We went in July and had the regular plan. It was 4 of us though (DH, me, DS3 and DS1 who was not on the plan as he is under 3). The only meals we paid OOP were 2 character breakfasts. We had planned a TS dinner every night (we prefer to do a TS dinner while on vacation), we had CS lunch everyday (in the parks with the exception of check-in day which was at Pop Century), and we mainly had breakfast in our hotel room (cereal, and we brought a hot pot and Folgers singles for coffee, as there are no coffee makers at POP). There were 2 character breakfasts we really wanted to do. One was at DHS, the Hollywood & Vine breakfast since our kids love Playhouse Disney characters and this was the only meal that offered them (meaning characters other than Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and My Friends Tugger and Pooh from Playhouse Disney). They also have the characters at lunch but we prefer a quick lunch while touring parks. We also did breakfast at Chef Mickey's on the last morning, as we felt a character breakfast was a great end to our trip and it definitely made it less upsetting going to bed on that final night!
We just made ADRs for the TS meals we wanted. We had 7 TS meals on our 5-night trip and so we did the math. We discovered that the 2 character breakfasts were the lowest cost so we decided to pay OOP for those and use the
DDP TS credits for all of the dinners. We did all-you-can-eat dinners for every single one so the price was very easy to figure out. If dining at an a la carte place it would be more difficult as I would not know what we would order for sure or be in the mood to eat at that moment. But for a flat per-person charge place it was easy to figure out. We also paid OOP for beer at the Biergarten, and the autograph books we bought at our first dinner. Appetizers were not an issue since we were at all-you-can-eat restaurants.
Our next trip, summer 2010, will be 10 nights and our first one as
DVC members. We will be getting the regular dining plan once again. This time our little guy will be 3 already so he will also be on the plan. We still plan on one TS dinner every evening, using CS credits for lunches, and paying OOP for some character breakfasts. We will definitely continue to go to a character breakfast the last morning of all our Disney trips. This is going to become a tradition for us as we felt it was a wonderful end to the trip. This time we will be staying at BWV (and every trip) so we will go to Cape May Cafe the final morning since it is so close and easy.
I think paying OOP for 3 meals is fine, or even 4. I have sat down and done the math and tried to figure out the difference between what we want to do on a 10-night trip as if we paid OOP for a few meals while on the DDP, and compared it to getting the deluxe plan. The deluxe plan just seems like too much food for us at this point, and I feel like we would be eating a HUGE breakfast every morning if on the deluxe plan. I am trying to avoid that (weight gain, and also we get sick of eating so so much after a few days anyway), and have breakfast in our villa most mornings (full kitchen on a one-bedroom anyway). So we will be paying OOP once again for maybe at most 4 character breakfasts in a 10-night trip. Much less money than deluxe plan, plus we do not need 2 snacks each daily (that's 8 snacks per day to use, 80 on the whole trip!!!), and I could do without the appetizer of just pay OOP if there is one I must have at an a la carte place.
