Help me decide: DP or DxDP

[aljack33]

I need help. I keep going back and forth and cannot decide. I have all my ADR's but I still can't figure out between the regular or deluxe dining plan. It is me, DH, DD 13 and DD 5. Here are my ADR's.

Day 1: CS lunch (maybe depending on time we arrive) and LLT dinner
Day 2: CS break, CRT lunch and CHef Mickey's dinner
Day 3: Hollywood & Vine break, O'hana Dinner
Day 4: AK Breakfast character and LeCellier dinner
Day 5: Askerhaus breakfast and Narcosses dinner
Day 6: open breakfast and lunch; Cap't Jacks dinner or Yachtsman
Day 7: Crystal palace breakfast; CS lunch; Kona dinner
Day 8: O'hana breakfast; Coral Reef Dinner
Day 9: CS break; ESPN lunch; Garden Grill dinner
Day 10: CS Break; Beaches and Cream Lunch; 1900 Park Fair Dinner
Day 11; O'hana breakfast (yes, again ) and Planet HOllywood for lunch

So, looking at these, what do you all think? do the Deluxe or maybe scale a few and pay OOP for some breakfasts? I am having a hard time deciding. My DD5, will live on the ice cream mickey's alone to use up our snack credits

 

[twoeeyy]

we have done the DDp 3 times and found it to be enough food for us. This coming Sept we are doing the DDDP because we were able to book it at 32.00 pp on the bounceback.

We plan to do a sit down for breakfast and supper and then more than likely all CS for lunch. For us were are very basic / light eaters ( you could almost call us vegetarians ) if we were paying full price for the delux plan it would not be worth it for us, but we do not mind paying 32 pp for the deluxe.

 

[Colleen27]

If that is how you want to eat on your trip, I think you'll find the deluxe plan to be the best bet. It is a pretty good deal if it fits your touring style. I think the big question in choosing between the regular and deluxe plans isn't whether the deluxe plan is right from a financial standpoint but rather whether or not multiple sit-down meals fits into the way you want to vacation. We're really excited about it, and I've run the numbers down to the penny and found it to be a great deal for us.

For your plans, based on what you've posted -

The DxDDP would be about $2300 for 3 adults, 1 child, 10 nights.

Just some rough prices based on your plans so far (this will vary based on what you order at non-buffets, obviously - I'm just using an average based on the overall menu, assuming eeryone orders the full app-entree-dessert meal. There is a spreadsheet in the link in my sig that will do more precise math for you if you want to take the time to go over the menus and plug in your choices - it even figures out sales tax and an OOP tip budget):
Day 1 (2 credits) - about $150 ($45 CS lunch, $105 LTT dinner)
Day 2 (4 credits) - about $270 ($30 CS breakfast, $140 CRT lunch, $100 CM)
Day 3 (2 credits) - about $190 ($90 H&V breakfast, $100 Ohana dinner)
Day 4 (2 credits) - about $205 ($75 TH breakfast, $130 LeC dinner)
Day 5 (3 credits) - about $275 ($85 RA breakfast, $190 Nar. dinner)
Day 6 (3 credits) - about $235 ($30 CS breakfast, $45 CS lunch, $160 YS dinner)
Day 7 (3 credits) - about $240 ($75 CP breakfast, $45 CS lunch, $120 Kona dinner)
Day 8 (2 credits) - about $215 ($75 Ohana breakfast, $140 CR dinner)
Day 9 (3 credits) - about $240 ($30 CS breakfast, $100 ESPN lunch, $110 GG dinner)
Day 10 (3 credits) - about $215 ($30 CS breakfast, $75 B&C lunch, $110 1900PF dinner)
Day 11 (2 credits) - about $175 ($75 Ohana breakfast, $100 PH lunch)

Total - $2410, and that's with 1 meal per person left over and not taking into account the snacks and mugs.

 

[aljack33]

oh my! Thank you for that! The way you have it laid out, it looks like it would be a good fit for us to do the deluxe. I think for 10 days, we aren't really going to go full commando at the parks and we enjoy the character meals a lot, so I thought the deluxe was the way to go. it's hard to swallow the cost, tho. This way, i won't have any worries. We can eat when and how we want and not worry about having to pay OOP or missing some of the meals we really wanted.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

Is this your first trip? If yes, I would do the regular DP because the deluxe will take up quite a bit of time away from the parks. If not, then I would try the deluxe plan. That is what I'm doing and I can't wait. It was so much easier to plan when I could go to any and all of the TS places I want to.

 

[aljack33]

We just went in April for 10 days. We are going at the end of March for 11 days this time. We had so much fun last trip. We didn't do a lot of the character meals because I was worried that DD4 would be afraid of the characters. She is afraid of Chuck E Cheese! But she LOVEd all the characters so we kind of missed out last time doing the character meals. So, as you can see, I kind of hit them all this trip .

I still go back and forth. It will be about $1,100 more to do the deluxe, but I won't have to worry about anything. We could also down size our resort and I might feel more comfortable but we just love the Poly so I don't know if I want to do that either. It's such a hard decision!

 

[frannn]

We already need to buy new APs to go during free dining (they expire the month prior). We usually stay in the values anyway, so no $ saved there. Only thing we are doing to help compensate for the added cost of the deluxe dining is staying in a standard instead of a preferred room for our 11 day trip. The regular DP worked wonderfully the past two years, as it was almost too much food, but now they are taking away the appetizers. I love the appetizers- mussels, shrimp cocktail, fish chowder, yummmmm! We are bouncing back for free dining, so it's only the difference from the regular plan we are paying (about 700). With the deluxe plan, I'll get my appetizers, signature meals, mugs, character breakfasts instead of food court eggs, etc etc etc. But, on the other hand, its an extra 700 on top of the new APs. I need to be sure it wouldn't be more cost beneficial to just order an appetizer each night with the regular DP (just for me, DH & DD5 are happy without). We probably won't get the DP again unless its free, so this might be my only opportunity to try the deluxe plan. See? I am flip flopping back & forth also!

 

[WETWHISTLE]

We're going for 10 nights in February and I keep going back and forth between the DDP and the Deluxe DDP. I just can't seem to decide. We are currently booked for just the regular DDP. We do plan on getting appetizers (OOP) and going to about 4 character breakfasts (OOP) that we already have ADRs for. I just don't want to have to plan out every single meal and get ADRs for every meal, ya know? If we could just go with the flow and not plan everything the decision would be much easier. So this is my dilemma...

 

[hddanis]

I went with the deluxe for a few reasons.
1. it fits our eating style. I like a sitdown breakfast and dinner. We could probably skip lunch most days
2. once I figured out our meals, we were saving aboa couple hundred $$ -- not figuring in snacks and mugs
3. Everything is paid for up front! Even if we only break even, that's still a big deal to me
4. If my DD13 wants to order prime rib every night, she can (and probably will) and I'm not worrying about the cost.

We're staying 4 nights, but arriving early and departing late, so we have almost a full 5 days to use our credits.

We have ADRs at the following places:
Sci-Fi Dine in - Lunch
50's Primetime Cafe - Dinner
Kona Cafe - Breakfast
Crystal Palace - Breakfast
Cinderella's Royal Table - Dinner
Chef Mickey's - Breakfast
Le Cellier - Dinner
Yak & Yeti - Lunch
1900 Park Fare - Dinner

We still have 2 meals each left...

 

[DVC Sadie]

For us the Deluxe DP (or any DP) is not a good fit especially if we have our grandneice or nephews while traveling. We usually just pay OOP so that we can be a lot more flexible in our dining plans.

A lot of the times we have room service for our evening meal so our grandneice can enjoy the fireworks from the room while in her pajamas. Some mornings my dh and I have a early breakfast in the room while the younger one sleeps and then take her to have a leisurely lunch.

Have a great trip whatever you decide.

 

[le9397]

We booked bounceback in September and decided to go with the deluxe for $32 more pp. We are two adults traveling together. We really enjoy appetizers and will do some of the 2 credit dining also.