Deluxe Dining Plan-Anyone else intrigued?

[PolyAddict]

Where can I find info on deluxe dining plan?

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I might do it. I usually do 2 TS meals a day, and I would love being able to do signature restaurants without worrying about the cost. That would actually be an almost perfect plan for me.

 

[Golden Rose]

This actually looks better to us than the current DDP does. Our family loves TS restaurants for both lunch and dinner. Doing a standard TS for lunch and a signature dining restaurant for dinner would be perfect, although we'd probably do a couple of character breakfasts some days, too. This is exactly the plan we had hoped to see!

 

[jenjersnap]

We just might do the Deluxe on our next family trip. From now on, we'll need to go in summer because of DS #1's school schedule. He's dying to celebrate his bday next June at WDW. So I am thinking we'll take our first non-commando trip, spending days at the pool and water parks, renting boats, and leisurely meals, then hit the parks in the cooler evenings.

 

[KelsiesMommy]

My thing with it, is for those of us travelling in Jan, my 180 window has passed- I booked my ADRs based on current info, and say I want to go Deluxe DP- well, I may not get into those 2TS now because it's going to be closer to my travel date. I just wish they would have released info say 6 months before it is to take effect.

 

[mickey2000]

Its a way for Disney to control crowds or long lines at attractions

 

[jenfur]

This would be perfect for my family. We usually do a character breakfast every morning and use the CS for dinner as it is now. This year we are paying for some TS in the evening OOP, but if this is the plan they are offering, we won't be paying any OOP next year. We would do a character breakfast every day and have a light CS lunch and TS dinner or, actually use 2 TS for a signature meal, which would be great. Plus, with 2 snack credits, I wouldn't be so upset when one of the kids wants to "waste" a credit on a bottle of Coke.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

I'm very interested in the new deluxe dining plan. Of all the planning I did for my Dec. 2006 trip, the hardest thing to do was choose the 8 TS restaurants. It was so hard since there are so many choices!

With this new plan, it will not only be easy to eat at all the places I missed on the 1st trip, but we can try those signature restaurants too, especially with 2 snacks a day per person.

 

[Disneybridein2k3]

I also think its insulting to call this the jabba the hut plan - obviously plat and prem must be that too. Do you people eat 3 times a day at home? What is so wrong about eating 3 meals - you don't have to lick your plate. And I'm not sharing my vacation meal with DH and end up ordering something I don't like just so we can share and clean our plates. I also get a heck of a lot more exercise in every day at disney than I do at home.

Just because you don't want to eat like that on vacation doesn't mean that you need to insult families that are welcoming this change. Not everyone wants to take time to eat 2 or 3 sit down meals but there are plenty of us that don't want to go commando in the parks and enjoy getting up early for a character breakfast, welcome an hour break in the afternoon where someone waits on us for lunch, and nice quiet dinner in the evening.

First of all, I said MIKE SCOPA was the one who referred to the new plan as such and second of all, I believe the OP was looking for people's OPINIONS. Just because someone may not agree with you doesn't mean they are wrong. That being said, I don't pass judgement on anyone. You can tell by my pics that I'm not a tiny person so I'm hardly in a position to judge. The plan doesn't work for MY family, but like another poster said, I hope it IS successful because time spent in restaurants means less crowded parks for the rest of us. And to answer your question, YES. My family does try to eat 3 meals a day but I can't tell you that we've ever eaten 3 meals at a sit down restaurant. That is great for everyone who wants to do that, but if I'm paying $70/day to visit a Disney park I want to be enjoying the park and not planning my day around mealtimes. So you enjoy your meals and I'll be on the Rockin' Roller Coaster. Excellent - everyone should happy!

 

[Disneybridein2k3]

edited to remove post....not as funny when the orig pic was removed

 

[Colleen27]

I also think its insulting to call this the jabba the hut plan - obviously plat and prem must be that too. Do you people eat 3 times a day at home? What is so wrong about eating 3 meals - you don't have to lick your plate. And I'm not sharing my vacation meal with DH and end up ordering something I don't like just so we can share and clean our plates. I also get a heck of a lot more exercise in every day at disney than I do at home.

Just because you don't want to eat like that on vacation doesn't mean that you need to insult families that are welcoming this change. Not everyone wants to take time to eat 2 or 3 sit down meals but there are plenty of us that don't want to go commando in the parks and enjoy getting up early for a character breakfast, welcome an hour break in the afternoon where someone waits on us for lunch, and nice quiet dinner in the evening.

No kidding. I cannot believe how insulting some of the reactions to the deluxe plan have been. It isn't really that much more food than the DDP, at least as I see it - we'd just be replacing the CS meal with a TS meal and the TS meal with a signature meal. Its still 2 meals per day, it is just 2 better meals.

As far as food quantity, I might be able to get away with sharing with DH in a lot of restaurants, but when it comes to food choice, it'd never happen. DH is a meat & potatoes guy; I hardly eat red meat. I'm a fish lover; he's deathy allergic to fish. Neither of us would be all that happy with compromises when it comes to what we order.

Since we plan to go in the winter, we'll welcome more sitdown meals. We'll just plan around park hours, so that we're making the most of the shorter winter park hours and having a nice dinner as a way of unwinding at the end of the day. I'd happily eat signature dinners more evenings than not, because I really love good food & wine. That's a big part of what makes a vacation for me - I can get CS quality food at a half dozen places where I live, but there's nothing on par with California Grill or Flying Fish within 30-40 miles of me. So if I indulge on vacation, I don't worry much about it because I know I don't indulge at home. And if I somehow manage to gain weight despite all the walking we do at the World, I'm not concerned because I know that 12 days isn't going to do permanent damage - the weight will come off when I come home to my regular routines. But I've always lost weight when we travel, even on the DDP and even at all inclusive resorts, so I don't suppose the deluxe plan will do any worse than negate my usual vacation loss.

 

[BCV23]

I read Honeymo78's post as directed to Mike Scopa's comment. I find his comment offensive as well. I don't think she was addressing you, Disneybride.

Everyone vacations differently. We like to enjoy family meals together on vacation. QS or eating a protein bar on the way to a bus doesn't qualify as family time to me. But then my DH always traveled and WDW trips were a treasured time to enjoy sitting around the table together three times a day for a whole week. We used to do the equivalent of the present premium plan for years. But we've had APs for about 10 years and have owned DVC for 5 so that is no longer an alternative. I'm thrilled with this new option although I will have to do the math as we also have DDE.

I also think some who say it is too much food must have preconceived notions of what others order and where they dine. We rarely do buffets or AYCE. A sample day for me with the deluxe plan would be a yogurt parfait from BCV for breakfast (snack credit presently), and Cobb salad and ice tea at Brown Derby for lunch. Dinner would be the beet salad at California Grill in season, perhaps the filet or fish for an entree and the cheese plate for dessert. On another day, I might choose the fruit plate at Kona for breakfast which is a hollowed out half pineapple filled with fruit. QS meals consisting of burger and fries or filling up with snack at the parks is less healthy and certainly more filled with calories.

BTW, who doesn't feed their young children 3 meals/day. Mine are grown now but one still needs to eat three times/day. If not I can see enjoying a TS breakfast and signature dinner.

 

[Colleen27]

More confirmation of the rumors... I called to check out ADR availability for my most likely January dates, just to get an idea of how difficult it might be to change our plans if we do decide the DxDDP is worth pushing our trip back a bit for. And the CM told me two very interesting things - first, availability is good, much better than for our Dec dates. Le Cellier was available on both the nights I asked about, with a limited choice of times - calling on exactly 180 out for the "slow" time in early Dec, my earliest option on any of the 3 evenings I have planned for Epcot was 8:40. Second, she said they have received "preliminary" information about the new tiered dining plan system, including a deluxe plan, and she expects the official release to come soon.

 

[Snow_White]

WAAAAAAAAAY too much food!!!!!! And that's all I'm going to say about that because if I say anything else I fear I will be insulting a select few.

 

[BCV23]

WAAAAAAAAAY too much food!!!!!! And that's all I'm going to say about that because if I say anything else I fear I will be insulting a select few.

Certainly not select and I doubt it will be a few.

 

[disneyjunkie]

Cinderumbrella - I completely agree. I love having a character breakfast everyday - not just for the food but for the character interaction. I hate waiting in line in the parks to see characters.

I also think its insulting to call this the jabba the hut plan - obviously plat and prem must be that too. Do you people eat 3 times a day at home? What is so wrong about eating 3 meals - you don't have to lick your plate. And I'm not sharing my vacation meal with DH and end up ordering something I don't like just so we can share and clean our plates. I also get a heck of a lot more exercise in every day at disney than I do at home.

Just because you don't want to eat like that on vacation doesn't mean that you need to insult families that are welcoming this change. Not everyone wants to take time to eat 2 or 3 sit down meals but there are plenty of us that don't want to go commando in the parks and enjoy getting up early for a character breakfast, welcome an hour break in the afternoon where someone waits on us for lunch, and nice quiet dinner in the evening.

 

[JohnathanS]

For us, the new Deluxe Plan isn't a good deal. With the DDE card, we usually spend no more than $70 a day on food for two of us (My Mom and I). At a TS, we usually find 2 appetizers, 1 entree, and 1 dessert to be plenty. We are trying the old DDP for the first(and last) time in October, but the new plan is just too much food for us, and not worth the price. For us, it would be throwing away money and food, kind of like buying something that we don't need just because it is on sale.

One thing also: If I were to do 3 TS meals a day, that also means tipping 3 times a day (from what I have read, tips will not be included). I'm assuming you base the tip on what your meal would have cost if you weren't on the plan, so I could end up spending a good bit more each day in tips.

For some the plan will certainly work and that's great. It's just not for us.

 

[bytheblood]

Mike Scopa of WDW Today podcast refers to this plan as the Jabba the Hut option.....​

TOTALLY!!!! I have to agree!

 

[girli565]

The funny thing is, I read Deb's post about the DDP Deluxe plan to my mom and she was like... "Well when are we planning the trip for 2008?" haha.

we are huge foodies in my house, my mom is a gourmet chef and we all love being able to eat at the TS restuarants! And like many have said, I doubt I would be able eat 3 TS meals a day but I would definitely have more 2TS signature meals scheduled. In 7 nights I could definitely hit up almost all of them!! That is so exciting!

 

[BCV23]

The funny thing is, I read Deb's post about the DDP Deluxe plan to my mom and she was like... "Well when are we planning the trip for 2008?" haha.

we are huge foodies in my house, my mom is a gourmet chef and we all love being able to eat at the TS restuarants! And like many have said, I doubt I would be able eat 3 TS meals a day but I would definitely have more 2TS signature meals scheduled. In 7 nights I could definitely hit up almost all of them!! That is so exciting!

Exactly.

Plus I imagine it will be per night not per day as that has been the way packages have been structured for quite a few years now. So if you arrive in the am and have most of your last day to play at WDW, it makes it even easier to use all those credits.