Is the Deluxe Dining Plan Worth it?

[chippydale33]

My family and I like to eat. But we don't think we could possibly ever eat 3 sit down meals a day, with 2 snacks each in between each meal! For those of you who have done it, does all that food make you nauseous by the end of the day? We figured it out, and we're spending about $2300 anyway on food if we didn't do the dining plan, but we don't want to be eating for most of our trip! :rotfl2:


Any comments would be appreciated. TIA!

[Giselle22]

My husband and I recently got back from a 11-night trip with deluxe dining. We did spend a fair amount of time eating, but we had enough days that we didn't mind, so as far as that goes I would say it depends on how long you're staying overall and what sort of pace you want to tour at. Also, we skipped some breakfasts so we could go to signature restaurants, and we did 7 of our meals as counter-service rather than sit-down, and still ended up saving money. If you want to try out some signatures, I think it's worth it. Plus, I just enjoyed having everything paid for in advance.

[pezaddict231]

We've done the DxDp twice and for us it's definitely worth it. We love trying tons of restaurants, don't like CS and prefer Signatures. We generally go in the summer so a lot of those credits are used on waters/sodas but we do get a treat here and there.

I think you need to think about how it will fit in with your family. Things to think about.

1) Would you normally get an appetizer? Normally eat dessert? - Those are yes's for us, while DF would normally not get dessert, on the plan sometimes I get two! Also think about would you share meals, are you very light eaters - if so maybe the plan is not right for you.

2) What type of restaurants do you want to go to? If you want to do a lot of character meals or a lot of signatures / dinner shows it's a great deal. - We generally do two sit down meals a day, 1 ts and 1 signature. The days we do three it can be a little much, I don't think I'd want to do 3 ts everyday. You can also mix it up with CS too.

3) How do you plan on touring the parks. If you're a commando-do-as-many-rides-as-possible type of family then maybe the time spent in restaurants would bother you. We generally do most of our touring in the morning, have a relaxing lunch / afternoon break / dinner and then some evening rides / shows. It works great for us and we get to see everything we want and enjoy the other things Disney has to offer.

Hope that helps!

[moosemom]

We do the dxddp, with our three kids.

We don't like the cs for the most part - it's not awful but it's hectic and not relaxing
We don't sit at restaurants three times a day either
We usually do two a day, sometimes a signature for dinner, we wind up with an extra here or there and we occassionally order room service breakfasts [it's way annoying to use the counter service option at the beach club - and so much nicer to have it delivered even if it costs me a little extra - they bring what we want and truthfully since we order what we like, instead of one of three mediocre choices, we share and don't even need to use so many credits]
We don't always finish what we order - but it's vacation and I'd rather enjoy the relative calm of sitting at a table getting waited on and chatting with the family, regrouping, than shuttle ketchup cups and wait on line and look for a table - feh.

For us it's well worthwhile!

[shawnh199]

We did deluxe dining for the first time in December. We are a family of 4: myself, DH, DD2.5, and DD6. With young girls we ate early morning character breakfasts each day, lunch around 1-2pm and dinner around 8pm. We did 3 meals per day and it was a lot of food, but the only meals we felt really full after was dinner because the parks were mostly closed and you don't have a way to walk it off like you do breakfast and lunch. Many times we took our desserts to go. A good breakfast gave us the fuel we needed to walk/ride until lunch. Having a sit down lunch each day was a much needed break from the walking/riding/weather. My girls used it as nap time several times as well. If our dinner was much later than lunch the snack credits came in handy. However, we didn't use as many snack credits as I would have liked. We were so busy doing everything that we never really made time or thought about snacks. (We had brought snacks from home for the girls to eat in the parks like nutrigrain bars and crackers.) We wound up using the snack credits to bring home large suckers for DD6 classmates at school. I am determined to use our snack credits better next time. We will buy atleast one thing of popcorn and Mickey Premium Bars/Pretzels or Funnelcakes ( if still available at MK) every day!

We loved the deluxe plan and will do it in the future if our budget allows. Being the ubber planner that I am (and being obsessed with some of the food we ate there), based on current prices in the restaurants I have figured that with the places we will want to eat next time and what we would eat at each place that the basic plan with a few OOP places would be cheaper than OOP for everything (which we would split many meals). But, the deluxe plan would only be $125 more than the basic with a few OOP and we could eat TS every meal if we wanted instead of being stuck with CS credits and have more snack credits. The tips will be more, but we paid about $230 in tips on our Dec Trip so we can use that as a guide for the tip budget for next time. We might even try a signature place or two. I realize prices WILL change before our next trip, but it gives us a good plan to work off of.

Have a great time on your trip.

[milmore104]

We LOVED it. I think our 9 year old DD liked more than anyone. SHe LOVED being able to order whatever she wanted and not having to worry about eating it all. She really got into trying new things. Her favorite meal by far was Jiko!
Yes we totally think it's worth it. We only ate 3 meals a day on very LONG days where are meals were spread out. But normally we only did 2 meals a day w/ a signature for dinner or a show. We tried out so many more places then we ever would have w/ the regular plan. I don't think we would ever go back to the regular plan.
We did eat several CS meals as well. For us it was a perfect match. It was HOT and crowded when we were there so having an hour break in the a/c was great. Plus it helped seeing we had a 9 month old baby.

[SuzieN]

My party of 3 ended up canceling 3 dining reservations and leaving with 7 dining credits still lingering. It was too much for these big eaters!!!

[Wendy5055]

We have been doing DlxDP for the last couple of years and love it. I prefer the peace of mind not having to keep money aside for food...having my reservations all done before going is great too! I know many people say they don't want to waste time from the parks, but standing in long CS lines does that just the same as waiting to be served. CS feels too hectic for me and I don't like having to hunt for a table after waiting in line...it's just me and dd8.

We normally have 3 meals per day at home. The DlxDP does not provide appetizers/desserts at breakfast meals...so really that is only at lunch and dinner. We usually pick early character breakfast times and make quite a few Rope Drops...our fave is MK. We have a later lunch (like pp) around 1/2pm and then dinner around 7/8pm and always manage to fit in a swim before or after dinner.

I find (also like pp) that I mostly feel full after our dinner meal...but a swim takes the edge off. We like having the time to sit in air conditioning and relax for a break while being served...very princessey!princess:princess: I also like at least one signature restaurant and dinner show. Meeting characters at the meals also cuts down on time waiting in line for them at the parks.:rolleyes1

Regarding snack credits...our last trip I was determined to use more as we have definately fallen into the bag full of rice krispies travelling home trap. We experienced a heat wave and so I pushed bottled water, lemonades, slushies, and dd8 loved the popcorn as a snack...a couple of itzakadoozies and a visit to the bakery in Norway and we were good! No snack credits or meal credits were left unused!

I would plan which park we would be in on what day (giving us a basic touring plan & making sure we see each park), early breakfast ADR's, lunch in park, dinner at a show or signature dining. We love Narcoosees in the evening and watching the Electric Water Pagent go by usually right after we finish dessert!:love: At Mama Melrose (HS) some of the street characters (keystone cops & has been actress) came into the restaurant...dd8 ended up with a great photo op with the "has been actress" and there was a ton of goofiness from everyone!! We just wouldn't have experineced that in a CS location.

Key to Enjoying the DlxDP is spacing meals out appropriately...try a signature restaurant and dinner show...don't feel cheated if you use a snack credit for water...water is always good!:thumbsup2

[campingbums]

we were actually thinking of looking into this also,but seems like too much food...the kids love to eat....

[mommylovestinkerbell]

we are trying it for the first time in two weeks!!! I am so excited.....we are doing a couple signature dining (CRT, Hoop Dee Doo, and Brown Derby) and lots of character breakfasts :)

[psac]

We thought it was worth it and it saved a lot & are doing it again on our upcoming spring trip. We don't eat 3 TS meals a day, we usually have 5 signature restaurants booked that uses 2 credits each. For snacks we get water/soda at the parks, or to use in the room & we've also gone to the goofy's candy store & brought home those pretzels & rice crispy treat things they make to order. We've also bought muffins using our snack credits for the morning to eat while getting ready for early hours.

[DisneyMomx7]

We're trying deluxe dining for the first time this summer. We usually do CL with the regular dining plan. Since there is a "surcharge" for the regular dining plan over our time frame we found it less expensive to do the deluxe dining with a regular BC room.

I'm making our ADRs tomorrow - two weeks of deluxe dining!

I'm not planning on doing a whole lot of three sit down meals a deal. We're booking a fair amount of signature restaurants and using snack credits for breakfasts. Also we're planning on a few room service breakfasts. If we end up with a lot of snack credits left over I'm not worried. After two weeks at BC we're leaving for 5 days at Hilton Head. I figure I'll just stock up with drinks and chips and such with any leftovers and we'll save money in Hilton Head!

Wish me luck on doing online ADRs tomorrow - first time.

[Nicole&Becker]

My family and I like to eat. But we don't think we could possibly ever eat 3 sit down meals a day, with 2 snacks each in between each meal! For those of you who have done it, does all that food make you nauseous by the end of the day? We figured it out, and we're spending about $2300 anyway on food if we didn't do the dining plan, but we don't want to be eating for most of our trip! :rotfl2:


Any comments would be appreciated. TIA!

We did the Deluxe dining plan our last trip and it worked out really well. What we are planning for our trip this November is to do the same dining plan. How it works for us is that we end up doing 2 TS meals a day and use our snacks for lunch or breakfast (depending on the day). That way we can do more shows and signature dining. It is also a good idea to space things out so that you have at least 4 hours between TS meals. You can also use a TS meal for QS food if you feel so inclined.

Last time we went we made the mistake of not planning out our days at the parks BEFORE we planned our meals. So we ended up doing a lot of switching from one place to another. So this time we are making sure to plan out what park(s) we want to do that day, so we know what restaurants we should put on those days. So that is the only tricky part really. The rest is just fun.

We have two small kids so the meals are a good break for everyone to rest their feet and be re-energized for more. This was especially nice since the last time we went was in the summer time and very hot as well as heavy rain showers during the day.

I hope that helps. But we do like the option to go to more table service places, otherwise we would end up eating counter service all the time! That's no good for anyone! At least in our family. So we feel that it is worth it for us.

[Tam1067]

Way too much food for us last year.

We used up every single credit, but we were tired of sitting down to meals or racing to get to something. We were sick of desserts and appetizers. And then DD got sick, so we missed two TS lunches and ended up getting CS at the resort while she slept. We had our last lunch at Kona, and we skipped appetizers and desserts because we were so sick of eating.

We'd booked several signatures, but we still felt like we were eating the whole trip.

Also, you do have to factor in tips which will add up.

I wouldn't get it again, but that's just us.

[stich1fan]

Well my husband and I did the Deluxe Dining and enjoyed it alot. We eat breakfast and then dining, noramlly no lunch. We ate at alot of signature rest so they take 2 table services each. Also did some show. So it is worth it if you plan on doing that. If we did not eat at those places we would prob had extra meals.

It worked for us, but next time we go I think we are going to purchase the dining plus not deluxe, since we are not planning to do alot of shows this time.

Hope this helped.

[katieam1]

We love Deluxe dining. It works out well for us. We get to go to a lot of great places while our children can have fun and get to go to character meals. Plus since we drive to WDW we use our snack credit for snacks for our ride home. Works out well for us! We can't imagine going with out deluxe dining!

[IMGONNABE40!]

I have free dining for 9 days for my trip in August. I am considering a split stay and switching resorts the last 2 nights. This will mean giving up FD for those nights since I don't want to have to buy tickets a second time. For those last 2 nights I am thinking about getting the DxDP. My nephew will want to return to Chef Mickey and Hoop de Doo. I want to go back to California Grill. That is 5 out of the 6 credits right there. I will have to crunch numbers and see if it is worth it for 2 nights. I don't think I would enjoy the DxDP for more than a couple of nights. I was happy as a clam on the QSDP last week...but I guess that is another thread.

[Wendy5055]

Upgrading to DlxDP during free dining is a great way to try it. That is how I tried the DlxDP......then I was hooked for good!!!:laughing:

[chippydale33]

Wow thanks everyone for all your responses! I forgot I made this thread. Thank you for all your opinions. We still haven't made our decision yet, but we are taking everything you all said into consider. Thank you. :)

[frannn]

We loved it...but I was hoping to step back to the regular plan this year. I kind of miss some of the CS places, and being able to eat when we are hungry (even though I still would have the places chosen in advance). We renewed our APs last year & got the 3 extra months, so we will save money by not needing tickets. It would be a great perk to save another few hundred bucks by not going deluxe. But, DH is already sold on the deluxe plan & the ordering/paying freedom is gives. Plus, DD16 will probably join us for the first time in a few years, and I swear she eats more than the rest of us combined! I'll have to buy her a new ticket, etc etc etc. So much for saving $$..

[Faldred]

As several people have noted, you don't have to do three sit-down meals a day. A popular option is a late breakfast/early lunch and a signature dinner.

You can also use credits on CS. It's OK, you're saving enough on the rest of the plan that "unoptimal" use of some credits is fine.

Frankly, I agree with the others that say if you have a solid touring plan, you can still squeeze in a lot of TS meals and not lose park time, because you're using the meal times as "down time", and if you're doing character meals, that's so much less time you're standing in line in the parks for meet-and-greets instead of rides and shows.

[Faldred]

I have free dining for 9 days for my trip in August. I am considering a split stay and switching resorts the last 2 nights. This will mean giving up FD for those nights since I don't want to have to buy tickets a second time. For those last 2 nights I am thinking about getting the DxDP.

You'd have to buy tickets to get the DxDP (unless it's part of a DVC points stay or an AP package). You could always buy the extra ticket (for 2 nights, it's roughly equal in cost to the DDP, actually slightly less) and then upgrade to DxDP. You'd then have an extra 1-day MYW ticket that can be saved and used another time.

[drmommy]

We've been a few times and gotten the Deluxe dp every time! Because the plan is prepaid, it's fairly stress free dining. You can order what you want, and not worry about the tab! If you eat at Cinderella Castle and a signature rest or show, then that evens things out and you're not sitting down 3 times a day, everyday. You also have to consider that Disney is a well-oiled machine...they got this reservation thing down to a science! It will probably take you the same amount of time to eat fast food as it will to sit in an air-conditioned restaurant. Happy eating! Go deluxe or don't go at all!

[Cookie Princess]

We have done the basic and deluxe plans, and are hooked on the DXDDP. It was great to have a character or Kona breakfast and then a siggy dinner!! We did a few 3 meal days, but not many. The DXDDP gave us an opportunity to try new eateries. We really liked getting to eat more TS and less CS meals. Plus...love the extra snack!

[Disuser]

We had the DxDP last June and for us it was a waste of money. We had meals and snacks left at the end of our trip. If we do the DDP again it will be the standard plan.