Is Deluxe dining plan worth it ?

[BigTex71]

We are staying at Pop Century also and are doing the DxDDP. I have scheduled early character breakfasts and a mixture of signature, CRT, HDDR, and regular TS dinners. The lunches will be either snack or CS, depending on how hungry/ non-hungry we are. But we are just going to use Disney transportation. I was impressed with the buses last year when we stayed at CBR... and Pop is 'next door' to CBR and it doesn't share buses with other resorts. As a matter of fact, my DD2's (at the time) favorite part of Disney World was the buses. Go figure!

 

[bangzoom6877]

I wanted to try the deluxe plan this year. DH brought me back to reality...we are only doing one meal that is 2TS (CRT dinner) because we have 2 little ones (ages 3 and 5 when we go in July)...we would be eating out more than we originally planned...we have several character meals and other buffets planned (same 1 TS credit whether on DDP or DxDDP)...even with paying OOP for a couple of extra TS meals and even if we order apps at the a la carte restaurants (even if the most expensive apps), we will still pay MUCH less by getting the DDP and paying OOP for all of those...we would not even begin to know what to do with 80 snacks among the 4 of us on a 10-night vacation!!!

DH also said that if an app is included, he is the type of person NOT to get a salad and to opt for something more fattening...because that is more appealing to him. And he said he would be inclined to definitely get the app because he already paid for it. He is normally a guy who eats very sensibly, is not overweight, but that is mostly because of the fact that I refuse to keep certain things in the house, I do all the food shopping, and all the cooking...this is according to what he tells me and other people anyway (I like to give him more credit than that...there are still vending machines at work and fast food joints and it's not like I'm there to remind him not to eat that stuff, yet he controls himself very well).

DH and I agreed that on a future trip when the boys are older, it would be great to do the deluxe plan since they would enjoy the signature restaurants more. Perhaps this is something we might try when the boys are 7 and 9, if they are still rather adventurous eaters, and if they still behave well in restaurants. Right now, we are focusing on the more family-oriented and "silly" restaurants like character meals, Whispering Canyon, 50s Prime Time, etc. In the future we can focus on the signatures and enjoy those. Then we would know that we can use a snack credit for a quick breakfast, sit down to a nice lunch and a nice signature dinner!

 

[frannn]

It has worked well for us on our past two free dining trips. We normally eat 3 meals a day at home, so we like to do so on vacation. We consider the food a fun part of our vacation, but don't mind CS. I was trying to talk DH into sticking with the regular, free plan, since DD16 will be joining us this year (so it will cost us more for tix, etc). DH prefers to stick with DXDP so it is prepaid, plus DD16 eats a LOT, so she would really appreciate it. We will do CRT, HDD, Narcoosees, SOA, etc, so we all have something to look forward to.

 

[shadowryter]

We are going to try the Deluxe Dining Plan for the first time this December. Last trip was all op and we did 3 meals a day and that was too much. This time we plan on having either a breakfast or lunch using one credit and hit some signature restaurants later in the evening other than the Castle, which I love but DD is no longer a little one and wants to experience different things. So we plan on Narcoossee's, Cali Grill, Yachtsman Steakhouse and Artist Point. Also a great way to visit the resorts to check out the Christmas decorations.

 

[TRBelle84]

DH & I did the DDxP on our HM in May '09 and we really enjoyed the option to try so many wonderful restaurants.

We're going back in October and buying into the DDxP again... if you plan it out well, you'll use your TS credits. We've done it so we have a sit down meal each night, and a few of the TS breakfasts. But we each lunch on the fly each day so we aren't truly tied down to anything.

My advice: if you're a foodie and can appreciate the different 2 credit TS restaurants, go for it!

 

[shadowryter]

Double post for some reason.