Deluxe Dining Plan Worth It

[TJA]

We did the Deluxe Plan once and REALLY loved it! It gave us the chance to experience dining that we normally wouldn't have. Rather than 3 meals per day, we chose to do one 2-credit each day, plus a regular 1-credit. Thus, 2 meals each day. We used a lot of snack credits for beverages.....it was nice to not worry about packing water bottles!

Examples of some of our days:
(1) Late breakfast ADR, then 2-credit dinner ADR.
(2) Snack credits for breakfast, 1-credit lunch, later 2-credit dinner or show.

Highlight that we still remember:
We went to California Grill and watched Wishes there outside on the look-out area.
Went to Jiko at AKL. Saw shows SoA at Poly and also HDDR at FW.

 

[SGMCO]

We only go during Free Dining and get the Reg. DDP so it's worth it for us. If I was going to pay for it in addition to a Package, I don't think it's worth it.
My Sister and Husband went on there first WDW trip a few years ago and they choose to do the Deluxe DDP and were so tired of eating and going to ADRs,
that it made them negative about visiting WDW, they haven't been back since.
We had told them before we all booked the trip that you don't really need the Deluxe plan to eat very well but they didn't listen.

 

[mistysue]

We have done it and loved it.
We just like buffets because you can get a little of a bunch of things. Every morning there was a breakfast buffet, then either lunch or dinner would be a buffet with a regular TS for the 3rd meal. I know everybody cringes that it's too much food- just because you are at a buffet doesn't mean you have to eat like a pig! You can go up and just get a waffle, eggs and fruit- but ordering the same selection from a regular menu it would cost too much! I like to have one bite of this, one bite of that. You can also get through buffets really fast if you aren't waiting for characters, just tell the server when you set and we've been in and out in under a half hour with a beautiful meal! We would do an in-park breakfast once per park per trip then on a longer trip you still have half the days to be a little later.
The year we stayed at coronado springs with it there was still a breakfast buffet in the TS place, not sure if that exists now but it was always dead so most morning we got up, wandered in and had a nice relaxing breakfast of whatever the kids wanted without making them have to pick only one thing.

For cost reasons we only did it as an upgrade to regular free dining while staying value or moderate.

 

[CraigInPA]

What a silly poll... Who wouldn't take Deluxe Dining if money were no object?

OTOH, I don't see any savings using DxDDP versus OOP personally. My wife and I eat at all the same signature restaurants and have the same food, and it comes out cheaper to do OOP because we don't use the snack credits.

 

[shortnsassy730]

We love love love deluxe. We usually do a very early lunch and a very late signature dinner or show. Signature meals are not necessarily heavy meals, but the quality is what's key. With snacks, we found we used more of them this year now that Starbucks is everywhere. We got coffees or teas in the morning/afternoons often. But, we've always used the majority of our snacks to get treats that are take home friendly like rice crispie treats. It's nice to have a Disney reminder once you get back home.

 

[iloveeeyore]

We tried it our last trip for 8 nights and we did mostly early TS lunches (or a few late breakfasts) and signature experiences for dinner (so usually 2 TS meals per day) and used our snacks for breakfasts and between meals. We are big eaters and love fine dining, but it was WAAYY too much food for us! While we saved a bit when compared to what it would have cost if we had eaten all the same things, we found that we ate more than we would have and would have saved money just paying for what we wanted OOP. We are happy we tried it once, though. The advantage was we were able to experience so many great restaurants that we might otherwise have avoided, but we tend to sometimes just want to split several appetizers and a few desserts rather than feel pressured to eat according to the DP formula. We were never hungry for snacks between meals and ate them just because we could.

We won't purchase any DP again. We want to dine our own way. Even with the "free dining" there's a catch...you have to pay rack rate for the room. We feel that room discounts, when available, work better for our family. YMMV!

 

[laurainsem]

I find its a lot of food but well worth it. Our last trip we were able to afford it and it was so much fun for us. I'm just doing the regular dining plan this time due to budget and having a two year old with us but if I could do it again I would. Enjoy, you will have an amazing time!!

 

[merrick]

i would go deluxe... regular dining plan is plenty of food for us BUT with some of the more interesting restaurants requiring 2 table credits, it would be nice to have that wiggle room.

as for extra snack credits, they would never be wasted. i would just bring tons and tons (and tons!) of ariel cookies and cherry goofy sour balls home to enjoy.