HELP- Dining Plus or Deluxe or nothing at all

[Holidaymouse]

It will be just me and Hubby. Should we get the plain, fancy or no plan? We're not real big b-fast eaters..THANKS

 

[ancestry]

Do you want counter service or table service or a combination of the two? If you aren't big eaters then I suggest that you don't get the Deluxe plan as it is a lot of food. If you want a plan I would consider the regular plan (one counter service and one table service each day) or even the quick service plan (all counter service).

Where do you plan on eating? Do you have specific restaurants in mind?

 

[Colleen27]

It all boils down to how you want to eat. We prefer the deluxe plan at this point, because we enjoy sitdown meals, don't care for counter service, and do a lot of signature dinners. We're not breakfast eaters at all, but the deluxe plan is very flexible. We'll made a couple of character breakfast reservations for the kids, but for the most part we skip breakfast, have lunch as our rest/break from the heat & crowds in the parks, and then have a very nice dinner in the evening.

The breakeven point on the deluxe plan is about 2/3 of the credits used for TS meals (including signature dining). If, like us, you use it for 2 sitdown meals per day and end up using most credits for TS, it can be an excellent deal. We love the flexibility and the all-inclusive feel.

The main downside to the deluxe plan is that two sitdown meals per day does take more planning so that you're not spending big chunks of your time traveling to your dining reservations, and those meals do take time away from rides and attractions. We don't find it to be too much time spent eating, but others do, particularly those who are traveling with kids who need a break at the resort in the afternoon (my kids don't do naps/breaks, so we just go all day - a sitdown, air conditioned lunch is our break!).

And some people complain that it is too much food, but it has been our experience that you don't have to order every morsel that is included for the plan to be worth its price. We often skip or share desserts and still save money.

 

[VAN]

Is this your first time to the parks? If you are trying to fit in most of the attractions, then the dining part of your vacation will be secondary. Therefore, it might be too restrictive to be tied to dining plans.

If you have more time and do want a leisurely meal during the day, then you just might want the regular Dining Plan. Please remember that you get a non-alcoholic drink, entre, and dessert. Alcoholic and specialty drinks, appetizers, and gratuity are not included.

Take a look at the menus/restaurants and crunch a few numbers based on your eating style. Do the math.

If you choose to do a dining plan, I'd go with the basic one.

 

[Tam1067]

If this is your first visit, I would do the basic. You can do snacks for breakfast, a counter service for lunch, and then a table service dinner. That's what we did when we visited the first few times, and we were happy.

We're doing deluxe this time because we're repeat visitors and my kids like breakfast buffets. We're also not huge fans of CS places either.

I see you're from the SF area. I'm assuming you're familiar with Disneyland. The dining at Disney World is much more elaborate and themed than options in Disneyland, so you might want to do some table service places.

 

[squirrel]

I need more info before giving advice.

How many days/night are you staying? Have you been to WDW before?

If it's a short trip I would go with the DDP or QSDP or no plan. Only getting the DDP if there are some TS places that I want to go to.

If it's a longer trip I would go with the DDP.


I would not go DxDP unless you really like TS meals as you are paying for that option. It also takes a lot of time out of touring the parks with all the sit down meals.

I found that the sizes of the adult meals were quite large at the CS places and could be shared. It all depends on how much you normally eat. I was there during free dining and it was hot, so I didn't eat as much as I normally do.