Dining plan/Deluxe plan/ and free dining

[Allensfan]

Stay with me, I will try and explain my question/situation

We always travel in Sept because that is my son's birthday month...when we go, they normally offer free dining.

Honestly, the free dining, even before all these changes was never a huge savings because we book through AAA and they give me a discount on my room. I had to give up the discount on the room, to get the free dining because you can't get the free dining if you are already using another discount.

Anyway...it worked out okay last time we went, we liked the dining plan..but with the new changes, the ddp is not really great for us. The deluxe dining plan is what we would buy ourselves...for our needs, it is better suited for my family.

So the long winded question comes to a head.. ....If we book in Sept again and get offered the free dining plan, can we pay the difference to get the deluxe plan???

If we can't and we are just stuck with the regular plan, we may just not take the free dining and catch a break on the hotel costs.

Thanks in advance...you guys rock

 

[disneymarathoner07]

We are going back this september with free dining from the bounceback they offered last year and I know that we can upgrade to the deluxe dining and just pay the difference of the 2 so really we are able to get the deluxe dining for the price of the basic DDP. Not sure if this will be the case if they offer a free dining incentive to general public or not but I know it is the case for the bounceback offer. HTH

 

[Disney Fool]

I did this. I'm booked for the free-dining in September 08 (actually Aug.30-Sept.7) and I upgraded to deluxe dining. The deluxe dining is $69.99 per person per day, but because I was on the free dining plan, it was offered to me at $37 or $39 per person. So, I get the deluxe dining while paying regular dining price. Works for me! I prefer the deluxe plan--I plan to do several signature dinners; I also like the idea of two snacks per day, (can be used for bottled water) and refillable mugs. So, we'll probably do sitdown breakfasts and signature dinners. I am really confused that people say it's too much food. Don't these people eat at home? don't they eat breakfast? lunch? dinner? Nobody said that they had to stuff themselves to the point of being uncomfortable.

 

[Disney Fool]

I did this. I'm booked for the free-dining in September 08 (actually Aug.30-Sept.7) and I upgraded to deluxe dining. The deluxe dining is $69.99 per person per day, but because I was on the free dining plan, it was offered to me at $37 or $39 per person. So, I get the deluxe dining while paying regular dining price. Works for me! I prefer the deluxe plan--I plan to do several signature dinners; I also like the idea of two snacks per day, (can be used for bottled water) and refillable mugs. So, we'll probably do sitdown breakfasts and signature dinners. I am really confused that people say it's too much food. Don't these people eat at home? don't they eat breakfast? lunch? dinner? Nobody said that they had to stuff themselves to the point of being uncomfortable.

 

[Allensfan]

Disney Fool...I loved your post, very funny! and Yes, we eat 2 meals a day at home so why not while on vacation. We are not ones that feel we have to "clean our plates" so we try things and do not over eat.

Now..can you help me understand more about the deluxe plan? We have only done the regular free dining last year so I wanted to better understand the difference. Thanks in advance.

 

[Disney Fool]

Bear with me --I'm still on a learning curve too! As I understand it, you get three meals a day--you can choose to do table service, or counter service --makes no difference. you also get two snacks (as opposed to one for the regular dining plan) and you get a refillable mug for everyone in your party. the regular dining plan does not include appetizers but the deluxe plan does. If I'm missing something, somebody will, I'm sure, correct me.

 

[Allensfan]

Bear with me --I'm still on a learning curve too! As I understand it, you get three meals a day--you can choose to do table service, or counter service --makes no difference. you also get two snacks (as opposed to one for the regular dining plan) and you get a refillable mug for everyone in your party. the regular dining plan does not include appetizers but the deluxe plan does. If I'm missing something, somebody will, I'm sure, correct me.

Thanks for responding!!

Okay so let's see if I understand how this works

1. We get 2 table credits a day and 1 counter service a day

2. So I can use my snack credits for breakfast and eat at the more high end places at night for dinner if I would like to and still eat at counter service daily for lunch?

3.with the Deluxe plan I get appetizers with my dinners but I still need to tip?

4. Do you get better snack credits with the deluxe plan?

Thanks

 

[Disney Fool]

1. We get 2 table credits a day and 1 counter service a day

No, you get 3 meals a day; you choose to use them as you wish. Counter or table service. Your choice. So, you can have a sit down breakfast, a counter service lunch and a table service dinner (with appetizer). Orr, you can skip lunch, and use two credits for a signature dinner. They are interchangeable. Gratuities are handled same as regular plan. Snacks are the same--but you get two snacks on this plan.

Here's the plan you can read it: http://www.dreamsunlimitedtravel.com/packages/2008-packages.htm#dlx

 

[Allensfan]

Thanks! I get it now. Most of the places we want to eat are 2 credits for dinner so this should work out well for us. We can do a snack for breakfast, counter service for lunch and a 2 credit dining each night.