Dining plans Regular vs Deluxe?

[Andie272]

The Regualr is 1 table, 1 quick and 1 snack. What is the deluxe and how much more is it? And why would or wouldn't you want to do the deluxe?

Thanks

 

[ancestry]

The deluxe is 3 table services plus 2 snacks each day. Also the table service on the deluxe include an appetizer where the table service on the regular does not. The cost is $71.99 per night per adult and $20.99 for children (ages 3-9).

 

[Andie272]

on the deluxe could you do 2 table and a quick serve instead of 3 table?

 

[septbaby]

For an adult its about $30 more per night, $10 for a child.

The Deluxe include 3 Meal credits (can be used for TS or CS), 2 Snack credits and one resort refillable mug. The TS meals for Deluxe Plan participants include appetizers, they are not included on the regular plan.

There are several reasons people choose Basic over Deluxe:

1. Cost - food budget isn't large enough to cover Deluxe expense
2. Food - too much food on the Deluxe plan, more than needed for their family
3. Time - some think taking time for 3 meals or even 2TS meals daily cuts into park time and they'd rather have the park time

There are many fans of the Deluxe:
1. Time - want those breaks worked into the vacation plan
2. Cost - would have spent that money anyway so they'd rather pre pay
3. Food - want the appetizers and not having to think about paying OOP, snacks and refills work for them too

So its a personal decision, either one can be right for you.

 

[Andie272]

one more question, if I do deluxe, then CRT is still 2 Tableservice meals, but it would still leave me with another meal and 2 snacks for the day right? So we could eat a big breakfast at CRT, and then a snack for lunch and a big dinner.....hmmm this is sounding more like our best option.

 

[septbaby]

The deluxe is 3 table services plus 2 snacks each day. Also the table service on the deluxe include an appetizer where the table service on the regular does not. The cost is $71.99 per night per adult and $20.99 for children (ages 3-9).

The Deluxe is 3 Meal Credits so the meals can be TS or CS.

 

[DannysMom]

one more question, if I do deluxe, then CRT is still 2 Tableservice meals, but it would still leave me with another meal and 2 snacks for the day right? So we could eat a big breakfast at CRT, and then a snack for lunch and a big dinner.....hmmm this is sounding more like our best option.

Yes, you could do exactly that. Often folks who like the deluxe plan prefer Signature (2 TS credit) restaraunts & will plan 1 1TS meal, either breakfast or lunch & 1 signature restaraunt (2 TS credits) for dinner.

It all depends on how you & your family prefer to eat & tour WDW.

 

[septbaby]

one more question, if I do deluxe, then CRT is still 2 Tableservice meals, but it would still leave me with another meal and 2 snacks for the day right? So we could eat a big breakfast at CRT, and then a snack for lunch and a big dinner.....hmmm this is sounding more like our best option.

You can spend 4 Meal credits on a day if you want, you are not limited by day, just by the overall number of credits left in the plan. So you can do CRT a CS lunch in MK then a nice TS dinner on that day if you want. You could also do CRT for breakfast, share a CS lunch and share a CS dinner between to people and still only use 3 credits per person that day. The DP, especially Deluxe offer lots of flexibility.

 

[TBGOES2DISNEY]

I hope the OP doesn't mind me adding some questions to the thread. I am contemplating upgrading to deluxe if I get free dining this year. I was wondering if those of you who have used it would do it again? I am just trying to figure out if b/c of cost if it would make more sense for me to just do basic dining and then pay OOP for extra snacks or an extra meal or two or if it is totally worth to not have to worry about food with all the credits on deluxe.

 

[DannysMom]

I hope the OP doesn't mind me adding some questions to the thread. I am contemplating upgrading to deluxe if I get free dining this year. I was wondering if those of you who have used it would do it again? I am just trying to figure out if b/c of cost if it would make more sense for me to just do basic dining and then pay OOP for extra snacks or an extra meal or two or if it is totally worth to not have to worry about food with all the credits on deluxe.

Well, this coming trip I upgraded us to DxDP. I figured that last year with just a few meals OOP, 3-4 I think, we spent almost as much (maybe 400 or so) as the approx. 500 bucks it would cost me to upgrade. Plus we tend to prefer sit down meals to CS, so the ability to have most meals be TS, with just a few CS here & there is a plus for my family as well. We also like the pre-paid aspect of the DP in general, but that's just us. You would need to determine if it suits your family's eating & touring style. Oh and DxDP, you get appetizers if that's important to you.

 

[SomDayMyPrnceWillCom]

DD and I did DDP in 2007 and DxDP in 2008. We prefer the DxDP because we wanted to try the signature/2 credit restaurants. We also arrived very early on first day and left after closing on check out day so I was able to stretch a few credits out for arrival and departure days. Most days we had a TS breakfast or lunch and 2 credit dinner. There were a couple of days that we had 3 meals stretched out from early morning until late evening. Part of the joy on our vacation is trying new restaurants or going back to restaurants we love. I have had knee surgery and after walking for a while, a nice place to sit down and rest is welcomed. We also invest in the park hoppers and while I try to plan our ADR's around our park days and where we plan to be, some of the restaurants we want to try just don't fit into that plan. I'm already trying to make a generic plan for our trip in May 2010 and don't know how I'm going to be able to wait until the calendars come out so I can officially plan my days and wait for the window to make my ADR's. There are a lot of Epcot and Magic Kingdom resort restaurants that we enjoy so on some days we may start at one park and end up at another for dinner. We have also booked 6night/7day trips in the past and I'm shooting for 9night/10 day trip this time.