Debating upgrade to deluxe dining..

[aaarcher86]

The dining plan isn't mean to be a big savings. I believe the ads for it say it CAN save you up to 20% or something like that... which is entirely true IF you eat dessert at every meal (and apps for DxDP), order a non-alcholic beverage, etc. If you'd eat the same way the dining plan allows for, you could end up with a savings depending on the foods and entrees you order.

Many people, myself include, do the dining plan regardless because I like that it's prepaid and it's convenient. I don't bat an eye at ordering an expensive steak or stopping for a snack. It's already been paid for so my spending money doesn't turn into a food budget.

We did DxDP once and it was not for us (two adults). Everyone is different, but here's the reasons we didn't like it:

1. We did it in September when it was very hot. We didn't anticipate how much the heat would take out of us, and very rarely did we feel like eating large meals.

2. Everyone always says it's a lot of food, and we're pretty big eaters, so that didn't scare us. But it is A LOT of food. When I stopped to think about, there's never an instance in real life when EACH of us would order an app, entree AND dessert. Most of the time, we picked at the app and/or dessert so a lot of food was wasted - and it's food you pay for. The cost is included in the DxDP, nothing is "thrown in".

3. We did not space our ADRs far enough apart. For example, I had breakfast around 8am, lunch around 12pm, and dinner around 6pm. Sounds logical, and it aligned with how we eat in our daily lives. But the size of the meals was not accounted for here. This was before the ADR cancellation policy was in effect, so we ended up canceling a few lunches and dinners last minute simply because we weren't hungry. Wasted a few credits as a result. Knowing what I know now, I would do 8am breakfast, 1pm lunch, and 9pm dinner. That's about the times we became hungry again.

I do think the DxDP is best suited for someone doing a TS breakfast OR TS lunch with a later signature dinner. Three TS meals in one day ate up a lot of valuable park time and as I mentioned, we weren't hungry. Using these credits on signature meals (or dinner show) is a good value and makes the planning easier too.

I'll second the September heat taking an unexpected toll on our appetites!

We happened to be using the TIW that trip, so it ended up working out - but I'm sure we would have come away with a lot of wasted food that we don't typically have on our February trips.

 

[smiths02]

The old rule of thumb used to be that you need to use 2/3 of your credits on TS meals. You also need to really want the app, entree, dessert, and nonalcoholic beverage for each person in your party. (That rule might be outdated as the price of DxDP has risen dramatically)

Also, if you upgrade to Deluxe then end up adding TS meals to make it worthwhile, you also will up the amount you will potentially be paying in tips, which is another expense.

We are eating more than 1 TS/night, but there is just no way I can make DxDP work for my family (2 adults, 1 child, 2 toddlers) even if I got Stay Play Dine discount or free dining. I really hope they offer a room discount.

 

[insectreflection]

Our family did the Deluxe last trip, and we're doing it again. It very much works for us. First of all, I am a MOUNTAIN of a man, and I do not accept the premise of "too much food." Second, we've got two little girls that love character meals, we do at least one a day. Third, we - unfortunately - usually go during peak times, and I don't want to stand in line for an hour to get a cafeteria style hamburger and fries. By doing the Deluxe, we can have 2 or 3 sit-down meals a day, take our time, relax and enjoy all the different great restaurants WDW has to offer. Think about it - Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh for breakfast, lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern, skip over to Epcot for dinner at the San Angel Inn - we can eat like that EVERY DAY.

If you're not doing a bunch of character meals, if you plan on going on a ton of rides non-stop, if you don't mind a quick burger or a snack credit only for breakfast, and perhaps most of all if you eat like a petite little bird, the Deluxe Plan is not for you.

 

[minnie56]

We have already upgraded to deluxe dining....we are 4 ladies going on a girls trip! Lol...we are foodies though and we actually have the crystal palace booked despite our age amongst some other lovely dining options!

Thanks all!!!

 

[insectreflection]

We have already upgraded to deluxe dining....we are 4 ladies going on a girls trip! Lol...we are foodies though and we actually have the crystal palace booked despite our age amongst some other lovely dining options!

Thanks all!!!

Good for you!!

 

[aaarcher86]

We love the dxdp. I agree with you that the too much food reasoning is odd for me. A sit down dinner is definitely a good portion at once because of the app, but we'd be eating three meals a day without the plan.

We don't do three TS but we will do a TS breakfast and dinner with a QS lunch. Most TS are character meals.

We did me up going with the TIW card this last trip which saved us a ton of money over the DXDP, but I'd happily get it again if we could go with a discount.

 

[StirlingSilver83]

We love the deluxe plan. We either break even or save a little on it. We like it bc everything is already paid for. Plus my family are huge 3 meals a day people and we like the little break it gives us from the amusement park aspect of Disney. Yes it is a TON of food be prepared to eat like u have never eaten before lol. But we try and spread our meals out so we eat an early breakfast a mid day lunch and then dinner around 6ish. We didn't use hardly any snack credits but here's a tip about snack credits. If u don't use them during your trip before u leave your resort you can get all your snacks to take with u. We are from NJ and we drove down the last time. Packed a cooler on the way down with snacks and drinks but they were gone by the time our vacation was over. So right before we left my hubby took our cooler and redeemed all our snack credits. I think we had 25 left or something like that. And he got a mix of drinks and snacks for our ride home. When we go again in April we are going to try and save our snack credits again so we have stuff for the drive back to nj.

 

[minnie56]

We may eat breakfast and have nice dinners planned..highly unlikely we will have sit down lunches...other than counter service. Don't want to lose the time and just couldn't eat that much food! But that will work because quite a few of our dinners are 2 table credits so we will have them stored. If we leave credits ...we leave them. No biggie.

 

[MrInfinity]

How much does the DxDP go for these days? Is the DDP still $58/$20?

 

[supersnoop]

How much does the DxDP go for these days? Is the DDP still $58/$20?

From the link at the top of the page, the DDP is 60/20, and DxDP is 110/30.

http://www.wdwinfo.com/disney-dining-plan.htm

 

[pigletgirl]

I would say no, only because it is a lot of food. Even with the regular DP, it felt we were eating all the time. We definitely enjoy our meals but we are there to tour the parks (and eat, but that is secondary for our family)...

 

[davedmaine]

When is it worth it?
Staying at a moderate. Already have 3 signature dining venues for dinner so figure we will pay for a few nights dinner at lower $$ to save them for the signatures. But maybe we should upgrade?

Any tips appreciated.

If you're talking cost, your best option is to drop the dining plan altogether and pay OOP

 

[MagicalMawMaw]

We just stayed at CSR 6 nights & had the deluxe plan. We saved about $400 with the plan compared to OOP.
We ate at a signature on our arrival night.
The first day we had a breakfast, lunch & late supper.
The following 4 days early lunch & later supper.
On check out day we had lunch at LeCellier.
We took about 1/2 the snacks home with us for our Grandkiddos .
I often had a salad for my appetizer & just picked what we were in the mood for to eat. We didn't try to eat the most expensive item on the menu but we still came out way ahead with the deluxe dining plan.

 

[minnie56]

Good! I've done the math and we will be ahead too!

Thanks again!

 

[lovewdwdvc]

It takes a lot of time to eat sit downs and signatures. Is that how you want to spend your time at WDW?

 

[aaarcher86]

It takes a lot of time to eat sit downs and signatures. Is that how you want to spend your time at WDW?

What's a lot of time?

We eat a TS breakfast and dinner and don't feel like we've lost out on anything throughout the day.