free dining and considering upgrading to dxdp

[princesslover]

We are traveling to WDW in December with our two girls, who will be 10 and 6 (turning 7 while there ). We have a free dining pin right now.

We are considering upgrading to the dxdp mainly because we have an ADR at CRT, which is 2 credits, and we also are considering both the fantasmic package or the CP dinner package (at least one of those.)

While in general I am worried that the dxdp may be more food than we need, because we want to do these "2 credit" ADR's, I'm thinking it might be worth it to switch.

On the other hand, maybe it would be better to just use up the credits and pay for those extra 3 TS meals out of pocket. It looks like the upgrade is $44 for three of us and $9 for my youngest.

I am babbling, but I am wondering if others have used the dxdp because of having a few 2 credit ts meals?

 

[mickeynut1]

We are traveling to WDW in December with our two girls, who will be 10 and 6 (turning 7 while there ). We have a free dining pin right now.

We are considering upgrading to the dxdp mainly because we have an ADR at CRT, which is 2 credits, and we also are considering both the fantasmic package or the CP dinner package (at least one of those.)

While in general I am worried that the dxdp may be more food than we need, because we want to do these "2 credit" ADR's, I'm thinking it might be worth it to switch.

On the other hand, maybe it would be better to just use up the credits and pay for those extra 3 TS meals out of pocket. It looks like the upgrade is $44 for three of us and $9 for my youngest.

I am babbling, but I am wondering if others have used the dxdp because of having a few 2 credit ts meals?

I would compare what it would cost to upgrade the plan vs paying OOP for the extras. For our last FD trip we upgraded from the DDP to the DlxDDP and it worked out great. I looked at what the difference was between upgrading the plan and the amount we would pay OOP for any extras. The difference was about equal so by upgrading the plan, we actually got more for our money.

 

[bdklein]

We are traveling to WDW in December with our two girls, who will be 10 and 6 (turning 7 while there ). We have a free dining pin right now.

We are considering upgrading to the dxdp mainly because we have an ADR at CRT, which is 2 credits, and we also are considering both the fantasmic package or the CP dinner package (at least one of those.)

While in general I am worried that the dxdp may be more food than we need, because we want to do these "2 credit" ADR's, I'm thinking it might be worth it to switch.

On the other hand, maybe it would be better to just use up the credits and pay for those extra 3 TS meals out of pocket. It looks like the upgrade is $44 for three of us and $9 for my youngest.

I am babbling, but I am wondering if others have used the dxdp because of having a few 2 credit ts meals?

Keep in mind that the Fantsamic Dinner/Lunch package is only 1 TS for 2 of the 3 restaurants available.

 

[Cafeen]

I almost quoted, but figured the other 2 above me had it handled

How long is the stay?

The upgrade cost of ~$44 would be per adult, per night, not overall (unless you're staying 1 night with 1 adult...but since free dining has a 3 night minimum stay...).

Even with going the minimum, I'd think you'd be better off paying OOP for the 2 ts meals (well, 1 of the 2 TS, and 1 other 1TS). If going for longer, I'd be sure this is the case, unless you are looking at several other 2 credit locations as well.

Now, over the past few years, I have done DxDDP specifically because I enjoy the signatures. However, over a 8-9 night stay, I'll typically do at least 4-5 of them (or more!)

 

[princesslover]

Thanks everyone! We are not big "signature" people. We are staying for 7 days. Here is what we have planned for ADR's

Crystal Palace
CRT (2 ts)
garden grill CP package (with any luck!) - 2 TS
The Plaza (on MVMCP night)
Ohana
akershus
Sci Fi Theater
Whispering Canyon
Potentially Fantasmic package

That is potentially 11 ts credits. With the dining plan, I would have 7, so we would have to pay OOP for 3 (possibly 4) TS each.

Part of me likes the idea of having everything "paid for" up front, but I am not sure if this is the biggest bang for our buck given our TS choices. Anymore thoughts? (now that I have more specifics?)

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

Thanks everyone! We are not big "signature" people. We are staying for 7 days. Here is what we have planned for ADR's

Crystal Palace
CRT (2 ts)
garden grill CP package (with any luck!) - 2 TS
The Plaza (on MVMCP night)
Ohana
akershus
Sci Fi Theater
Whispering Canyon
Potentially Fantasmic package

That is potentially 11 ts credits. With the dining plan, I would have 7, so we would have to pay OOP for 3 (possibly 4) TS each.

Part of me likes the idea of having everything "paid for" up front, but I am not sure if this is the biggest bang for our buck given our TS choices. Anymore thoughts? (now that I have more specifics?)

Maybe I'm blanking, but I have no idea what the Garden Grill CP package is. The Plaza is fairly inexpensive--easier to pay for that one OOP. I think it's easier to do the extra OOP.

 

[Cafeen]

Thanks everyone! We are not big "signature" people. We are staying for 7 days. Here is what we have planned for ADR's

Crystal Palace
CRT (2 ts)
garden grill CP package (with any luck!) - 2 TS
The Plaza (on MVMCP night)
Ohana
akershus
Sci Fi Theater
Whispering Canyon
Potentially Fantasmic package

That is potentially 11 ts credits. With the dining plan, I would have 7, so we would have to pay OOP for 3 (possibly 4) TS each.

Part of me likes the idea of having everything "paid for" up front, but I am not sure if this is the biggest bang for our buck given our TS choices. Anymore thoughts? (now that I have more specifics?)

F! package (unless at Brown Derby) is only 1 TS, so what you have listed is 10 TS.

With 7 nights, and $44 per night per adult and $9 per night per child, this means that the upgrade cost for going Deluxe would be roughly $983.

$983 / 3 = ~$328 per 1 credit meal. Considering that CRT dinner over Christmas would cost you $260 total and it's likely to be the highest cost meal of that list (maybe not highest per credit, but highest total), you'll still likely fall far short.

According to the buffet/AYCE price thread, CRT dinner in peak season is Adult: $71.83, Child: $43.24 incl. tax (and tip for CRT).

If you really want to "pay up front". Pick a couple of the cheapest per-credit meals that you have, and put the money + 10% on a gift card. You'll come out well a head of the Deluxe upgrade.

(You can see the upgrade costs per person per night -here-)

 

[princesslover]

F! package (unless at Brown Derby) is only 1 TS, so what you have listed is 10 TS.

With 7 nights, and $44 per night per adult and $9 per night per child, this means that the upgrade cost for going Deluxe would be roughly $983.

$983 / 3 = ~$328 per 1 credit meal. Considering that CRT dinner over Christmas would cost you $260 total and it's likely to be the highest cost meal of that list (maybe not highest per credit, but highest total), you'll still likely fall far short.

According to the buffet/AYCE price thread, CRT dinner in peak season is Adult: $71.83, Child: $43.24 incl. tax (and tip for CRT).

If you really want to "pay up front". Pick a couple of the cheapest per-credit meals that you have, and put the money + 10% on a gift card. You'll come out well a head of the Deluxe upgrade.

(You can see the upgrade costs per person per night -here-)

Thank you, thank you, thank you! This was just the kind of information I needed, but my burnt out brain is too tired at this point to figure out. I think you made my decision easy...stick with DDP. Maybe I'll put some of that money toward photopass plus instead.

 

[Zooshoveller]

Thanks everyone! We are not big "signature" people. We are staying for 7 days. Here is what we have planned for ADR's

Crystal Palace
CRT (2 ts)
garden grill CP package (with any luck!) - 2 TS
The Plaza (on MVMCP night)
Ohana
akershus
Sci Fi Theater
Whispering Canyon
Potentially Fantasmic package

That is potentially 11 ts credits. With the dining plan, I would have 7, so we would have to pay OOP for 3 (possibly 4) TS each.

Part of me likes the idea of having everything "paid for" up front, but I am not sure if this is the biggest bang for our buck given our TS choices. Anymore thoughts? (now that I have more specifics?)

If you upgrade to DxDP for ~$1000 (?), you get 21 TS (or QS) credits and 14 snack credits (each). Everyone gets 3 meals and 2 snacks for each night. 2-3 meals require 2 TS credits, and you have 6 other meals planned. Can you think of 9 other places where you would like to eat?

 

[Infamousmare]

I would tend to agree with the other posters. Unless you want other Signature dining (which you said you really didn't) or you can find a bunch of other places you want to eat, you will likely come out ahead with the regular DDP.

In our case, we upgrade to the DxDDP; however, we travel with grandparents who like to sit down and eat in the restaurants, we love the signature dining and we tend to hit the 2 CR places (eating b'fast in our villa), which really uses up the credits AND tends to save $$.

Just be careful - the one year we went with regular DDP, twice we had CMs use credits for a QS meal, even after we asked them NOT to (we'd planned to save credits for the expensive TS meals!). Carry a separate card to use for payment on the meals you plan to pay for in cash and don't use your Key to the World card.

Have fun!

 

[LisaTC]

F! package (unless at Brown Derby) is only 1 TS, so what you have listed is 10 TS.

With 7 nights, and $44 per night per adult and $9 per night per child, this means that the upgrade cost for going Deluxe would be roughly $983.

$983 / 3 = ~$328 per 1 credit meal. Considering that CRT dinner over Christmas would cost you $260 total and it's likely to be the highest cost meal of that list (maybe not highest per credit, but highest total), you'll still likely fall far short.

According to the buffet/AYCE price thread, CRT dinner in peak season is Adult: $71.83, Child: $43.24 incl. tax (and tip for CRT).

If you really want to "pay up front". Pick a couple of the cheapest per-credit meals that you have, and put the money + 10% on a gift card. You'll come out well a head of the Deluxe upgrade.

(You can see the upgrade costs per person per night -here-)

Whispering Canyon, SciFi and Plaza would be those I'd consider OOP.

For the pp who asked: Garden Grill CP is for the Candlelight Processional Christmas program.

You can get discounted gift cards at Target and I think Costco?