DDP Deluxe or pay OOP

[faberj]

Hi all,
I have been debating for months if we should do the DDP Deluxe or just pay out of pocket. I know we want to try some sig dining. Here is what we have so far and it is not in any order. Can the experts give me any advise?

Crystal Palace - B
Chef Mickey's - B
Ohana's - B
Norway Princess Breakfast - B
Tusker House - B

Ohana's - D
Artist Point - D
Cali Grill - D
Jiko (maybe) - D
Chefs De France - D
Coral Reef - L or D
Teppen Edo - D
Tutta - Lunch (maybe)
LTT - D
Kona Cafe - L or D
Prime Time Cafe L or D
Beaches and Cream L
LTT - L (maybe)
Raglan Road - L
Yachtsman Steakhouse - D (maybe)
Yak and Yeti - L

CS places we would like to try

Cosmic Rays
Fish and Chips stand
Pecos Bills
Sunshine Seasons
Pepper Market


And maybe some others as well. I know it is a lot of food, but we would like to try so many places. It would not meen we would order all course either if we had the plan.

 

[Pakey]

If you are definitely going to eat this many meals, I would say that you will want to do the Deluxe DDP. You do not say how many people are in your party, how many prior trips you have made to WDW or how many days you are going so it's hard to tell.

Everybody is different and many people here love the dining plans. DH and I do not. It's too much food. We've tried doing this twice before and we start out great at the beginning of the vacation but then we find ourselves cancelling more and more ADR's as time goes by as we are too full and too tired of that many sit-down meals with the structure of having to be at a certain place at a certain time 2-3 times each day.

Also, DH and I do not eat multiple courses which are included in the plan so we "waste" that money. The best thing you can do is decide for sure where you want to eat and then go to allears and check the menu prices, add it up, and make sure you are getting enough meals/courses to recover the cost of the plan.

 

[faberj]

If you are definitely going to eat this many meals, I would say that you will want to do the Deluxe DDP. You do not say how many people are in your party, how many prior trips you have made to WDW or how many days you are going so it's hard to tell.

Everybody is different and many people here love the dining plans. DH and I do not. It's too much food. We've tried doing this twice before and we start out great at the beginning of the vacation but then we find ourselves cancelling more and more ADR's as time goes by as we are too full and too tired of that many sit-down meals with the structure of having to be at a certain place at a certain time 2-3 times each day.

Also, DH and I do not eat multiple courses which are included in the plan so we "waste" that money. The best thing you can do is decide for sure where you want to eat and then go to allears and check the menu prices, add it up, and make sure you are getting enough meals/courses to recover the cost of the plan.

I am sorry, I should have been more detailed. It is just DH and I. We have been to WDW twice (once on our Honeymoon and the other was for a Convention at CSR) We are going for 8 nights 9 days. I am not saying we will eat at all of those places, but they are ones we would like to try. We have not yet tried any of the sig. dining places. I have looked at a lot of the menus and the pricing and if we do the plan I think we would come out even or close to it. I was just wondering if it would cost us more to pay OOP.

 

[Pakey]

If you are going to eat mostly signatures for dinner and you plan to have an appetizer, entree, dessert, plus one other meal during the day, then you will find the dining plan worth it. You have been before so you know how much food they include in an entree. DH and I just can't eat an entree and an appetizer at the same meal day after day but that's just us. And if you only do one meal a day and that's an entree at a signature, it's still not cost effective for us. The deluxe DDP is $70 per day and one entree at a signature doesn't come close. But if you eat breakfast somewhere and then do an entree at a signature, you will almost be at breakeven without including the dessert, appetizer, etc.

Have fun. We have eaten at every signature on several occasions and some of them are very good.

 

[NMW]

I think the deluxe dining plan is the way to go. Even dinner at a NON signature with an appetizer and dessert (like Coral Reef, Chefs de France) and a TS breakfast somewhere ('Ohana, Crystal Palace) make the Deluxe plan worth it, not to mention you still have lunch (or you can use those credits for signatures) and two snack credits you can use for bottles of water or soda.

 

[patsal]

Under the circumstances I believe you will come out much further ahead if you use the DxDDP. I would entertain that if I were only going with DH and no kids as well since I would eat TS breakfast and siggy dinners.