Deluxe Dining Plan - Did You Like It?

[GeorgiaHoo]

Thinking about upgrading to the deluxe plan if free dining is offered when we go in the fall. Plan of attack would be one signature a day for dinner plus a table service breakfast/lunch. Hesitant because it seems like a TON of food and a TON of time eating. Any thoughts from those who have done this in the past? We've been to Disney a number of times and have older kids (all Disney adults), always leave the parks around midday for a break, and will have park hoppers, so spending some time away from the park isn't a problem. We will do at least one TS a day in any event. I think that if we did the approach I'm considering (1 signature plus either a character breakfast or table service lunch) then it would be a plus financially.

 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

Figure $32/credit for the deluxe plan to be "worth it" financially. Most signature meals would be above $65, when you include entrée, appetizer, drink, and tax.

We did the deluxe plan, and what we did, was instead of taking a break outside the park, take a long TS meal inside the park. Or, at a Epcot resort while at Epcot, or monorail resort, while at MK.

We either had an early character breakfast, a TS lunch at 1:00 or so, and then a late TS dinner.

The other option was the 10:00 breakfast, and a 4:00 dinner, and then snacks in the evening.

It doesn't matter which meals were signature, and which were 1 TS credit.

Walking around the park all day made us hungry enough to enjoy it, but we wound up taking a ton of snacks home (not a bad thing!)

In deciding what plan to get, what we do is this:
Write out our ideal daily plan, specifying what restaurant each meal would be. We then counted up the number of TS credits we would use, and the number of counter service we would use. And then figure the plan + OOP cost for both the regular and deluxe plans, and see where you come out.

I think it makes more sense to determine what you would like and see which plan bests fits your preferred vacation, then to pick a plan first, and try to schedule your vacation around the plan you picked.

 

[DisneyHardin]

We are going to try it for the first time this fall. My plan is to do late breakfast or early lunch most days with a signature dinner about 7. I am looking forward to it.

 

[Specter]

We have never done deluxe but the DW and I are planning to pay for it or upgrade to it if free dining is offered when we go in 2019. We have had the regular dining plan twice but the way that we like to eat (we're both foodies and will order appetizers and desserts), we think that we'll actually come out ahead upgrading. Our tentative plan is to have, mostly, TS breakfasts and signature dinners, and use the snack credits as a light lunch at midday. We are also midday break fans so that then we can stay out a little later. We definitely have learned after several trips over the last 13 years that we prefer the more relaxed pace. We used to rope drop to park close, but that's just exhausting and we'd get home feeling worn out. With that in mind I think the nice meal to start and end the day sounds like us, so I'd say go for it.

 

[MissKIA]

We did and we didn't like it for different reasons. It really is too much food, even if you do book a lot of 2 credit meals. I loved being able to try out so many different appetizers and desserts, and really prefer table service to quick service so that was a bonus. However, we were gone for 8 days and found that by the 6th day or so we were just sick of eating such big meals. We also rarely bought snacks since we always had big meals planned. I think we had about 37 snacks left over before we went home. We went to Goofy's of course and stocked up on candy to take home. I think I've come to the conclusion that if we were only going for 3 or 4 days I would probably do it again, but I would not do it for more days than that. I really wish they had a plan where you could use 2 table service meals per day!

 

[MissKIA]

One more thing to keep in mind being on the Deluxe Plan is the TIPS! Gratuities add up A LOT. I can't remember off the top of my head, but on our 8 day trip I think we paid out something like $400 per person in tips (we only ate at counter service twice). This is a huge cost that some might not consider, so I thought I would point that out!

 

[Mom2Stitch]

We almost always do deluxe dining, especially if our grown DS is with us. DH and DS equate dining to vacation so for us it's worth it. My main rule is to space our meals no less than 5 hours apart, usually more than that. I do try and put the meals in or around where we are planning to be that day because we depend on Disney transportation. We also end up taking home snacks, but it's nice to have some goodies at home.

 

[illinidp]

We did it for one part of a split stay on the last trip and enjoyed it, but that was before some of the entrees became meals for 2 or an upcharge. The TIW card is now a much better deal when dining at signatures and it includes alcoholic beverages.

 

[kayteekt]

Our first 5 trips or so we did deluxe. When we started coming we were booking pkgs (and a couple times had free dining so pd to upgrade). We were never unhappy, the men in our group especially. Because of that we were able to see so many of the restaurants, which I think is a huge part of the Disney experience. Our kids were pretty young, so we did all the character meals.
We learned after our first trip, to not do 3 TS per day. So after that, majority of time, we'd do 2 sit down (most likely one being signature).

The draw back is the price. I had no idea how expensive it was until the first trip we rented dvc points and purchased everything separately. However, even though the price is high, my opinion is that it's a good value.

I'm thinking, from memory so could be a little off, it's around an average $35/credit if you just divide daily cost by the 3 meals. You know at Disney, $35 per meal is no problem at all. Especially when you're getting a drink, app, entree and dessert.
Another poster mentioned tips, yes...they can get pretty pricey for those expensive meals.

We kind of looked at the snacks like bonuses, we always used a good bit, but would have a good bit left too (prob 10-12).

The hangup for us now, is I know the cost, lol. . We still go and eat mostly TS (usually 2/day), but since we've done all the character meals and a lot of the signatures we are trying different things. Which happen to be cheaper. Kids are sharing meals for the most part. Like in real life we're not each ordering an app...either one for the table or none, not norm doing dessert unless something just looks really good. We also are AP holders so we have TIW which helps a good deal.

Anyway, we've done deluxe and have really enjoyed it. If you don't get the FD (and are paying for upgrade) I would seriously run some #s. You all may want to eat at the same places, but just a little differently and come out better.

 

[mustlovecats]

We did it on our last trip and LOVED it. It's definitely a lot of food but we typically order appetizers and desserts when we go out at home. We mostly used the snack credits for Starbucks drinks.

We shared our credits with my parents who joined us for part of the trip and saved about $900 (before tips). My dad's favorite part was ordering the most expensive thing on the menu. Like a poster above mentioned, you will spend a lot on tips. I think we probably spent about $500-600 on them which obviously reduces the amount we saved.

Overall we would definitely do it again. However, we would not do it while traveling in the summer. I don't like to eat that much food when it's super hot as humid.

 

[Lisa F]

I did it on my trip in December and am in the process of writing a dining report.

2 meals a day is NOT too much nor is it too much time out of the day at all, but I don't care for CS.

What is too much is the amount of food in an appetizer/entree/dessert/drink. A lot of our meals were aycte so it did not matter a lot of the time but the few that we had where there were actually 3 courses, it was too much food for me to finish... but I am ok with leaving some behind. Especially desserts, I usually only had a couple of bites.

3 meals in a day (or 2 and a dessert party) was too much though. So I'd only do it if I could limit it to 2 in a day... the one meal where I had to schedule it kind of close to breakfast to fit in the dessert party, I enjoyed neither that meal nor the dessert party food (but still enjoyed the dessert party). 6-7 hours apart seems to be the sweet spot for being hungry again, 6 hours without a snack, 7 with a snack somewhere in there. We had a ton of snack credits left too and brought home plaid box christmas shortbread cookies for everyone.

 

[Jenny Sanders]

We have done deluxe dining quite a bit and have booked it for our July trip. We usually do a TS "brunch," so we can sleep in, eat and then enjoy the parks. I usually book 3 FP's back to back for the early part of the afternoon. Then, we enjoy a Signature meal for dinner. We use our snack credits for Starbucks, and if we have any left over, we use them to bring treats back home to extend the magic. We don't find it to be too much food, and we have kept track of our spending and it has always proven to save us money.

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

One more thing to keep in mind being on the Deluxe Plan is the TIPS! Gratuities add up A LOT. I can't remember off the top of my head, but on our 8 day trip I think we paid out something like $400 per person in tips (we only ate at counter service twice). This is a huge cost that some might not consider, so I thought I would point that out!

Yeah, that occurred to me last night after I posted my initial question. We'll be 5 adults and if we eat 1 signature and 1 table service a day for a 7 day trip there's going to be a LOT of money paid in tips.

 

[Trap]

we did it once it was to much food for us kind of bogged us down now we just do adr for dinner and gives us more time to move around

 

[Tigger's ally]

We do the deluxe often. We are late morning breakfast/early lunch meal then a signature at night. We find this to be the right amount of food for us. Does it save us money? Well, we really don't care. We do it mostly for the convenience and to eat at signatures every night. Having long since past the days of being park commando's we don't like to "eat on the run" anymore. Give us a table, come wait on us, and give us good food, drink and ambiance. We like to think it is break even point because the price of the dishes we prefer (3 big steak eaters in the family) but we don't ever confirm it. We just seen to remain happy with the way we do things. When we begin to not be happy, we will take a look.

As far as tips, it comes with the territory. Sitting down and having someone serve you means you tip them. The biggest majority of the people I tip at WDW earn their money. We do make them work and enjoy their time, effort and often times their humor and kindred spirit.

 

[ErinsMommy]

we love the deluxe dining plan. for our family its perfect. we do a mid-morning breakfast (usually character) and then save the double points by not doing lunch, for a signature dinner. we always have a ton of snack credits left, but the kid happily shops in the store at MK for lollipops and pez and uses up all the balance of credits that way on our last night.

 

[CraigInPA]

My wife and I have done deluxe about 5 times, including once with her sister, BIL, and 2 teenage sons. The only real way to not feel like you're just going from restaurant to restaurant is to schedule lunch close to noon and dinner late, like 7:30-8:30. The first time we did deluxe, we tried to have 3 meals a day. After the second day, we re-scheduled and cancelled a LOT of meals.

We are big eaters, and even with only 2 meals, we never felt hungry. In fact, we used virtually all of our snack credits the last day for bring home gifts.

That said, we no longer do the DxDDP due to the cost. The only way to save money over paying out of pocket is to use those snack credits and, often, buy the most expensive items on the menu. We felt like we had to take desserts and appetizers when we didn't want them because they were "included". We paid tips on those unwanted apps and desserts. It was a vicious cycle. Now, we eat at the same places, have the meals we want (without concern over cost), and save money. There is absolutely sticker shock over the OOP prices, but that doesn't stop us from having the whole Maine Lobster at Narcoossee's, or the Oak grilled Filet at The California Grille. The last two trips we saved 20% and 25% respectively over the cost of DxDDP for those same trips.

 

[Lisa F]

My wife and I have done deluxe about 5 times, including once with her sister, BIL, and 2 teenage sons. The only real way to not feel like you're just going from restaurant to restaurant is to schedule lunch close to noon and dinner late, like 7:30-8:30. The first time we did deluxe, we tried to have 3 meals a day. After the second day, we re-scheduled and cancelled a LOT of meals.

We are big eaters, and even with only 2 meals, we never felt hungry. In fact, we used virtually all of our snack credits the last day for bring home gifts.

That said, we no longer do the DxDDP due to the cost. The only way to save money over paying out of pocket is to use those snack credits and, often, buy the most expensive items on the menu. We felt like we had to take desserts and appetizers when we didn't want them because they were "included". We paid tips on those unwanted apps and desserts. It was a vicious cycle. Now, we eat at the same places, have the meals we want (without concern over cost), and save money. There is absolutely sticker shock over the OOP prices, but that doesn't stop us from having the whole Maine Lobster at Narcoossee's, or the Oak grilled Filet at The California Grille. The last two trips we saved 20% and 25% respectively over the cost of DxDDP for those same trips.

I would say that the best way to save money over OOP is to have disney kids. The DxDDP is a really good value for them not even counting the ability to order off of the adult menu, but with that current policy, the value is TREMENDOUS. I paid $577 for myself and my 8 year old for 4 nights of DxDDP and our one meal at CA Grill was around $200 with tax but without tip. That was one of 10 meals that we scheduled. Narcoosees was over $200 for both of us. So more than 2/3 of the plan was paid for with 2 out of 10 meals. I haven't added it all up yet (working on my dining report) but it was a huge money saver.

 

[Faldred]

I've done it once, with kids, and liked it because it gave us the real breaks during the day without having to leave the parks, we were able to meet characters at meals instead of standing in lines, etc.

It IS a lot of food, though, and you have to bear that in mind. My wife and I plan on doing an adults-only trip sometime and we will be doing DxDP because it fits our style and we're more interested in overall experience than maximizing rides, etc.

As for the cost, in 2017 you're looking at needing to hit somewhere between $29 and $32 per meal credit used, compared to the pre-tax menu price, to break even. (The range covers a variety of assumptions about value of snacks and the refillable mug.) Easy enough to do even with skipping an appetizer or a dessert from time to time. That's on average, of course... it's ok to be under sometimes as long as you're over that often enough.

 

[TJA]

We did the deluxe plan and LOVED it!

We did not think the actual meals were too much food at all because we only did 2 meals a day, most days 1 meal in the morning and 1 meal later at night.

We thought it was awesome to try the 2-credit meals that we otherwise probably wouldn't have.

Standout 2-credits include: California Grill and we timed it so we could watch Wishes on the observation deck - it was an incredible experience. Also went to Jiko at AKL and it was the first time my girls had seen that resort, so it was an enjoyable evening there. If we ever do it again, I would definitely eat at the 2-credits at GF too.

Also - don't forget about the shows! We did both the Poly show and the FW show (both 2-credit).

We're not huge snackers, so the snack credits accumulated for us a bit. We finally broke down and bought daily things like ice cream/slushie drinks/pretzels, etc., in the parks, and that became fun to look foward to each day (seeing what kind of cool snacks we could find!). Also if we got thirsty we just bought a cold drink rather than pack our water bottles (that always get warm!).