Deluxe dining thread

[Sysyphus]

We went with the Platinum plan for our upcoming 8 nights at AKL next month.

Day 1
Dinner @ CRT

Day 2
BFast Hollywod & Vine
Dinner @ Brown Derby + Fantasmic

Day 3
Bfast @ Tusker House
Dinner @ V&As (DD goes to mousketeer club)

Day 4
Bfast @ Chef mickey
Dinner @ Jiko (inroom babysitter for DD)

Day 5
Lunch @ GF cafe while DD goes to Wonderland tea Party

Day 6
Hoop-de-doo

Day 7
Bfast @ Crystal Garden
Dinner @ Le Cellier - DD at Simba's cubhouse

Day 8
Bfast @ Akhersus
Dinner @ Garden Grill

Day 9
Bfast @ Boma

Might try to squeeze a couple more in, but concerned that it might become a mad dash to get from one meal to the next withno time to go to the parks!!

Also downside is that we have had to plan every day around the available ADRs - can't be flexible allowing for weather and/or DD(5)'s stamina levels

 

[itchin2go]

Just got back from a 5 day trip on the DxDDP. Oh, I was such a proponent of this plan. I just thought it was going to be perfect. I certainly don't want to give the nay-sayers their opportunity to say I told you so, and I'm sure some people will have a different opinion, but ... *cringing* .... it was just too much food. It was also a lot of pressure, and not in a good way.

We ate several 2TS meals, and even had one day where we only had ONE meal -- dinner. We are NOT members of the "clean plate club", nor do we feel like we HAVE to order everything we're entitled to. Even so, we were stuffed to the gills from day one and it didn't let up. At several meals, we declined to order dessert. At one meal, we had a couple of bites of the appetizers and then asked that they be boxed up for us to take with us, because we KNEW if we kept eating them, we'd NEVER get to our entrees.

On the plus side, MOST everything was prepaid, and we had lots of delicious meals....but that's about it.

One more concern - for us, the plan took away the leisurely snacking through Epcot that we like to do. While I wanted the cheese plate at Boulangerie and the School Bread at Norway, I was just too stuffed to eat them.

Next time, we're going sans-meal-plan.

Everyone will certainly have different experiences, and no doubt, this plan will be perfect for some people. I was just so certain that WE were some of those people, and I was just plain wrong.

Oh, just so the nay-sayers won't be right in every aspect: the plan did NOT affect our time in the parks AT ALL. That's a simple matter of planning. We were there at park opening 4 out of 5 days (the only exception being our first day), and we had plenty of time to see everything we wanted to see.

If I can offer one helpful hint, it's this. If you are the kind of people who are accustomed to having full meals (appetizer, entree, dessert) 2 or 3 times a day, this plan may be the ticket for you. I just realized that, very often, I don't order an entree. I may order an appetizer and a salad, for instance. I very rarely order dessert. Please don't take this to mean that I eat like a bird --- not so! But I am not accustomed to so many 3 course meals so close together. Sooooo, this plan had me ordering more food than I normally do. My thought was that I would just *try* everything, but they bring you those delicious dishes, and the best laid plans go out the window.

As I said, the food was delicious and it was nice to be able to try out so many places, but this plan doesn't work for my family and we'll try things without a meal plan next time.

 

[triplefigs]

Itchin2go, thanks for the tips on the plan. I think you had some very valid and wise advice. I will try to remind myself I don't have to eat it all! But I am looking forward to trying all these new places.

 

[angelmav]

Itchin2go, thank you for an honest and well thought out opinion on your experiences. Its just that type of feedback that make these boards valuable to those that are looking for all the pro's/con's of their buying decision!

 

[hddanis]

I'm just back from 4 nights/5 days on the Dlx plan. We did not eat any 2ts meals, and managed to use every single credit. Granted if we had arrived later on arrival or left earlier on departure, it would have made it such more difficult.

Here's where we ate:

1/24
Lunch Sci-Fi Dine in
Dinner - 50's Primetime Cafe

1/25
Breakfast - 1900 Park Fare
Lunch - Akershus Storybook lunch
Dinner - (world of sports paid OOP)

1/26
Breakfast - Kona Cafe
Lunch - Everything Pop
Dinner - Crystal Palace

1/27
Breakfast - Chef Mickey's
Lunch - Ate around the world
Dinner - Le Cellier

1/28
Lunch - Pecos Bills
Dinner - 1900 Park Fare

When we ate lunch around the world we had - Fish and chip in England, and Bratwurst in Germany. Then we used snack credits for Kaki Gori and pastries in France and Norway. We would order one meal/snack from each country and share it. That way we had enough room to enjoy it (and enough credits to cover it all). The exception there was the pastries in France and Norway ..There was NO sharing! LOL!!!

We had a friend join us for Dinner at Le Cellier and I asked if I could use one of my credits to pay for his dinner. The server checked with her manager and told us it was no problem. So we used an extra credit there. If I hadn't used it then, I would have used it to grab breakfast for me Monday morning.

We also paid for a few things OOP, bucket of popcorn, egg rolls in China, Dinner at World of sports...concession stand doesn't take dining plan, and probably 2 bottles of water.

We used our snack credits whenever we wanted and used them all up halfway thru our last day. I expected to have a bunch left over and planned on bringing back treats for the little ones who didn't come, but we used them all much to my surprise!

Did we eat everything we were served? Nope. Did we box it up and take it back to our room? Nope - no fridge. Was it too much food? Maybe. Would we do it again? In a heartbeat. It was SO convenient! Was it worth it? Oh yeah! Did we get our money's worth? I haven't finished adding up our meals and comparing them, but I'm pretty sure we did. I'll let you know for sure when I finish. Even if we broke even, it was still great because of the convenience.

Oh, and I spent about $100 on tips. Most places I tipped about 18-20% although several of the buffets the service wasn't great (had to ask for refills that took forever, plates never got cleared) and they got between 10-15%. Also, a few times I ordered drinks for dinner and those were NOT automatically gratuity added. They just brought me out a separate check for them.

I didn't think we'd use the refillable mugs much since we didn't spend much time at the resort, but we did. Every morning the girls went down and got themselves frozen cokes and me some hot chocolate or apple juice and every evening they got us all some hot chocolate. There were also 2 days we went back to the resort in the afternoon and we filled them up then as well. I probably wouldn't have bought them if they weren't already included in the plan, but they were nice to have.

 

[goofyandmickey]

I have recently booked a trip for Sept. 25- Oct.2 for my 2 sons and myself. I also paid for the deluxe dining plan. It is important to me to be able to eat well and not have the long lines I had last year when we were there. I am looking forward to this vacation but I am still confused with how this all works.... do we just btell them we are on the dining paln... do we make reservtions.... I am getting from this forum that we pay the tip but what all can we get for a day with the deluxe plan?

 

[TLSnell1981]

I have recently booked a trip for Sept. 25- Oct.2 for my 2 sons and myself. I also paid for the deluxe dining plan. It is important to me to be able to eat well and not have the long lines I had last year when we were there. I am looking forward to this vacation but I am still confused with how this all works.... do we just btell them we are on the dining paln... do we make reservtions.... I am getting from this forum that we pay the tip but what all can we get for a day with the deluxe plan?

I would make my ADRs at 180 days out. This will ensure you get the reservations you want. Your credits are pooled together so you can use them as you like. A 7 night stay will give each person 21 TS & 14 snack credits. Each person will also receive a refillable mug. The table service credits include an appetizer, entree, dessert and non-alcoholic beverage (tax is included) You can use 2 credits a day or 5 credits a day...however you want. Let's say you want to eat breakfast at Chef Mickey's (1 TS), lunch at Cinderella's (2 TS) and dinner at the Brown Derby (2 TS) and 1 snack that day. You make want to use 4 snack credits the next day and have lunch at Coral Reef (1 TS)and Dinner at Le Cellier (1 TS). and so on. The plan is very flexible. You can also click on the dining link above and go to the dining plan to see what restaurants are available and their menus. This is the brochure for the basic so don't let that info confuse you. The restaurants are the same. I hope I haven't confused you more.

 

[eam]

subscribing!

 

[annie1995]

Can someone please tell me

1. How much extra is the deluxe from the standard DP
and
2. What do you get on the deluxe plan?

Thanks so much!!

 

[pickles]

arrived 1/30 ate at maras.pizza and chicken. then for dinner we had konas. next day breakfast at bomas(GREAT!!!!) lunch was too soon scheduled for us..we had breakfast later than planned which left 3 hours between breakfast and lunch....don't do that. we ate at Morrocco and our server was kind since we didn't order 2 main meals. he charged us for the one and I paid cash for the dessert and appetizer my son had. dinner was suppose to be beirgarten, but they had to close. then today we ate bomas breakfast, abd for dinner we had celliers...yum!!! we had 4 snack credits to use up so got a water and almond sweet pretzels from kringlas. We rechecked in and start the deluxe again..we will see how we do. so far we love it and think it has paid for itsel. we have learned to not order things ..like 2 appetizers, so just ordering as we want
I will say I don;t understand all the fuss people have had on here about tips and receipts. I have not had ANY server imply or solicit me for a tip. bomas included a little card telling about gratuity. we gave folks our card, wrote "cash" on the tip line and then after the brought back the receipt to sign, I did and them I left cash. I have been writing the price down from my original receipt they showed me...the receipt you get to keep has the meal credits on it, no prices. I have little doubt you could use a credit card rather than cash and not have trouble. I think folks on this board either had problems because they had a bigger group(we were just 2 people in one room) and they wanted stuff divided up or maybe they got stuck with a less experiemced server
oh and for our mug which came with our plan, we saved that receipt and then have been filling my small bottle that i have a holder for. each AM I fill up and am off to the parks. I carry my receipt in case someone questions, but so far no one has. the mug is not practical to us to carry around a park all day, so this works better. if there was a problem, I guess I would fill the mug and then poor it into my cup.
will report more when I can

 

[jedi jen]

subscribing

So glad to have this thread. We are going in August and I currently have reservations for the DxDP, but I am a little on the fence. DS(9) likes to eat and enjoys adult food and lots of it. DD(5) loves the character meals. DM(?), me, I like sitting down, not standing in lines, salads/veggies/seafood, A/C, drinking from a glass, and signature dining. But so many credits, I am concerned that there will be no flexibility. On the other hand, I have never regretted an ADR (always loved it) before. And two years ago when adults could use kid TS credits, I did so to make those TS credits last. It was following the rules. Nothing wrong with that, right? Can you imagine app, entree, and dessert at kids price? But I digress. Bottom line, you may be able to tell I am not 100% sure I am ready for this plunge. Although, I do have all my ADR choices ready; just waiting for the 180 day mark.

 

[Iggipolka]

My wife and I did the Premium Plan a couple years ago, which includes the same 3 TS, 2 snacks as the Deluxe DDP. The difference is that the Premium plan included other goodies like tours and recreation.

We loved the tours and recreation (water mice, parasailing, horse back riding), but after the 3rd day, we didn't want to eat anything anymore. We love to eat, but 3 TS meals a day did us in. Actually, we only ate 2 TS a day, eating most breakfasts at the Pepper Market at CSR, which is considered CS. We even canceled our reservation at Victoria and Albert's because we just couldn't face any more food, even though we'd been looking forward to V&A more than any other meal. We didn't eat everything on our plates, but it was still too much. We started dreading meals, rather than looking forward to them. I never thought that would happen! We used our Snack credits for bottled water. No way were we going to use them for food.

The TS also take a minimum of 2 hours per meal, so we burned up a lot of park time eating.

Because of our past experience, we are just getting the Basic Plan on our upcoming trip.

I'm not suggesting that people not do the Deluxe plan, but realize that if you take advantage of the 3 TS meals per day, you will most likely be overwhelmed with food.

 

[stagemomx3]

We are also using the Deluxe DDP in March. I just wanted it to all be covered and let that be one last thing I need to worry about while there. I am sure it will be too much food for us, but we love to eat! LOL!

That's why we just upgraded to Deluxe for our March trip we want to make sure all our meals are covered. I was afraid with just the dining plan we would always be calculating if we had enough credits left or trying to decide which meals to pay oop.

Plus with an 11 day stay getting the refillable mug with the Deluxe Plan is a really big bonus!

 

[angelmav]

Plus with an 11 day stay getting the refillable mug with the Deluxe Plan is a really big bonus!

I cant get over how much I hear this mentioned. The Deluxe plan is pretty pricey, but the thing that really puts people over the top on it is the included $12 mug.

Is it just me, or have corporations really pegged the buying public?

 

[stagemomx3]

I cant get over how much I hear this mentioned. The Deluxe plan is pretty pricey, but the thing that really puts people over the top on it is the included $12 mug.

Is it just me, or have corporations really pegged the buying public?

Well it knocks almost 1/2 the price of the first day on the Deluxe Plan off at almost $13. So that first day you are getting an extra TS credit, really 2 since on the regular dining plan your second credit is CS not TS, plus an extra snack credit for $17.00. For a child on the dining plan, you are actually gaining $3.00 on the first day, since to upgrade to deluxe for a child it is only $10.00.

Now the rest of the stay the mug is a wash since we would have bought them the first day anyway, but it certainly is nice that it's included on the deluxe plan.

 

[pickles]

still doing good on the deluxe. we are a little backed up on credits so I called this am and scored Hoopdedoo to use some credits up. After today I am off the deluxe for our last 2 days of stay..so back to counter meals, as I now wish to save money and don't need to eat fancy
I used up some snack credits last night at the Pirate party, that was open late and a good way to use those credits. We will be up later tonight too at DTD , so will use the rest of the credits there.
I think the idea plan would be one that has 2 flexible credits (use for ts or cs) i think that would be near perfect for us.
will tally receipts and let folks know how much we "won" or "lost"

 

[daisy112878]

We've decided to do the deluxe for our end of sept. trip. I'm really excited esp since dh and I really like the premium plan but we never could fit in the tours and extras. Plus I like to pay for things up front and then not worry about a budget while on vacation.

 

[ChicagoMommy2Two]

I have a rough estimate of dining but I am thinking of adding a few more 2credit meals to the plan like the Hoopdeedoo and CRT fingers crossed!!!

 

[pickles]

ok, we finished the dlx yesterday. I mad a last minute ressie at HDD to use up some credits. that still left me with 2. It was almost 1130 at night and while I coudn't get a normal meal(I wasn't near any suitable OPEN place) I was able to get a few dessert items and 2 drinks to finish my credits up with. Granted not the best use of them but better than losing totally. I had 6 snack credits left which we used up at Goofys. will work on totals asap. Overall I liked it and plan to do it again. I would NOT suggest it for first timers, as you do spend a lot of time eating, and for first timers they need to see/do more of the parks than the dining, I think. We are DVC owners so are in it for the long haul.

 

[cdel73]

My husband and I have been back and forth on which plan to do so many times. I have to make my adr's next week and am still so undecided. I can't wait to hear more reviews.