How do you get the most out of Deluxe DP?

[ftomasze]

Last time we went to Disney we were on the Deluxe DP for 4 nights/5 days, we enjoyed it so much that were going back this time for 7 nights/8 days.

The last time we made the most out of the Deluxe DP by doing to following...
2 "signature" meals (cali grill and CRT)
Used all of our snack credits at the F&W festival

We still had meals available at the end of the trip...were food snobs so basic dining is out of the question, so how do we use all of those credits before the end of the trip? More signature meals?

Thanks!

 

[thebwit]

My wife and I have gone twice on the Disney Deluxe plan and this was our strategy if memory serves me correctly.

The basic idea is you have 3 sit down meal credits per night and 2 snacks. With that in mind we start with the following:

Eat one meal per day only at places that require 2 credits (typically dinner). The other meal we eat is at a high rated sit down restaurant. NO QUICK SERVICE.

Breakfast is typically made up of eating dessert left over from dinner due to the amount of food we get to eat. Snacks are used to get drinks or muffin's for breakfast.

We found that by using the ratings in the passporter we were able to eat at only the best restaurants.

Hope this helps.

 

[anjalee6]

I agree with the pp. To get the most out of your meals, you try to eat one reqular TS in a day, and one signature or 2 credit TS in a day. Then you use snack credit for breakfasts. This wil ensure that you use all your meals. We do two days during our trip where we eat three TS in one day. I know a lot of people think that is too much time away from the parks, but on those days we do an early breakfast, lunch around noon, and then a later dinner.

 

[AugustDisney]

We have deluxe dp for 6 days. We are doing 2 two credit dinners, 3 one credit dinners, and 4 one credit breakfasts and 1 one credit lunch. I was worried we would run out though because we are doing some counter service. We are more concerned with sitting down for breakfast and dinner and getting a quick service lunch or snack mid day.

 

[kkproulx]

We are going for 6 nights and there are three of us. We have 2 2TS dinners and I have made ressies for breakfast and dinners. We have a couple lunches that I have made ressies for because my DD and my birthdays fall in there, so we'll celebrate. The 4 days that I didn't make lunch ressies we will grab a QS. I am curious where we can eat at Epcot and other parks to use some of the snacks. I seen one of the posters say that they used them for the F&W fest. TIA

 

[ftomasze]

We are going for 6 nights and there are three of us. We have 2 2TS dinners and I have made ressies for breakfast and dinners. We have a couple lunches that I have made ressies for because my DD and my birthdays fall in there, so we'll celebrate. The 4 days that I didn't make lunch ressies we will grab a QS. I am curious where we can eat at Epcot and other parks to use some of the snacks. I seen one of the posters say that they used them for the F&W fest. TIA

I have only been to Disney once, and it was for the F&W fest. We used our snack credits (DlxDP for 4 nights) at each of the little booths we were interested in, it really worked out for us and we felt like we got our money's worth. As for what you can use the snack credits for on during non-F&W fest times, I do not know...someone more veteran than me will come along and be able to answer that for you...

 

[PoohsFan1]

We have done DxDP once before and enjoyed it so much that we are doing it again for our May trip. As others have already mentioned, the best way to get the most out of the DxDP is to do one signature restaurant and one 1 credit restaurant per day (usually a breakfast and then a signature dinner). We catered to our kids with either a character meal for breakfast or a fun type meal (example 50's Prime Time, Sci-Fi, LTT, etc...) for lunch and then for dinner we all had a very nice meal at a signature restaurant (more for DH and I but the kids were o.k. with it). Then for snacks we used them on ice cream, water, pop, popcorn, dole whips, etc. Eventhough it was a lot of food, we can't wait to do it again.

 

[hannahdrewmom]

We try to do the same thing 1 normal 1 signature a day. Sometimes though we run out of signatures that we want if we need to be in a park in the evening. In those cases we normally double up and get room service for breakfast the next day. Nothing better than eating a big meal in your pj's and still making it in time for RD!

 

[KeriWDE]

I have a spreadsheet that I used to track our ADRs and where we will be and the schedule for that particular park that day and how many credits we use each day.

It's pretty simple. I color-coded the parks and the ADRs are listed in a box that matches the color for which park the restaurant is in.

I put it together in 2009 and only had to plug in the dates we are going this year and find the park and even schedules.

Specifically, we have 2 meals that will use 2 credits (Le Cellier and CRT) and then we have meals planned out for the other days so that we will know where and how we will eat. Even when we don't have ADRs, I know that we will use credits for CS meals.

As we stand right now, we will actually have 1 credit left per person to use however we wish.

If you'd like the spreadsheet, send me a PM with your email and I'll send it over. Virus free, I promise.

 

[psac]

Agree, you have to maximize your signature meals. It helps if you're staying at a MK or Epcot deluxe resort, so you have plenty of easy to reach signature restaurants. Consider eating at your favorite restaurant twice (places like Flying Fish and California Grill have more than enough options to eat different things both times), and also consider hopping in a cab to go to a different resort for a signature dinner. Considering how much you'll end up "saving" on the deluxe plan (and how much you're spending for it), adding two-way cab fare to the dinner cost can be worth it when you're getting a high quality meal, and/or even just to explore Animal Kindgom lodge for Jiko or Wilderness Lodge for Artist Point. Both are nice looking resorts, and it's good to have an excuse to visit. (Of course there are free bus options as well, bus those usually involve transfers and a lot of travel time.) Similarly cabbing to MK resorts if you're staying near Epcot or an Epcot resort if you're near MK.

Also don't forget the in-park two credit options as well. Brown Derby was excellent on both our trips last year (people are saying it's gotten better from some previous years), CRT you've been to, and Le Cellier will be 2 credits for dinner soon, though in my opinion, it's better for a 1 credit lunch unless they change their dinner menu correspondingly.

As others also said, best to go with a TS lunch, and snack credits (muffins are great for this) for breakfast.

In any case, enjoy!

 

[flstatenolefan]

We are only staying two nights, with three days in the park. You can use your credits until midnight of the day you check out, so we are spreading our credits out to feed us all three days instead of just the two days they give us. But, we did want to eat at one signature restaurant, so we are doing 1 TS for lunch, 2 TS for dinner, paying for Breakfast of Day 2, snack for mid-day, 1 TS for dinner, then 1 TS for character breakfast Day 3, Snack at mid-day, and 1 TS for dinner of Day 3.

 

[ftomasze]

Agree, you have to maximize your signature meals. It helps if you're staying at a MK or Epcot deluxe resort, so you have plenty of easy to reach signature restaurants. Consider eating at your favorite restaurant twice (places like Flying Fish and California Grill have more than enough options to eat different things both times), and also consider hopping in a cab to go to a different resort for a signature dinner. Considering how much you'll end up "saving" on the deluxe plan (and how much you're spending for it), adding two-way cab fare to the dinner cost can be worth it when you're getting a high quality meal, and/or even just to explore Animal Kindgom lodge for Jiko or Wilderness Lodge for Artist Point. Both are nice looking resorts, and it's good to have an excuse to visit. (Of course there are free bus options as well, bus those usually involve transfers and a lot of travel time.) Similarly cabbing to MK resorts if you're staying near Epcot or an Epcot resort if you're near MK.

Also don't forget the in-park two credit options as well. Brown Derby was excellent on both our trips last year (people are saying it's gotten better from some previous years), CRT you've been to, and Le Cellier will be 2 credits for dinner soon, though in my opinion, it's better for a 1 credit lunch unless they change their dinner menu correspondingly.

As others also said, best to go with a TS lunch, and snack credits (muffins are great for this) for breakfast.

In any case, enjoy!

Good thing were road tripping this time! I wonder what its going to be like driving to and fro...

 

[DisneyFamily123]

The last time we made the most out of the Deluxe DP by doing to following... 2 "signature" meals (cali grill and CRT) Used all of our snack credits at the F&W festival We still had meals available at the end of the trip...were food snobs so basic dining is out of the question, so how do we use all of those credits before the end of the trip? More signature meals? Thanks!

Did deluxe DDP in 2009 and 2010. We do all table service and use all credits. If we didn't do signature restaurants and shows, there's no way we could use up all those credits.

We get to WDW early on our arrival day and leave late on our departure day, so we use have table service then to have lunch and dinner on arrival day, and breakfast and/or lunch on departure day.

On other days we had a lunch and dinner every day. When dinner had to be early (going to party, or fantasmic package), we had a very early lunch around 11am (and no breakfast, well coffee). On about 3 of the other days (out of a 9 to 10 day trip), we had an early character breakfast at 8am, then lunch around 1pm, then a later dinner around 7:30pm. We are not big breakfast eaters anyway.

We love that appetizers are included, it gives a chance to try different food. I had escargot for the first time. And the appetizers at signature meals are really great. We tend to get the more expensive entrees because we prefer steak or seafood for dinner.

We used snack credits mostly for drinks at the park (soda, water, lemonade, frozen colas, etc.) and popcorn for DS. Sometimes for soy milk for DS to have cereal in the room before heading out early when we just have coffee for breakfast. We were hardly ever hungry for snacks.... so we used a lot of leftover snack credits for things like caramel from Germany, fudge from MK, stuff like that to take home.

 

[goodferry]

For our nine night trip we ate at:
Dinners:
Narcoosees
California Grill
Jiko
Artist Point
Yachtsman
'Ohana
Teppan Edo
Citricos
1900 Park Faire

Lunchs:
Hollywood Brown Derby
Liberty Tree Tavern
Coral Reef
Tusker House
Mama Melrose
Whispering Canyon Cafe
Beaches and Cream

Breakfast
Akershus
Whispering Canyon Cafe
Cinderella's Castle

For breakfast on the days we did not have a reservation, we had a villa, so we ate in our room (usually very light, cereal, etc).