Dining Plan or Deluxe Dining Plan

[momtomari]

I will be taking my dd(7) and godson (7) in June of this year. I have booked with just the regular dining plan and have booked the character dinings we wanted, but now I think I might want to go with the Deluxe dining plan.
My daughter and I have gone before and with the regular dining plan, but that was 4 years ago. I know my godson is used to having 3 meals a day and sometimes my daughter wont stop eating and sometimes she doesnt want to eat at all. I was also thinking of the 2 snack items we would get.

So what do you think??

[DisneyFamily123]

There's a lot of other threads comparing this so you might check those out. Here's a recent one. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2351689

But, if I were you, I'd add up the number of table service meals and see if it's worth the extra cost to go deluxe.

The main differences are deluxe gives you a 3 meal credits for each person x the number of nights you stay. Dining Plus gives you 1 counter service CS and 1 table service TS. Deluxe can be either CS or TS, doesn't matter. Deluxe also includes appetizers and the refillable resort mugs, and more snacks.

On our last trip, I figured that, if we used the dining plus DDP, the amount we would have paid for additional table services and appetizers and the mugs was more than the cost of going deluxe. We always do TS for dinner, but on this trip we also wanted TS for a lot of character breakfasts.

Using up all the deluxe credits can be a challenge if you don't like 3 meals a day, but we used a lot of credits for dinner at signature restaurants that charge 2 meal credits for a meal because they are more expensive places (Jiko, California Grill, Citrocos, Narcoosees, Flying Fish, Yachtsman, Artist Point). Dinner shows like HoopDeDoo and Spirit of Aloha also cost 2 credits per person. Generally, if you are doing inexpensive meals or mostly CS, the deluxe plan might not be worth the cost.

[GC&S]

We did the Deluxe when dd was 6. The main thing I remember is that it seemed like we were always traveling somewhere to get to our meal. It felt like our whole trip revolved around ADRs. We enjoyed a lot of the places we ate, but honestly with 2 snacks a day it was just too much food. I don't even think we used our snack credits during the day. If it was just DH and me, I would do the deluxe again. But for dd, it took a lot of time out the parks for her.

[Faldred]

We had kind of the opposite experience. While our daily schedules were pretty rigidly defined, I didn't really feel that we were losing out on "park time" for eating, even on Deluxe and doing 3 meals/day most days. You just really need to have a solid touring plan and know how to use the fastpass system to get as much done as possible between the time you leave your pre-park-opening breakfast to about 11 AM or so, when things really start to get crowded.

Lunch then becomes a nice bit of downtime, out of the sun and heat (if it's hot enough to worry about), and perhaps more importantly, noise. After lunch, you're refreshed enough to take on the afternoon at a relaxed pace, using accumulated fastpasses and doing rides/attractions.shows/parades that aren't generally long lines or waits.

A nice dinner can round out the day (prior to fireworks if your child companions' bedtimes will permit you staying that late).

The biggest tip other than touring plans is to keep your ADRs close together geographically. If you're going all over the resort complex from meal to meal, you will spend a lot of time traveling instead of having fun. Plan breakfast and lunch in the park(s) you're going to be in anyway, and make dinner either in the park, a nearby resort, or near your home resort as often as possible.

Example (non-hopper) Plan:

MK: Crystal Palace for breakfast as close to 8 AM as possible. Execute touring plan to ride standby where you can get away with it in Fantasyland while accumulating fastpasses for the three "mountains", possibly Peter Pan (unless you do it standby) and Buzz lightyear. DO NOT USE THE FASTPASSES YET. Continue riding main attractions until lunchtime as you can fit in. Lunch can be at LTT, the Plaza, or Tony's. In the afternoon, catch the parade and and lower-demand rides, while using your faspasses Have dinner at one of the resort restaurants on the monorail loop (The Wave, 'Ohana, Kona, etc.).

[Superspectral]

For 2010 the price if the DDP has gone up significantly but there has been no price increase in DxDDP.

Unfortunately, the price increase in the DDP has been so extreme, I think that it saves money only vs. OOP in far fewer instances. You really have to plan out exactly what items you are going to get off each menu to save money in some cases.

The DxDDP doesn't require you to balance OOP, TS and CS credits, so in my opinion is easier to keep track of. With regards to saving money, if your plan would be to use no more than 50%of your credits on counter service, you should seriously look at the DxDDP.

[disneydreamingdebby]

We did the deluxe plan with our twins (6 at the time). It was too much food. Appetizer, food, dessert for every meal. UGH! We did the reg plan last time and it was much better. Did breakfast in our room or quick counter, and we were off.

We had a hard time deciding if it was worth it to do the reg plan again. We are doing a split stay, so we will do the reg plan for the first leg of the trip. (DVC members currently aren't charged the seasonal fee).

There may be times that you just want to grab a quick easy bite, especially with the little ones for lunch, when you don't really want to wait for table service.

In terms of cost, not only are you paying more for deluxe, you will need to tip at every table service. If you want to do deluxe, you really need to do many table services to make it worth the cost.

If you want convenience, you could still just use your room key to charge your meals. Then, you don't have to worry about using all of your credits.

Somedays my daughters are okay to eat a pretzel/ popcorn for lunch - depending on breakfast or an early dinner. Heck, an ice cream isn't unreasonable in Disney.

[angelmav]

For 2010 the price if the DDP has gone up significantly but there has been no price increase in DxDDP.

Unfortunately, the price increase in the DDP has been so extreme, I think that it saves money only vs. OOP in far fewer instances. You really have to plan out exactly what items you are going to get off each menu to save money in some cases.

The DxDDP doesn't require you to balance OOP, TS and CS credits, so in my opinion is easier to keep track of. With regards to saving money, if your plan would be to use no more than 50%of your credits on counter service, you should seriously look at the DxDDP.

You are spot on with this observation! I just realized were going peak and at $47-48 pp, I am not even sure its possible to save $ on the regular dining vs oop. Seemed about break even at the lower price.

Now its a debate over OOP or upgrading to deluxe. Already had meals planned OOP, but they were lighter on the wallet, but with seasonal increases thats going to change as well.

[momtomari]

I think were going to go with the deluxe because we can have a breakfast with characters lunch quick service and dinner sit down some with characters. I'm sure the snacks will be used on mickey bars and my godson is used to having a bedtime snack. Thanks for all the input. Since we will be going in june the night extra magic hours are late sometimes so we can have a late breakfast.