Is the reg dining plan enough?

[prune1977]

I've got 2 or 3 ?'s I think unless as i type more come to mind.
Here's the deal we've stayed at Disney 3 times before and have always upgraded to deluxe dining plan. Well we've always had more than enough credits but not by alot. There is myself, my DW, my DS8, DD6, and DS3. Do you think the reg dining plan would be enough for us all? Then in Jan we plan to bring along our nephew16, niece13, nephew12, would reg dining be enough or do you think we for sure should upgrade to deluxe, that trip i'm sure we'd want to dine in the castle one meal as it would be a once in a lifetime trip for our nephews and niece. Thanks for your help.

 

[xipotec]

Unless we eat at quiet a few double credit sit downs. DDP was always too much food for us.

One meal with and App main course, dessert is huge, never mind 3.

We will do DDP different this year, we plan on more smaller quick service.

Big Breakfast. Big Dinner , snack during the day.....
Planning a bunch of double credit meals again.

 

[aaarcher86]

It's pretty hard to answer that. You'd need to plan out your meals and get the costs of food OOPversus the DXDP.


We do the DXDP and we enjoy it while saving a bit of money. We typically do a TS breakfast, QS lunch, and a TS dinner with many of them being character meals.

You have a lot of Disney adults though and that gets pretty costly. Without knowing your restaurant choices I'd probably do the regular DDP and supplement a few meals OOP if necessary or go strictly OOP. It'd be really hard to get your money out of the DXDP in my opinion.

 

[jlk806]

How long is the trip? For a trip like ours (10-12 days) the DDxp would send us all to the hospital. For a 4-5 day trip where you arrive early the 1st day and have a later flight the last day, and plan to do 1-2 signatures/dinner shows it could work.

For our upcoming trip, we are doing a split (and we are DVC) so for the 1st 4 nights at WLV we are doing deluxe, because we plan to do CRT and Mickeys backyard BBQ, and since we are moving to another resort on checkout day, we can use the credits all day that day also. It works out to 2 meals per day for us. Then from there, for our 7 nights at the BCV, we arent doing the DP, but using TIW card. We dont like counter service, but only want 2 meals per day, and other than CRT and Mickeys Backyard BBQ, dont really have any desire for other signatures. Ive figured out the costs of the meals, and since I would never order dessert with any meal (rarely even take a dessert at a buffet) the DP doesnt seem to have much value anymore.

 

[robinb]

What are your plans for meals? What are your favorites? Are you planning this to be a trip focused on the teens or a trip for your own family with the teens tagging along? Like I said in one of your other threads, going with teens who have not grown up going to Disney is much different than going with your own elementary and pre-school children. Teens are not likely to be interested in a daily character meal and they are also not likely interested in spending hours per day eating sit-down meals when they could be enjoying the rides and attractions. I personally think that the DxDDP will be wasted on them. Especially at $100 per kid per day!

 

[TinkPirateMom]

You could do the DDP and pay for CRT OOP. It has to be paid for at the time of booking so you would still have the pre-paid thing going for you and you would save 2 meal credits.

 

[kaybird]

We have never needed more than the reg DDP provides. My suggestion is always wait til the end to pay OOP. Usually we find ourselves trying to use up credits, rather than needing more!

 

[prune1977]

How long is the trip? For a trip like ours (10-12 days) the DDxp would send us all to the hospital. For a 4-5 day trip where you arrive early the 1st day and have a later flight the last day, and plan to do 1-2 signatures/dinner shows it could work.

For our upcoming trip, we are doing a split (and we are DVC) so for the 1st 4 nights at WLV we are doing deluxe, because we plan to do CRT and Mickeys backyard BBQ, and since we are moving to another resort on checkout day, we can use the credits all day that day also. It works out to 2 meals per day for us. Then from there, for our 7 nights at the BCV, we arent doing the DP, but using TIW card. We dont like counter service, but only want 2 meals per day, and other than CRT and Mickeys Backyard BBQ, dont really have any desire for other signatures. Ive figured out the costs of the meals, and since I would never order dessert with any meal (rarely even take a dessert at a buffet) the DP doesnt seem to have much value anymore.

Both trips would be 7 nights.

 

[prune1977]

What are your plans for meals? What are your favorites? Are you planning this to be a trip focused on the teens or a trip for your own family with the teens tagging along? Like I said in one of your other threads, going with teens who have not grown up going to Disney is much different than going with your own elementary and pre-school children. Teens are not likely to be interested in a daily character meal and they are also not likely interested in spending hours per day eating sit-down meals when they could be enjoying the rides and attractions. I personally think that the DxDDP will be wasted on them. Especially at $100 per kid per day!

One trip is a trip with just us, the other trip we'd have the teens as well. I'm asking about both trips.

 

[honeybunches]

I think it depends on which restaurants you plan to go to. We have used the deluxe plan 2x and just decided it was too much food for us. We wasted a LOT of credits. The regular dining plan is just right for us.

 

[havoc315]

-It depends on how you pan to eat.
-The ddp does provide more than enough food for any normal appetite. But it may not cover all the meals you want. If you wanted to eat in the castle every day, the ddp would not cover it.
- especially in the trip with the teens, paying OOP would likely be cheaper than using a dining plan.
- It is more cost effective to pay OOP for Cinderella's Castle, as opposed to using regular dining plan.

 

[robinb]

One trip is a trip with just us, the other trip we'd have the teens as well. I'm asking about both trips.

I would recommend for your next trip with just your family that you do the DxDDP since that's what you are used to and maximize your character meal opportunities. I think that the DxDDP will be overkill for the trip with the teens.

 

[ElizabethG]

Some people like the DxDDP for convenience. For us, I always run the numbers. The last time we used the DDP, we had 11 TS credits each. Our planned meals would have required 16 TS credits. It was WAY cheaper to use the reg DDP and pay OOP for the cheapest 5 TS meals. Unless you plan to average 2 TS credits per day, I don't think it is worth it.