Deluxe Dining Plan

[GeorgiaHoo]

Except in your example above, you've used 4 credits for this sample day instead of 3. Most people who use the DxDDP will do a late breakfast/early lunch 1 credit TS meal and then a signature at night. This uses the credits and spreads out eating.

Oops, you are exactly right. So revising, we aren't going to get up every morning for breakfast, and if we are up we prefer to be at the park in the early morning instead of eating, so we'd probably use a snack credit or two to grab something in the morning, then eat a TS lunch, then a signature dinner. But again, I don't think we'd want two sit-down meals a day simply due to the amount of time it takes to travel to a restaurant for lunch and dinner and sit and eat. Which is why I've never been able to pull the trigger on the deluxe dining plan.

 

[CalSea12]

I have done the DxDP many many times...in fact of all my trips I only did not do it once. That trip we got the regular dining plan and paid for characater breakfasts OOP... this was not a good strategy for us. The regular dining plan was my foolish DH idea.

Now that it is me and my girls we check in during evening hours, hop over to Disney Springs and have dinner. Then almost every day of our trip I have some sort of character breakfast, TS lunch and a TS dinner.

Most people are like that's way too much food! I dont think so and I dont eat like that at home... but I'm at Disney.
But what if its hot?? Well my TS make a nice break from that heat.

But it takes too much time away from the park! No it really doesnt, my breakfasts are early morning usually PPO and I have figured out how to get my lunches/dinners down to under an hour. So on average that's 1.5 to 2 hours from my day.

I drink adult beverages every so often so that's nice...

Oh and in the end DxDP saves us between 500 and 800 a trip.

 

[Lovetherodent]

We'll find out soon! I know it's a lot of food, but hey, the pros play with pain.

My plan as been lunch at a 1 cr ts and dinner (no earlier than 7:30 and usually closer to 9) at a signature. We've got 5 days in the parks on the 4 nights we'll have the DxDP, so can have one night of "snack credit dinner" at the F&G booths to avoid trying to pound down two snacks a day. Apps don't have to be a giant plate...get a salad or a soup or other small bite (personally, I have no restraint, but it's possible not to fill up on apps).

I did that math ($40 per credit) and came out ahead. I won't skip dessert (it's vacation and I get dessert on vacation!). We're steak/seafood eaters, mostly, although one member of the party will likely go vegetarian for at least a few meals. Everybody's over 21 and enjoys the occasional cocktail, maybe not a drink at lunch but certainly one with dinner. When I add app, even just a small salad + entrees + drink + dessert, I'm past $80pp average at the signatures.

 

[dx4100]

Works for us... We like to have sit down meals with a reserved seat instead of fighting for a seat at a Quick Service. We also like to know where we are eating everyday via a ADR rather than debating and having to find agreement with all family members.

 

[HMfan82]

We did DxDP this past November (our first experience with dining plans as we’re former locals) and enjoyed it. We did character breakfasts every morning and then at night would do a signature restaurant. It gave us the chance to try out a lot of places that we never did and also went to some favorites we have not done in a while. There is a lot of food but spacing it out with early morning breakfasts, use a snack credit in the middle of the day and then go to a signature dinner helped balance all of the food.

The only drawback was it did take up quite a bit of time in the evening. Since the signature dining usually takes longer it didn’t leave much time to do another park so once we would take our afternoon break it was then time to get dressed up for dinner.

This next trip we are probably just sticking with trying the regular DDP so we have more flexibility and can book some ADRs in the parks.

 

[vincep]

Definitely do it once if it interests you. Lots of quality food. But there's the rub as everybody has been pointing out. It's a LOT. Sometimes it's nice to be hungry before a meal. It won't happen on this plan. Yes you will save money but you will be eating probably when you don't really feel like it. And I eat a lot. I'm glad I did it because I had some great meals. But just remember the more expensive your meal to get full value the more you will be spending on tipping which is not included. Estimate it on top of what you are spending on the plan and you'll see what in reality what you will be paying.

 

[KTsound]

We had never found value in DDP based on the way we travel, number of people in our party, and length of stays, etc... Last trip it was just DW and me for 2 nights. I said, "Let's make this a FOOD trip". We purchased DxDP. I booked Le Cellier (2cr) and Topolino (2cr) nites 1&2, and Garden Grill and Sanaa lunches on days 2 &3. We ate Epcot Arts Fest food cart dishes on snack credits, as well as a couple "breakfast" cinnamon roll snacks. We saved literally $100s - I even ran the numbers compared to using Table in Wonderland, PLUS assumed we would have ordered less food paying cash ... i.e., no desserts, no resort mugs, etc. AFTER tips we still saved $55, while eating more food. (Not to mention our card recently expired and would have cost another $150 to purchase!) One more tip: get one (or all) desserts to go if you can. Now you have a midnight snack or quick "breakfast" sitting in your resort fridge. I believe one reply mentioned doing the DxDP on the short leg. I would think that is good advice. Go ahead and book some 2 credit dining - even at lunch. I was honestly blown away how much we ate for a relatively small amount of money.

 

[havoc315]

We did the DxDP about 5-6 years ago, when it was much cheaper. Might have been 2012 when the price was $85 per adult. Our kids were young.... so we enjoyed doing 2 sit down meals per day, 1 usually being signature. It was way too much time in restaurants, but we were only doing parks a couple hours at a time.
It was a lot of food but we didn’t feel obligated to use every credit, and still saved money.
Yes, menu prices have increased since 2012 but the DxDP price has increased even more.
If we got an entree + app OR dessert, it was usually break even. With the snacks and extra apps/desserts being savings.

at today’s pricing— if you’re not having alcohol at every meal, you’re really only going to save money if you spend a ton of time in restaurants (2 TS restaurants per day, most days), AND get an awful lot of food.

But I’ll say this... if you actually do want signature + TS per day and all the perks, it can be easier to save money on the DXDP than the regular DDP.

without alcohol or overeating, it’s easy to spend $50-$70 at a signature restaurant, and $30-40 at a 1 credit. So that’s $80-110 even eating somewhat lightly. (Not getting tons of dessert and apps). Throw in tax, you’re at about $85 to $117. Throw in 2 snacks, if you use them... $95 to $127. so without alcohol and without maximizing desserts and apps, still reaching the break even loving.

regular DDP — if you don’t do alcohol,get average priced entrees, and only get dessert half the time... Your TS credit will be worth $30-40. Your QS credit worth $15-20. 2 snacks=$10. That’s $55-$70. With tax, about $59-75. So still potentially far short of the break even point. Even if not skipping any desserts, at $62-$78 or so.
so even using every entitlement except alcohol, it’s hard to break even!

my point: the DDP is overpriced to begin with. The DXDP is actually a bit less of a ripoff if you’re going to use the credits.
It’s like... for $40, you transform your QS meal into a signature meal.
with QS meal valued around $20... it means if your signature meal is over $60 (easily), then the DXDP is easily worth $40 more than the DDP.

personally, apart from free dining, I wouldn’t pay for any of the plans.Savings are minimal at best. (Unless you maximize credits).
but if I was already getting the DDP, I’d consider the DxDP IF I’m ready to spend 3-4 hours per day dining it Sig+TS per day.

 

[RamieGee]

We always do deluxe. I always debate it, but then can't resist cutting back on our favorite places, and it seems to actually work out in our favor (financially). We have a very specific booking style though - many character meals, Hoop De Doo, and then a few signatures. And then for snacks I like spoiling myself with a Venti Starbucks once or twice a day, too, with my snack credits (those are $5.99-$6.29 a pop), and the Dole Whip Floats for the kids ($5.49 a pop). And a glass of wine is nice with dinner. Because there are several 2 credit meals thrown in there, we only do 2 meals a day, though, with our points. 3 Deluxe meals a day is indeed too much.

 

[purrenh1]

For the original poster, there are threads elsewhere at these boards that go into the advantages of split stay on DxDP, or of booking 2 rooms and putting the Plan on just one; since you have a large party, that might work great for you next time. (Put 4 people in one room with DxDP and 2 in another room with no plan; for, let's say, 5 days, you'd get 60 TS meals (4x3x5) for the 6 of you to share across 6 days (from check in to check out day at midnight). Everyone enjoys 1 TS per day with drinks, apps, desserts, and then figures out the other 2 meals for more reasonable prices (plus a remainder of 24 TS meals to use on a 2nd TS experience as you see fit)).

 

[Dakota731]

Maybe you can try the new dining plan that starts in February that includes two sit down dinners! That’s the plan I’m looking forward to trying. I don’t like counter type restaurants, but I think the deluxe would be too much food. We enjoy taking a break during the heat of the day and it makes it easier with a group not to have the hassle of splitting the checks. Plus since we do a lot of character meals, we’ve saved money every time we use the dining plan.

 

[Pumbaa_]

*the rumored plan for which we have zero Disney confirmation nor details

 

[crazycatstacy]

We always get deluxe for my husband and I and we love it! It is a lot of food but it works for us. I don't mind having credits left to use on snacks as I like to bring them home for gifts. One thing to remember about the appetizers is they are usually one serving not like when you go to Applebees and get a basket of mozzarella sticks.

 

[StevieB81]

I would say that if you can get the TIW card, it would normally save you more money than using the deluxe dining plan. For 6 people, you will be automatically charged an 18% gratuity (same as TIW) for all TS meals. 3 table service meals a day, or 1 for breakfast and a signature for dinner, will add significantly to the cost of the dining plan. With a TIW card, multiply the menu price by 1.032 and you have the cost after the 20% discount plus tax and tip. Then, you can still go to all the places you want and not HAVE to eat so much to make it worth it. As long as you spend around $1500 total (if a DVC member) the money spent on the card is recouped. Remember DVC gets a 10% discount (on food, not alcohol) at most of the restaurants covered by TIW, so the actual benefit of TIW drops to around 10%. I have done the deluxe plan before (before I knew about TIW) and it is a ton of food. I am doing a 10 day trip in June and have looked at the various dining plans. Even if we, also a family of 6, order things we normally wouldn't to make the dining plan break even, it ALWAYS (for us, anyway) costs more than using the TIW card once the tip is factored in. The only real benefit to the dining plans, IMHO, is that the money is already spent before you go, so one less thing to think about unless you get stressed about not getting your money's worth. I think, for the length of stay you have planned and the size of the group, the TIW would be much more economical.

 

[serene56]

With delux you do not get an app with a breakfast? I am sharing some of my credits with family during our stay. Breakfast at grand floridian cafe. I was going to get two orders of mozzarella sticks for the kids. But reading that breakfast does not get apps. Is this true?

 

[frannn]

I believe there are no apps for breakfast on deluxe. It may be different if you are going during brunch time, plus I don't know that GF Cafe would even make mozzarella sticks before that time. We went a few years back with the deluxe after they had the combined breakfast/lunch menu hoping to get the French onion soup with lobster eggs benedict, and were told no.

 

[vincep]

I've never seen that specified. If that is true they are deceiving those on the Deluxe. And each meal should have the appetizer in any case.

 

[sharonabe]

I've never seen that specified. If that is true they are deceiving those on the Deluxe. And each meal should have the appetizer in any case.

They aren't deceiving anyone. It's right on the PDF you'll find in your room or online:

Quick-Service Meals Quick-Service locations are a great place to stop and enjoy a casual meal. It’s an easy way to grab a bite to eat–just order at a counter or register and then find a seat!
Each Quick-Service meal includes (for Breakfast/Lunch/ Dinner): • One (1) Entrée • One (1) Single serving nonalcoholic or Alcoholic Beverage, where available, for Guests 21 and over

Table-Service Meals: Be our Guest at one of more than 50 Table-Service restaurants where you’ll be escorted to your table and waited on by a server. Experience unparalleled service and cuisine with a touch of Disney magic. Each Table-Service meal includes:

Lunch/Dinner: • One (1) Appetizer • One (1) Entrée • One (1) Dessert • One (1) Single serving nonalcoholic or Alcoholic Beverage, where available, for Guests 21 and over -OR- • One (1) Full Buffet** or Family-Style Meal

Breakfast: • One (1) Entrée • One (1) Single serving nonalcoholic or Alcoholic Beverage, where available, for Guests 21 and over -OR- • One (1) Full Buffet** or Family-Style Meal

 

[sharonabe]

With delux you do not get an app with a breakfast? I am sharing some of my credits with family during our stay. Breakfast at grand floridian cafe. I was going to get two orders of mozzarella sticks for the kids. But reading that breakfast does not get apps. Is this true?

It is also explained on the website:

Table-Service Meal
Meals redeemed at breakfast will include:

• 1 Entrée
• 1 Nonalcoholic Beverage (or Alcoholic Beverage, for Guests 21 and older)

-OR-

• 1 Full Buffet** or Family-Style Meal
• 1 Nonalcoholic Beverage (or Alcoholic Beverage, for Guests 21 and older)

Meals redeemed at lunch or dinner will include:

• 1 Appetizer
• 1 Entrée
• 1 Nonalcoholic Beverage (or Alcoholic Beverage, for Guests 21 and older)
• 1 Dessert

 

[kaytieeldr]

Keep in mind if you basically have to spend $50.00 per TS credit and Signatures are 2 TS credits, you are using $100.00 worth of credit for 1 meal. Even if the entree is $60.00 per we have to find another $40.00 worth in apps, drinks and desserts, which is almost impossible.

At $119 per night, it's more accurately about $40 per credit.
Breakfast - Boma, $49

Dinner - Jiko:
Jiko Salad $16
Filet $52
Braai Brownie $11
Zebratini $9.75

Two snacks $7.98

Mug divided across seven nights $3

Total for one night $148.73