Deluxe question/worried

[Hobbitmomma]

Hi all,

We just booked 6 days at CSR for the week between Christmas and New Years. Our children will be 10 and 12 at that time. My husband really felt we needed the deluxe dining plan because he likes TS meals for breakfast and dinner. After perusing the boards a bit this week, I'm getting nervous that it's going to be too much food for us and we are wasting money. Do you have to eat three courses every meal? Also, my understanding was that on the DDP you get two TS meals and one CS meal a day. Am I wrong? It seems that in some of the trip reports I've read, folks on DDP were getting three TS meals a day. That's too much for me. (I'm particularly nervouse given that I'm a Weight Watcher and have been maintaining goal for almost two years now. I don't want to blow it in 6 days!) I'm also thinking about the kids. My daughter will have just turned 10 on Dec. 24th, so getting her to eat off the adult menu might be tough. Any help/advice you have will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[gilsan]

We have done DxDp and are doing it again on our upcoming trip. DxDp gives you 3 dining credits a day that can be used for TS or CS.

What we do is have a breakfast or early lunch and use 2 credits at night at a signature dining retaurant. You do get 3 courses with lunch and dinner and not for breakfast. For breakfast you can get a second beverage , coffee and juice.

It is not too much food if you do a breakfast and than eat a signature meal with 3 courses. You are walking all day and can work up an appetite. If you are eating 3 meals a day I can see it as too much food.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

I wouldn't be so much worried about food as I would be about the crowds!

Sorry, not trying to make you worry about something else, but I honestly think the deluxe dp is great. Yes, it will be a ton of food and you will spend a lot of time in restaurants, but I love disney dining and seeing all the different restaurants and trying all the foods.

If I were you, I would stick with the deluxe especially for the week you are going. You can escape the very hectic crowds and rest at those restaurants.

Lunch and dinner does come with 3 courses, but you don't have to eat them all or even order them all if you don't want too, and many times restaurants may let you get a salad or something light as an appetizer.

Your DD will have to order off the adult menu but I would prefer that over the kids meals which usually come with the same thing in almost all the restaurants.

 

[catne]

it depends on how you eat...I say either do the big "brunch" time meal & a signature meal (using snack credits to fill in as needed) OR if you do want 3 meals a day, make sure you schedule them at least 5 hours apart...so a breakfast buffet at 8, lunch at 1:00 or 2:00 p.m. and then schedule dinner between 7:00 and 8:00 p.m.

One suggestion is, eat little or none of the bread, chips, rolls or such that they bring out at the beginning of the meal when they take your drink orders. Order your appetizers & drinks first, but don't order your entrees until your apps come out (if you order it all at once, they bring it out too fast!) And even though it's very tempting, don't order the milkshakes or smoothies as your beverage at DP meals...this stuff fills you up before you even get to the "real" food.

No, you do not have to order all of the food every meal. One thing we found is that if you have 4 people at the table, 4 appetizers is generally way too much...most apps we've ordered were easily shared by two people...and the ones listed as "for 2" are usually more like for 3 or 4 to share...very generous servings. As are a lot of the desserts.

One suggestion I have...don't try and take "leftovers" with you unless you're within driving distance of home & you're leaving...I know it's a big temptation to take that 1/2 a steak or the dessert you can't finish back to your room fridge, but the truth is on the deluxe dining plan, you will probably NOT be hungry in between meals at all - and then you're going to another meal and the last meal is history, lol. We never finished anything left over, and it was just a hassle to carry the to-go boxes around with us...only to end up throwing it away a day or two later anyway. After we did that a couple of times, we learned our lesson and left it.

We never used any of our snacks while on the deluxe, either...we'd stay full pretty much up to the next meal time. So if you're thirsty, go ahead and use the snack credits to buy water. At the end of the trip, we used our snack credits to buy pastries & yogurt for the next day's breakfast back home.

 

[ShelleyLynn]

We did the DxDp for the same week last Christmas. My girls were 6 and 8 at the time. We loved deluxe and have booked it again for our October trip. The crowds are so heavy be early afternoon we took a pool/nap break after lunch then cleaned up for a nice meal every night. Sometimes we would return to a park for the evening but most often after a leisurely dinner we would walk around the resort where we dined and take in the beautiful decorations. As the OP said we planned a nice bfast each morning. We either got an 8 am ressie or the last bfast ressie of the morning for brunch, used some snacks mid day and had either a signature or dinner show for 5-6pm each night. We loved sampling so many excellent places and since the signatures are at deluxe resorts we saw all the great decorations. We toured hard at RD every morning and always got to do everything we wanted before the crowds got to be too much for us. During that week it is so important to make RD in the morning, with some many people and so many late hours offered so many people come late to the parks. We were so surprised at the great touring the first 3 hours a day. I hope that is helpful!! It worked great for us and if your daughter wants to order an appie from the adult menu, a dinner from kids and dessert from adult or whatever combo she wants we traveled with our friends who had a 10 yo and every signature let her go back and forth between adult and kids menu.

 

[ShelleyLynn]

We did the DxDp for the same week last Christmas. My girls were 6 and 8 at the time. We loved deluxe and have booked it again for our October trip. The crowds are so heavy be early afternoon we took a pool/nap break after lunch then cleaned up for a nice meal every night. Sometimes we would return to a park for the evening but most often after a leisurely dinner we would walk around the resort where we dined and take in the beautiful decorations. As the OP said we planned a nice bfast each morning. We either got an 8 am ressie or the last bfast ressie of the morning for brunch, used some snacks mid day and had either a signature or dinner show for 5-6pm each night. We loved sampling so many excellent places and since the signatures are at deluxe resorts we saw all the great decorations. We toured hard at RD every morning and always got to do everything we wanted before the crowds got to be too much for us. During that week it is so important to make RD in the morning, with some many people and so many late hours offered so many people come late to the parks. We were so surprised at the great touring the first 3 hours a day. I hope that is helpful!! It worked great for us and if your daughter wants to order an appie from the adult menu, a dinner from kids and dessert from adult or whatever combo she wants we traveled with our friends who had a 10 yo and every signature let her go back and forth between adult and kids menu.

 

[pauly's girl]

We also do the DxDP every year we come. We schedule breakfast around 830 and a dinner around 8 in the evening and grab something quick in between. We also schedule the dinner shows so on 3 of the days we have a breakfast and a dinner show and use our snacks to grab something in the afternoon. If you space it out and don't mind spending the time in the resturants it can be really worth it!! Good luck and have a great vaca!

 

[WildLodge]

We did DxDP this past Dec. We did snacks for breakfast and a TS lunch and signature dinner. This worked out really well! I would suggest skipping the TS breakfasts so you can be at the park 10 mins before rope drop. Have an early TS lunch when you are nice and tired and the break is welcome.

Cannot stress how important being at the park at rope drop is, especially during the holidays!!!