Deluxe Dining Plan - Am I reading this right??

[jenandkam]

I was just comparing the regular dining plan with the deluxe and the way I read it is that if you purchase the deluxe plan you get 3 meals/day and 2 snacks. ALL 3 of these meals can be either CS or TS meals? So I could have all TS meals the entire trip if I wanted to?? I must be misreading this.... Help please!

 

[daraddg]

that is correct 3 meals can all be table service meals and 2 snacks, also get the refillable mugs..........some of the signature resturants use 2 credits per meal though so keep that in mind when booking

 

[sarabear]

That's right! You can do all TS meals if you choose to! I'm planning to do all TS in September except possible Wolfgang Puck Express.

 

[daraddg]

here is a link to the brochure with all the resturants and who takes how many credits http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/me...altDisneyWorld/en_us/PDF/2011DeluxeDining.pdf

 

[daraddg]

we're doing the DDP late aug and have ours all booked lalready cant wait!

 

[jenandkam]

Wow - that's incredible... That's a lot of food, but we're the people who go on vacation to eat.

Now...if I could only check the price difference. The reservations site is down...

 

[aubriee]

Wow - that's incredible... That's a lot of food, but we're the people who go on vacation to eat.

Now...if I could only check the price difference. The reservations site is down...

Here's the prices for 2011 DDPs:

Dining plan prices for 2011

Prices are per person, per night (except for the Wine & Dine add on)
Adult prices - age 10 and over (no exceptions)
Child prices - ages 3-9
Children under 3 are not eligible for the dining plan.

Quick Service Dining Plan
* Adults $34.99
* Children $11.99

Basic Dining Plan
* Adults $45.99 (regular season), $47.99 (peak season*)
* Children $11.99 (regular season), $12.99 (peak season*)
*Peak Seasons: 2/17/11 - 2/26/11, 3/11/11 - 4/30/11, 6/3/11 - 8/13/11, 12/23/11 - 12/31/11

Deluxe Dining Plan
* Adults $78.99
* Children $21.99

 

[Faldred]

Wow - that's incredible... That's a lot of food, but we're the people who go on vacation to eat.

Note that if you're going the "no CS" route, a lot of experience DxDP'ers suggest two meals a day: a late breakfast or early lunch and a signature dinner. Your snack credits can fill in as needed (if needed!) around that schedule.

Of course, I think it's fine to mix in a few 3 sit-down meal days -- just spread them out and try not to over-do it at any buffet or all-you-care-to-eat meal.

 

[Cafeen]

Note that if you're going the "no CS" route, a lot of experience DxDP'ers suggest two meals a day: a late breakfast or early lunch and a signature dinner. Your snack credits can fill in as needed (if needed!) around that schedule.

Of course, I think it's fine to mix in a few 3 sit-down meal days -- just spread them out and try not to over-do it at any buffet or all-you-care-to-eat meal.

^^ Yup. 2 TS meals a day works out very nicely. Even on my non-signature days, I typically only end up doing 2 meals (which is about twice what I eat at home...)

And also to note, unlike DDP, on DxDDP it is not imperative to your bottom line if you have a few credits left over! If you spend roughly 3/4 of your credits (mostly at TS places), you're going to come out ahead no matter what (well, unless you do crazy stuff, like only order an appetizer, or only go to The Plaza...).

 

[bitohoney]

Wow - that's incredible... That's a lot of food, but we're the people who go on vacation to eat.

Now...if I could only check the price difference. The reservations site is down...

Yes it is a lot of food but it's fun! We did the DxDP once and I told myself I'd never do it again. I'm doing it again...this Christmas. Only because it's Christmas week and I don't want to deal with CS crowds and lines. The 1st time we had a breakfast ADR everyday, 3 ADRs a day. That got tiring, so this next time we only have 2 breakfast ADRs (Tusker House and Kouzinna) with only 2 days of 3 ADRs a day.

 

[jenandkam]

Great strategies.... I was thinking about it a bit more this morning and I think that even if we just run to the food court at the resort in the morning for pastries and coffee before rope drop we'd still come out ahead. We really wanted to try a few of the restaurants/shows that require 2 TS credits so this really might be the best way to go for us this time around.

The dining plan sure does seem to take a lot of heat on these boards sometimes, but I think it is a life saver to not have to worry about it. It's worth the money for the peace of mind for me...

 

[3pletprincesses]

We love the deluxe but many have said, we only do 2 ts a day. We normally do late breakfast and early signature dinner or early lunch and later signature dinner or dinner show. We only have done one day 3 meals and it was too mcuh for all of us. Dh and had barely touched our food and my triplets were able to share 1 meals and still have left over. If you plan 3 TS a day, I would suggest sharing some of those meals because it's a lot of food but soo much fun. At the end of our stay we still had 40 snack credits left out of 50 at the end because we weren't hungry between meals and only used our snacks for frozen drinks when we wanted something to drink. That being said, we didn't waste any of them and brought back all kinds of snacks home to bring magic home

 

[havoc315]

^^ Yup. 2 TS meals a day works out very nicely. Even on my non-signature days, I typically only end up doing 2 meals (which is about twice what I eat at home...)

And also to note, unlike DDP, on DxDDP it is not imperative to your bottom line if you have a few credits left over! If you spend roughly 3/4 of your credits (mostly at TS places), you're going to come out ahead no matter what (well, unless you do crazy stuff, like only order an appetizer, or only go to The Plaza...).

Not so sure about only using 3/4th of your credits.... Agree you only need to use about 3/4ths of your credits for TS, but if you simply toss the other 1/4th in the garbage, you may not get value.
For example, for 4 nights.. $358 for the deluxe plan, in holiday pricing, per adult. If you skipped snacks, and skipped 3 out of 12 credits..... Then the break even point would be -- using 9 credits -- Break even point would be $40 per credit. Not impossible to achieve under the deluxe dining plan, but definitely on the high side of reality. Especially as almost all 1-credit buffets fall under that price.

But realistically, if you use 3/4ths of your credits for TS meals.... use most of the remaining credits for CS meals, snacks, etc... Use at least half your snacks... You will achieve a pretty good savings in the DxDP, even under 2012 pricing.

 

[Cafeen]

Not so sure about only using 3/4th of your credits.... Agree you only need to use about 3/4ths of your credits for TS, but if you simply toss the other 1/4th in the garbage, you may not get value.
For example, for 4 nights.. $358 for the deluxe plan, in holiday pricing, per adult. If you skipped snacks, and skipped 3 out of 12 credits..... Then the break even point would be -- using 9 credits -- Break even point would be $40 per credit. Not impossible to achieve under the deluxe dining plan, but definitely on the high side of reality. Especially as almost all 1-credit buffets fall under that price.

But realistically, if you use 3/4ths of your credits for TS meals.... use most of the remaining credits for CS meals, snacks, etc... Use at least half your snacks... You will achieve a pretty good savings in the DxDP, even under 2012 pricing.

Break even point in 2011 is ~66% spent at TS, 0 spent at CS, $3 snacks
2012 regular is ~70% at TS, 0 at CS, $3 snacks (we determined this in the original thread using the averages I stole (erm, borrowed) from that guy that tried to sell his sheet on here )
I had also figured the mixes of CS and TS somewhere, but that sheet is at home and I'm doing this by memory.

The 3/4 example is a device used to show that leaving a few credits off isn't going to suddenly make you lose money, it's understood that for every credit you don't use, you don't save as much money, but unless you're actually approaching the 3/4 number, it's not going to actually cost you more.

 

[havoc315]

Break even point in 2011 is ~66% spent at TS, 0 spent at CS, $3 snacks
2012 regular is ~70% at TS, 0 at CS, $3 snacks (we determined this in the original thread using the averages I stole (erm, borrowed) from that guy that tried to sell his sheet on here )
I had also figured the mixes of CS and TS somewhere, but that sheet is at home and I'm doing this by memory.

The 3/4 example is a device used to show that leaving a few credits off isn't going to suddenly make you lose money, it's understood that for every credit you don't use, you don't save as much money, but unless you're actually approaching the 3/4 number, it's not going to actually cost you more.

Math mostly looks right. To nitpick a bit, you are assuming using all the snack credits. When my family does deluxe, we don't need half the credits.

Also, to be clear, you are talking about the break even point. If you're only going to break even under the plan, then there are other factors to consider.

 

[Cafeen]

Math mostly looks right. To nitpick a bit, you are assuming using all the snack credits. When my family does deluxe, we don't need half the credits.

Also, to be clear, you are talking about the break even point. If you're only going to break even under the plan, then there are other factors to consider.

Absolutely true. I'd never recommend anyone to just flat out and use the plan if they were only using 3/4 of the credits. That's where a very in-depth analysis would come into play (including the value of convenience). But when you're dealing with 9 days and 24 credits, knowing the the break even is around 3/4 means that those 2 or 3 that may be left over aren't going to make the entire thing unworthwhile.

Of course, to be fair, I normally word that a bit different and place the emphasis on the few credits, then go into the break even. Re-reading it now I was a bit unclear .

So, to clarify and reword properly...
Don't be afraid to leave a few credits (depending on length of stay) left over. The break even point is around 3/4 credits used mostly at TS, so 1 or 2 or even 3-4 (again, depending on length of stay) isn't going to make you suddenly have to pay more than you would otherwise .

 

[DisneyMomFanatic]

My family did the DxDP at New Years week '09. We wanted to get the full value out of what we paid so we ate and ate and ate. What we realized after we went into a food coma was that we did way too many buffets and ate full throtle at every meal until we hit our breaking point. Will NEVER do that again! Even my son who was 9 at the time told us he was FULL on this trip(which has never happened before EVER!!!) TWICE!!!

We are thinking about doing it again for the trip we are planning in 2012 and realize that we can do all the restaurants we want but we don't need to order that appy if we don't want or we skip a meal here or there and we still make out on the deal and we can eat where and when we want to. But also we don't have to carry cash or worry about if we have enough money to pay for the restaurant we want to go to. We do love the ease of it.

My DH was worried that we wouldn't break even with 2 adults and 2 kids that are adult price and age (10 and 13). But when we looked at menus and asked them what they would order, it comes out to our advantage monetarily to get that plan. Go figure