Dilemma... Deluxe Dining

[arrical8]

We are a family of 6 and at vacation time our kids will be 8, 5, 2, and 2. We are currently planning on getting the DDP but given that my 2 year olds will either have to eat off our plates or I have to order them their own dinners at non-buffet/aycte meals, I am am wondering if we should upgrade to the DxDP? I do have some buffet/aycte meals booked, but our current schedule is about half.

My thought is with the addition of the appetizer, the 2 year olds can share my and my DH's meal and we would not have to buy them additional meals. They are not picky eaters and currently eat what we eat at home.

Thoughts? Opinions?

 

[TDC Nala]

My first reaction is that you should not pay the much higher price for the deluxe plan just so you can get appetizers to feed the toddlers. Buying them kids meals would likely be more economical if you really didn't want the deluxe plan to start with.

Especially if you have buffets and ayce booked, where the toddlers eat whatever they want anyway.

 

[sharonabe]

Considering it would cost you $120 per night to upgrade, those are some expensive apps.

 

[Kimosabe]

We have done each plan once (usually don't get the dining plan). We "upgraded" to the deluxe plan the second time with the idea of wanting to enjoy more of the nicer restaurants in a single trip. Although it was fun to try to get our money's worth on the deluxe plan, it quickly became painfully clear that we would not be doing the deluxe plan again....so much food....and I can only imagine that feeling would be magnified for an 8 and 5 year old. I would agree that most 2 year olds would be happier with a kids' meal than with an adult appetizer, and it would probably be more efficient/economical, too.

Having said that, doing the deluxe plan is something you ought to try at least once...it's vacation, after all! And if you want to do that at some point, then do it before the oldest reaches age 10 and is treated as an adult. We made the mistake of doing it on our trip that celebrated our daughter's 10th birthday! She ate very little anyway, so we quickly realized we had messed up, but we tried to make the best of it (i.e., I got to enjoy more variety of appetizers and entrees!). At California Grill, when she wanted a steak, the waiter asked if she wanted the filet from the adult menu ($45) or the steak from the kids menu ($13) (at age 10, she was still the size of a 6-year old, and the servers were generally very willing to let her order from the kids menu). She didn't really care, but I quickly reminded him that she was an "adult" in Disney's mind, so we (I mean, she!?) would be getting the filet. Ha!

 

[smiths02]

We will have DH, me, DS-9, and twins 2 and 2 next time we go. I kept thinking about Deluxe, but I can't make it work to be a money saver mostly because I just can't schedule all those sit down meals. With the exception of one signature and CRT, I don't want to do a lot of signatures because we have 2-2 year olds. I would need to add TS meals when I know we would not really be hungry.
And with DxDP and the new cancellation policy, it is not as if I could plan those meals and then just cancel if we don't feel like it...that would be $50 PLUS the cost already paid for DxDP.

Not having to buy a few kids meals or appetizers OOP won't make up the difference in cost, you would have to make up the cost difference by having more TS restaurants.

 

[JediBonas]

We did the DDP last year with our twins (turned 2 during our trip). For the most part there was enough food for them to just eat off our plates at TS and QS places. A few times we ordered them a side or a kids meal to split. We are planning to do the same this year. My daughter wasn't a picky eater but my son is and we had no problems.

 

[margaret07013]

DxDDP vs DDP with kids... it really depends on how you plan your meals and your plan your days.

Here are my experiences with DDP - it didnt work on day when we did character breakfast simply because we are not used to eating a lot in the morning and we were hungry after pushing strollers for 10 hrs and walking on average 8 miles per day. it didnt work on days when we used 2 TS for show dinners and had to give up TS for next day. regular DDP worked when we had a light breakfast in the room and TS for lunch and QS for dinner and snack in between.

we are doing DxDDP this time but we are not doing 3 TS per day. we are using 2 TS credit for either show dinners or fine dinning resteurant (only one - its my B-day dinner with the family). We do not plan on leaving parks to eat so we decided to eat in parks only. so no Chef Mickey at CR. since we have 2 kids - we focused on character buffets to avoid "sharing" issues or "ordering" appetizers for smaller kid. I was able to get BOG and CRT ( 2 TS credits) for MK day.

We went with DxDDP not becasue I want to save or think its better deal - we went b/c of convinience of having prepaid and me not going nuts when seeing Disney food prices.

 

[nat8199]

We went last year when my twins were two and did the DxDP. It worked well for us. My kids are early risers and we did character breakfasts every day before the parks opened. Even though it is a lot of food, it wasn't enough to feed my boys and we ended up having to pay a lot out of pocket to feed them. They are big eaters, though.

We will be doing the DxDP again when we go in 2015 (Twins will be 4.5). We use TS restaurants as our breaks because my kids like to eat, like restaurants, and don't nap.

Now I just need them to actually grow with all the eating that they do so that they will be tall enough for some rides! I don't know how they eat as much as I do and stay so tiny!

 

[LovesTimone]

We are a family of 6 and at vacation time our kids will be 8, 5, 2, and 2. We are currently planning on getting the DDP but given that my 2 year olds will either have to eat off our plates or I have to order them their own dinners at non-buffet/aycte meals, I am am wondering if we should upgrade to the DxDP? I do have some buffet/aycte meals booked, but our current schedule is about half.

My thought is with the addition of the appetizer, the 2 year olds can share my and my DH's meal and we would not have to buy them additional meals. They are not picky eaters and currently eat what we eat at home.

Thoughts? Opinions?

I would upgrade to DDXDP, I know most people won't agree with me. But we love DDXDP. For us when our kids were little it was nice to be able to sit down and eat. The characters kept them busy and they got there autographs. Plus it was cool inside. Plus this give your kids time for a break from the magic. I would do at least 1 signature meal while your there, I suggest maybe at lunch so the little ones are not as tired. Mom and Dad deserve some magic to

Also this give you the chance to try some different place's that you might not.
Here are some suggestion.

Coral Reef my kids loved this.
Sci-Fi super fun with great milk shakes.
Garden Grill - Chip and Dale

Have a magical time