delux dining plan is it worth it ?

[bex7583]

found a really good deal on accomodation on flights so considering upgrading the dining plan ( im not very good at keeping costs down)

has anybody stayed with a delux dining plan before was it too much/ did you have meal credits left over?

will it work out cheaper to just buy extra meals as and when we need them and only have the regular dining plan,

my 2 sons eat us out of house and home here and it can be long days so dont think them skipping breakfast or lunch will go down too well

 

[2Tiggies]

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has anybody stayed with a delux dining plan before was it too much/ did you have meal credits left over?

will it work out cheaper to just buy extra meals as and when we need them and only have the regular dining plan,

my 2 sons eat us out of house and home here and it can be long days so dont think them skipping breakfast or lunch will go down too well

For a long stay, no way!

I can see DxDDP working very well for those who do a week or less and want to spend time experiencing various restaurants but to get value from it, you are going to spend a LOT of time not only in restaurants, but getting there (do not underestimate the amount of time you need to get from wherever you are to a restaurant to check in for your seating, which you should be doing 15 minutes ahead of time), waiting for them to seat you if you are running late, leave at least an hour for a sit down meal, and then leave. To get value from the DxDDP you want to be doing two sit downs or a signature most days you are there. You are going to lose a LOT of park time that way and it's an expensive luxury if you love your food, but there are cheaper ways to fill up your hungry sons. Also, don't forget that eating so many sit down meals is not only time consuming, but you have to factor in the cost of tips as well as planning and making all those reservations. You are going to be very locked into a schedule with little room for flexibility.

The dining plan gives you a lot of food. We have done the QSDP 3 times now and are doing it again and never manage to get through all our credits - by a long shot - and that is staying and eating onsite all the way through our trip as we don't drive. Remember, you get snack credits too and a snack is often sufficient as a light (or even not so light) meal on its own.

Personally, I would not do it. If I lived locally and did a 3 or 4 day trip, maybe, but even then, not with kids. Just my two cents

 

[wayneg]

Might be worth you flicking thru my past threads on DDP, see the amount of food you get.
We all like our food, I weigh 20 stone and eat more than the average man, done DDP 3 times, never had to buy a meal yet. Credits have worked perfectly for us.
DxDDP would be a complete waste for us, yes it could work if you enjoy 2 TS meals a day or eating at a Signature every evening but we don't.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2249674
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2524489
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2771370

 

[Holstar]

We're staying on Disney property for twelve nights, and I really wanted to upgrade to DxDDP (I'm bad at taking advice, and eat like a horse).

But, when it came down to it, they wanted to charge us just over £1,000 to upgrade - which is ridiculous.

The only reason we wanted it, was so that breakfast was covered and budgeted for and so that we could have a sit down lunch to avoid the heat/rain showers.

However, we looked at the menu for the Yacht Club and absolute maximum breakfast would cost is $60/day.... so about £500! And, our nieces don't even eat breakfast most mornings.

Should we decide that we do want a sit down lunch on the very odd occasions in the parks.... I'm sure it's not going to come to another £500 over the days we're there.

For us, it was throwing money away!

I'm still being abitious and wanting to do a sit down meal every night... but we'll see how long that lasts

xxx

 

[queendisney]

agree with pp's ... way to time consuming and with all that food you may need to upgrade for bigger seats on the way home
TBH we only do the QSDP because we hate having to plan so much and being held to a reservation on a certain day at a certain time is a no go for us..we just get up and decided on the day! But even the QSDP has mega loads of food on it and we struggle to use all the credits, but somehow manage it We find the qsdp suits us just fine and contrary to popular believe its not all junk food you really can eat healthy options. The Delux plan is just so much food.....

 

[wayneg]

contrary to popular believe its not all junk food you really can eat healthy options.

There are lots of great healthy options for CS credits, every year I intend to eat more of them but when I am there just about to order the food I can't get my mouth to say healthy things,

 

[queendisney]

There are lots of great healthy options for CS credits, every year I intend to eat more of them but when I am there just about to order the food I can't get my mouth to say healthy things,

that made me laugh, we always start off well then by about day 5 thats well and truly gone out the window! Do I have a fruit cup or a cupcake...well let me think

 

[bex7583]

thankyou well that was a easy decision the advance planning and time restrictions sold me straight away !!

tho it was the lack of brekkie that was swaying me toward upgrading, will just buy brekfasts as we need them then !! mickey waffles n bacon mmmmm had them every morning when staying in carribean beach

 

[2Tiggies]

thankyou well that was a easy decision the advance planning and time restrictions sold me straight away !!

tho it was the lack of brekkie that was swaying me toward upgrading, will just buy brekfasts as we need them then !! mickey waffles n bacon mmmmm had them every morning when staying in carribean beach

Good decision. Breakfast is a lousy use of a credit in any event, less so if you are eating at a sit down restaurant but DxDDP gives meal credits so you are free to choose CS or TS.

We use one of our snack credits for breakfast or even more often, grab fruit (your sons would probably prefer a pastry of something like that instead) as our desert at night and then save it in the room fridge to eat on the run the next morning.

We also sometimes just take a couple of $$ and buy a bag of bagels at the resort shop. All the resorts have gift shops and you can get basics like bread, milk, juice, wine (not for breakfast of course) and the food courts have toasters and microwaves. It's not so much a case of saving money as saving time, although anyone on a strict budget could save a fair bit out of this.

Another option to look at that many folk do here is ordering some basic groceries online to have delivered to your resort so that you have extra food in the room. Garden Grocer is a popular choice but I can't help with info on that as I don't order extras for our stays. Plenty on here do though and would be able to help you if you need further info on that

 

[queendisney]

thankyou well that was a easy decision the advance planning and time restrictions sold me straight away !!

tho it was the lack of brekkie that was swaying me toward upgrading, will just buy brekfasts as we need them then !! mickey waffles n bacon mmmmm had them every morning when staying in carribean beach

Exactly..

We always buy a loaf of bread and just have toast in the morning (use the toaster in POR) or go for a make your own omlette from the food court at POR..that always seems like enough to be going on with

 

[wayneg]

Most I want at breakfast is a cinammon roll from Main St bakery, 1 snack credit or a Krispy Creme Doughnut.
We have 1 character breakfast booked this next trip, out of 21 nights. I know I will hardly eat anything and say its a wasted credit but we will have a 4 year old with us, its for her not me.

 

[Lisa x]

Most I want at breakfast is a cinammon roll from Main St bakery, 1 snack credit or a Krispy Creme Doughnut.
We have 1 character breakfast booked this next trip, out of 21 nights. I know I will hardly eat anything and say its a wasted credit but we will have a 4 year old with us, its for her not me.

Just when my Pre holiday diet was going soooooo well, you mention the words Krispy Kreme

Now do I try my best to erase my memory or do I jump in the car and head towards Birstall?? Hmmmm......

 

[queendisney]

Most I want at breakfast is a cinammon roll from Main St bakery, 1 snack credit or a Krispy Creme Doughnut.
We have 1 character breakfast booked this next trip, out of 21 nights. I know I will hardly eat anything and say its a wasted credit but we will have a 4 year old with us, its for her not me.

yeah yeah Wayne..you know you want a cuddle with Minnie Mouse

Ooh...Main Street Bakery, I can smell it now, I of course will just go for a nice big apple, abeit it will be covered in chocolate and nuts

 

[Ciorsdah]

We also sometimes just take a couple of $$ and buy a bag of bagels at the resort shop. All the resorts have gift shops and you can get basics like bread, milk, juice, wine (not for breakfast of course)

Wine for breakfast sounds like a great idea!

 

[dixonsontour]

Desserts also work well for breakfast - we have taken dessert away after a TS meal with us and had for brekkie the day after eg at whispering canyon (by the time i've had seconds of the skillet i'm never going to manage dessert aswell) They will pack it 'to go' for you.

If your sons are bottomless pits look at doing alot of buffets and all u can eat family style TS meals.

 

[london75]

Wine for breakfast sounds like a great idea!

Due to time zone confusion, it's always wine o'clock when on holiday. It's safest.

Roll on late breakfast at Frankie and Benny's in the ariport for a bottle of champers.

 

[wayneg]

Desserts also work well for breakfast - we have taken dessert away after a TS meal with us and had for brekkie the day after eg at whispering canyon (by the time i've had seconds of the skillet i'm never going to manage dessert aswell) They will pack it 'to go' for you.

If your sons are bottomless pits look at doing alot of buffets and all u can eat family style TS meals.

Exactly what Matt did at WCC, I managed to eat some healthy fruit after the skillet but Matt too his cheescake back for breakfast

 

[2Tiggies]

Exactly what Matt did at WCC, I managed to eat some healthy fruit after the skillet but Matt too his cheescake back for breakfast

Well to be reasonable here, cheesecake looks like a perfectly balanaced breakfast. At least there is calcium in there (make up for skipping milk on the cereal) and I'm quite confident that there is more sugar gram for gram in a bowl of coco pops or Fruit Loops than there is in that cheesecake. Only cheesecake tastes better

 

[london75]

Can I ask, do people tend to buy starters or stick with the entree and pudding? I love some of the starters and would take over pudding most times if it were allowed. That was one of the reasons I'd consider deluxe but only late August when same day reservations are reasonably easy to get as I'd hate to plan that much, I didn't enjoy fixing restaurant choices this year, goes against our usual holiday mode.

 

[wayneg]

Can I ask, do people tend to buy starters or stick with the entree and pudding? I love some of the starters and would take over pudding most times if it were allowed. That was one of the reasons I'd consider deluxe but only late August when same day reservations are reasonably easy to get as I'd hate to plan that much, I didn't enjoy fixing restaurant choices this year, goes against our usual holiday mode.

I think we bought 2 starters in 16 days last year, Sanaa & Grand Floridian Cafe. I have no idea how much it costs to upgrade to Deluxe but if thats your reasoning I can't see a starter OOP every day being as much, 3 courses every evening would be too much for me.

We found early August easier for changing ressies, before the free US dining offer kicks in, once that starts mid August restaurants are packed, you will find some places with same day availability but most popular places were turning people away last year.