Would you upgrade from free Quick Service to Deluxe?

[geishagirl81]

I too am on Free Dining 2013 watch Hoping we get an offer for our late September trip (Will change to October for better promos) We have always done the regular dining plan, even when we don't get it free. Mainly because my husband loves having meals prepaid and because to him a desert with every meal is TRULY being on vacation!! Last March was our first free dining trip and we upgraded from quick service to regular. This trip that I am planning the hubby wants me to upgrade from quick service (under the hope it will be free) to the deluxe.

In this scenario, I would plan on using 1 table service credit for lunch and 2 for dinner for 2 adults and 2 kids. I wouldn't anticipate us wasting any credits. BUT I will admit it seems like a ton of food even though we are foodies. I have crunched numbers and we would come out ahead BUT even with the hoped for free dining - credit we'd still be spending a LOT of money on food.

At what point do you say it is just food and pass on spending a month's grocery budget in less than a week? I can't decide if it will be worth it.

[Pikezh638]

We used to do the deluxe, and my view differs from almost everyone here, when we did the deluxe dining plan, it felt as if all of our time each day was spent in a restaurant. I assume it is the same as it was 4-5 years ago where each person gets an appetizer, an entree, and a dessert. It is great if you are going for the food, but now we do the regular dining plan and have no problems with the amount of "credits" per day.

So if you are going for the food, Yes. If you are going for the everything, No.

In my opinion anyway.

[purple figment]

DxDDP is a lot more food than the DDP because it will include an appetizer for each adult at every TS restaurant. You'll be spending a lot more time in the restaurant eating. Also, if you're considering the signatures the meals tend to be more leisurely paced.

We found that we did best if we had breakfast or an early lunch and then a late dinner. I definitely don't recommend having 3 sit downs a day.

It is a lot of food, although you don't have to order all 3 courses every time. It's just very tempting because there are a lot of very good appetizers (and desserts) especially at the sigs. We ended up taking a lot of desserts back to our resort for breakfast the next morning - Almond Crusted Cheesecake for breakfast - yum!

[geishagirl81]

Thanks, that would be my plan,early lunch and late dinner at 2ts place. we are not big breakfast types, so fruit in the hotel room is usually what we do.

[artemis908]

I think it also depends on how many days you plan on staying at WDW. We are there for 9 days, to me this means it's okay if we spend more time at restaurants. I also am not the kind of person who can be on my feet all day and rush around, so I see the table services as a time I can sit and take a break.

If we were only going for 5 days, I wouldn't do deluxe. I also think this is the last time I will consider deluxe because when it's just two of us (adults) we can afford (money AND time) to do signature restaurants. I also have been obsessive about ADRs and planning things out, I think if I had kids I wouldn't be able to do that as much either.

I would also never "waste" dining credits on Sci-fi, Rainforest Cafe, T-Rex cafe, and 50's Prime Time if I were on the normal plan. I like that I don't have to do "fast food" for lunch and go to one of those restaurants instead, which I normally wouldn't do.

[nat8199]

This is exactly our plan... to get the free dining and upgrade to DxDP. (I hope the Disney gods are listening!)

We plan on using the credits for one character buffet before parks open every day as my kids wake up VERY early. Then we will do a nice dinner every night after the kids are in bed, with one adult volunteering to use their two credits for room service each night.

[LillsnJills]

If QSDP is all that's offered free this year as so many have speculated, would we even be allowed to upgrade to DxDP if we're staying at a mod hotel? DW and I plan to stay at POR this year (we were at AKL last year and upgraded from free DDP to Dx) and I think I remember the CM telling me only guests at the deluxe hotels could upgrade to the Dx plan.

[aaarcher86]

Originally Posted by LillsnJills

If QSDP is all that's offered free this year as so many have speculated, would we even be allowed to upgrade to DxDP if we're staying at a mod hotel? DW and I plan to stay at POR this year (we were at AKL last year and upgraded from free DDP to Dx) and I think I remember the CM telling me only guests at the deluxe hotels could upgrade to the Dx plan.

You can upgrade to the DXDP regardless of resort tier.

[LillsnJills]

Thanks for the quick reply, aaarcher

[geishagirl81]

We usually do 7 nights. I am concerned that 2 table service meals a day will slow us down, but on the other hand, crowds aren't as bad in late Sept vs peak so we are banking in getting more done in less time. We are also at the point that we have been there often enough that even with younger kids we don't feel the need to rush around and see EVERYTHING in the park in one day. Either way, we will be upgrading from QSDP to regular at least in the event FD is offered (please please please)

[almburr]

we upgrade from the lower to the DxDP! we love the sit downs and some days we do 3 sit downs. We never felt like we were eating all the time.

[MickeyGs]

Originally Posted by purple figment

DxDDP is a lot more food than the DDP because it will include an appetizer for each adult at every TS restaurant. You'll be spending a lot more time in the restaurant eating. Also, if you're considering the signatures the meals tend to be more leisurely paced.

We found that we did best if we had breakfast or an early lunch and then a late dinner. I definitely don't recommend having 3 sit downs a day.

It is a lot of food, although you don't have to order all 3 courses every time. It's just very tempting because there are a lot of very good appetizers (and desserts) especially at the sigs. We ended up taking a lot of desserts back to our resort for breakfast the next morning - Almond Crusted Cheesecake for breakfast - yum!

For us it's way too expensive and we are never hungry with the regular dining plan. I wouldn't want deluxe for more than 3 days, too much! If you do go for it i would book lots of signatures.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

[elaine amj]

Originally Posted by geishagirl81

I too am on Free Dining 2013 watch Hoping we get an offer for our late September trip (Will change to October for better promos) We have always done the regular dining plan, even when we don't get it free. Mainly because my husband loves having meals prepaid and because to him a desert with every meal is TRULY being on vacation!! Last March was our first free dining trip and we upgraded from quick service to regular. This trip that I am planning the hubby wants me to upgrade from quick service (under the hope it will be free) to the deluxe.

In this scenario, I would plan on using 1 table service credit for lunch and 2 for dinner for 2 adults and 2 kids. I wouldn't anticipate us wasting any credits. BUT I will admit it seems like a ton of food even though we are foodies. I have crunched numbers and we would come out ahead BUT even with the hoped for free dining - credit we'd still be spending a LOT of money on food.

At what point do you say it is just food and pass on spending a month's grocery budget in less than a week? I can't decide if it will be worth it.

Our last trip was 12 days. I was VERY tempted to upgrade my free QSDP to DxDP. The price straightened me out - over $1000 extra!! With the 2012 price increases, Deluxe has gotten extremely pricey. I finally decided I could pay for a few extras OOP if I wanted and still spend less than $1K. We ended up staying within the confines of the DDP and eating like kings. Deluxe would have been super nice (I still dream), but NOT $1K worth of nice.

[6disneykids]

I am the weird poster in the bunch After our 9 day trip to WDW 6/2011 doing DxDP, my family was so spoiled. Every one of our kids loved the freedom of ordering what they wanted and quite frankly, so did DH and I, that we can't imagine going without it. While it is quite a lot of food, we had 3 signature meals and a lot of trying out places we probably would not try otherwise. We had done both QSDP and the DDP, but now we are hooked. We had about 6 meals left which we used for kids meals to take on the plane with us and were lunches for my brood when we arrived home. Even with the change in price and now we have 2 Disney adults we are still doing DXDP when we go in March.