DxDP - too much food?

[mbordeleau]

We're going to WDW April 18-25 and we took the DxDP but I'm worried it will be too much food....

 

[GoodFairies]

If you normally eat 3 meals a day it is probably not too much food.

Remember you don't have to order the biggest meal they have at every meal, which is what some people do to feel they are getting their money's worth.

You also don't have to order desserts at lunch and dinner, and can use counter service for some of the meals.

 

[Shagley]

Every family eats different, but I couldn't even imagine having three sit down meals a day plus two snacks when at Disneyworld. I find the regular dining plan to have almost too much food. Also, I can't imagine wanting to spend that much time in restaurants when there is so much else to do. Three sit down meals a day could easily amount to 5 or 6 hours a day spent sitting in restaurants. If I got the DxDP, I would probably do one credit for breakfast, have the snacks during the afternoon, then have a 2 credit meal for dinner (Signature restaurant or dinner show). Enjoy it whatever you decide!

 

[crazykids]

We did the deluxe plan for 5 nights when it was just DH & I and it was fine. We ate an early lunch, usually around 11:30 - 12:00pm, & a late dinner at a signature restaurant. We tried it again when we went with our 3 small kids for an 18 day trip & it was way too much! I actually started feeling sick at one point from eating so much food. I think the problem with this trip was that on a lot of days we did try to do 3 meals a day because that's the way my kids eat & we also tried to fit in character meals at least once a day. Everyone's different, & I'm coming from a family that can eat a lot of food, I think if you keep it to the 2 meals a day rather than 3, you should be fine. Enjoy!

 

[Bree]

The way I've worked my plan out doesn't seem to be too much food. We are having TS for breakfast everyday. My kids are early risers so our breakfast ADR's are all between 7:30-8am. We'll have a light CS (probably salads for DH & I & whatever the kids want, but no desserts though) or use snack credits for lunch around 12-1pm. We have TS ADR's for dinner anywhere from 6pm-7:30pm. I know I'll be starving by then and will easily finish most of an app & entree and probably have dessert boxed up to eat later that night after the kids are in bed. I know we will have snack credits leftover, but I plan on using them to bring some treats home from Disney to make the *magic* last a little longer.

 

[allshookup]

If you normally eat 3 meals a day it is probably not too much food.

Remember you don't have to order the biggest meal they have at every meal, which is what some people do to feel they are getting their money's worth.

You also don't have to order desserts at lunch and dinner, and can use counter service for some of the meals.

Just curious, but if you're not going to eat all TS meals or get the dessert all the time then aren't you saying that it IS too much food & the OP is better off WITHOUT the DxDP? Maybe the OP should consider the regular DDP at the very least?

I'm just figuring what I would NORMALLY eat during 3 days in the parks whether I'm on a plan or not. I don't eat breakfast & instead just have coffee in the room, but even if I did it wouldn't be included in the regular DDP unless maybe I order a muffin or pastry as a snack & that means I wouldn't be able to order water or a treat later. I also tend to order an adult beverage at dinner outside of MK, but it's not included so I didn't add it. Note: These prices include tax:

3 Days on regular DDP

ABC: burg, fry & coke: 0
PTC: chic, cof. & smores: 0
CP buffet lunch: 0
Casey: dog, fry & coke: 0
Water: 0
Tancafe: wrap & coke: 0
Lecel: soup & filet: 5.90
Schoolbread: 0
3 day total: 5.90
DDP cost: 119.37
Grand total: 125.27

3 Days without DDP:

ABC: burg, fry & coke: 9.34
PTC: chic, cof. & smores: 23.73
CP buffet lunch: 22.35
Casey: dog, fry & coke: 8.39
Water: 2.15
Tancafe: wrap & coke: 12.82
Lecel: soup & filet: 43.16
Schoolbread: 2.65
3 day total: 124.59
No plan: 0
Grand total: 124.59

I've read that people prefer to pay ahead to budget their food costs & that's understandable, but it seems I would pretty much break even if I ordered the regular DDP plan, however as an AP holder I save even more with the TIW (Tables In Wonderland) 20% discount card.

If you are someone that eats dessert at lunch & dinner everyday & someone who orders donuts or pastries for breakfast or popcorn, mickey bars, water, etc. for a snack, then the DDP is definitely for you, but I still question the value of the DxDP, unless you are a couple spending a few romantic evenings together at signature restaurants then it might be worth it.

 

[morgy827]

When we figured whether we would use the deluxe dining plan or not we planned our trip out using the basic ddp and totalled how much we would spend out of pocklet each day. The difference, for us, between the deluxe and reg was only $6 perday. So, it was worth irt for us. We have booked a lot of signature dining experiences that we usually wouldn;t be able to try. We are also big breakfast eaters so being able to sit down and have a breakfast instead of fighting the rush in the resort "food courts" is a huge benefit for us. There are a few days where we have 3 meals booked but they are well spaced apart and we don;t plan on having a steak for breakfast, lunch and dinner just becaus eit is the most expensicve thing on the menu.

I would say that if you want to try the signatures or some dinner choices, you like appetizers, and you enjoy sitting in a restaurant for breakfast than the deluxe dining plan would be good for you. As to whether it is too much food you only have to eat what you order.

 

[GC&S]

We did the deluxe last year. We usually did a ts lunch and a ts dinner (usually signature). A couple days we did CS for lunch. We ended up with 2 credits leftover when dd fell asleep at California Grill and did not eat dinner.

I don't know if was too much food (we love our apps & desserts ) but I did feel like we were eating all the time. Or traveling to eat. We ended up with 16 snack credits left (that we used in the giftshop before we went home).

In the future we will probably stick with the reg. DP. But I'm glad we tried the Deluxe.

 

[LIBLULA]

We did the Deluxe dining last September. We normally ate 2 TS a day--early lunch at 11am-12 and late dinner 7-8pm. It is a lot of food!! We are getting it again this September. I like the idea that we don't have to worry about food/snacks for our whole trip!!!

 

[cndnchicky]

We also did the deluxe plan on our last trip and are planning to do the same on our upcoming trip. We were also worried last time that there would be too much food. I think that it would be too much if we had breaky, lunch and dinner. Especially with desserts and appies!!!! But we did either breakfast or an early lunch...and then a signature dinner. That way if we get a bit hungry in between we could always use our snack credits too!!!! Its really neat to try alot of different restaurants. Disney really does have alot of awesome places to go to. And if there are any snack credits left over we got some treats for the way home. HTH!!!

 

[Colleen27]

We did the deluxe plan for 11 nights last January and didn't feel like it was too much food at all! We used most of our meal credits for table service, with the exception of a couple counter service I really like (Main Street Bakery) or wanted to try based on DIS reviews (Sunshine Seasons) and the occasional breakfast at the resort food court. We also did a LOT of signature meals and ordered room service twice.

The only thing we had too much of were snacks - even with using them for bottled water and chocolates and all sorts of goodies, we had enough leftover on our last day for the kids to bring home rice krispy Mickeys for their classes.

Compared to OOP pricing, we saved a few hundred dollars with the deluxe plan (even without those take-home snacks) but more importantly, we ate where we wanted and ordered what we wanted without thinking about price. Since I'm the frugal type and sometimes have a hard time letting go of my price-consciousness even on vacation, that's priceless!