Help -- Upgrade to DxDP worth it???

[NOLA08]

We are 2 adults, 3 kids (10, 9 and 4). Last time we went to Disney was 4 years ago on DDP, which we loved and thought was enough food (of course, appetizers and tips were included then!!). Didn't love the counter services meals so much, but didn't mind them either.

For this trip, we booked and then as a total surprise found out we were on free dining dates!! Hooray!!

So now I'm wondering if we should upgrade to the DxDP and I am having a terrible time deciding. We like "fancy" meals and would probably do several 2 TS meals -- in fact, we already have 3 booked. To upgrade, though, would cost about $1200 over our 10 night trip!!! Not to mention the extra $$ for tips.

But if we don't upgrade, we will pay several meals OOP, plus breakfasts and any appetizers we would want.

Here are our current ADRs by day:

1 - San Angel Inn dinner
2 - Sci Fi lunch, 50s prime time dinner
3 - Aloha dinner show (2 credits)
4 - California Grill dinner (2 credits)
5 - Fantasmic package/Mamma Melrose
6 - CRT late lunch (2 credits)
7 - Chefs de France dinner
8 - Ohana dinner
9 - Restaurant Marrakesh dinner
10 - Yak & Yeti late lunch/early dinner

This is 14 credits and we only have a 10-night stay, so we would probably pay for 2 of the 2-credit meals OOP.

Part of me feels like it's a huge bonus to get the free dining and we should just be thrilled with the savings. The other part of me thinks that this is a great chance to upgrade to the deluxe plan, which we otherwise probably couldn't afford.

But I just can't seem to figure out if it's worth it.

What do you think?

Please help!!!

ps - I LOVE this site and all the great advice we've been getting from here! In fact, the only reason I got free dining was because of something I read on here after we booked our original trip! Thanks to everybody

 

[hannahdrewmom]

Your 10 year old is an adult. Will he eat adult meals all the time? If not you will have plenty of meals. Just use his credits and pay for the kids meals oop. It will be far less expensive. Or I'd upgrade your 9 year old and tell them he's 10. You will only pay the difference in the price of an adult vs. child ticket. That will definately give you enough adult meals to cover everything... and then you just pay the $7 per kid meal that you are doing oop.

Upgrading to dxdp is very expensive since you technically have 3 adults! Plus it's a ton of food since you would be getting 3 adult apps, 3 adult dins, and 3 adult desserts plus the 2 kids meals. Tips will run you $30 a meal I'd guess.

 

[NOLA08]

This is exactly what I was hoping for, I'd *never* have thought of that. Thank you!!

Will they let me upgrade my 9 y/o to an adult even if I've already booked my trip? Do you just call reservations or can you do it online?

Both the 9 and 10 y/o are fairly adventurous eaters, but I can definitely imagine that they'd sometimes prefer a cheeseburger or chicken nuggets to something on the adult menu!

 

[Faldred]

Yes, you change the 9-year-old to an "adult" on the reservation. For pretty much just the price difference between an adult and child ticket, so it's usually a good deal.

DxDP only makes sense if you're planning on using at least 2/3 of the credits on TS meals (for 2012, that may be more like 3/4). That means you'd have to be using at least 20/30 credits each on TS meals, currently you're only using 14 each by your ADRs, so you'd have to add several more meals to get to that point.

For some people, that's a bonus, for others it's way too much time/food. No one can answer that for you except for you.

The suggestions above make a lot of sense. The credits belong to the reservation, not the individuals, so the adults can use some of the 10-year-old's credits, and you just might pay for some kids' meals OOP (make sure you do your OOP at "menu service" locations -- dinner shows, CRT, and buffets are expensive for kids). Everyone still gets the mugs and you'd have 4 snack credits per night to use between you -- there are lots of good snacks that can be shared.

 

[Colleen27]

We like the DxDDP but we have signature dinners pretty much every night. As Faldred said, you have to use about 2/3 of your credits for table service for the plan to make sense, and that fraction will be higher at 2012 pricing. Would you want to add extra ADRs to your plan if you upgraded?

If you're happy with your plan as-is, upgrading your 9yo to an adult and simply paying OOP for any kids meals the 9 or 10yos might want to order will help to stretch your adult credits and minimize OOP expenses. Particularly at the signature restaurants, the kids menus are pretty good and the adult menus are sophisticated enough that many kids would prefer the kids offerings... So you could pay OOP for the kids meal @ Cali Grill and save the two adult credits to cover another meal.

 

[Steve Mahanahan]

Having done the DxDP I can't really recommend it for families with kids. If your kids are ok with doing a lot of sit-down TS meals (and getting a TON of food) then I would say go for it.

For me, my wife and I are going to do DxDP every time we go until we start a family, then probably just pay OOP and stay off-property.

 

[hannahdrewmom]

Having done the DxDP I can't really recommend it for families with kids. If your kids are ok with doing a lot of sit-down TS meals (and getting a TON of food) then I would say go for it.

For me, my wife and I are going to do DxDP every time we go until we start a family, then probably just pay OOP and stay off-property.

Actually I think for families with young kids it works great. We love it! We have flexibility in scheduling, we can do CS, we can do room service (HUGE PERK), we can do shows, we can do character meals. If you plan well it is fantastic. (Plus upgrading a child to dxdp is cheap! Relative to the 10+ crowd.)

With that said though... not every family tours the way we like to... and based on the restaurant choice of op it doesn't seem like it will make sense for their family. So upgrading a child would be the most cost effective way of doing what they want.