Deluxe Dining and Car

[roxannex]

I'm looking at possibly doing the DxDP in January and staying at CBR. Do you think that to really take advantage of the best dining options on the plan, it would be better to have a car? I know from past experience that it takes a long time to get from one resort to another.

For those who have done the DxDP, do you use a car so you can get to some of the good restaurants at resorts?

 

[havoc315]

I think a car would be a good idea if staying at CBR. We stay at the monorail resorts, and thus primarily use the signature restaurants on the monorail. I feel I'm missing some of the signatures elsewhere (Like Jiko, Flying Fish), but too much of a hassle to get there with Disney transportation.

So if your goal is to take advantage of signature dining, and you're not staying at a monorail resort especially, I think a car is a very good idea.

 

[Cafeen]

It helps, but it's not necessary if you can plan it out well. Use the meals for hopping if you have hoppers, or stick to everything but Jiko. Jiko is the only sig not in a park that doesn't have super convenient transportation to a park. (Granted, it was also my favorite last year, so may be worthwhile to spring for a cab if you don't have a car).

I'll typically use the resort meals (sig or non-sig) as hopping points. Instead of going from Epcot to MK on Tuesday for example, I'll be heading from Epcot to The Contemporary for dinner at CG, then from there to MNSSHP. I pretty much follow the same pattern with all my resort meals. (Well, after Mom leaves on Monday at least).

Of course, this only works if you don't feel you have to "freshen up" before dinner. A change of shirt and a quick splash of water to the face works for me, but your mileage may vary.

Example (not all sigs, but the same thought process can be applied there):
Thu: Driving to Jiko (Mom arrives by car around 5:30pm)
Sat: DHS -> Poly (Kona) -> CSR (via MK)
(Mom leaves Monday evening)
Tues: Epcot -> CG -> MK
Wed: AK -> Sanaa -> DHS -> FF -> Epcot
Thu: MK -> GFC -> Epcot -> Le Cellier (ok, that one's in the park)
Fri: AK -> Citrico's -> MK

 

[vinotinto]

It absolutely helps to have a car. Having done the DxDP twice, I can tell you that it does save time if you can drive to dinner at the resorts or DTD. And the times when we didn't (a few times while we stayed at the Poly and we both wanted to indulge into a bottle of wine), we were late due to monorail issues. It also helps to go 'out' (of the parks) to lunch. We drove to Saana on our AKL day for lunch. We drove to WPC in DTD on our TL day for lunch. It takes away the "getting there" out of the equation and you can focus on eating where you want, when you want.

 

[Mikey'swife]

It helps but is really needed for breakfast unless you want to eat all your breakfasts in park. A lot of resorts have nice breakfasts but busses only run to parks about an hour before parks open and then you have to catch a bus to the resort and then bus, monorail or boat to park.

 

[Colleen27]

We did the DxDDP for 9 nights at CBR and only once wished we had a car; on our other two DxDDP trips (11 nights @ WL, 6 nights @ Pop) it was never an issue at all.

Most nights we plan dinner in or near our park for the day, with monorail resort or DTD restaurants on non-park days. That works well for us. The only resort dinner that was somewhat problematic as far as transportation was Jiko - getting there from AK was easy enough, but busing to Epcot to transfer to a bus back to CBR was a pain and not something I'd do again. DD was 16mo and <20lbs on that trip so I was a little hesitant to call a cab and rely on a car seat they provided; now that she's 3 I'd spend the $20ish for a cab without hesitation if we were having dinner at AKL (or any other non-MK/Epcot area resort).

It does take more planning to do the DxDDP without a car because you have to think about where you're going to be each day and make sure your ADRs are convenient to that plan, but I have never felt like a car was a must-have. We'll be doing the DxDDP again in Nov, this time at ASMu, and will once again be relying upon Disney transportation.