Planning your eating around DxDDP

[seadd67]

So I am looking for the eatters out there LOL, the ones that look forward to eatting at WDW. This will be our frist time doing the DxDDP,we did the norm DP last year,it was ok but we really like our apptz and found our selfs ordering apptz during our meals. So this year we have decided to do the DxDDP. So for the most part we will be eatting three meals a day,maybe try to squeze in a CS meal here there to. So there Is no way I can eat three full meals a day,and walk around!. So my plan is to eat as many places as I can,and eat a little from all.
Has anyone try this?, do the restraunt CM turn there nose up when you say you are done and still have a half a plate of food?, or just nibble off from apptz to dessert?. My DS and DGF both are light eatters,and I can see them doing this pretty good. I really enjoy the restraunts at WDW,and its something I always look forward in doing. I just wanted to get some feed back.

 

[An_Island_Girl]

They do not seem mind at all!
Just remember that when you add on apps and dessert (and a few adult beverages), the tip goes up quite a bit! We averaged around $85 a day in tips for 2 adults and a 5 year old on the DxDP.

 

[havoc315]

Many people on the DxDP (ourselves included), do a lot of signature restaurants. As you say, 3 big restaurants meals per day would be way too much.
An early lunch and late signature dinner though, can be a good balance.
And the quality of the food at signature restaurants really is a good leap better than most of the TS restaurants.

 

[itradehilton]

We loved the DxDDP last summer. I even bought an APP for my itouch. Now I play around with a schedule for my future trip. We found eating 2 TS meals (lunch and Dinner) for several days in a row was too much for us. So I am playing with a schedule that does all Signatures for dinners and alternating between a breakfast meal TS and lunch CS. This way we can use our snack credits for the missing meals.

 

[mb_uh]

We did a character buffet most mornings, snacks some days,

shared lunches 1 credit for 2 people at lunch so we could sit down and enjoy ac add app and dessert one entree goes a long way.

Then we did shows and signatures most nights.

We did have snacks left over and bought candy the last day to take home.

 

[GiJohnsGirl]

We loved the DxDDP last summer. I even bought an APP for my itouch. Now I play around with a schedule for my future trip. We found eating 2 TS meals (lunch and Dinner) for several days in a row was too much for us. So I am playing with a schedule that does all Signatures for dinners and alternating between a breakfast meal TS and lunch CS. This way we can use our snack credits for the missing meals.

That's how I planned ours. We have signature TS/dinner shows every night with a CS for lunch 9/10 days (I had schedule conflict for Epcot that messed up my system -_-) and snacks w/ the occasional TS breakfast for days with a late dinner.

 

[seadd67]

The signture meals are a good Idea and I have set up for three of the 7 nights with hoop de doo, Cal grill and Yachtsman steak house.
We usually eat two meals a day,so I can see us easly haveing two TS meals a day. Now to try to workout my breakfast schedule,weather to do it or not??

 

[3pletprincesses]

We just did DxDDP and we are not looking back ever again. We loved it. We loved it so much that I've already changed our plan for our August trip. The tips do go up fast as someone else mentionned. For a 6 night, tips and drinks left us with a $650 bill for the 5 of us but it was soo worth it. We mostly did character meals in the morning and then a signature in the evening. No we didn't finish our plate but we were hungry by dinner time and had no problem eating most of it. What we had trouble with was our snacks. Gotta love the Karamel shop in Germany. We spent most of our credits there and brought them home for family.

 

[sydneysmom]

we absolutely LOVED doing the DxDpl. We are not huge eaters either.... this is how we used ours....

We were there 8 days (7 nights on DxDpl). Every morning we did a character breakfast. it was our DD5's first visit, so character meals were very important to us. We also did CRT twice. (breakfast and dinner) ALWAYS well worth it, in my opinion. We also went to Flying Fish and Narcoosee's. To us, we wanted a sit down breakfast and a sit down dinner. After all was said and done, we figured out how much everything would have cost, and even w/ tips, we saved $750.00. (and yes, we'd have done the restaurants that we did on this trip). To us, it was worth it. We brought a separate small billfold w/ cash for the tips so it didn't get charged to the room or cut into souvenier money.

So we didn't do 3 meals every day. Every other day we did breakfast / 2TS dinner. On the off days we did 3 meals. At lunch, we ate rather light. So we never felt truly filled up. We used alot of snack credits for water / soda in the parks. (which was awesome to not have to whip $$ out everytime DH wanted a diet coke!)

We wasted our snack credits at the end though..... I didn't plan that well enough and we wound up w/ 6 rice krispy treats to bring home. (turns out our DD didn't like them....they're still in the freezer !!)

Next time I'll use them at the caramel shop or Starring Rolls ! Just remember, you DO NOT have to order every course nor do you have to eat every course in its entirety. People talk about too much food...well, if you are splitting things and tasting things, it's not. But it IS nice to sit down and have a nice family meal.

 

[shenaniganzz]

We love food!!!

We are going to WDW as a family for the 1st time in September. We took the free dining and upgraded to DxDP.

We love our apps too, especially DH. I like desserts, though a bite or two is usually enough.

While my DD and I could get by on a light breakfast (croissant, fruit, etc.) my DH likes breakfast if he is going to eat it.

DxDP just makes sense for us.

We are sticking with a TS breakfast and a TS dinner. Lunches will be CS and probably pretty light. We have also reserved 2 signature dinners.

DH probably won't notice, but a big part of enjoying a family vacation for me is not cooking and still eating good food!! With a 3 y.o, we don't get to truly relax on vacation - so the dinners.. having a drink, down time, etc. are a big deal to us.

 

[Hooked On The Mouse]

We love the Dxdp and can't make ourselves go to Disney without it now. But we don't eat 3 meals a day, in fact the days when we do eat more than breakfast and dinner are fairly rare. And we do almost always finish most of our appies, entrees, and desserts. We just go to signatures, dinner shows, and CRT a lot. We save our snacks and take lots home with us. We just find that the experience of the character meal or signature restaurant is worth it to us and makes a nice break.

 

[jcondrad]

We are probably one of the few on the delux that actually plans on 3 TS a day. We have a 2 yr old who has a hearty appetite and she couldnt get a meal plan because of her age. She is also used to a regular routine of 3 meals and 2 snacks a day and she always eats what we eat (not the typical kids meals).

I must also add that we are staying club level as well (so 3 days we have signature dining and will eat in the lounge for breakfast or pay OOP for a breakfast).

For us, we would prefer to have that hour in the AC to relax or go back to the resort for a nap. We also love good food and don't expect to eat everything we order. But between 3 of us we should make a good dent in it. We chose deluxe so that we could eat out at places we normally wouldnt at home, be able to order whatever we want and not have to worry about costs and be able to try new things. If you are the type of person who cannot stand to waste food though, this plan would not be for you.

 

[grace&philipsmom]

We have done the deluxe dining plan on our last 3 trips. DH said he thought we should go without a plan next time, and at the time I agreed - it seemed like we were doing a lot of eating. Now that I have started planning the next trip though, I see the deluxe dining plan in out future

This time there will be only 2 meals per day! I am looking forward to more signatures!

 

[sjs314]

They do not seem mind at all!
Just remember that when you add on apps and dessert (and a few adult beverages), the tip goes up quite a bit! We averaged around $85 a day in tips for 2 adults and a 5 year old on the DxDP.

DH and I will be doing the DxDP for the first time on our October trip. Eating at WDW is one of our favorite things to do.

We will be doing 3 TS a day we love a big breakfast, lunch or dinner will be a lighter fair but still a TS if we do not clean our plates who cares. I think servers are accustumed to taking back plates with food on them.

I am glad DH and I no longer drink since I have estimated the cost of what we might order and allowing for a 20% tip I think our daily tipping should average around $40 but $85 would make me think twice about doing so many TS meals.

 

[nyrfan00]

We did the DxDDP last year and absolutely loved it.

To maximize its value we did a Signature restaurant for dinner every night, and a TS for lunch. We shipped all of our breakfast items so we had our first meal in the room (so much easier with 3 kids), and all I have are protein shakes anyway.

Loved all the restaurants...especially memorable, were Cali Grill, Jiko, Citrico's.

Only downside we felt was, that it really was a bit more restrictive with regards to our day than we anticipated. Could not be as spontaneous as we normally are because we had to be here at x time then there at y time.

Loved eating at all the restaurants, and would do it again.

 

[seadd67]

I love all the responses!!,its really how I feel about our experinces at WDW restraunts. Now my DS and his DGF are not big eatres, really there pretty light eaters to tell you the truth. What they do like Is breaks,there old enough to apprecaite breaks In the day. Me and my DS for the first couple years where comando, But since then we enjoy the down times more,it makes us really enjoy Disney that much more. The meals are are a great time to really talk and exchange thoughts on what we did and what we will do,very good father son time. I think we will try to max out our credits,so we can try as many diffrent places as we can. Even If its a CS or quick TS meal. We have found great ways to speed up TS meals,its amazing how much time you can save just by cutting a couple corners!

 

[Millie12591]

I think we will try to max out our credits,so we can try as many diffrent places as we can. Even If its a CS or quick TS meal. We have found great ways to speed up TS meals,its amazing how much time you can save just by cutting a couple corners!

You must share!

 

[twooley2]

They do not seem mind at all!
Just remember that when you add on apps and dessert (and a few adult beverages), the tip goes up quite a bit! We averaged around $85 a day in tips for 2 adults and a 5 year old on the DxDP.

Curious what you ate I have been using menus at allears and for 6 adult people it comes to 50.00 in tips per meal so 85.00 seems high for 2 adults and a child?

 

[twooley2]

We just did DxDDP and we are not looking back ever again. We loved it. We loved it so much that I've already changed our plan for our August trip. The tips do go up fast as someone else mentionned. For a 6 night, tips and drinks left us with a $650 bill for the 5 of us but it was soo worth it. We mostly did character meals in the morning and then a signature in the evening. No we didn't finish our plate but we were hungry by dinner time and had no problem eating most of it. What we had trouble with was our snacks. Gotta love the Karamel shop in Germany. We spent most of our credits there and brought them home for family.

This is about what we are figuring for tips for 6 adult people for 8 days with three meals(dinner shows) that have the tip already included. Hope we are figuring about right.

 

[seadd67]

So I redid our resveration and as of today this is what i came up with.



Tue the 20th: Breakfast @ Kona café@ 9:30am
Lunch/snack @ La France @ 1pm (oop)
Lunch @ Rose and crown @ 3:05pm
Dinner @ O’hannas @ 9:35pm
Wen the 21st Breakfast @ Chef Mickey’s @ 7:05am
Lunch @ Yak and Yeti @ 12:00pm
Dinner @ the Biergarten @ 7:30pm
Thursday the 22nd Lunch @ 9 dragons @ 3:30pm
Dinner @ Hollywood brown derby 7:05pm
Late night snack at ESPN 10:30pm(oop)
Friday the 23rd Breakfast@ Kat Kora @7:45am
Lunch @ San angel @ 1:10 pm
Dinner @ Cali Grill @ 9:15pm
Saturday the 24th Breakfast @ The wave 7:30 am
Lunch @ Hard rock TBA____ (oop)
Dinner @ Margaretville TBA____(oop)
Sunday the 25th Breakfast at Rainforest café AK @ 8:30am (oop)
Lunch at Typhoon lagoon TBA(oop)
Dinner at Hoop de doo 9:30pm
Monday the 26th Lunch at Wolfgang puck @ 2:30pm
Dinner at Yatchman steak house @ 7:30pm
Late night snack at big river grill and brewery(oop)
Tuesday the 27th Breakfast at Crystal palace at 9:30am
Lunch at Sci fi at 2:30pm