Deluxe Dining Plan - Did You Like It?

[TwinkleKS]

We almost always use the deluxe dining. I just prefer to. I know I'm not saving any money and am probably spending more, but I like to know the total cost up front and not have to worry about it. Plus I married an accountant ... we went on a short quick trip last summer last minute and didn't do the dining plan ... then every meal he was adding up what we were ordering, trying to make people change their order, etc. to save money. When we go on the plan he never says a thing. We all order and everyone is fine.

I also never book more than two meals a day on it. I try to book signature meals / two credit experiences to take up some of the extra credits.

We end up with extra snacks, if I have time I try to go get candy, etc. to take home. It also means if someone is thirsty we "buy" a bottle of water and don't worry about it.

 

[Colleen27]

We love the DxDDP, and I disagree strongly with the posters who have said there's no financial advantage in it. It is the only one of the dining plans that still has solid potential for savings at full price. I shared this analysis from my planning spreadsheet on another recent thread about the dining plans.

These are the numbers from my planning spreadsheet for our upcoming trip. This is for about the least advantageous party make-up possible - five adults, only one an actual adult old enough to benefit from the alcohol inclusion.

• California Grill bunch (10TS) $400
• Raglan Road (5TS) $234
• Cape May breakfast (2TS) $73
• Spice Road Table (3TS) $161
• Rose & Crown (2TS) $81
• 50s Prime Time (5TS) $206
• Yachtsman (10TS) $403
• Be Our Guest breakfast (5QS) $130
• Narcoosees (10TS) $408
• Yak & Yeti (5TS) $216
• Ohana (5TS) $225
• Flying Fish (10TS) $359
• Mugs (5) $95
• Snacks (50 @ $4) $200

After tax, that comes out to almost $3400 and we have 3 credits (total, not per person) unplanned. The DxDDP for our party is $2906.

Now, of course we could eat more cheaply than that. We could have a lot more QS and fewer signature dinners, share apps and desserts, and pack snacks and a soda to have in the room instead of buying our snacks and mugs from Disney. But for a trip where we *want* to hit all of our family favorites and have a lot of nice meals, it offers a fair bit of savings.

It is a lot of food, but it matches the way we like to eat on vacation. I despise quick service, the waiting in line to order, standing around waiting for food, hunting for a table, and though that's all easier now with older kids than it was when they were little it still can't compare with sitting down in a climate-controlled restaurant for a relaxing meal. I probably wouldn't order all three courses for myself if paying OOP, but that would be a financial decision rather than one of taste - I may not polish off every bite on my plate, but I do generally want to try at least an appetizer and entree (and even on the DxDDP, I do the math based on skipping dessert at some meals). And there are a LOT of signature restaurants on our family must-do list, enough that I had to decide on the top choices this time because with a full day on both arrival and departure days we'd have run out of credits if we managed to fit them all in. We never have more than two meals a day, usually with about 8 hours between them, and use the snacks to fill in as needed, to enjoy the Epcot festivals if we happen to be there for one, to feed DD16's Starbucks habit, or to for sweets because DD9 *loves* bringing Disney treats home to share with her classmates.

 

[KenHutch]

We have done the deluxe 2 out of 4 times in the past. I love the food but I noticed 2 downsides. One on the days the girls wanted 3 meals we were spending as much as 5 hours or more on meals and 2 after the trip I added up the tip cost. On a 10 day trip the mandatory tips come to over $1400 dollars.

 

[Evermore]

This is really helpful to hear. We're planning our first trip this summer. Two adults and two girls turning 5. Leaning towards the Deluxe plan but it's good to know the downsides and how to make the most of it. On paper it looks like a good value but we'll have to discuss the "hidden costs" of time, extra gratuity, appetite on hot days, etc.

 

[GillianP1301]

We've done the deluxe plan the past couple of trips. It's my son and I and he was under 10 so he was charged child prices, but able to order adult entrees, which made it a no brainer for us as far as value. He's now 10, so I'm sticking with the regular plan and opting to go partially OOP.

For the most part, I loved the deluxe plan. We usually eat 3 TS a day or some days 2 TS and 1 QS. It is a lot of food, but we're not clean your plate type people, so I didn't feel like it was outrageous. We did choose to skip the odd appetizer or dessert and still made out really well value wise. My only "complaint" is with us eating 3 meals a day, we did not really feel the need to snack much. Any snack credits we did use were for drinks to stay hydrated (we travel in August) and we would end up with many unused credits in the end to bring home candy, which is fun, butt I felt like we missed out a bit on some of the great snacking options around WDW. That's probably the only negative I can come up with. We also got fee dining and just paid the upgrade, which is a really great way to take advantage of deluxe dining without taking a huge hit in the wallet.