Question about the deluxe dining plan...

[POTCfan]

I am wondering about my food reservations. Everyone keeps saying that the deluxe dining plan is not worth it... that it takes to much time out of the day in eating. But I feel like I've made reservations that we get to the particular park before it opens each day (not every day, but most days we have a breakfast reservation to enter the park before it opens) and on the days we have a lunch or dinner dining reservation, the reservation is at park that has extra magic hours - we are not hopping betwen resorts . I realize it takes time out of the parks and we don't want to eat up that time waiting for a dining experience, but if we booked the meals for a specific park and have an extra 3 hours in the evening, wouldn't it be worth it? We are keeping our reservations mainly to one park per day. We will not be travelling from resort to resort. A couple of evenings, we even have meals that are after park hours. I realize it may be too much food, but it makes sense if you break it down financially - even if we can't eat 100% of all the food available on the deluxe dining plan. I guess I am just looking for assurance that some people have been happy with the deluxe dining plan -

 

[auntfrannie]

I've done the deluxe plan and enjoyed it. Rather than doing 3 sit-down meals a day, I scheduled a signature restaurant each night then used the other credit for either a sit-down breakfast or lunch. It worked great for me!

 

[ancestry]

We have done the DxDP two years ago. DH really enjoyed it!

I would do it again in a heartbeat during an adult only trip as the meals and family time around the table are important to us. However our children (8 year old twins) didn't enjoy the large amount of time we spend every day dining out. We spent almost 6 hours a day just dining. Now the kids would rather swim or be in the parks riding. I won't do the DxDP again with them but I definitely would on an adult only trip.

auntiefrannie also give a good alternative but you do have to watch financially as in some cases (depending on what you order) using two points on a signature restaurant can be a money losing venture. Most people on the boards who have itemized the dining plan claim that using points on signature restaurants is not a good value. When I have analyzed it for my families needs, it is a 50/50 split. Some places two points are worth it and other places it isn't worth it.

 

[mjp12831]

There are 2 issues with Dx - time and value. We did Dx in 09 and DDP in10 so have recent experience with both.

The value issue is going to depend on your particular adrs - go to the menus posted on the dis and see what an average meal costs at each of your adrs. Figure in $4 per snack credit. Price your trip on the Disney site without dining, then add dining to see what the incremental cost of dining is and compare. Also remember that every TS you dine at you are paying 20% tip on top, where as on DDP you dont tip on your CS meals - this is something that can be easily overlooked.

The time issue is a factor as well - we had lunch ADRs daily at ts restaurants - they pin you down to being in a certain park at a certain time, and then they limit what you can do in the park or can make your day more rushed and stressful (it's 11am - do we have time to go on the Safari when we have a noon adr at Yak & Yetti)?

We loved the DXDP because as pp2 says it gives you the ability to book the signature 2ts places that you really cannot do on DDP - these were all great Disney experiences. We also loved the DDP this year because it was alot easier maneuvering through your day without worrying about making reservations all of the time.

So really no one is going to be able to tell you if it's "worth it", but these are considerations I'd make in determining which plan to pick.

 

[ccw7759]

In reading your post I can say that I totally agree with you. We are doing the same thing in Dec and I was able to get some really nice signature ressies. Some days we will have a character breakfast late, and do
an early sig restaurant. We are sooo looking forward to this part of our trip. As someone else said,
we are past the "commando" park experience (seeing how many rides we can do in a day) and enjoy
just being there! Your plan sounds great and you will have a wonderful time!!

 

[TheNewMrsB]

Oh, yes, definitely worth it. I'm sure that one day, down the line when we can't afford it (if/when we have children) and we need to sacrifice it, I'll miss it!

But it's all about what YOU want. See, DH and I love the parks but we're there for the ambiance at the resort, relaxing at the pool(bar) and great dining experiences as well. We do what a previous poster said - we schedule signature dining at dinner, thus taking 2 credits at a time. For us, it works beautifully.

Decide what YOU want to take from your trip based upon YOUR preferences and go from there.

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

I've done the deluxe plan and enjoyed it. Rather than doing 3 sit-down meals a day, I scheduled a signature restaurant each night then used the other credit for either a sit-down breakfast or lunch. It worked great for me!

This is what we do as well!

auntiefrannie also give a good alternative but you do have to watch financially as in some cases (depending on what you order) using two points on a signature restaurant can be a money losing venture. Most people on the boards who have itemized the dining plan claim that using points on signature restaurants is not a good value. When I have analyzed it for my families needs, it is a 50/50 split. Some places two points are worth it and other places it isn't worth it.

We definitely saved eating at signatures most nights during our Christmas trip last year paying full cost for the deluxe plan for 3 adults (DS was 13). I have reserved next year paying the difference for the free dining to upgrade to deluxe so I know we will save even more.

 

[maddiesmom0116]

I have done dlx many times as recently as last September and I usually do sit downs and breakfast and dinner and a quick service at lunch or a faster TS like the plaza in MK. I enjoy appitizers and DD likes character dining, so either I go no dining plan or deluxe on a trip. This trip I am not doing any dining plan, because I want to eat at several places not on the dining plan.

I have noticed if I try and do 3 large sit downs a day it does eat up a lot of my time, but if you go during a slower season you won't miss anything. I will warn you it is a lot of food, which is not a bad thing, just be prepared to not even feel like eating by the end of the week. If you get like that my advice is to cancel some ressies or you end up sitting there eating,not hungry regreting the time you are missing in the park.

 

[Withacy]

I'm doing DxDDP in December with a friend who seems to be more excited about eating at the restaurants (something she rarely does at home) than she does about going to the parks!

The only "worth" assessment that really matters is whether or not it's worth it for YOU. And that's not an issue of nickles and dimes. I like having most of my trip paid for in advance, and I like eating most of my meals in the WDW restaurants. So it's worth it for me.

I've also found that I'm more willing to try new things on the dining plan. When I'm paying out of pocket - for whatever reason - I tend to be much more conservative in what I eat, and even where I go.

There are a lot of people who will tell you not to do it - but that doesn't mean they have the same priorities that you do. If you think it's something you want to do, then go for it. Because if you DO really want to do it (and I did say "if"), and you don't because someone else convinced you it wasn't worth it, you'll probably regret it.

 

[MissBritt]

We did DXDDP in December, loved it, and would do it again without hesitation.

 

[wildirishrose]

We did the DXDP last year and we followed the strategy a previous poster suggested TS for bfast and dinner and QS for lunch. We went in Sept and having the planned meal breaks in the AC were perfect. I would do it again in a heartbeat unfortunately we are staying offsite this so we are going to try TIW.. My 2 kids were 6 & 7 and did ok with the down time esp since we did so many character meals.

 

[goodfood4ursoul]

Trip 1: Basic Dining for 4 "adults" (2 older kids) that included appys AND gratuity(those were the days!)
We enjoyed the heck out of it, but no signature dining.

Trip 2: Deluxe dining for 2 adults
LOVED it- got appys, did signature dining 5 x, ate a large TS buffet breakfast, then snack for lunch, then Signature dinners.
I agree with PP who said DxDP is sort of a license to be more culinarily adventurous and next time at Narcoosee's I'm gettingthe whole lobster

Trip 3 in less than 2 months: Basic dining for 2 adults
Appys will be OOP, and no signature dining, but this is a budget trip and we'll just be happy to be at WDW.

Trip 4 in October 2011: Deluxe Dining for 3 adults including grown son
This will be a High school graduation/College Associate Degree celebration trip
and DS is a foodie and a big eater (and skinny to boot )

He's never done signature dining, so he is going to pick the restaurants.
Will we get full value spending 2TS credits each night for 1 dinner?
I don't care, really- I just really want him to have a good time.
and to be there at WDW with my 2 favorite guys

What I really wish we could do would be a dinner at V & A, but that is way off the budget

I just can't see spending almost $600 for one dinner for three people

 

[tndisneyfan]

I have to agree with Withacy, only you can decide if it's worth it to you. It seems like you have planned well. Eating in the parks doesn't take too much longer than eating CS. It's the traveling to and fro that really sucks up the time.

 

[ShelleyLynn]

We are returning in October for our second Dxddp trip. We used deluxe at our trip last December and loved it!! We have DD8 and DD6 and my husband and I enjoy having good food on vacation. We don't mind occasional CS but would not enjoy a whole week of that as our primary dining. Most days we have a park bfast before opening and then a signature dinner or show for half the nights. The other days we pick a TS in the park and often use snacks or share 2 CS meals for lunch. We never walk around in a food coma, I feel sorry for people who get Dxddp and have the mentality we must eat until we see a profit! To me the beauty of the plan is enjoying signatures and shows when we want or CS/TS as we choose. No keeping track of CS, TS, adult and child. We love paying up front so we don't worry about cost once we are on vacation. We have never calculated our loss/profit margin, but I would say we break even and the best part is we never worry about it. We also don't feel the need to see every ride/show to enjoy a park. Dining is part of the Disney experience.

Have fun!!

 

[jenjersnap]

I don't think "everyone" says it isn't worth it. There are lots of DxDDP lovers out there or Disney wouldn't continue to offer it.

We are definitely in the fan column. As a PP said, we do a breakfast/lunch and a signature dinner most days. We like to take time out of the parks so that is a plus rather than a negative. We like getting an appetizer which we share with the kids (because Disney's kid menus do not thrill them).

 

[kecmouse]

We have done deluxe dining and we really enjoyed it. We got breakfasts out early so we can get to the parks early enough, had a lunch in the park and sometimes we has 2 table service credit places for dinner. Remember you can use some of the deluxe dining credits as quick service credits if you don't want many ressies. We also consider dining to be are break instead of going back to the room and taking a nap. Hope this helps

 

[rosiep]

The OP didn't say where she was staying but I used the DDXP to order room service a few times. I ate a leaisurely breakfast before heading out to the parks in my PAJAMAS!!!

 

[vllygrrl]

We're doing the DxDP for our 10th anniversary, adults only trip in November. Obsessive compulsive person that I am, I scanned the menus of our ADR's and we will most likely come out $400 ahead of paying OOP, eating at the following Restaurants:

Breakfasts:
Princess Storybook at Akershus
Ohana
Boma (2x)

Lunches:
Yak & Yeti
Restaurant Marrakesh
Via Napoli

Dinners :
Hollywood Brown Derby
Flying Fish
Yachtsman Steakhouse
Artist Point
Narcoossee's
California Grill
Jiko

We either scheduled a breakfast with an early dinner, or a lunch with a late dinner, and with 2 snacks pp each day we'll fill in with those if we're hungry! Honestly, we don't dine out much at home but when we're at WDW we like to take full advantage, and it's so much easier knowing that that portion of our expenses is already taken care of in advance.

 

[PoohsFan1]

In reading your post I can say that I totally agree with you. We are doing the same thing in Dec and I was able to get some really nice signature ressies. Some days we will have a character breakfast late, and do
an early sig restaurant. We are sooo looking forward to this part of our trip. As someone else said,
we are past the "commando" park experience (seeing how many rides we can do in a day) and enjoy
just being there! Your plan sounds great and you will have a wonderful time!!

We feel the same way, we go to Disney every year if not twice a year so we are far beyond the whole commando thing. We figured that we want to relax this trip and really enjoy the dining experience, that is why we upgraded to the DxDDP (this will be our first time doing this and are very excited about it). We are also doing exactly what the OP is doing, all of our character breakfasts (and we have a lot) are before the park opens. We do plan our park days around EMH so our dinners are later when we have evening EMH. We are also not worried what our 9 and 7 year olds will say because our ADRs have a mixture of character meals and fun meals for them, and then we have ADRs for signature restaurants and places that mom and dad will enjoy. So to the OP, have fun and enjoy the wonderful Disney food

 

[*NikkiBell*]

If you are going during peak season when the nighttime EMHs are super late, there's no issue. I've done it twice.