Does anyone do the deluxe plan and use it for several counter service?

[jlk806]

We are doing a split stay, 5 nts & 4 nts. For the first 5 nights we will be on the deluxe plan, and for the last 4 the regular plan. For the first 5 nights i have 5 TS reserved because we were originally doing the regular plan. I am going to add a few more TS, just figuring that out with whats available. I would like to do Mickeys Backyard BBQ, but its booked so Ill keep checking. But I in no way want to book 3 TS meals per day thats way too much time and planning around! So we will use several credits on CS meals as we go. But we really do want to be on the plan so everything is prepaid, and we can eat what we please. Will they look at us funny when we use our DxDP for CS meals?

 

[sharonabe]

They won't look at you funny, but they may stop and hug you and thank you for giving them money. Remember you're spending $80/day/adult and eating 2 CS and 1 TS a day will not come anywhere near that $80.

You said you had 5 TS dinners already. I think if you can at least put in a TS breakfast or lunch on each of those days, you'll come closer to breaking even. Do you have time on the day you check in to have a TS as well? That would be one more if you can, and of course, on your day 6 (after night 5), those credits last until midnight, so keep using that card to "pay" for your TS, and don't use the new card until the next day.

 

[jlk806]

Yes I am planning on making it 2 TS a day - or try and get some 2 credit meals or dinner shows if I can - I just do NOT want to do 3 TS per day, which is what it seems most people on this board do with the Dx plan. I just wanted to make sure Im not the only one using it for CS also!

 

[Faldred]

The general rule of thumb on DxDP is that you need to use at least 2/3 of your meal credits on TS meals in order for it to make economic sense. That means you can still use 1/3 of your credits on CS, if you like, but any more than that and you risk paying more for the plan that you're getting in return.

The most common DxDP plans I see here are for:

1) TS breakfast or early lunch followed by a signature dinner or dinner show (sometimes flipped if going to CRT or HBD during the day).

2) TS breakfast, CS lunch, and TS dinner (or CS breakfast, TS lunch and dinner).

And some people mix #1 and #2 together on different days, as we did on our last trip, although we did have 3 days with 3 TS meals mixed in as well.

 

[crostorfer]

I don't think it's crazy, in fact, I'm doing the same thing. After our last trip with the amount that I paid for CS and snacks I swore I would never do Disney sans deluxe dining again, just so that I didn't have to worry about how much I was spending on food. It may not save you any money, but it feels a lot better when everything is pre-paid.

Just use your CS credits wisely. I love the Tangerine Cafe. My lunch there, just for me, was $15 after everything was all said and done. I don't have a problem using a TS credit for that. Now the $8 burger combo at Pecos Bills, I might. Just use care in picking where to eat and order a more expensive item on the menu.

 

[smiths02]

Also, you said the first 5 was DxDP and the next were DDP

You could also spread them over your arrival and departure day
Arrival night-1 TS dinner
Day 2-1 TS breakfast/lunch, 1 TS dinner
Day 3-1 TS breakfast/lunch, 1 TS dinner
Day 4-1 TS breakfast/lunch, 1 TS dinner
Day 5-1 TS breakfast/lunch, 1 TS dinner
Day 6 (credits would still be valid from DxDP)-1 TS breakfast/lunch, 1 TS dinner
USED-11 TS credits/15 (more than 2/3 and you haven't even done any signaure or shows)
Day 7-1 TS
Day 8-1 TS
Day 9-1 TS
depature-1 TS

 

[peanut520]

I understand the 2/3 general guideline for a break even point for dxddp, but it also depends on what you order at your TS of you are not doing a buffet or which meal you do a buffet style/character meals. I'm just going by average prices off of allears for an al la carte type restaurant.
Drink $3
App $10
Entree $20
Dessert $7
That is $40 for one meal plus the 2 snacks = $46 without tax. That leaves $33 to be divided up between two credits remaining or approximately $16.50 per credit. I've calculated most qs lunches to be around $14 ($8 burger, $3 drink, and $3 dessert) and qs breakfast around $10 ($3 drink and $7 entree)
Total = $70 but add the tax in then you are at $74.55 so one ts meal or more expensive menu option will allow you to use more of your credits on qs on dxddp without losing money and still be on a dining plan to have everything prepaid. This will only work if you eat on the plan a it is designed otherwise you are better with ddp or paying oop. If you go oop you can put the same amount of money you would have paid of the dxddp on a prepaid credit card and use that for your meals so your meals will still be "prepaid"

 

[Faldred]

Oh, the "2/3 rule" is most certainly just a quickie reference, and much depends on where you go and what you order. It's quite possible to get close to the DxDP daily cost with a single meal, if you work at it. For example, using AllEars' current menu, I could go to Tutto Italia for dinner and order:

App: Prosciutto di Parma $17
Entree: Tagliata di Manzo $36
Dessert: Copetta Sotto Bosco $14
Beverage: Iced Tea with mint and orange $4.50

Total, including 6.5% sales tax: $76.15
​

But then, it's unlikely that anyone will go to the most expensive restaurants and order the most expensive items from the menu every time. On the other hand, for that same DxDP credit, you could be going to the Plaza ($20-$25 meal) or even just swing by Casey's for a hot dog ($15 or less).

The 2/3 rule is intended to give people a starting point to work from, but everyone should still do their own math based on where they plan to (or are likely to) go and what they would want to order.

 

[havoc315]

I find the 2/3rd rule to be an excellent rule of thumb, but it is admittedlly not exact.
Of course, it must be remembered --- You likely won't break even if you simply use 2/3rd of your credits and throw away the otehr 1/3rd. You still need to at least get some qs value out of that 1/3rd. And likewise.. if your 2/3rd TS meals are breakfast and a moderate lunch... it won't put you towards breaking even.

But most moderate lunches will still start around $30ish... moderate dinners start around $35ish... (By moderate, I mean mid-level entrees... even possibly skipping a dessert or app).
So if you use 2 TS credits for lunch and dinner... You will likely be "spending" at least 65-70. So if you can get another $10-15 value out of a QS breakfast/snacks, mug... then you break even.

When we did the DxDP, we used 15 out of 18 credits for TS. There were days when we used 2 TS credits, (lunch and dinner), and days where we used 3 TS credits (lunch and signature dinner).

On days when we only did 2 TS credits... It was more or less break-even. (For example, 1 day, we did snack breakfast, Liberty Tree Tavern lunch and Chef Mickey dinner-- adults averaged about $75, slightly less than break-even.).
But days when we did a signature meal-- We were "spending" between $90-110 for the day. (The cheapest 2 credit meal was $53 at Hoop Dee Do, we had a $35 lunch at Yak and Yeti that day, and QS breakfast, so about $95 for that day).

To me, the easiest way to get value out of the DxDP is to mix in quite a few 2-credit meals.

 

[AndreaDM]

We will be using Deluxe for the first time in August and have a 1 credit and a 2 credit meal planned for most days, but plan on doing CS for our first meal when we check in and on the day we leave simply because I don't want to be tied to reservations too close to arrival/departure. Those CS meals will be at our resort or possibly DTD, we plan on doing on TS on park days and of course we'll have to figure out how to use up our 2 snack credits pp per day!

 

[vinotinto]

We always use a few of our credits at CS, and have always more than broken even, but we have 2-credit meals planned on most days. If we have a 2-credit meal planned, we usually have another breakfast or lunch TS planned that day. On our MK day last time, we had lunch at CRT and dinner at CG - our family of 4 went through 16 credits that day. I would not recommend DxDP unless you are committed to making dining one of the priorities of your vacation and you are willing to do 2-credit meals most days.