DxDP questions...

[thehighprincess44]

Even though we are yearly visitors, we have never done the deluxe plan and
I am trying to nail down everything, as we leave in three weeks, six days and one hour

We are doing a few signature dinners and I have five character meals at the moment. I have a six year old daughter, so she is into the characters, but are we overdoing this? We have Akershus, CRT,1900, Chef Mickey and Tusker House. Overkill?I figure even with some of the same characters, they are dressed differently and serve different purposes. We also are doing Jiko, Citricos, Narcoossee's, Cali.grill and the Spirit of Aloha. plenty of credits, so no worries there, but we are staying Concierge level at GF too and all hope to come home not having gained 14 pounds!

TiA!

Stacey

 

[Jeanieblue114]

Even though we are yearly visitors, we have never done the deluxe plan and
I am trying to nail down everything, as we leave in three weeks, six days and one hour

We are doing a few signature dinners and I have five character meals at the moment. I have a six year old daughter, so she is into the characters, but are we overdoing this? We have Akershus, CRT,1900, Chef Mickey and Tusker House. Overkill?I figure even with some of the same characters, they are dressed differently and serve different purposes. We also are doing Jiko, Citricos, Narcoossee's, Cali.grill and the Spirit of Aloha. plenty of credits, so no worries there, but we are staying Concierge level at GF too and all hope to come home not having gained 14 pounds!

TiA!

Stacey

If characters are a priority to you during your trip, then character meals are a great place to go to see them and have some special time with them. I've done the deluxe plan and it was a beyond human amount of food and we did several signatures and room service and couldn't get through all the credits. The extra appetizers added to every meal really put you over. And we didn't do any of the buffets where we would potentially be even more full.

It's a shame that you probably wont be able to take much advantage of the lounge with paying all that extra for club level. The food and drinks included all day seem to be the main perk of concierge and with the deluxe plan that will be lost. Of course i wouldn't give up the opportunity to experience the dinner shows and fine dining experiences, have you thought of downgrading to a regular room at the GF?

Is there a perk to staying concierge level if you really don't make much use of the lounge other than MAYBE a morning muffin or an evening drink?

I've thought of club level at Wilderness Lodge several times, but just can't justify the difference from a regular room (especially when most disney goers don't spend too much time in the room)....believe me...i'm LOOKING FOR A GREAT REASON!..lol.

 

[thehighprincess44]

Jeanie,
Thanks for the input!!!

I love the social aspect of the CL and we do not spend open to close at the parks and will use the pool, so I am ok with that aspect. I am not worried about using all the credits, more enjoying the owns we use and all the snack credits for food and wine.

I feel like, at six, this is prime character time and especially princess time, hence the silly breakfast schedule.

We are only doing one non- signature restaurant at dinner. I hope that makes it special.

 

[thehighprincess44]

One more thing, we got such a good deal on upgrading to concierge, that the diet coke I drink and a glass of wine for my mom, nightly, make it worth the upgrade. My daughter is also a random eater, the food at all times is nice, as she will take advantagenof fruit,cookies and milk at any given time!

 

[hannahdrewmom]

We do just what you are doing... and it's not about bang for our buck... it's about ease and making everyone in our party happy.

We eat breakfast quickly in the lounge in the mornings. With little ones they are not willing to wait until 10am for breakfast. So it's more of a way to tide them over.

We use a credit at brunch for character meals for the kids. And then signatures at night for the adults. We get to have fun too! The kids actually enjoy the signatures though so no worries.

We find that for our family the food in the lounge makes up for a meal which is normally about $40 for breakfast and then free drinks and beer throughout the day... which easily puts us over the $100 mark up.

Will you have too much food? Most definitely. But will you get to eat some nice places while still doing characters? It's the only way. It's like a cruise on land.... endless food and activities! Oh my!!

 

[momtoejanda]

We do the deluxe every time. I look at it as paying for experiences. My kids love the character meals and we hit every one of them. We are even doing Crystal Palace and Cape May 2x during the trip.

I dont think anything is overdoing it if it is what you want. Yes it is way too much food, but I feel that we are paying to take a break and interact with characters.

 

[debrapagliasotti]

We will be doing exactly what you are...but next Christmas. DxDP, CL @ BW and lots of character meals. We plan on doing some nicer meals for DH & I, but definately character meals for the kiddos. We probably wont take full advantage of the CL, but we will use it some. I know it will be a lot of food, I'm just hoping that with all the walking we dont gain 20lbs

 

[Faldred]

We did 7 character meals (6 breakfast, 1 lunch) over 7 days, and I don't think that part of it is overkill. I think CRT, Akerhaus, and 1900 (if going for dinner) might be overkill, unless you're spacing them out pretty well. You may want to consider something like Crystal Palace instead, just for the character variety.

 

[havoc315]

I'd say it's only overkill if you are doing more than 1 in any given day.

It is also the *potential* for overkill in terms of the amount of food, given that those are all you can eat buffets mostly, plus you essentially get more all you can eat at the club level. (in terms of continental breakfast, some hor dourves, desserts at night, etc).

 

[TDC Nala]

It's overkill if YOU think it's overkill...I am always reminded of the poster who was staying 7 nights and had booked sixteen character meals - two per day for 8 days. They were perfectly happy with that.

And yes it's too much food..but some posters have mentioned that they are not going to the character meals for the food, and they don't care whether or not anyone eats anything, but they are going so that the children can have access to the characters. So it's really going to depend on what each individual party is expecting and paying to get.

 

[KEPE]

We are doing all of the same places. I feel like if we have to stop to eat we may as well kill two birds with one stone and get the characters out of the way. To me it will save time later from not having to stand on lines to meet them. We have one character meal booked per day. I tried to space the princess ones out so they are not day after day. Plus, I feel like it will distract her a little and keep her occupied, for me she tends to eat better when she is occupied so I know she'll get at least one good meal in her each day (the other meals she will graze). We got FD and for the upgrade I feel it's worht it. I still saved a little off of my original price and now we will have no OOP except tips!

Enjoy!!

 

[skw444]

We just back from 8 days of DxDP and lots of character meals. We did CP, CRT, Akershus, Cape May, 1900 PF, Chef Mickey, Hollywood & Vine, Ohana plus HDDR and several signature restaurants. We like to eat and my girls really enjoy the characters so this was perfect for our family. If it works for you, enjoy!

 

[MAD4EEYORE]

We have done several character meals one a day and it wasn't overkill. We did most as breakfasts and it was a great way to start the day. Especially to get into the parks early. It was even better to have them for free! We did CP, Akershus, CRT, Chef Mickey's, 'Ohanas, 1900 P.F. for both B&D,and Cape May's. I think the only ones we haven't been to are Tusker House Hollywood and Vine, and Garden Grill.

DD loved it so much we are doing the same this year but on the DlxDP.