Deluxe Dining Plan for more credits?

[chrytique]

We are going to Disney in a few months. I booked the Deluxe dining plan to get more credits. I want to be able to go to the castle, steakhouse in Epcot, Review at Wilderness Lodge, etc. We don't necessarily want 3 meals a day but I thought this would give us more credits to eat where we want and not run out of credits. Has anyone else done this?

 

[TDC Nala]

No, but I would suggest that you be sure to plan your meals so that you use all your credits. (The steakhouse at Canada is a 1 credit restaurant in 2010, there are rumors that it will cost 2 credits in 2011. I don't know what Review at Wilderness Lodge is - if you mean the Hoop de Doo Revue at Fort Wilderness that is two credits.) If you don't want to do 3 meals a day you may want to plan more 2 credit meals, or use some of your credits for CS meals.

Wanting to have more meals prepaid, including more 2-credit meals, is a very good reason for booking the deluxe dining plan over the basic plan.

If you are buying a dining plan simply for the convenience of prepaying your meals and not to save money on those meals, you may not want to pay so much attention to planning your meals daily, but to get savings out of a dining plan it is suggested to make a daily "meal plan," decide ahead of time where to eat, and make reservations for any TS restaurants you decide you wish to visit.

 

[mb_uh]

We are doing deluxe in July and somedays will only do 2 meals. I think some people do this so they can do shows and signatures- which is our plan and character breakfasts- first trip so we want full disney overload.

Even if you use some qs meals you should come out ahead as long as 2/3 are ts. Soups and salads are appetizers at most restaurants along with regular appetizers so it should not be hard to order all courses especially if you have kids that will eat some of your food.

 

[sydneysmom]

we're also doing the deluxe plan in Sept and actually we're only doing 3 meals every other day. The other days we're doing a character breakfast and a signature (2 TS) dinner.
We really wanted to try some new places this time that are 2 credit, but at the same time, we also wanted to try to keep a bit of a routine for our DD4.

But on the days that we're only doing breakfast and dinner, we chose Flying Fish, CRT (1 breakfast and 1 dinner) and Narcoossee's. We've never been to FF or Narcoossee's so we're VERY excited.

I totally agree w/ TDC Nala though....you need a plan first in order to decide if deluxe is right for you. If you don't take advantage of the 2 ts or 1 ts, you may not get the maximum value out of the plan. It's not good to "wing it". If this helps, we made a list of where we wanted to eat then narrowed it all down and made our choices. For us, deluxe FAR outweighed regular dining plan. Now, that said, we may get there and think it's WAY too much (which is why we're alternating 3 meal days / 2 meal days). But I love the convenience of not having to pay out of pocket for every meal. it's pre-paid basically. ( except for the tip) That to me is very much worth it.

 

[PoohsFan1]

we're also doing the deluxe plan in Sept and actually we're only doing 3 meals every other day. The other days we're doing a character breakfast and a signature (2 TS) dinner.
We really wanted to try some new places this time that are 2 credit, but at the same time, we also wanted to try to keep a bit of a routine for our DD4.

But on the days that we're only doing breakfast and dinner, we chose Flying Fish, CRT (1 breakfast and 1 dinner) and Narcoossee's. We've never been to FF or Narcoossee's so we're VERY excited.

I totally agree w/ TDC Nala though....you need a plan first in order to decide if deluxe is right for you. If you don't take advantage of the 2 ts or 1 ts, you may not get the maximum value out of the plan. It's not good to "wing it". If this helps, we made a list of where we wanted to eat then narrowed it all down and made our choices. For us, deluxe FAR outweighed regular dining plan. Now, that said, we may get there and think it's WAY too much (which is why we're alternating 3 meal days / 2 meal days). But I love the convenience of not having to pay out of pocket for every meal. it's pre-paid basically. ( except for the tip) That to me is very much worth it.

This is exactly what we are doing in September too. We decided to upgrade to the DxDDP because we had a couple signature restaurants that we wanted to go to (before FD came out), and once FD came out, we decided to add on a few more 2 credit meals. Plus there are a few days where we are sitting down at a TS meal 3 times a day, but we figured this will be a good way for us to relax and enjoy our selves instead of rushing around from one attraction to another (already been there done that in March). Also, before DxDDP, we had only 2 character meals planned, now we have 6 character meals planned, 7 if you include possibly seeing Remy at Chefs De France (we are going to a character meal once per day). DH and I are really excited about trying this out for the first time, if it works out, this maybe the way to go from here on out (free or not)

 

[CelebratingMagic]

I booked the DxDP because I wanted a relaxing trip, full of fun and good food. I know we will eat at at least two 2-credit places (Hoop De Doo and Narcoossee's), and some of the bigger 1-credit places (Le Cellier, Boma, Akershus, Crystal Palace). Without the Dining Plan, we would've been too stressed out pinching pennies to get to try these places, and would have never gotten appetizers and desserts. I think it will be a blast.

My dad has vowed to have a week of filet mignon, so that we really get our money's worth.

 

[fours]

Our family just got back from Disney...used the DxDp. It's for sure worth buying if you use the table service rather than quick service. This gives you a chance to live it up and eat steaks every night if you desired. We ate at CRT...Norway and Le Cellier just to name a few places...even if Le Cellier (steak place in Epcot/Canada) changed to 2 credits that is certianly one place that is totally worth it. One thing we had problems with is being too full for snacks so we came home with almost 48 snack credits in Pez dispensers..nuts...fudge...chips...cookies..lolol. My family preferred Norway Akershus over CRT...we happen to do both this last trip. So if you are wanting a princess meal maybe spending the one credit in Norway Askershus would help you out...just a thought.

 

[momtobrynncess]

We are going to Disney in a few months. I booked the Deluxe dining plan to get more credits. I want to be able to go to the castle, steakhouse in Epcot, Review at Wilderness Lodge, etc. We don't necessarily want 3 meals a day but I thought this would give us more credits to eat where we want and not run out of credits. Has anyone else done this?

Yes! I hear your logic. We are doing the same thing this year. We don't want to have to figure out if we have enough credits to eat here or there, we just want to know that we will have enough to eat wherever we want, whenever we want. I agree with the logic that you should schedule as many two credit meals as you can, to ensure that you use all that you pay for. It's an expensive plan, so get all you can for your dollar(s)!!!