I'm second guessing - is the basic DP enough for us?

[SomDayMyPrnceWillCom]

DD13 and I LOVE the DXDP. We really enjoy trying all the new restaurants just as much as riding the rides and seeing the shows. I would say if you want to try all of those restaurants and that's what your family considers part of their vacation experience - go for it. I really can't say how your children would be at eating in 2 restaurants every day, only you would know that. I know that having a nice breakfast, sometimes with characters in the morning, or even an early lunch works for us. Then having a nice sit down dinner after walking miles in the heat is a definite enjoyment. We have went during May when hours are extended however, so that may be a difference. We sometimes make rope drop and sometimes stay for evening EMH, just depends on our mood. We've gone for 6 nights in the past 2 trips and this next one, I plan for us to do 9 nights and yes, we will be doing the DxDP again. Have fun planning and on your first trip!

 

[WantToGoNow]

We did the regular dining plan last trip and will be doing it again this time. We talked about the deluxe plan but decided we didn't want to spend that much time dining. We usually have breakfast in our room (with food that we brought with us), a CS lunch and a TS dinner (I think we did 3 character meals). We were never hungry and many times didn't even want to go to the dinners - but we did anyway. On our last day (8 nights, 4 adults, 1 child, 1 infant) we had 28 snack credits left that we had to use. I thought we would have no problem using them on ice cream, pop, candy, etc. but seriously no one wanted it (and we were even sharing with dd2 who was not on the plan).

 

[Colleen27]

Thank you so much for taking the time to propose an itinerary and popping the numbers in your spreadsheet! That is awesome - and I will definitely use that spreadsheet again.

Honestly, I have never been to Disney before. I have not even taken a look at the other attractions - the only thing I've semi-researched is the restaurants. I keep forgetting that there is more to Disney than just places to eat. And while I'd love to try every restaurant there I think I need to be realistic. I need to find a good balance between sitting down at a restaurant and enjoying all the other things that Disney has to offer. I'm still not sure where that balance is.

Thanks again for your help - you've given me some great suggestions. ETA: I'm staying at the WL - so transportation shouldn't be too much of an issue with the MK resorts.

Yeah, the DxDDP is a bit much when you're a first-timer! The basic plan was plenty for our first trip. On our second, we started thinking we didn't want to do so much counter service. We actually postponed the third, from Dec '07 to Jan '08, to try the then brand-new deluxe plan. Now I can't imagine going back to the basic plan! I think it would have felt like too much planning and too much time eating for that first trip, though. The basic plan is a good "sampler" plan - you get to try some character dining, some table service, some counter service, and get an idea of what works for your family.

You'll love WL, BTW! We were there for 11 nights on our last trip, and it is my favorite of the resorts we've tried so far. I liked the location and boat transportation so well that for our fall trip with my mom, I booked a cabin at Fort Wilderness instead of our usual 2 rooms at a moderate resort.

 

[kha100399]

we did the deluxe last year for our first trip and at the time our girls were almost 5 and 2. we did 2 or 3 TS each day and it was fantastic, instead of taking time to travel back to the resort for breaks, we used this as our down time. also, you will still have plenty of time in the parks for rides/attractions because you won't be standing in line waiting for characters since you've already seen them at the restaurants.

I thought deluxe was great, it worked for our family. Our next trip we will be doing a split stay half with deluxe and half with regular, just for budget purposes, and I'm having trouble planning the regular days.

 

[jcemom]

Oops, I'm sorry about the Neverland Club suggestion. I totally forgot that the minimum age was 4.

 

[princesslover]

we did the deluxe last year for our first trip and at the time our girls were almost 5 and 2. we did 2 or 3 TS each day and it was fantastic, instead of taking time to travel back to the resort for breaks, we used this as our down time. also, you will still have plenty of time in the parks for rides/attractions because you won't be standing in line waiting for characters since you've already seen them at the restaurants.

I thought deluxe was great, it worked for our family. Our next trip we will be doing a split stay half with deluxe and half with regular, just for budget purposes, and I'm having trouble planning the regular days.

Whoa! You can do this? How does this work? I'm intrigued now...

You'll love WL, BTW! We were there for 11 nights on our last trip, and it is my favorite of the resorts we've tried so far. I liked the location and boat transportation so well that for our fall trip with my mom, I booked a cabin at Fort Wilderness instead of our usual 2 rooms at a moderate resort.

Thanks, Colleen! See, that's part of the reason I'm unsure about the deluxe plan - given that we sprung for a deluxe resort, we will probably want to go back to our room for breaks.

But then again, there is always room service!! Back to the drawing board...

 

[Colleen27]

Thanks, Colleen! See, that's part of the reason I'm unsure about the deluxe plan - given that we sprung for a deluxe resort, we will probably want to go back to our room for breaks.

But then again, there is always room service!! Back to the drawing board...

The pool at WL is fun. We were there in Jan, so it was a little cool for me to swim, but the kids were in it every night. There's a family of ducks that visits the pool, and my kids just loved swimming with ducklings!

It is definitely a resort worth spending some time at. My kids loved the rubber duckie races down the "river" into the pool, and the lobby & common areas are beautiful.

The room service is pretty good too. We ordered one dinner and one breakfast in, and ate on our patio (we were ground floor facing Bay Lake. AMAZING view!).

 

[princesslover]

but I'm wondering if anyone can give more info on "splitting" between basic DDp and the DxDP. If we did that, I'm sure the credits can't overlap during the week - meaning if we had basic DP from Mon-Thurs and DxDP from Fri-Sunday - we couldn't use the extra meal credits early.

Has anyone else done this? I think this could work for us if it is cost effective.

I really wish Disney would give more options on their dining plans. I'd love to be able to create my own.

 

[Cookie Princess]

I am also on the fence about upgrading to the Deluxe plan. We have done the basic DDP a few times, but not since they have nixed the apps and the tip.

We generally pay for a few sit down and counter meals OOP, always buy the mugs, and I could never have too many snacks. We also enjoy a signature dinner or two. The downside...even with the basic plan we were stuffed to the gills. I really don't know what to do!

 

[caroline1851]

It depends how you want to spend your time on vacation. It sounds like if you get all of these adrs you'll be spending a lot of time getting to and from restaurants and a lot of time eating.
we did the regular ddp with my ds6 and dd2 and it was just right in terms of time spent eating. but.......it wasn't enough food, really. The main reason was because if it's 4p and you know you have a adr at 5:30, you just wait. Whereas the kids want to eat right away. So we ended up spending an additional $150 or so on snacks and extra food.

 

[ReneeA]

For a first timer, I wouldn't suggest the DxDp...only because there is so much to see that isn't related to eating. I mean, look at it this way...you are looking at at least a half hour traveling to a restaurant, waiting to get seated (which can be nonexistant or as long as 45 minutes), eating your meal (which is 3 courses with the DxDp), waiting for a bill, then travel time back to the park. You are look at about 2 - 2 1/2 hours PER MEAL at least twice, sometimes 3 times a day.

Do you really want to spend upwards of 6 hours a day at mealtimes when there are 4 parks that you've never seen before? We are regulars - go at least every year, and we spend at least 2 FULL days in MK and Epcot, and we've BTDT with everything there.

I think you are underestimating how much time you need to see the parks and attractions, personally.

 

[jcemom]

but I'm wondering if anyone can give more info on "splitting" between basic DDp and the DxDP. If we did that, I'm sure the credits can't overlap during the week - meaning if we had basic DP from Mon-Thurs and DxDP from Fri-Sunday - we couldn't use the extra meal credits early.

Has anyone else done this? I think this could work for us if it is cost effective.

I really wish Disney would give more options on their dining plans. I'd love to be able to create my own.

You'd have to book two separate packages to do that, I'm pretty sure. If you're an AP holder or staying on DVC points I think you could do it without purchasing extra tickets (didn't they start allowing AP holders to book packages with dining and no tickets last year???), but if you're a non-AP holder booking through CRO (not staying on DVC points) I *think* you'd have to purchase at least one day base tickets with each package. Hopefully someone will come along and correct me if I'm wrong about that. If I were doing it I'd probably go with the deluxe at the beginning, then switch over to the regular. If you stayed Saturday through Wednesday on one package, for example, then Wednesday through Sunday on the other -- you'd get one set of credits when you checked in on Saturday that would be good for use through Wednesday night, and you'd get a second set of credits when you checked in on Wednesday that would be good through Sunday night. With the exception of the one day in the middle the credits would not overlalp and you couldn't borrow or save from one stay to the other. I hope that makes sense.

 

[Colleen27]

but I'm wondering if anyone can give more info on "splitting" between basic DDp and the DxDP. If we did that, I'm sure the credits can't overlap during the week - meaning if we had basic DP from Mon-Thurs and DxDP from Fri-Sunday - we couldn't use the extra meal credits early.

Has anyone else done this? I think this could work for us if it is cost effective.

IMO, it is only cost effective for AP holders and DVC members (or people renting points), because they don't need to buy tickets to add the dining plan. With the way Disney tickets are priced, having two separate packages is costly because you have to have at least 1 day tickets to be able to add the dining plan for the second part of the stay. If you think you're going to return and not want a package, you can save the tickets to upgrade later, but if you're like us and tend to use the dining plan every trip, there's not a lot of appeal in having those tickets.

Each package starts at check-in and expires at midnight on the day you check-out, so on the day you'd move you would have credits from both packages available.

 

[princesslover]

Ok, thanks so much everyone. I was hoping it might be more simple than that.

So, basic DDP it is! I'll just have to accept the fact that we'll be paying some OOP, most likely because of those character meals and the "2 credit" places like Hoop-de Doo and Cali Grille, and CRT. I'm going to do the math and see if I can figure out how much OOP we are talking. If it's too much, I'll just scale down some, and maybe eliminate Cali Grille and a few others.

You guys are great - thanks so much!