Just returned on Deluxe plan -- not again

[Colleen27]

I have another question... for those who find the DDP to be a good deal~ how many of them have growing boys? I noticed this poster talking about trying to keep her boys from starving in the park and I can sympathize

LOL! That's us too. DS9 may still be a kid by Disney standards, but he eats more than I do! The 3 course meals of the old dining plan and the 2008 deluxe plan are perfect, because I can share my food with him so that we both leave the table full but not stuffed.

 

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

yup those growing boys will cost you on food
I even try to make sure to throw in buffets at least once a day as the TS hard menus don't always fill 'em up. DH and the boys have NEVER mentioned that the DDP was just too much food for them
They scarf down whatever I have left on my plate

I swear people must think I don't ever feed them as they are all really thin! They just have high metabolisms. anyone that has older growing boys, the DDP is the way to go hands down!

Exactly! Both my boys are very athletic and extremely trim and in shape, I've never hear them mention "too much food" in my life!

 

[kimis]

We will be there in 17 days with the deluxe plan. To help make it work for us we are eating at all the signature resturants. We will do a breakfast and than a signature resturant for dinner. Snacks in between (if we are hungary LOL). I use a lot of snack credits to bring back Mickey rice krispy treats, candy ect... for the grandkids.

 

[praline3001]

Exactly! Both my boys are very athletic and extremely trim and in shape, I've never hear them mention "too much food" in my life!

One of my boys' fav food is steak. He has big plans on this upcoming trip to eat steak at all the different places and figuring out who has the best one

I like steak but GOSH the whole week? NOT ME but I am not going to stop him if he thinks he can do it
He even plans on getting the steak and eggs breakfast

I figure it will last until day 3 and then he will be tired of steak!

I am sure the deluxe plan isn't for everyone. It just depends on your family. As I have said several times... when you have 2 growing boys you really save the big bucks in the long run as they don't nickle and dime you in the park for junk food (well at least not as much....)
Also add in all the drinks you would buy at the resort! Those refillable mugs help out a great deal when you have older kids. On average my boys usually get 3 refills a day at the resort on their mugs.... that alone saves me about $12 a day just in drinks per kid. When you figure the regular plan is $38 and the deluxe is $70 that is a $32 difference. Add in the cost of the refillable mug
and that brings the difference down (for our family) to a $20 a day difference.

 

[wezee]

DH and I will have the deluxe dining in Sept. as an add-on to the free dining.
DH wanted to try the deluxe and I agreed, but only if we only sched. 2 meals a day. We will have a signature meal each day and either breakfast or early TS for lunch. I will admit we really enjoy the whole dining experience at WDW, especially at a good signature rest. with a glass of wine to wind down at the end of the day.

There are very few CS rest. we enjoy at WDW and if I had to spend my vacation eating CS to save a few bucks....we would probably vacation elsewhere. I am just not a fast food kind of person.

That being said, I do agree that 3 sitdown meals a day would be way too much food for me, but the luxury of the deluxe plan is the fexibility. With only 2 meals planned per day ( all will be pre-planned ADRs) we will prolly spend less time eating than those who choose to each 2-3 CS each day. The lines can be long and seating can be limited.

PS....plus, with the 2 snack credits each day....DH has promised to get up early, every morning, and bring me coffee ( in my free mug) and those awesome beignets, from POFQ.

 

[MsStinkerBelle]

Great point! We are usually there from 8-10 days.

Same for us. A 10 - 11 day trip is how long we usually stay at WDW.

 

[luckytobeme88]

I know that DlxDDP give you lots and lots of food. That's the reason we will be doing the plan during our upcoming trip in July. Do you know that your credits are still good until midnight of your "supposed" check out date? Do you understand what that means? We will doing a week of DLXDDP(6 nights) but adding an extra night with room only. So there you have it, my secret of not over-eating because we will be spreading our 6 nights' credit to use on the seventh nights.
So plan accordingly.

 

[SnowWitch]

For our group, I couldn't imagine doing the deluxe plan in the summer. We just don't have an appetite. We did the reg plan last year x 2 in warmer months and it was to much. That being said we are going to try in this April, our daughters are almost 3 and 1. so we can share with them. Our plan is a character breakfast or lunch for the girls then a 2 TS for dinner.

 

[Darth Cupcake]

I know that DlxDDP give you lots and lots of food. That's the reason we will be doing the plan during our upcoming trip in July. Do you know that your credits are still good until midnight of your "supposed" check out date? Do you understand what that means? We will doing a week of DLXDDP(6 nights) but adding an extra night with room only. So there you have it, my secret of not over-eating because we will be spreading our 6 nights' credit to use on the seventh nights.
So plan accordingly.

I didn't know you could do this. We would do the DLX DDP but it just seems like way to much food. I'm going to check my reservation now.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

We are going on the Deluxe Plan, what I did was:

Schedule 2 ADRs per day, several hours apart. Say, breakfast, then a late dinner. I also chose several 2 credit meals, so we won't have lots of credits left over.

Hopefully we won't feel overstuffed!!

This is exactly my plan. I'm either doing breakfast and a late signature dinner or snacks for breakfast, a very early lunch (around 11am) and a late dinner around 8pm. My DD4 stays up late at home anyway so its not a problem at all.

 

[pickles]

I know that DlxDDP give you lots and lots of food. That's the reason we will be doing the plan during our upcoming trip in July. Do you know that your credits are still good until midnight of your "supposed" check out date? Do you understand what that means? We will doing a week of DLXDDP(6 nights) but adding an extra night with room only. So there you have it, my secret of not over-eating because we will be spreading our 6 nights' credit to use on the seventh nights.
So plan accordingly.

yep that is my plan too!!

 

[ransom]

There are very few CS rest. we enjoy at WDW and if I had to spend my vacation eating CS to save a few bucks....we would probably vacation elsewhere. I am just not a fast food kind of person.

You sound just like DW! Not that I'm opposed to eating at nice restaurants, but I know she couldn't stand doing CS three meals a day. So we did DDP the last two years, used up our TS credits after half our vacation, and did the rest of it out of pocket. I think DxDDP will work great for us.

 

[ransom]

I know that DlxDDP give you lots and lots of food. That's the reason we will be doing the plan during our upcoming trip in July. Do you know that your credits are still good until midnight of your "supposed" check out date? Do you understand what that means? We will doing a week of DLXDDP(6 nights) but adding an extra night with room only. So there you have it, my secret of not over-eating because we will be spreading our 6 nights' credit to use on the seventh nights.
So plan accordingly.

This is exactly my plan. I'm either doing breakfast and a late signature dinner or snacks for breakfast, a very early lunch (around 11am) and a late dinner around 8pm. My DD4 stays up late at home anyway so its not a problem at all.

yep that is my plan too!!

So many smart folks on these boards. I never thought of doing that!

Brings to mind the saying, "If you can't spot the dumbest person in the room, it's probably you."

 

[epicureangirl]

I know that DlxDDP give you lots and lots of food. That's the reason we will be doing the plan during our upcoming trip in July. Do you know that your credits are still good until midnight of your "supposed" check out date? Do you understand what that means? We will doing a week of DLXDDP(6 nights) but adding an extra night with room only. So there you have it, my secret of not over-eating because we will be spreading our 6 nights' credit to use on the seventh nights.
So plan accordingly.

Exactly! And that is why I will even do that DLXDDP for our one post-cruise night since we can spread the credits over into the next day. Breaksfast on the ship, TS Lunch & Dinner when we get to WDW and a Lunch TS before we head home on our flight. For some of the Epcot restaurants I want to eat at, that could be almost $150 right there! Now that's savings!

 

[Darth Cupcake]

OK, so from what I gather, I can book the DLX DDP for 7 nights and add 3 more nights at room only but still use my DLX DDP credits for my entire stay?!?! I had no idea. This will work well for us if we can do it. Thanks for posting this!

 

[RACHELSMOM1]

I had several character breakfasts planned and we didn't make a single one. My kids (15 and 19) wanted to sleep in and have a relaxing morning. At home we are a ceral or muffin in the monring family, so we did that. We usually had a single credit TS for lunch and signature TS for dinner but we were usually still stuffed from lunch. The regular plan would work better for us or maybe no plan at all just out of pocket.

At most restraurants we had to show our room key first -- I guess to make sure we were on the delux plan. OUr food would have cost more than the plan but we would have never ordered an app., entree, and dessert for each of us. At home my oldest daughter and I regularly share meals when we go out. We just can't eat such large portions.

I liked having it all paid for but it was just too much. My hubby feels like things are just too out of control and over indulgent at Disney. The $250.00 Bibbi Bobbity Boutique little girls walking around was the icing on the cake. We are creating little monsters and the food the "little princesses" were just too much for him. He says he wants just go sit on a beach next year.

Renee

We are doing the BBBoutique in April, just before CRT ($50.00 each for crown pkg, not $250.00 each) and we feel it is worth it for the little princesses to be able to get a makeover of their own, at their own little salon/boutique. It is, after all, WDW, and I myself spend money to go to a salon to color my hair once a month.

As far as "way too much food" is concerned, we plan to do one signature meal/show and one TS/character meal each day. We can hardly wait!! Yes, 3 TS meals a day would be way too much for us, and we tire of the CS places (except Pizza Planet at STUDIOS). But when we figure on our planned way, it is perfect for us.

 

[quietgirll]

OK, so from what I gather, I can book the DLX DDP for 7 nights and add 3 more nights at room only but still use my DLX DDP credits for my entire stay?!?! I had no idea. This will work well for us if we can do it. Thanks for posting this!

no, your credits expire on midnight of your "check-out" date.. so, if you book a package for 7 nights, and 3 nights room only, you could use them until midnight of the 1st night of your room only reservation. On day/night 2 of your room only, the credits will have expired and would no longer be available to use.

 

[tnmomof4]

I know that DlxDDP give you lots and lots of food. That's the reason we will be doing the plan during our upcoming trip in July. Do you know that your credits are still good until midnight of your "supposed" check out date? Do you understand what that means? We will doing a week of DLXDDP(6 nights) but adding an extra night with room only. So there you have it, my secret of not over-eating because we will be spreading our 6 nights' credit to use on the seventh nights.
So plan accordingly.

This is exactly what I do too!!! We will be getting the DlxDDP too.

 

[TLSnell1981]

We exercise portion control and only eat what we can finish - if I'm not hungry for an appetizer or dessert, then I don't order it, plain and simple.

Tiger

Same here...with a little variation. I always save room for a little dessert! I don't always clean my plate....except at "50s". I don't eat just to "fill" up.... I enjoy different courses. I am not unhappy about the reports of smaller portions at WDW. We don't usually share, so this doesn't affect us.

 

[TLSnell1981]

My hubby feels like things are just too out of control and over indulgent at Disney. The $250.00 Bibbi Bobbity Boutique little girls walking around was the icing on the cake. We are creating little monsters and the food the "little princesses" were just too much for him.

Renee

Gosh, there's nothing wrong with overindulging, once in a while. We do tend to pamper and treat ourselves while on vacation. It's our chance to "escape" from reality. I don't think I've grown fangs and I can still see my reflection in the mirror.