DxDP with an 8month old??

[umieesa]

Hello all,

Planning a trip back to the world in Jan 2011, but this time it will be myself, DH, DS9, DS5 and a by then 8 month old. We did the regular dining plan last time and it worked well for us, but I am interested in trying more TS restaurants this time around (probably not signature), but don't know how difficult this will be when travelling with an infant.

So I have a few questions:

1. Is the DxDP worth the extra $$ even without doing signature restaurants?
2. Will it be difficult doing so many adr's with an 8 month old? We only took our other sons as young as 2, so not sure what to expect with a baby.

Taking away from park time is not a huge deal only because we've been twice in the last 2 years and I think we know which rides we want and which we can skip. BTW, we will also have a rental car if that matters.

Any advice is greatly appreciated! TIA!!

 

[TDC Nala]

1. Is the DxDP worth the extra $$ even without doing signature restaurants?

Depends on how many restaurants you want to do. On deluxe you get 3 meal credits per night, you can use those for either TS or CS, but the usual caveat is that you probably need to use 2/3 of your credits for table service to even think about breaking even for the cost of deluxe.

2. Will it be difficult doing so many adr's with an 8 month old? We only took our other sons as young as 2, so not sure what to expect with a baby.

You're the only one who will know how your baby is - if the baby has a lot of loud crying fits it may not do well in a restaurant, that's up to you. According to your post you also have other children to look after, can one parent do that if the other has to walk outside with the baby? Children under 3 do not get dining credits so you wouldn't be paying anything for the baby.

 

[gigi1313]

we did the deluxe plan w/a 6mos old and our biggest struggle was the highchairs... they are the wooden ones that offer no support, which was a pita 'cause we ended up holding him a LOT! otherwise it was great... we also visited a few 2credit TS' like HDDR, CRT, and CG... all three of those allowed us to bring the stroller in, so that was GREAT! (most others did not)

i would be more concerned about the 5yo sitting thru more and longer meals than the infant...

 

[umieesa]

Well, I think we would definitely do 2 TS/day...3 might be pushing it. Right now he's only under a month old, so its hard to predict how he'll be in terms of temperament by then. The 5 year old is not a problem and should be fine sitting through meals. Is it still worth the extra money without signature restaurants (dont think they'd appreciate me bringing 3 kids, but thats my perception so correct me if im wrong)?

We will be planning breaks with naps during the afternoon...

Thanks for all the advice so far!! Still so unsure tho'!!

 

[kayrosek]

Again it depends on your family. What you would order and where you would go, but I can tell you that in considering the deluxe dining plan for our family of five (all of whom we would have to pay the adult prices for) I ran the numbers and found we would actually save quite a bit. This would be with only one 2 credit dining meal (HDDR) and quite a few character resteraunts.

 

[squirrel]

The dinner shows and CRT are 2TS credit meals, but they include the gratuities. I would do a few of them to help you use up some credits.

You could do a breakfast and then a dinner show and use some snack credits for lunch. You will have a lot of snack credits to use up. Or do snacks for breakfast, early lunch and a 2TS dinner.

I think your 9 yr old would like the Deluxe plan. The CS meals are on the small side for most 8 and 9 yr olds.

 

[MPHARJ]

For me it is worth it, howevermy children aren't that young and this is our first year on the DxDP. Me personally I get very tired of CS meals and trying to find a table and struggling through the crowds with trays and drinks with no lids. I am on vacation I want to enjoy myself I work hard all year to be able to do this. There are so many TS places we want to try and go to again. However like the other posters stated only you can decide what works for you.

 

[rosiep]

Are you staying at a deluxe resort? We used alot of our DXDP credits on room service! It was great being able to order a meal in when we were just too pooped to get out. (I had gotten sick just prior to leaving for the World and spent a lot of time in my room).

 

[umieesa]

Thanks for all the responses so far...I appreciate all the advice and tips!! Keep'em coming!

9yr old is definitely a big eater with a good appetite and would appreciate not having to eat a lot of fast food meals. 5 year old is more picky and definitely not as healthy of an eater.

Planning to stay at Boardwalk, so was thinking we could eat at BC or walk to Epcot. I know it's far in advance, but here's a rough meal itinerary on dxdp and one on regular dp, so please let me know what you think. Im scared with the deluxe that im going to be left with tons of snack credits or that Im planning too many TS meals in a day and we'll be stuffed to the gills!

on dxdp:

1. arrival day - WPC for dinner

2.1900 pf
captain cook's lunch perhaps
Le Cellier

3.Cape May
Hollywood Brown Derby
Cape May

4.Tusker
Teppan Edo

5.Kona
Crystal Palace
California Grill

6 CP
Liberty Tree Tavern
Tony's

7. Boma
non park day
Kona dinner

8. Chef Mickey's bkfst

Too much running around on the dxdp? Too many meals planned?

Help!

 

[umieesa]

Tried to put them side by side on my pp but didnt work out that way, so here's where we would eat if on regular dp:

1. WPE

2. snack credits- Boardwalk Bakery
Sunshine seasons
Tony's

3. Mara or WPE
Flame Tree
Kona

4. snack credits Main St. Bakery
Captain cooks
Teppan Edo

5. WPE
Sunshine seasons or Tangierine Cafe
Le Cellier

6. snack credits- BB or Starring Rolls
Backlot Express
Cape May

7. 1900 PF
non park day
WPC

8. captain cooks

 

[TxRabbit]

We did the DxDDP last June. It was DH, DS then 8, and myself. We did a lot of Signature Dining so that we didn't have too many ADRs scheduled. I tell you what. It was just too much. I don't regret doing it, but honestly, we should have traded room service for some of the dining out. It just got old.

Here's why. One thing that happens with a TS meal...your server gets to be part of your meal. Really. I noticed this more and more as the week wore on. We only ate CS a couple times, and these were among our most memorable meals (for me) because finally, I got some uninterrupted time with my family. I didn't have to deal with the buffet business (total PITA really, I get sick of all the up and down) or someone bringing drinks, bringing appie, bringing the entree, bringing dessert. Questions all throughout the meal. I just wanted some time alone to continue a conversation for as long as I wanted with my family. Seriously.

So beware of the impact that the TS will have in that respect.

That said, I wouldn't shy away from doing the Signature dining, even with all your kids. Especially if you plan for an earlier meal. The restaurants weren't very crowded right at opening, or close to it. You can end up with two bigger meals and tons of snacks throughout the day. The more empty restaurants can be quieter and this can have a more overall calm effect on the kids (buffets and characters excluded of course). The meals can be a really nice break from the day and they can really be handy to be "served" rather than have to serve yourself, find seats, etc etc with the kiddos.

I guess I would say that having all the dining credits really made it so much easier to keep my DS happy. I knew that his entrees would be small (they were) and I knew that with the appies, the bread, etc., we'd be able to have a happy guy, so in that respect I was glad to do the DxDDP. Don't shy away from ALL CS though, just because you are on the DxDDP, if you do it.

I'm not sure this is a helpful post, but hopefully it provides another viewpoint.

 

[CathieArms]

You've got a lot of lead-time now. Just take your baby to dinner on a fairly regular basis. Make him/her sit at the table for meals, but find things to keep him entertained. It'll honestly be fine if it's something that is part of your normal routine.

8 months old isn't generally too difficult to deal with at dinner. For me, 18months to 2 was a lot more difficult. Generally speaking 8 months old was fairly easy.

 

[CathieArms]

Just looked at your dining choices. The only real thought I have is that you're eating 3 TS meals a day which will be *a lot*. If you eat breakfast at 8, you won't feel like lunch until at least 1, and then dinner you won't feel like until at least 7ish.

What if you did a few 2TS meals and maybe did breakfast and dinner, then used some of your snack credits for in between?

For 2TS, you could plan for HDDR and CRT and maybe a nice dinner out with the whole family.

I'm just thinking that 3 TS meals every single day is going to get old. On a few days maybe not, but for me it would get really old to do it every single day. And, too, to be that scheduled will dictate your schedule more than you may want.

Just thinking out loud....

 

[mjp12831]

dxdp was worth it our first year - we used snack credits (ample) for breakfast, a TS (and sometimes a CS) for lunch, and almost all 2 TS dinners.

I say it's worth it in your first trip because many of the 2 TS dinners are great Disney experiences - CRT, MBYBBQ, HBD w/F!, SoA. Yachtsman was great. We did 2 others but they were grand gathering ones.

I do think your tentative plan has too many TS - with that many your days get dominated by figuring out where you need to be to eat next and how to get there. This is why I'd recommend using the 2 TS.

My gut feeling is that you'd be fine with your 18 mo at dinners. Even at the fancy places there are so many families with kids that you will not feel out of place or uncomfortable. We had a party of 11 at Yachtsman last year and they put the 6 adults at one table and kids at their own table - pretty unique for a fancy place

 

[umieesa]

I SOOO appreciate your comments...I am a little nervous it's way too much food and too many planned meals. I know most people love the dxdp and I really do love the sound of it especially since there are so many places I'd like to try, but like many of you have said I feel like I'm trying to pack in too many TS meals in one day. The comment about wanting to just have family time without the waiter sounds extremely possible!

I wasnt sure about how people would feel about me dining with 3 kids at signatures, but it seems that a lot of people do it, which makes me feel better. At the same time, I'd be spending probably $600+ dollars for the upgrade and tips...so I want to feel confident that its going to be worth it. For those of you who have done both plans what do u think? Is it worth the splurge?

Its not that I never plan to go to wdw again, but with all the rumored changes I'm worried now might be the best time to try it since it may not exist/be worth it down the road...

thanks for listening to my thoughts!!

 

[squirrel]

I wouldn't do the DxDP for myself, I just don't eat that much.

If I were to have it - I know I would have to add in either signature dining or the dinner shows to use up credits. I would do HDDR-it's a good show and the tips are included. I haven't been to Mickey's BBQ or SoA so I can't compare. CRT includes photos and I believe the tips also.

I would have to do either snacks for breakfast, early TS lunch, 2 TS dinner or TS breakfast, snacks for lunch, and 2TS dinner.

 

[gigi1313]

i agree with cathiearms... tooooo much dining!! you will truly waddle from restaurant to restaurant... we had similar plans when we were on the dxddp and switched it up while we were there (added in CRT, HDDR & SOA) because it was too much food along with too much "hurry up and wait!" (not fun!)

a few other thoughts... if you are staying at the BW why are you eating at Mara (AKL's foodcourt) and Cap't Cooks (poly foodcourt)? those foodcourts are so not worth traveling for...

also, b'fast at kona? you might want to try b'fast at kouzzina instead as it gets rave reviews and will be right in your front yard!

if you are planning to visit two parks a day, you will find yourself doing more running than park touring... remember, the buses don't run from park to park, and even if you drive, you will still spend a lot of time getting to/from parking lot to theme park...

i think you've got two choices... either go w/the regular dining plan, or incorporate a few 2TS meals into your vacation... the dinner shows are awesome and will captivate the little one (they did mine at 6 and 17 mos), plus the gratuity is included (which brings up another point... i don't know if you're on a budget or money is no object or somewhere in between... but the gratuities alone on your proposed ADRs will add up quickly!)

 

[MSLRAC]

I SOOO appreciate your comments...I am a little nervous it's way too much food and too many planned meals. I know most people love the dxdp and I really do love the sound of it especially since there are so many places I'd like to try, but like many of you have said I feel like I'm trying to pack in too many TS meals in one day. The comment about wanting to just have family time without the waiter sounds extremely possible!

I wasnt sure about how people would feel about me dining with 3 kids at signatures, but it seems that a lot of people do it, which makes me feel better. At the same time, I'd be spending probably $600+ dollars for the upgrade and tips...so I want to feel confident that its going to be worth it. For those of you who have done both plans what do u think? Is it worth the splurge?

Its not that I never plan to go to wdw again, but with all the rumored changes I'm worried now might be the best time to try it since it may not exist/be worth it down the road...

thanks for listening to my thoughts!!

I think it is well worth the splurge and the DxDP would have to drastically change or go up in price for us to even consider not getting it.

We did 3 TS meals a day and really liked it. I opted for lunch locations that offered lighter meals and sandwiches. The key for us was to space the meals out properly. We did breakfast between 8-9, lunch 1-2 and dinner 7-8. That scheduled really helped us plan our days and broke our days up. We only had our older kids with us and our little guy napped on the go so we didn't have to break for naps so I'm not sure how that would effect things.

As for kids at signatures, I think most people expect to see kids there. If they don't, well then that's a bit unrealistic on their part. As long as they are well behaved, then I don't think you'll have any problems.

 

[umieesa]

Money is an object, but at the same time it is a vacation and if I felt it was really worth the splurge I'd try and convince hubby too be on board! lol

We are big foodies and like trying new places, but at the same time I hate wasting food (and money for that matter) so I'm not sure if deluxe is worth it. My sons are not big on shows even in the parks, so Im thinking they might not want to sit through the dinner shows.

As for why I have Mara down potentially on the reg dp is since BW doesnt have a cs for bkfst, so I thought maybe go there before a day at AK. Also for Captain Cooks its because on regular DP I still want to be able to have tonga toast without using a TS credit (thus why I have Kona on my breakfast list if I did dxdp since I'd be trying to maximize the plans value)!!

 

[TxRabbit]

Ultimately, you have to make the decision, but like PP have said, the DxDDP is a BIG schedule. My DH has totally rebeled against the idea of ANY schedule after doing the DxDDP last June and we are doing the QSDP this time around. I agree with him, with the exception of one character breakfast. So for our upcoming trip, we have ONE ADR scheduled.

But here are some of the mistakes that I made when scheduling the DxDDP for us. You know one of the reasons that everyone says it is so much food? Because they "maximize" the DxDDP by trying all new restaurants and almost always not repeating restaurants. This makes travel a nightmare and your schedule a nightmare. I'll tell you, especially with 3 kids in tow, you would be much better off, and not feel as scheduled, if you took a look at all the options that are so close to your home resort.

Like a PP said, Kouzzina is right there at the Boardwalk. I would try it for breakfast, and maybe more than once. If you were on a different vacation, you probably wouldn't think anything of eating at the restaurant at your hotel for breakfast just about every day of your vacation. After all, it's breakfast. By the time you were done, you might be sick of the selection, but likely you would have tried everything that would appeal to you. Fortunately, you have more choices all within walking or a boat ride across the lake distance.

If you like breakfast, and generally, kids like breakfast...then schedule Kouzzina, Cape May, and even Captains Grill for breakfast. You could do Kouzzina and Captains Grill more than once in 8 days. I would shy away from doing the character breakfast more than once, but that's me. You could flip flop doing a regular sit down breakfast with some snack breakfasts (the bakery at Boardwalk or something that you grab the evening before for the next day.) I know people will hit France and grab croissant sandwiches and pastries and save them for the next day...)

I tell you what...it's way more fun to hit a park and have rides be the first thing on the agenda, NOT food. Just a kid's perspective. Get your food taken care of in the morning before you hit a park, at least as a rule. Of course, you can break it for something like Tusker, which only has characters at the breakfast meal...but I'm just saying...

If you are confident in your park schedule, then you could schedule an early lunch on a snack breakfast day. For example, schedule Crystal Palace on your MK day, especially if Mk has am EMH. You'll be so ready for food after all your running around. Likewise, the Hollywood Derby was such a good lunch for us on an AM EMH DHS day. Otherwise, plan on a CS lunch after a TS breakfast. Don't worry about when and where before hand.

Then flip around scheduling Signature Dining, again, close to your home resort. Odds are that you would like to be home and maybe even change clothes before dining at a Signature, so schedule the dinner close to home. Then you don't have to worry about where and when as much.

You've got Yachtsman Steakhouse and Flying Fish for Signatures close to home. Other TS are Cape May (which is totally different for dinner), Kouzzina, and Captain's Grill again. If you don't want to eat at any of these for dinner, you could do a non ADR restaurant, like the ESPN Club and Big RIver Grill. That's 7 unique dinners that could be close to home.

The beauty of doing this is that IF your youngest starts to make a fuss, then dealing with this could be a lot easier if you are close to home, especially in a resort setting. It'll be easier to find a quieter location or even just go back to your room for a break, whatever, I just picture that the whole scenario feels more manageable in the event of meltdown from anyone.

Only make a select few "destination" restaurants. Mix and match eating close to home with eating in a park. I wouldn't schedule ADRs in two different parks on the same day. This will help you to feel that you are not running around and totally scheduled.

There is a way to maximize the DxDDP whereby your vacation feels like it is totally centered around food. There is another way to maximize the DxDDP whereby you make the plan work for you because you open up the possibility of being able to eat at either TS or CS ALONG THE WAY...opening up more dining choices in your touring plans, without having your touring plans be entirely food driven.