DxDDP - too much time away from parks

[MIMomof2]

As it works out, if we do DxDDP, we would probably have to schedule 3 meals/day, instead of using for 2 meals/Signature restaurants. I just can't imagine convincing 5 and 8 yo DC to dress up for Signature restaurants, so am just planning on 1 TS credit dinners. With 3 meals a day, do you think it's just too much time away from parks?

 

[aaronella]

You could also consider going to the hoop de doo or mickey's backyard barbeque which are each 2!

 

[DuckMom]

Hi MIMomof 2 ... I'm assuming your screen name means you are a Michigan Mom of 2 ... so am I

Anyways, we did Deluxe dining our last trip (with a 2 & 5 year old) and found it to be way too much food. We did a couple of 2 TS credit meals (Hoop De Doo and CRT), but still felt like we were just going from restaurant to restaurant. I finally ended up canceling a whole load of ADRs and just bagging trying to make sure we got our money's worth. Honestly, it was way too much food for our family (and trust me, we like to eat). We had a boatload of credits left at the end of the week and brought home more Disney suckers and banana bread than I could ever eat (we still have some of the suckers in the candy cabinet seven months later). I vowed never to do Deluxe (or more than one TS meal per day) again and we are going back in August on the basic plan. I'm getting ready to make my ADRs and I do, at times, wish I had all those credits to play with, but I know this will work out best for our family.

 

[MSLRAC]

We loved the DxDP and did NOT find it to be too much food or too much time away from the parks at all. We did 3 TS meals per day at 8 am, 2 pm and 8 pm. We did a character breakfast each morning so we wasted very little park time in meet and greet lines. And with breakfast being in our park of choice for the day or at a nearby resort, we were done just in time for rope drop or shortly thereafter. Dinner was scheduled right before or after park closing each night. A couple of our MK nights, we ate about an hour before park closing but we ate at Ohana and Narcoosse's so we had great views of Wishes. So lunch was the only meal that we really took time out to eat and it was only about an hour to 90 minutes (if we ate at a neighboring resort) each day. But by 2 pm each day, my kids were ready to sit down, relax and refuel for the rest of our day.

It truly worked great for us. With buffets for breakfast, we only ate what we wanted to eat. I had lighter options scheduled for lunch and then heavier meals for dinner. So never once did we feel like our meals were too close together or like we were stuffed from all the food.

We did have a lot of snack credits to spend our last morning but that was just poor planning on my part. DH went OOP for sodas, coffee, cocoa and fruit in the parks because I had read that they were not good uses for your credits. Next trip, we're going to use our credits when we can and if we run out (highly doubtful) then we'll go OOP for stuff.

Also, we only did 1 signature meal last trip but we are planning on 4 next trip. It really is no big deal to "dress up" for those meals. Khaki shorts and a polo or a cute little skirt or capris with a matching top and they are good to go. So I would not let the "dress code" at the signature restaurants deter you from eating there if you want.

Anyway, sorry to write you a book but I think that the DxDP can work for more families with just a little bit of planning. Plus, when we look back, all of our meals truly added to our experience and helped make our vacation even more magical.

 

[hannahdrewmom]

We do dxdp with a 4 and 2 year old and have no problem. Signature restaurants don't need to be dressy. It's still casual it's just not beach wear. We tend to get cleaned up before dinner there, but we do it at any restaurant. It's not like they need shirts and ties... or my husband would have stopped me before I even took a second look years ago
I'd suggest some shows mixed with signatures. We normally do CRT, HDDR, and then a coupe of signatures mixed with room service or a couple days of 3 meals a day.

If you are planning 3 meals a day then I'd skip it. I know it can be done. As pp mentioned there times you can make it work. But with younger kids an ADR at 8 sounds like a nightmare to me. Finishing up dinner at 10 is not my idea of a vacation.

 

[MSLRAC]

We do dxdp with a 4 and 2 year old and have no problem. Signature restaurants don't need to be dressy. It's still casual it's just not beach wear. We tend to get cleaned up before dinner there, but we do it at any restaurant. It's not like they need shirts and ties... or my husband would have stopped me before I even took a second look years ago
I'd suggest some shows mixed with signatures. We normally do CRT, HDDR, and then a coupe of signatures mixed with room service or a couple days of 3 meals a day.

If you are planning 3 meals a day then I'd skip it. I know it can be done. As pp mentioned there times you can make it work. But with younger kids an ADR at 8 sounds like a nightmare to me. Finishing up dinner at 10 is not my idea of a vacation.

Again, it takes planning and knowing your family to decide it the plan will work for you. I knew going in that my kids adjusted well and quickly to minor adjustments to our regular schedule. I also knew that an 8 pm bedtime was not going to fly at Disney.

It just so happened that our schedule was shifted by about 2 hours all the way around. We were getting up later than usual, eating later than usual and in turn going to bed later than usual. So an 8 pm dinner was no big deal for our family and the kids did great with it all.

 

[Pakey]

It's too much food and it's a lot of scheduling, having to be so many places at a certain time. We've tried it on 2 vacations and it's just not for us. I need more flexibility with both my time and my food choices.

 

[Wendy31]

We did the DxDP on our last trip, but it was June. And it was hot. And it was crowded. So it was nice not to have to stand in line for a lot of counterservice meals & then hunt for a table while carrying trays & herding the kids.

But we did mix in some counterservice meals & didn't do 3 ts meals/day. Most of the time, we had breakfast at Roaring Forks (the counterservice at our resort). By midday, we were ready for a nice (cool) sitdown meal. I normally scheduled lunch for some time between 11:45 am & 12:00 pm & then scheduled dinner for some time between 5:30 pm & 6:00 pm. Additionally, I scheduled 2 2-credit meals.

Our schedule normally looked something like this -

Breakfast at Roaring Forks, head to the parks by park opening, tour the park, break for lunch, maybe ride a couple of more rides, head back to resort for swim/rest, & then dress & head back out to dinner & then a park for the evening.

We didn't find it was too much food & didn't feel like we were rushing from 1 ADR to another. But, again, this was June. The parks were crowded & hot, so a scheduled lunch break was nice. Plus, since it was summer, the parks didn't close early either.

This time, we're going in September (& w/ a small child), so I'm interested in seeing how the DxDP is going to work for us. (I was ready to go w/ the basic DP, but DH wanted to go ahead again w/ the deluxe because he likes having everything paid up front.)

 

[Maus]

I prefer the DXDP over the other dining plans. We do character bf and signature dinner. I find the food options to be just right at the signature restaurants and welcome that my child does not have to eat child fare every day. For lunch we will use our snach credits or do cs oop, no park time wasted here. We will not 'dress up' for the signature restaurants, I looked at their dress code and I find that to be the casual clothes our family wears anyway. We do not even plan to go back to the hotel to change before dinner.

 

[shawnh199]

We do as one of the PP's do. We do 3 TS meals a day beginning with a character breakfast in or near the park we are going to that day. If you get the earliest ADR time, take care of your check early on in your meal, and get finished up before rope drop, you don't lose anytime in the park for that meal - you are actually ahead of the game and fueled up with a tasty breakfast for all that walking/riding you will be doing.

We do a lunch around 1pm which is a great break for us. It's great to sit down in an air conditioned restaurant, relax and have a nice meal. Our girls (4/8) generally take a nap at the table until their food comes. After the meal, we are recharged and ready to go. I have never been to a table service meal that has taken more than an hour or so (except Ohana for dinner - 2 1/2 hrs for us - seriously long) so I don't feel we miss much park time compared to a QS location. It's much more relaxing. You don't have to stand in a long line to order your food, search for a table, and sit down and eat. That's going to take atleast 30-45 minutes if you're lucky.

We eat dinner around 7. It's really the only meal we feel "full" from because there isn't as much time to walk around the parks after the meal unless you have Extra Magic Hours going on.

It is a lot of food, but no body puts a gun to your head and says you have to eat everything on your plate. We took desserts home with us a few times and had them as a late night snack. Our biggest problem is using our snack credits. We are going and going and don't take time to grab a snack. But, we are making a list of snacks we want for our next trip so that we are mindful of the snacks credits we have.

The deluxe plan works great for us in this way. I don't think signature restaurants would be an issue for our kids. It is our tastes (picky - more meat and potato types who are allergic to fish/shell fish) who don't like the food on signature menus, but who love character breakfasts that makes the deluxe plan with 3 sit down meals a day work for us.

 

[Tricia1972]

I completely agree with DuckMom. It was too many sit down meals and too much time away from the park.

I liked sitting down for the meals, but appetizer, entree, and dessert all take a lot of time to eat. Our fastest meals were 1 hour and most meals were 1.5-2 hours (even at standard TS locations)

8-9 - Breakfast
9-12 - Tour Parks
12:30 - 1:30 - Lunch
Go back to Resort - Nap time for our 2 year old
4:00 - Get up from nap and get ready for dinner (but we're not hungry yet!)
5:00-7:00 - Dinner
7:00-8:00 (or 9:00 if you're at Epcot) - Tour Park

If you can skip nap time for your kids, then it's not quite so bad, but it's still a LOT of food. A LOT. We missed snacking. With our crazy eating schedule we were never hungry for snacks. We had a few that we split over our 10 days, but we weren't hungry for them. We ate them because they tasted good and I prefer to have snacks when I am hungry for them.

I'm glad we tried it, and I am glad that it works for some people. If money isn't an object, then even you should try it to see if it's something that you like (and you think the schedule will work for you). However, if budget is a concern, I'd advise against that and invest an extra $25/day per person for snacks and souvenirs. I would guess that you'd get both for that amount per day versus paying for the upgrade to the DxDDP.

 

[Colleen27]

We've done the deluxe plan twice so far, with a third go at it coming up next month. My kids were 9 and 6 the first time, and 11, 8, and 1 the second.

We do a lot of signature dining. Read Disney's dress code for the signatures and you'll see it really isn't dressing up in any sense that would annoy most kids. My DH & son wear kahkis or black slacks instead of jeans to the park that day (though jeans are permitted), along with polo style shirts instead of the usual tees (tees are allowed as well). My girls wear the jumpers & leggings or capris that they wear every day in the parks, and I wear non-denim capris and a cute top or a blouse over a tank. Very casual, still park and weather appropriate, and yet nice enough to put us in the middle of the pack as far as how signature restaurant patrons are dressed - you'll find some in jeans, tees, and crocs and others in evening wear. The signature kids' menus are so much better than the standard 1 credit kids' menus that my bunch really appreciates having those meals planned.

I do feel that three sitdown meals per day is both too much food and too much time away from park touring, but you don't have to use each and every credit for TS for the plan to be worth having.

The general rule of thumb for the plan from a dollars-and-cents standpoint is 2/3 of credits used for table service, so you could plan a character breakfast and a nice dinner every day and come out ahead even without signatures or shows.

Also, keep in mind CRT and the Brown Derby (with or without the Fantasmic package) for some very casual 2 credit meals that take no travel and less restaurant time than the other signatures.

In our deluxe planning we book two meals per day. Some days it is a character breakfast, some days a TS lunch. We have a lot of signature meals, but we also leave a couple credits unplanned to grab CS or order room service/pizza delivery if the mood strikes. And we don't miss snacking, as a previous poster did, because we use our snacks to fill in between our ADRs.

Our days on the deluxe plan mostly look like this:
9-12, park time
11:30-12:30, lunch (we've found that early seatings, 11:30-noon, generally make for a quicker meal than later lunch times - we've had very few lunches take longer than an hour, but I try to book the first lunch seating whenever possible)
1:30-6:00, park time
6:00-8ish, dinner

We don't catch the evening shows every night or even every trip - we always see Wishes but sometimes skip Illuminations and generally don't bother with Fantasmic unless we have a dinner package. That makes it so that we don't have to take breaks. If we take a midday break it is because we're going to evening EMH that day, so the time out of the park in the afternoon is offset by the extra time after dinner.

Sometimes instead of lunch we'll have an 8-8:30 character meal and then just have snacks during the day to tide us over until our dinner ADR. Doing character breakfasts became kind of addictive for us because my girls collect autographs and we can skip so many in-park character lines just by adding one Princess meal and one Mickey meal!

It does take a lot more planning and forethought, but I absolutely love the deluxe plan and can't see my family going without it at this point in time.

 

[GovieMom]

with 3 meals a day, do you think it's just too much time away from parks?

Absolutely!

 

[MSLRAC]

OP, I think the best way for you to decide if the DxDP is for you, is to list the places that you want to eat and kind of structure your days. That is when I quickly realized that the regular plan would not work for us but the DxDP would fit perfectly.

You know your family and what is best for them better than anyone. We can all offer you advice and tell you what did and didn't work for us but in the grand scheme of things, that doesn't really help you much.

I will say to schedule meals as far apart as possible if you opt for 3 TS meals a day. If you opt for just breakfast or lunch and a signature dinner, then know your snack options in case you need to fill in between meals with a heartier snack. But good luck no matter what you decide!