Deluxe Dining is it too much?

[JerseyJanice]

The CG Brunch is 2 but yea I see what your saying

A late breakfast or a good lunch, a Mickey pretzel mid afternoon and a signature dinner. That was how we rolled.

One night, I scheduled Flying Fish for 9:30, the last ADR for the night. We scooted over there after Illuminations, and it was fab. Missed no park time and we even got to meet a celebrity! Heinz Ward who was a Pittsburgh Steeler.

 

[mrcase77]

The CG Brunch is 2 but yea I see what your saying

Would it be workable to choose a lower tier (paying out of pocket for some of the meals if you really find you enjoy this schedule and amount of food) and try this schedule a few days and scale it back if need be? That way, if you got to the end of day 1 and it’s just too much you could thin out some your reservations later in the week and you wouldn’t be out any money. And if you love it, you can just keep going? It seems like, if worst came to worst, you might lose $10 on a reservation you decide to cull if you decide to start cancelling some. Or is that a horrible idea? It seems like you’d know fairly quickly In the week if you like it or not?

I guess then you’d have quick service you don’t want... you could just make the reservations and pay it out of pocket so you don’t lose money if it’s too much. Maybe put the money on a gift card if you’re wanting it set aside and use extra for souvenirs if you don’t spend it?

All that said, this is your vacation. You should do it the way you want it.

 

[North of Mouse]

Would be way too much food for us. We are light eaters and the thought makes me ill, but only you know your eating habits, and if it fits. Even the regular dining plan is too much food for us.

 

[disneyvoice]

We did the dining plan once and had a crazy amount of credits left over because it was just too much food for us. My DH and I tend to split meals or order two appetizers to share though so the plan just doesn't work for us at all. There are some days where all I eat is a QS lunch and I'm good. I find that, although there are always SO many places that I want to eat, I just can't eat that much at WDW. If I get even a slight feeling of "fullness" I am super uncomfortable walking around the parks and climbing in and out of ride vehicles all day long. Unfortunately I also always end up with some gastrointestinal issue because we don't eat out that much at home and all that high fat and calorie, rich food gets to me.

 

[Shellyred8]

I was not impressed with BOG breakfast at all. That's the only place I would recommend changing. But that's just me.

At Satuli, if you get a dessert, I would recommend the "blue" one. I've had both the blue one and the chocolate one. The chocolate one was very dry. Everything else we've had there was good. Note: if you get the cheeseburger pods, there are dill pickles in them. Just little bits of them, but they are there. Also, if they happen to be open for breakfast while you are there, I would recommend that. We ate there when it first opened and then they stopped doing breakfasts. Which is sad, because it was a pretty good breakfast. I think they only open for breakfast during really busy times now.

Uff-da...that's a lot of food! We did the DDP once and we felt like that was too much food for us, so we just go OOP now. But if this is what you want from your vacation, then go for it!!

Have a great trip!

 

[Shelleyfs]

We always do deluxe dining. My husband isn't a big park/disney person, so this is his treat of the vacation for him. We eat twice a day. We do lunch and a later dinner. That way we are getting the bang for the buck and none of us are big breakfast people anyway. It is worth it for us. I don't think we have ever lost money on the dining plan. We like treating ourselves to the higher end signature restaurants and we enjoy getting the break by sitting in the a/c with a nice lunch.

Everyone is different. We have been to Disney a lot over the years and the kids are in high school age or older. We are past the go, go, go and more taking our time and chill vacations.

 

[GillianP1301]

I don't think it's too much. I have done the DxDP plan for our last 3 trips and loved it and I don't consider it too much food because I usually don't clean my plate. I eat until I'm full, not over full.

The biggest positives of 3 TS a day are:

• Lots of opportunity to experience many different dining options. I consider the restaurants attractions in themselves and I can't imagine not taking advantage of them whenever possible
• Built in breaks to your touring plan (especially nice during hot summer days). You have to eat anyway, so why this is 2 birds one stone.
• For character dining, you can actually end up saving yourself time by not having to queue up in the park for them and you get to meet them in a comfortable atmosphere while eating, again 2 birds, one stone.
• No having to wait in line and jockey for a table while carrying trays of food that get less and less hot as you search. This is particularly a good time if you are one parent trying to keep track of your kids while searching for that table.

The biggest negatives of 3 TS a day:

• It takes more time than QS dining. I personally don't find this to be a negative because I do longer length trips (10 days) and return yearly, so I never feel like I'm sacrificing any time. But, if you are on a shorter trip, this could be more of a factor
• If you have young children, keeping their eating and sleep patterns as close to normal for them will all but eliminate meltdowns. In most cases, children will not over eat and if they are used to have their lunch 3 or 4 hours after they eat breakfast, they will still want/need that on vacation. This one is huge for me because my DS gets hangry with missed meals.
• I find with 3 meals a day meant I was not looking to snack very often and that meant I did not get to really enjoy some of the great snack options available.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

So we have done deluxe for a one day trip in 2012 but any other trip we always used the regular DDP
We rented DVC points for a 3 way split trip this Sept coming. We added deluxe dining.

We take daily afternoon breaks by the pool (its just hubby and I altho meeting family at WDW) and thats pretty important to us we adore the parks and our pool and down time, we both have rush, stressful jobs.

We arent park hopping and I always book my dining at the park/resort we are at or right outside of it to cut down on travel time and to preserve the park and rest time. We do have a car so we may drive sometimes to conserve time.

Hubby tends to like to get appetizers with his meals and I like desserts, my husband can also be a big eater. In fact he use to always eat 3 meals a day before he started his current job in Aug now he eats once a day normally during his work week, maybe twice when he is off, but has lost weight and really coudlnt afford to loose it.

Critique my plans if you dont mind?

2 nights at the Dolphin arriving late the first night.

The next day Sat is not on DDP everything that day will be OOP

Sat Breakfast at Picubu @ Dolphin, drive to Disney Springs lunch at Homecoming, back to Dolphin to relax and swim at Grotto Pool, in the early evening take boat to Epcot, dinner at Via Napoli
Start of Dining Plan for first 3 days (18 credit)
Sun Check into VGF, hop monorail over to CR for CG Brunch, back to VGF for pool time until 3 to shower and get ready, 4pm MNSSHP, early dinner at TT

MON Epcot Day, lunch Biergarten afternoon break, dinner at Spice Table hope to see Illuminations from restaurant

Tues Hollywood Studios The Wave breakfast, lunch at Sci Fi Diner, afternoon break, dinner at Cape May hope to go back to HS and see the Star Wars nighttime show

Start of new DDP for 4 days (24 credits)
Wed Check into the PVB, breakast at Kona, drive to AK, lunch at Satuli Canteen, afternoon break, dinner at Yak & Yeti, hope to catch ROL and see Pandora at night for first time.

Thurs Our wedding Anniversary no parks today. Sleep in, drive to Boma for breakfast, spend rest of day relaxing at Poly Pool, may go back to Disney Springs to shop, drinks at Trader Sams around 4, dinner at Ohana, fireworks on the Poly Beach

Fri MK BOG for breakfast, Skipper Canteen for lunch, park closes early for MNSSHP so no afternoon break probably, then WCC for dinner after park closing and will relax the rest of the evening at resort.

Sat Epcot Bon Voyage Breakfast, park time in Epcot, lunch at Chefs De France, afternoon break, Rose & Crown dinner.

Sun sleep in, make sure all is packed up, one last walk around Poly, then head over to Fort Wilderness for brunch at Trails End.

This doesnt even plan the snacks we wanted to try like Cheshire Cat Tail, Pineapple lumpia, pulled pork fries, I have no idea how to add those in, not to mention F & W..lol

So if I did my math right that is one left over credit correct? Did I plan everything well enough to maximize time?

I really think only you and your DH can decide if it's too much. The positives with the DDDP is no real worries about what's included and it does make your trip feel all inclusive. However IMO those are the only benefits for us. I do love all your ADR choices, you have some really good ones and some that are on my list to try but beyond that, the DDDP is a negative for us. The cost, the making sure you use all your credits to the highest and best use, spending all that time eating (not enjoying attractions), waiting for ADRs since some of the restaurants aren't always timely, tipping more than you would normally, eating more than you would normally, and the cost is not at all economical for our family, for that matter none of the disney dining plans are for us, we do better paying OOP. You need to decide if it works for you. I see this schedule and don't see much park time but we have two little kids and they'd lose their mind if we had 3 ADRs per day.....I would too though. You know how you like to do disney so go with your gut. It sounds like a super fun anniversary trip!!

 

[JerseyJanice]

In June 2012, we did 5 nights on the Deluxe Dining Plan while staying at the Wilderness Lodge to celebrate my parents-in-law’s 50th Anniversary.

I looked up my notes, and this is where we ate:

Arrival day:
Lunch—Whispering Canyon Cafe Skillet. I love their apple cider vinaigrette and cornbread.
Dinner—Spirit of Aloha. I’m not sorry that we got to experience it, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Food and entertainment were sub-par.

Day 2:
Breakfast—1900 Park Fare. Excellent. Best breakfast I ever had at WDW.
Dinner—Yachtsman Steakhouse. Parents-in-law’s 50th Anniversary dinner. Beyond excellent. One of the top 5 meals in my entire life.

Day 3:
Lunch: DS got a turkey leg meal with a CS credit. I got fries and plastic cheese at Cosmic Ray’s with a snack credit.
Dinner: California Grill. I didn’t love my food, but it was a spectacular experience dining up on the roof with a thunderstorm passing over.

Day 4:
Lunch: LeCellier. This was right after the dinner went 2 credits, but lunch was still one. We had cheese soup, the filet with mushroom risotto and chocolate “moose” which was chocolate mousse rolled into the shape of a moose, covered with chocolate cookie crumbs, decorated with M&Ms for eyes and nose, and had molded chocolate antlers. It was the cutest dessert ever and actually really good to eat.
Dinner: Flying Fish. (Mentioned above.) This was before the big re-do and I loved it. The decor, service and food were all outstanding. Dinner was a 3-course prixe fixe that came with a half portion of Caesar salad and a half portion of their crab cakes, then a half of their signature red snapper and a small strip steak. Dessert was supposed to be a banana Napoleon, but they let me swap it for a “Taste of the Boardwalk.” It was a sampler platter with a housemade whoopie pie, caramel popcorn flavored mousse and a tiny popsicle made from fresh cherry limeade and served in a tiny Coke glass.

Really the whole meal was fantastic, and I would go again if I could, but the new restaurant wants to be sophisticated as opposed to whimsical, and I’m a whimsy loving lady.

Day 5:
Lunch: Roaring Fork. I don’t remember what I had, but I will say that I always liked this QS. This was my second stay at WL, and it’s a great place.
Dinner: Artist Point. Mushroom soup, Copper River salmon on a cedar plank, and berry cobbler with housemade ice cream. Outstanding! Really an awesome meal.

Departure Day:
I think we had one meal credit left and used it at Roaring Fork plus we used up snack credits on soup and what-not. Magic bars are yummy.

It was a whole lot of fun going Deluxe and experiencing a bunch of new restaurants. My trips since then have been staying at the Swan and paying OOP during F&W. We enjoy grazing at the F&W Festival.

 

[bluejasmine]

Ok so after much thought and talking to the hubby I changed things around some..

Sept 9 CG brunch and LTT dinner
Sept 10 Biergarten lunch and Spice Rd
Sept 11 The wave sci fi cape may
sept 12 kona yak and yeti jiko
sept 13 boma ohana
sept 14 BOG skipper canteen Narcossee
sept 15 Rose and Crown Le Cellier
sept 16 Trails end brunch

so we got rid of two of the breakfasts and upgrade a few of the restaurants to signature like Narcossee, Jiko and Le Cellier to get more bang for our buck
the breakfasts we have hubby didnt want to get rid of we may drop one later tho..


Thanks everyone!!

 

[gharter]

For us it would be. We found the regular dining plan was too much food. we didn't need dessert at every lunch. We always had a very light breakfast. I don't think we could get through the deluxe plan. Others have loved it. YMMV.