina's assessment of counter service at Disney - it takes just as long as many TS locations but is far less relaxing - so a plan that let us avoid it altogether was wonderful! We're using it again in May, and again we'll be eating mostly 2 meals per day with lots of signature dining.

[luckytobeme88]

We have done the Deluxe plan quite a few times. One word of advice from our past experiences, if you plan on doing the park commando style, do not get the deluxe plan. If you are going during the low-season when the parks close early, do not get this plan. However, we have always go during the summer season(around July 4th) when the parks stay open really late. Sitting down in a nice cool restaurant has become part of our daily rituals and it never interferes with our park-adventures :thumbsup2

[Colleen27]

We have done the Deluxe plan quite a few times. One word of advice from our past experiences, if you plan on doing the park commando style, do not get the deluxe plan. If you are going during the low-season when the parks close early, do not get this plan. However, we have always go during the summer season(around July 4th) when the parks stay open really late. Sitting down in a nice cool restaurant has become part of our daily rituals and it never interferes with our park-adventures :thumbsup2

I agree about the park commando advice, but I disagree that the deluxe plan can't work during the slow season. It just takes planning a little differently - nice, leisurely dinners after the parks close, because they close early enough that you can stay until the end of the day and still have a reasonable dinner itme. And going during the slow season is perfect for enjoying the restaurants that offer a view of the fireworks without having dinner at a ridiculously late hour - there's nothing like a 7:30 dinner at California Grill when Wishes is showing at 8! With kids, that's not something we can manage during the warmer months when Wishes isn't until 9 or 10.

[luckytobeme88]

Colleen, oops it's my bad. I totally agree with you that you can dine after the parks close during the slow season. It's just that quite a few of our favorite restaurants are inside the parks, so like you say, if planned correctly, DlxDDP works great. :worship:

[Pakey]

We have done the Deluxe twice and swear we never will again. We can't eat 3 meals a day and travelling to the signatures, all at resorts, requires added time on top of how long these meals take anyway.

We just returned from using the regular plan, liked it much better. However, we took our adult children and each of the 3 couples wanted the deluxe so we paid for it for them. Two of the couples got the Disney ebola at the end of day 1 and were sick for 3 days and we left so many credits unused that I'll be whining about it until next trip. :rotfl: The third couple said that they'd never do it again, it was not relaxing as they felt they spent the vacation traveling to/from the deluxe hotels eating at all of the signatures.

Most of the time my husband and I just pay OOP, we are not planners. We did think the regular dining plan was fine and we may consider trying it again sometime in the future.

[katieam1]

We did the DXDDP in January with our two kids (ages 2 and 1) we every day did three table service meals. It was nice because they ate at their regular times every day. We had enough time to do things we spaced them out well so we had several hours in between. I usually planned a buffet breakfast, a course meal at lunch and dinner was either a buffet or a dinner show or a course meal depending on where we were and what we wanted to try. It worked out so well we will be doing it again in August. :)

[mneira6598]

Yes I traveling with a dd 6 and ds 8. We will be going in June. I for one love to try new places to eat my dh is almost a kid him self and is worried about not being able to fully enjoy the parks I mean rides.

[aubriee]

I've used the DxDDP twice. Last May I was traveling solo and wanted to try most of the 2 credit Signature restaurants. I ate an early TS lunch every day, then did a 2 credit Signature restaurant every night. I still had plenty of park time, however, I was still too full to use more than just a few snacks and had to go to DTD the last day to use up a bunch of snack credits at Goofy's. The DxDDP worked great for that trip.

For my Sept free dining trip I was traveling with my mom, who is a diabetic and must eat three meals a day and my husband, who loves to eat. We thought the DxDDP would be perfect for us, so upgraded our free DDP to the DxDDP and then made three TS ADRs almost every day. BIG MISTAKE!!! All we did was run from ADR to ADR and felt stuffed (even though after about the third day we sometimes would not even bother to order an appetizer or dessert). We also did not use a single snack credit and had to go to Goofys our last day and use 48 snack credits. By the thrid day, we were sick of food. We round up skipping some of our ADRs and did a couple of CS meals (even though they were not the best deal with the DxDDP). We swore we would never do the DxDDP again. We were meeting some fellow DISers and it seemed like every time we'd start to go on a ride with them, we'd have to say, excuse us, we have to run to an ADR.

[Colleen27]

We round up skipping some of our ADRs and did a couple of CS meals (even though they were not the best deal with the DxDDP).

This is something a lot of people assume about the deluxe plan, but the way it is priced in relation to menu pricing makes it so that you can have quite a few counter service meals and still come out ahead.

I'm an obsessive overplanner and spreadsheet junkie so I've run the numbers every which way, and every time it comes out about the same - if you're using roughly 2/3 or more of your credits for table service, you'll do well on the deluxe plan. Right now, I've got 18 credits' worth of ADRs (13 meals) for our May trip out of 24 allowed credits, and that puts us just over the breakeven point without taking into account the value of the mugs, snacks or unused credits. Sure, you save even more if you use every credit for table service, but you aren't losing money if you decide to take some quick service meals on the run.