Disney Deluxe Dining Plan?

[FIREFIGHTERMICKEY]

Is this plan worth it? We are going in July and I want to see if you feel its worth it. Thanks

 

[sydneysmom]

Personally, we haven't done it yet but we decided to do it based on ALOT of reading of opinions. We've got the deluxe plan booked for Sept.
The big reason we're doing it is so that we can do alot of character meals....we're bringing our DD4. So I really want her to have alot of fun. Also, we're going to Cinderella's castle for a breakfast and a dinner and also Narcoosees. ( all 2 credit). But I kind of figured out the pricing of each of the restaurants we picked, plus snacks, plus the refillable cup and we'll wind up saving about $ 500.
I also like the fact that we don't have to think about what we want to order....it's paid for. ( except tips) So that's nice.

Alot of people will say it's too much food and you spend too much valuable park time. I think it depends on your particular family. I look at it as a nice break to sit, talk and relax. My DD is 4.... I don't want her so overwhelmed that she doesn't have fun. She's good when she can sit and relax for a minute. We're big fans of "sit down meals" at home, so for us it's normal. We don't eat big, but we do sit down together to connect with each other. So I don't look at it as wasting park time. Also, while it IS alot of food, it's your choice HOW MUCH you eat. You don't have to order dessert.... you can order salads, fruit... or at the buffet, eat light.
Really, I love it for the experiences of going to all the character meals and the 2 credit meals. I don't want to deal w/ counter service or "eating on the go".

Have fun planning your vacation !! (sorry for this being so long!!)

 

[tink713]

If you like to do alot of signature restaurants or just love to have a lot of sit down meals I would say that it's worth it. DH and I did the deluxe dining plan last January and will be doing it again in April. We love it, DH is a big eater and loves his snacks though. Plus, we're going to CG, Brown Derby, Narcoossee's and Jiko.

 

[Justsyd2]

If you do a character breakfast and a signature dinner, then yes, it is. If you try to do three meals a day you might find yourself extremely full, and spending a lot of time in restaurants.

 

[Pakey]

We love going to signatures; we've eaten at all of them many times. But we don't like the deluxe dining plan. I don't want an appetizer, entree and dessert at every meal. It's too much food. The plan is only going to get you money ahead if you want an appetizer, entree and dessert per person at these meals. We can't eat that much food.

 

[eyor44]

We have done it two or three times and it is completely worth it for us. We do two TS' a day and all of the snack credits really come in handy. I like not having to worry about who is ordering what or the cost.

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

We could never eat that much food. Plus for us , it would feel like we were wasting too much time sitting in restaurants. So for us, not worth it.

 

[pearlieq]

It's worth it in a couple of situations:

1.) You go to WDW fairly often and you don't mind spending a lot of time having sit down meals. You really enjoy the restaurants and that's a big part of your experience.

2.) You're going to do at least one meal that takes 2 credits per day.

If you don't meet that criteria, I would urge you not to do it. It is a LOT of food. And obscene amount of food. A quantity of food that will make you start feeling guilty about the starving children in Africa.

If you're not going to use your allotments for table service restaurants, the plan isn't worth it. Paying out of pocket will be cheaper. No one can eat 3 full table service meals a day for a week without feeling seriously awful.

When we have done it, we would use the snack credits for breakfast, eat an early TS lunch, and then have a 2 TS dinner somewhere. That worked out for us and it was fun, but it was the only way I'd do it.

 

[crzy4my2]

I agree with a PP, it all depends on your family. We got the Deluxe plan the last time we went. DH didn't think we needed it. We were doing a lot of Character meals and 2 credit meals and explained to DH that it was worth it..he was still sceptical.. A couple days into the trip he said that it WAS worth it and agreed I made the right choice. After you eat they give you the bill..even though you are on the plan..I assumed it was for tip purposes..so when he would look at the bill, he would say that he was glad we were on the dinning plan There was also 9 of us eating at each meal.
Plus, we like to take some time and sit, relax and eat.

 

[tinkmom2]

For our family it was too much food! We prefer to eat a big breakfast. Maybe a snack at lunch if we are hungry or midday and then dinner. We felt bad on the deluxe leaving our plates full and my Mom was stockpiling deserts because she felt bad about throwing them away. Our last time we had free dining and upgraded to 1TS and one QS a day and that worked fine for our family. But I agree with the PP if you want to eat at a lot of 2 credit restaurants the deluxe is for you.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

For us, we LOST money on the DxDDP. And I am not talking about a little bit of money, I am talking about TONS of money.

DS was 12 at the time, so we had to do DxDDP for 3 adults. DS eats NOTHING. We did a buffet breakfast and a signature dinner most nights. Tip on breakfast ran about $12, tip on dinner ran about $40. The plan was $70 per person, per day, so $210 plus tip was $262 PER DAY! There is NO WAY we would have spent that much just ordering exactly what we wanted.

We have a TiW card and we come out WAAAYYY ahead when we use that over a dining plan. Last year we did NOT have a dining plan and our average cost for food per day was under $200, still eating signature dinners, snacks, whatever.

 

[NMW]

Our family uses the deluxe dining plan and every trip and we love it. It saves us a lot of money. The plan is perfect for how we like to eat at WDW.

We eat a character or resort TS breakfast EVERY day. The protein fuels the kids up and gives them energy for the day. We have tried the pastery/bakery item route in the past and it just doesn't work. My kids and even I was starving by about 10:30. My kids kept asking when lunch was.

We like a few TS lunches per trip. It's a nice break from the crowds. We are so not CS people. Long lines of people waiting to eat a burger in the heat...ugh. I'd take a cool TS restaurant where you can sit down and relax any day of the week.

We love signature restaurants and do at least 4 every trip.

We do snacks for some lunches so we can do the signatures. Each person gets 2 a night on the deluxe plan. We also use them for water and soda bottles. If you go during Food and Wine at Epcot you can use them for the samples from each country too.

We like the refillable mugs and use them every trip.

We like appetizers and the deluxe plan includes them. We'd end up paying out of pocket for some of our favorites at a lot of restaurants if we just did the basic dining plan.

 

[NMW]

Just wanted to add that we don't ever feel like we are spending too much time in restaurants. We eat early breakfasts (like 8 AM). We arrive at the parks before opening and even on days we eat a TS lunch, we still see everything. We like late dinners (after 7 PM) because that's how we eat at home-my kids play sports and we are never all home before that. The dinners in no way mess up our park touring.

Also sometimes taking a break from touring for lunch is really nice. One trip we were at AK and it was a steamy 98 in May. It was only our second day there so our bodies were just not used to the heat. The kids asked what we were doing for lunch and I said Yak and Yeti. They all cheered-yeah air conditioning! It was a really nice lunch in a cool restaurant. We were all re-charged and relaxed when we left. We also ate lunch that trip at SciFi, Chefs de France, and Le Cellier-it was hot those days too, and it was such a nice break to sit and relax.

Our friends went last June and did the deluxe plan. They did not do many signatures so they had 3 meals most days. They said getting out of the heat for their lunches was one of the nicest things about their trip.

 

[Harmonysmomma]

This is our second time getting it. We love SIg restaurants and character meals. So it works for us. I like not having to worry about every dime once we are there. Last time we did it we saved a LOT OF MONEY. We usually get the free dining then do the upgrade so it's basically like paying for the regular dining plan. We also LOVE TO eat. so that helps! We usually do a TS for bfast, qs for lunch and then either 1 or 2ts meal for dinner. It works for us.

 

[snoopybabe]

For us it was worth it.
We too enjoy sit down meals. Look at it as a way to relax and connect. We did Cinderella's castle & Narcoose's

 

[*pixie*dust*]

It is way too much food! Who wants to eat 3 full table service meals a day? I have had it once and would not do it again. It felt like we were eating all the time!

 

[Justsyd2]

Please remember that you don't have to order EVERYTHING at every meal! You can skip some appetizers and desserts, and still use the plan to save money.

 

[disneyjunkie]

Please remember that you don't have to order EVERYTHING at every meal! You can skip some appetizers and desserts, and still use the plan to save money.

When I read a "it's too much food post", I always wonder who is forcing people to order and eat everything.

I have the deluxe plan booked for our next trip. I plan to treat way we used the DDP when it included appetizers. We'll order what we want. If we only want an soup and a drink, then that is what we will order. If we want salad, steak, cake and a drink, then we will order.

We will order based on we want to eat, not based on what is included with the plan.

 

[The Princess]

We feel that in the summer months you don't eat as much so we just get the dining plan with 1 ts 1 cs and 1 snack~ if we want to order anymore we do and just pay the difference. We would rather do that than waste the credits and not
use them.