Need Advice, First time with the DxDDP....

[WyldLynx]

Ok here is the situation...

First time onsite at a deluxe resort ...first time with any DDP. I received a code in the mail that gives us FD so I figured with my boys we might as well upgrade that DDP to the DxDDP. It will be myself (37), DH(40), DS(14), and DS(7 will be 8 when we go). We are joining other family while we are there who will also be on the DxDDP. We will be at WDW for 8 nights/9 days. We are spending 5 days at Disney parks, 2 days at Universal parks, 1 free roaming day, and our last day will be mostly driving home.

But here is my question I am the OCD Planner and I am trying to plan our meals enough to feel like we are at least getting our $$ worth. Please tell me what ya'll think.

We will be driving down friday night to arrive early Saturday Morning. Checking in at WL to get our KTTW and then heading out to HS.

all time are just estimates and nothing is written in stone....
Sat - HS
Breakfast - Starring Rolls Café (8ish light breakfast...maybe just use snack credits)
Lunch - Sci-Fi Dine In (around noon)
Dinner - 50's Prime Time (between 6 & 7pm)

Sun - DTD
Breakfast - Whispering Canyon (9:30 - 10am)
Lunch - Earl of Sandwich (between 2 & 3pm)
Dinner - Planet Hollywood (around 7pm)

Mon - Animal Kingdom
Breakfast - Tusker House (8am) this may be changed since AK has such short days
Lunch - Flame Tree BBQ (2pm)
Dinner - Whispering Canyon (7pm)

Tue - MK + MNSSHP
Breakfast - Crystal Palace (8am)
Lunch - Casey Corner ? (1 - 2pm)
Dinner - Tony's (6pm)

Wed - Epcot (WS)
Breakfast -Roaring Forks (9am)
Lunch - Rose and Crown (2 - 3pm)
Dinner - Akerhus (8pm)

Thur - IOA
Breakfast - ? Room Service ? 7am
Lunch - Three Broomsticks (OOP) (12pm)
Dinner - After we get back from IOA

Fri - Epcot (FW)
Breakfast - Sunshine Seasons Food Court (9am - after rope drop)
Lunch - Coral Reef (1pm)
Late Dinner - Beirgarten (7 - 7:30pm)

Sat - USF
Breakfast - Roaring Forks (7am)
Lunch - (OOP @ USF)?
Dinner - HDDR (latest show we can get into)

Sun - Check out
Breakfast - Chef Mickey's (10am)

My boys can put away the food , and I think I have our days for Disney mostly with the EMH so we should have plenty of time to enjoy the parks, besides we are going at a lighter crowd time of the year.

If anyone has any suggestions I would sure appreciate them.

 

[hannahdrewmom]

Can you put in the times of your meals to help us out?

My one concern is normally how close you are eating. Plus if you are doing EMH it may not be time for you to eat breakfast before it's time to eat lunch!

EDIT to add: remember you also have a TON of snack credits... so I'd use them for breakfast snacks instead of paying oop for some meals.... but by the end of the trip you aren't going to want to sit for 3 meals a day... I promise!

 

[Sappermont]

My advice is to go with your plan and be willing to adjust when you get there. We were on the DDP and we eat a lot, but because of the heat and big portions we weren't always hungry at meal time. We made lots of changes while we were there and really enjoyed how it all turned out. Enjoy the trip!

 

[Cafeen]

If some of those days are shorter than others, I'd consider dropping the midday CS and opting for a signature dinner instead. DxDDP can be a lot of food, especially for those that eat 3 times a day. The extra apps (from TS) and desserts can really pile up.

Your boys should be old enough to handle the restaurant, and it may be a nice change of style for a night.

However, also keep in mind that if you're using all your credits in the manner you are (more than 2/3 at TS, and the rest used for CS), then you ARE going to come out ahead, and by a decent amount as well. So feel free to skip a dessert or app from time to time if you feel you have to. It's not going to hurt much at all.

 

[WyldLynx]

Can you put in the times of your meals to help us out?
I edited my OP to include estimates of my times, I think I can spread our meal apart enough that most of us will be hungry. Besides I have to eat a little something every 4 hrs to keep my metabolism up, otherwise I will loose all my progress.
My one concern is normally how close you are eating. Plus if you are doing EMH it may not be time for you to eat breakfast before it's time to eat lunch!
Our only meal that would be in EMH would be Tusker House @ AK, which I am thinking about changing to either RS or RF before we head out to the park. The other EMH are night hours so I figure we can do later meals those days and in between if anyone gets hungry we do have all those snack credits.

EDIT to add: remember you also have a TON of snack credits... so I'd use them for breakfast snacks instead of paying oop for some meals.... but by the end of the trip you aren't going to want to sit for 3 meals a day... I promise!

I have figured up we will have about 64 snack credits between the 4 of us but with my boys those will go pretty fast, DH will be right there with them.

 

[WyldLynx]

My advice is to go with your plan and be willing to adjust when you get there. We were on the DDP and we eat a lot, but because of the heat and big portions we weren't always hungry at meal time. We made lots of changes while we were there and really enjoyed how it all turned out. Enjoy the trip!

Thanks for the advice. I will keep in mind to be a little more flexible. My boys can put the food away, DH can too, but me not so much anymore. My biggest problem is that I had got into a bad habit of only eating once a day and now I have been working hard to get away from that.

Our last trip I was hard in that habit even when everyone else ate I sometimes skipped eating because I wasn't hungry. So I figure if I eat even some, maybe share my apps with my youngest because even though he is 7 he can eat so the kids meals may not be enough for him. But he and I eat the same kinds of food and he likes to try new things.

 

[WyldLynx]

If some of those days are shorter than others, I'd consider dropping the midday CS and opting for a signature dinner instead. DxDDP can be a lot of food, especially for those that eat 3 times a day. The extra apps (from TS) and desserts can really pile up.

Your boys should be old enough to handle the restaurant, and it may be a nice change of style for a night.

However, also keep in mind that if you're using all your credits in the manner you are (more than 2/3 at TS, and the rest used for CS), then you ARE going to come out ahead, and by a decent amount as well. So feel free to skip a dessert or app from time to time if you feel you have to. It's not going to hurt much at all.

Thanks for the quick reply. I have been debating on adding Artist Point to our plans so I may just do that. It might be a nice change for one of our shorter days.

 

[deenbrad]

I think you have a lot of CS meals for DXDP. Are you sure deluxe is worth it for you? I don't know the numbers but I'd check the prices on the menus online??

 

[Cafeen]

I think you have a lot of CS meals for DXDP. Are you sure deluxe is worth it for you? I don't know the numbers but I'd check the prices on the menus online??

For 2012, rough estimates of breaking even are:

• All credits used: 2/3 TS, 1/3 CS (note: this is actually a bit higher than the line, but it's better to overshoot)
• Only TS used: 75-80% TS (this number is much closer to real, but still at least a few percent higher)

So the initial plan should be fine in that aspect. Of course, if going during peak pricing (which the OP is not), the numbers shift up a little bit.

Also of course, if you're always ordering the least expensive entree, skipping entitlements, and eating at the least expensive places, it may skew the numbers, but the guidelines above are based on the average meals at the average locations (I trimmed the bottom 24 and the top 25 overall averages from the list).

 

[hannahdrewmom]

I think you are going to kill yourself to be honest.... the meals are spaced out well but it is making your day REALLLLLLLy long!

Sat - HS
Breakfast - Starring Rolls Café (8ish light breakfast...maybe just use snack credits) does this open this early?
Lunch - Sci-Fi Dine In (around noon)
Dinner - 50's Prime Time (between 6 & 7pm) home @ 9:30 if right after dinner.... not too bad

Sun - DTD
Breakfast - Whispering Canyon (9:30 - 10am)
Lunch - Earl of Sandwich (between 2 & 3pm)
Dinner - Planet Hollywood (around 7pm) long day of shopping but home by 9:30 so not terrible

Mon - Animal Kingdom
Breakfast - Tusker House (8am) this may be changed since AK has such short days need to leave by 7am... ouch!
Lunch - Flame Tree BBQ (2pm)
Dinner - Whispering Canyon (7pm)

Tue - MK + MNSSHP this day is painful!
Breakfast - Crystal Palace (8am) this day is LONG! You will need to leave room by 7 and then you are going to have a LATE night? Not sure if you want a breakfat this early here....
Lunch - Casey Corner ? (1 - 2pm)
Dinner - Tony's (6pm) staying until midnight?

Wed - Epcot (WS)
Breakfast -Roaring Forks (9am)
Lunch - Rose and Crown (2 - 3pm)
Dinner - Akerhus (8pm) dinner not done til 9:30 home 10:30

Thur - IOA
Breakfast - ? Room Service ? 7am I don't think they deliver until 8... but it might depend on the hotel???
Lunch - Three Broomsticks (OOP) (12pm)
Dinner - After we get back from IOA

Fri - Epcot (FW)
Breakfast - Sunshine Seasons Food Court (9am - after rope drop)
Lunch - Coral Reef (1pm)
Late Dinner - Beirgarten (7 - 7:30pm) not home til 10

Sat - USF
Breakfast - Roaring Forks (7am) going to be up at 6:30???
Lunch - (OOP @ USF)?
Dinner - HDDR (latest show we can get into)

Sun - Check out
Breakfast - Chef Mickey's (10am)

Now this is me personally... it might work for you so totally disregard if it does! I'd go back not looking at meal counts and put down what you want to eat. Don't worry about using credits or not using credits.... just write down what you would want on eat day. Then count your credits and see where you are. It MIGHT make more sense to get the free plan and then go oop with the rest. But it will totally depend on what you want. It just looks like you are forcing the food to me. (I've done that before .... and it wasn't pretty.) Again... you might normally tour like this and it works for you...

 

[WyldLynx]

I think you have a lot of CS meals for DXDP. Are you sure deluxe is worth it for you? I don't know the numbers but I'd check the prices on the menus online??

Thanks for your reply. But to answer your question 16 of our 24 meals are TS or CM. Plus I only paid the upgrade $ of $33/adult and $10/child (somewhere around that) It came out to $896.

I can tell you this we spent $1645 OOP our last trip for 7days and that is with free breakfast at our hotel. Granted we were paying for 5 instead of 4 but my crew eats. Last trip was mostly CS and lots of snacking, with only 4 TS. But that still averages out to be $235 a day or $47/person/day.

I have been quite OCD about much of the planning to the point that I have printed all the menus I can find online of any restaurant and have even had my oldest sit down with me to make up possible meal orders. Luckily he is almost as OCD about Disney as I am.

 

[WyldLynx]

I think you are going to kill yourself to be honest.... the meals are spaced out well but it is making your day REALLLLLLLy long!

We are Commandos when it comes to theme parks, usually staying from RD to close. Our last trip we did 7 parks in 6 days. Every day from RD to close. Yes part of that was my planning but also my boys can go and go and go and go

Plus our normal days usually start about 5am and don't end for some of us until 12am. Long days are the norm for us. Vacation means we can sleep at night and even sleep in until around 7am.

Now this is me personally... it might work for you so totally disregard if it does! I'd go back not looking at meal counts and put down what you want to eat. Don't worry about using credits or not using credits.... just write down what you would want on eat day. Then count your credits and see where you are. It MIGHT make more sense to get the free plan and then go oop with the rest. But it will totally depend on what you want. It just looks like you are forcing the food to me. (I've done that before .... and it wasn't pretty.) Again... you might normally tour like this and it works for you...
I thought the TS meals would help us slow down for a little bit. Besides I know I'd be spending at least the $ of the DxDDP on food and snacks anyway. This way we would have a better opportunity to eat a little healthier (well at least I would ) Besides the way we ate last trip we averaged about $235/day OOP with very few TS.

So I figured $109/day for the upgrade wasn't too bad.

 

[Sappermont]

Thanks for the advice. I will keep in mind to be a little more flexible. My boys can put the food away, DH can too, but me not so much anymore. My biggest problem is that I had got into a bad habit of only eating once a day and now I have been working hard to get away from that.

Our last trip I was hard in that habit even when everyone else ate I sometimes skipped eating because I wasn't hungry. So I figure if I eat even some, maybe share my apps with my youngest because even though he is 7 he can eat so the kids meals may not be enough for him. But he and I eat the same kinds of food and he likes to try new things.

Have a fun trip. Honestly, your line-up looks AWESOME. I bet that when you get down there you won't have trouble eating more than once a day - with all the great food around you it may be hard to resist! I hear that families with pre-teens and teens really find the DxDP to be a great value. Have fun!

 

[hannahdrewmom]

Sounds great to me! We love dxdp ... we do a lot of shows and signatures though... I'm not sure we could fit in 3 meals because we aren't commando and can't do early and late evenings!

You have a lot of great places picked! Have fun!

 

[WyldLynx]

Thank you ALL!!! I went back and ran through the menus again if I were to just plain pay out of pocket to see if I was on the right track with the upgrade to DxDDP.

My total OOP for all meals, No extra drinks, No Snacks (which wouldn't happen) including tips for any TS. We are looking at $1250.49. This is with 9 CS and 7 TS (similar to the FD). Start adding snacks and drinks the #s on go up. I can easily add another $200 for snacks and drinks.

With the DxDDP upgrade $864.00 and even adding $324.00 for tips I am only looking at $1188.

I feel better about my decision. Even if we don't use all our meals or maybe leave off an app here or there or a desert here or there I feel like we will be ok. Besides with the DxDDP we will have 64 snacks that alone will save us easily a couple hundred $.

I figure with my crew I'll looking at saving around $500by using the DxDDP even if we don't use all our units.

But anyways thank you all again.