Basic Dining Plan or Deluxe? what 2 choose?

[karters*mom]

We are so tossed up....we are thinking of upgrading to the Deluxe plan but not sure if its worth it.
This is our first trip to Disney.
We were thinking of using the counter style for lunch, Sit-down have been booked for dinner. Then I guess we would just buy our breakfast...
Is it worth the $518 to upgrade....I'm lost...​

 

[gamomof2]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1678344

check out the Deluxe Dining Plan thread

 

[JSTX]

It really depends upon your dining preferences. We prefer the TS locations over the CS locations, so the Deluxe works best for us.

Keep in mind, if you have the Deluxe, you can still use the TS credit for a CS meal. Also with the Deluxe you get an appetizer for each TS meal, where that is not available for the DDP plan.

 

[dreamer17555]

Also think about where you want to eat does it include CRT, CG or another Signature Resturant? Then it might be worth the upgrade. Or you might want to do a dinner show like SoA or HDDR. The Deluxe offers more freedom as far as resturant choices go but then again you might feel tied down to all those ADR's.

We are doing the Deluxe and are doing 2 2TS Resturants (CG and CRT) and Also both dinner shows. We also have a ton (8 ) Character Meals planned and also more expensive meals like Coral Reef and Le Cellier. The only real way to decided which is best is to figure out your touring style and start looking at menus. The math should help you decide.

-Becca-

 

[mickeysgirl17]

I'm all for the deluxe dining plan but I do not recommend it for first timers. You have to consider that it will take out a good portion of your day just to eat. To get the most value, you should eat at all TS and no counter service and for this to happen, you will need to figure in about 3 hours if you do a TS and then a signature meal (worth 2 credits) or 4 hours to 4 1/2 for 3 meals per day.

I think first timers should enjoy the parks more and that the regular dining plan should be fine.

If you do end up going for deluxe, its best to have a car because its hard to get from resort to resort on disney transporation and if you have young kids, its even harder because you'll need to space out your 2 or 3 meals during the day and they may end up staying up too late.

 

[septbaby]

We were on the old plan back in September, it was plenty of food. We were two adults and a child.

I recommend sharing CS credits for breakfast and lunch.
- Breakfast includes two beverages and if you get the platter its a huge meal
- There are combo meals in the parks, split those and use a snack credit to add if you need something else; for example get the pizza/salad combo at Pinnochio's and add the figaro fries); personally I chose water as a drink often so not having a soda at each meal wasn't a big deal; it was so hot I wanted to be sure to stay hydrated.
- You can aslo grab yogurt as a dessert and save it for breakfast

If $518 is in the budget I'd consider using it for the following:
- Upgrade the resort to get a water slide for the boys and whirlpool for you
- Pay for a couple of extra meals (we paid for one character breakfast because we chose a 2TS restaurant for our first night dinner)
- Save it for your next trip to Disney; you may get a bounceback offer for 2009 (we got one in 2007 for 2008)

 

[LSchrow]

I'm all for the deluxe dining plan but I do not recommend it for first timers.

exactly what i was thinking
you will probably be spending a lot of time in the parks. and unless you're staying at least a month lol, there is no way you'll be able to see/do all the attractions. do the deluxe plan, & you might just find yourself too rushed & overwhelmed to enjoy what is one of the best things about a WDW vacation: relaxing (by the pool, in your resort, on a bench in england's gardens, etc).
IMHO, save the deluxe plan for another trip when your focus won't be going from attraction to attraction, from park to park
hth

 

[LizinSTL]

We are so tossed up....we are thinking of upgrading to the Deluxe plan but not sure if its worth it.
This is our first trip to Disney.
We were thinking of using the counter style for lunch, Sit-down have been booked for dinner. Then I guess we would just buy our breakfast...
Is it worth the $518 to upgrade....I'm lost...​

I would NOT do the deluxe dining plan if I was staying at a value or moderate resort. I'd like the ability to utilize room service if necessary to use up credits if we didn't feel like going "out" to eat. I'd like the ability to order in breakfast if we wanted before heading out for the day.

If your plan is to use one CS meal and 1 TS meal per day then the regular DDP is tailor made for you. You may find that you can "share" some CS breakfast platters at breakfast-time from the food court and then share your CS lunches too so you aren't even out any cash for your meals at all during the week. Use credits FIRST and then pay OOP.

Do you have your reservations made yet?

 

[christa112]

I think the DDP would be way too much food for my family, plus I am not sure I really would want to waste that much time eating. I think on an avg for a sit down meal you are at the restaurant for at least 1 hour. That would take of 3 hours a day of eating!!!!

 

[septbaby]

That would take of 3 hours a day of eating!!!!

It doesn't have to. You get meal credits on the Deluxe plan, not TS and CS. So you could still do 1 Table Service meal daily. Room service(2 credits) would be an option as are Signature Dining (2 credits). CS is still very much an option as well.

 

[karters*mom]

I would NOT do the deluxe dining plan if I was staying at a value or moderate resort. I'd like the ability to utilize room service if necessary to use up credits if we didn't feel like going "out" to eat. I'd like the ability to order in breakfast if we wanted before heading out for the day.

If your plan is to use one CS meal and 1 TS meal per day then the regular DDP is tailor made for you. You may find that you can "share" some CS breakfast platters at breakfast-time from the food court and then share your CS lunches too so you aren't even out any cash for your meals at all during the week. Use credits FIRST and then pay OOP.

Do you have your reservations made yet?

Reservations are made...geesh who would have thought Disney would be so frusrating...lol I have made a calander of where we will go eat day..throw some rain into the day and i'm all messed up...

 

[simonkodousek]

I don't think I could eat all the food on the DxDP. It takes too much time away from seeing the parks.

 

[Kurby]

we're splitting our stay so we are taking advantage of that and using both.

there are several ts restaurants that we really want to try so we'll save those for the second half when we're on the dddp

now - we have a young child who wakes up at the crack of dawn so we can have a very early breakfast 2pm lunch and a later dinner otherwise that's way too much food. plus we're only doing it for 5 days not the full 13 of our trip

 

[wannabprincess]

When I heard of the changes this year, I didn't think we would even do the ddp this year until I figured it up. The reg ddp would save $300 and deluxe $400. We are doing the deluxe so we can do things like CRT, CG, Nacroose's.
I will use one TS credit toward Wolfgang Puck Exp (CS credit) I love this place. I would give it a try.

 

[toocherie]

Question: if staying at a resort with room service, two adults in the room, could you order ONE room service breakfast (using two credits for one adult)? I know you're not supposed to "share" but we usually do a light breakfast and two full breakfasts would probably be wasted. Or would they know that there are two adults in the room and say both had to order?

And also just thought of another question--if you are on the dining plan are you allowed to take leftovers?

 

[LizinSTL]

Question: if staying at a resort with room service, two adults in the room, could you order ONE room service breakfast (using two credits for one adult)? I know you're not supposed to "share" but we usually do a light breakfast and two full breakfasts would probably be wasted. Or would they know that there are two adults in the room and say both had to order?

And also just thought of another question--if you are on the dining plan are you allowed to take leftovers?

Disney Dining wouldn't know if one guest was out of the room for some reason or another. You could certainly order only one room service meal using DDP credits. What if one guest was visiting the spa or playing golf or at a conference?

And, of course, you can take leftovers with you at Disney whether you are paying OOP or on the DDP. Why would it matter? You can't, however, take leftovers if you are visiting an all you can eat type place for obvious reasons.