Not enough food for us on DDP?

[sumsmommy03]

The last time we went to Disney on the free dining plan (okay I get it's not really free and we are paying "rack" rate) we seemed to have plenty of food though did pay oop for snacks/drinks. Not to mention the appetizer and tip was also included. My son was 3.5 at the time and ate nothing except popcorn and chicken nuggets.

This trip (probably our last to Disney for a LONG time) we are going with my son almost 7 and my daughter 4. They are both pretty good eaters and are huge snack lovers.

We have 4 ADRs booked (including CRT for 2 credits) and one of them in particular I feel we will be spending a bit oop for appetizers (La Hacienda...I want one of everything on the menu). We are big appetizer people (really wish we had a choice between that and dessert). I would love to book more dinners/lunches but it's late in the game and having trouble getting any adrs. I also am sure that one snack a day won't even come close to what my kids and husband will want to eat. That plus the crazy expensive refillable mugs.

I am wondering if upgrading to the Deluxe will be worth it. Has anyone done this and done the math? We are not frequent visitors to Disney and I don't really know how much things cost but the food seems very expensive.
Advice??

 

[Pumba's Truth]

The last time we went to Disney on the free dining plan (okay I get it's not really free and we are paying "rack" rate) we seemed to have plenty of food though did pay oop for snacks/drinks. Not to mention the appetizer and tip was also included. My son was 3.5 at the time and ate nothing except popcorn and chicken nuggets.

This trip (probably our last to Disney for a LONG time) we are going with my son almost 7 and my daughter 4. They are both pretty good eaters and are huge snack lovers.

We have 4 ADRs booked (including CRT for 2 credits) and one of them in particular I feel we will be spending a bit oop for appetizers (La Hacienda...I want one of everything on the menu). We are big appetizer people (really wish we had a choice between that and dessert). I would love to book more dinners/lunches but it's late in the game and having trouble getting any adrs. I also am sure that one snack a day won't even come close to what my kids and husband will want to eat. That plus the crazy expensive refillable mugs.

I am wondering if upgrading to the Deluxe will be worth it. Has anyone done this and done the math? We are not frequent visitors to Disney and I don't really know how much things cost but the food seems very expensive.
Advice??

This questions gets posted a lot. In fact I just recently posted something similar as we are going during the Not so Free dining experience time frame.

There is myself ( on a new healthy eating plan but this is my splurge week) my DW and my DS10 (5ft tall 135 and eats like a horse - )

So we are there for a solid four days and our 3 nights only gave us 3T 3Q and 3S each. Not really enough for us.

However, when I did the math on all the ADRs we already have and all the QS anticipated not counting snacks (as I believe these would work themselves out), it turned out that upgrading would be aproximately $30 more than paying OOP for the 4 days we are there.

So the next step was to figure out if the added elements of the DxDDP were worth the additional $30:

• Appetizers - sometimes we'll get 'em sometimes we wont but it's a bonus especially at Le Cellier.
• The refillable mugs - now we aren't huge soda drinkers but we do like our coffee so I know there will be a couple of trips to fill up on these a day.
• BIGGEST - Convience. If we were to stick with the DDP we would have to keep an eye on the prices of each meal, what do we anticipate having, would it be better to pay OOP or use credits this time, yadda yadda.

Basically it came down to the fact that over the period that we are there we felth that less than $10/day was well worth the convience factor.

However, it really does have to come down to the amounts you expect to spend on each meal. I'm presently working on an excel tool that will aid people in making this decision - it's in it's infacny at this point though.

 

[havoc315]

As mentioned, you're looking at a possible upgrade fee of about $30 per adult, and I believe it is about $10 per child.

If you're just looking to add a few appetizers and snacks, you are probably better off paying out of pocket. But if you're looking to add appetizers PLUS lots more TS meals and/or signature meals, then it is probably well worth it.

To me, the mugs are a bit superfluous. You are basically already getting at least 2 beverages per day on the DDP (a 3rd beverage if you use your snack credit for it). You can only refill the mugs at the resort food court, so not like you can use them when you're thirsty in the middle of the Magic Kingdom. For $5, bring a couple large bottles of soda to keep in your hotel room, and you have achieved the same effect as the refillable mugs.

Looking at your situation -- you mentioned that 1 of your reservations is at CRT --- I believe a Deluxe diner is treated the same way there as a regular diner. You don't get any additional appetizers for being on the deluxe plan.

So right now, you'd be adding 1 extra snack credit per day, plus appetizers at 3 restaurants. I can't see how that would be worth $30 per person...... Unless you also add more table service reservations.

We are doing the deluxe plan for 6 nights... We prefer appetizers to desserts most of the time. We are doing 2 table reservations per day, including CRT, California Grill, and Narcoose's. We expect to easily get value out of the $30 upgrade.

 

[havoc315]

Basically it came down to the fact that over the period that we are there we felth that less than $10/day was well worth the convience factor.

However, it really does have to come down to the amounts you expect to spend on each meal. I'm presently working on an excel tool that will aid people in making this decision - it's in it's infacny at this point though.

There already are several spreadsheets available online.... You may want to take a look.

I actually think that the greatest convenience is simply paying OOP, or pre-loading a gift card. That way, you never have to worry about whether you are getting your money worth, whether you are going to run out of credits. If your appetite changes at the last minute, you can cancel your reservation at Les Cellier without saying "Now we won't get the value out of our TS credits!"

That said --- I do think the Deluxe plan gives enough credits, at a price per credit, where you do have some added convenience. It is much more convenient than the regular DDP. At least you don't need to keep exact count of TS versus CS credits.