Regular or deluxe?

[Korileigh]

Ok so I haven't been to Disney in 12 years and I am going with my husband, mom, and 2 girls (5 & 7) this December 7-13. We are so excited but I had no idea how complicated dining can get. We currently have the regular dining plan and I just called to see what it would cost to upgrade and it would be almost $700 for the deluxe plan. I was thinking we would eat breakfast in our rooms and then have a TS and CS meal each day. But now I am wondering if it would be worth it to spend the extra money for the deluxe plan - it would give us more options as far as TS and room service. My mother is disabled and won't be with us all the time. For those of you with all the experience who use the dining plan -what is your opinion? Is 1 snack per day enough - how pricey are the snacks? Does breakfast in your room tide you over enough? ANy thoughts?

Thanks!
Kori

 

[Krmrr]

Normally, I'm a great fan of the Deluxe Dining Plan, but I don't think you should do it. If it's been 12 years and 2 children (first timers) ago, I don't think I would spend the time for all the table service meals. Having just said that, I do recommend you paying OOP for some special meals. Example, the Princess's Storybook Breakfast in Norway is practically a must for little girls; for your whole family, it will cost just over $100. While in Norway, pick up some schoolhouse bread for later.

Now, having said that let me tell you some things you can do with the Deluxe Plan.

1. You and your DH can go to the California Grill (2 credits each) or Narcoosies, etc., while your mom babysits with room delivery pizza.

2. You can eat a breakfast buffet each morning then go to the show meals; Hoop-de-Doo and Spirit of Aloha.

If you think you like doing the above and your girls will need the "break time", the Dlx Plan may be right for you.


Have a MAGICAL time no matter what you decide!

 

[beroh2253]

The regular is plenty for Me and DW. But what we are doing this Sept. is to pay OOP for the Hoop Dee Doo and use those 2 TS each to do Breakfast and Crystal Palace and Coral Reef for a Dinner. There will also be some CS we use for breakfast due to getting in late the first night other breakfasts we will get something with the SC.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

Ok so I haven't been to Disney in 12 years and I am going with my husband, mom, and 2 girls (5 & 7) this December 7-13. We are so excited but I had no idea how complicated dining can get. We currently have the regular dining plan and I just called to see what it would cost to upgrade and it would be almost $700 for the deluxe plan. I was thinking we would eat breakfast in our rooms and then have a TS and CS meal each day. But now I am wondering if it would be worth it to spend the extra money for the deluxe plan - it would give us more options as far as TS and room service. My mother is disabled and won't be with us all the time. For those of you with all the experience who use the dining plan -what is your opinion? Is 1 snack per day enough - how pricey are the snacks? Does breakfast in your room tide you over enough? ANy thoughts?

Thanks!
Kori

We are a family of 6 and we do the basic dining plan. We have found that it its the perfect fit for the way we eat. We eat a quick breakfast in the room, then we eat a counter service lunch around 11:30 a.m., have a snack mid-afternoon and a table service dinner around 6:30 p.m. We have always done at least one table service meal, even before the DDP. I don't think that I would want to plan around two table service meals per day, that would just be too much.

 

[Tam1067]

Since you haven't been in a long time, and since your kids are young, I really wouldn't upgrade. If you do upgrade, you will really need to eat at least 2 and preferably 3 TS meals per day to get your value out of the plan. If you eat less than that each day, you will lose money when compared to having the standard plan and paying OOP for the extras.

I've run the numbers as many ways as I can, and I find that even though I'll be paying OOP for two character breakfasts ('Ohana and 1900 Park Faire), and a Kona Cafe breakfast, the Fantasmic package at Brown Derby, and one lunch at 50s Prime Time, I am still saving about $300 compared to what I would spend on the deluxe plan. So we're using the basic plan to buy most of our dinners (except for Brown Derby), and then we're paying OOP for those meals not covered.

The other thing you need to remember is the tips. If you start adding in lots of TS meals, your tip expenses will grow significantly.

Your kids will be so overwhelmed with all the fun and excitement, they'll be just as happy with a kids meal from a CS place as they would sitting down for a full TS meal somewhere. In fact, my kids are good in restaurants, but they do not have the interest in sitting down for three TS meals a day especially when we're at Disney!

And of course, if you have the deluxe and have all those meals booked, each one you skip or miss (which is certainly possible) will cause you to lose more on the value of the plan.

 

[melancholywings]

We did regular (family of 3 - DD was 6) and found it to be a lot of food. We used the snack tickets to buy milk, we packed a box of cereal and plastic bowels/spoons and did that for breakfast. We'd then eat an early lunch (normally TS), early dinner (CS). And then the churros and ice cream bars through the day^^ - you could buy a lot of churros with that extra $700. We also stayed at the C. Springs and would use our CS meals to get dinner to go, DD would be so tired by the end of the day that we'd use her dinner CS earlier and if she was still awake for dinner she'd share mine. Left overs made for a weird but yummy breakfast.

 

[danielle.st]

You might want to look at the menus and take into account your children's temperments.
My girls are the same ages and would have been bored silly with with the children's choices for most CS. With the deluxe, we can do lots of buffets (many character ones) and they can have a real food selection.
Also, my youngest and my husband are absolutely miserable without 3 real meals a day. They can't do a snack for a meal. I'd rather spend more money and have them eat well and be happy!
Oh, and my dh does not have a cast iron stomach. Too much greasy food gives him a terrible stomach ache. I think he'll do better with less CS as well.
I don't feel we'll be "wasting time" at the meals as so many are character ones, or at least very cool environment ones I think they will make a nice break to rest our feet as well since we won't be going back to our rooms to rest or swim.

 

[HonnyDipp]

We are a family of 6 and we do the basic dining plan. We have found that it its the perfect fit for the way we eat. We eat a quick breakfast in the room, then we eat a counter service lunch around 11:30 a.m., have a snack mid-afternoon and a table service dinner around 6:30 p.m. We have always done at least one table service meal, even before the DDP. I don't think that I would want to plan around two table service meals per day, that would just be too much.

We are also a family of 6 and this is our plan for November!

 

[PrincessTiffany]

We are also a family of 6 and this is our plan for November!

We've been using the plan this way since 2005 and it has always worked out great! Hope ya'll have a magical vacation!

 

[guelde96]

I would not upgrade. We are a family of 5. The basic DDP is always way too much food for us. We always use all of our table service credits exactly. We have always had about 20 snacks left over. Last year when we went it was extremely hot so we ate even less. We had 28 CS credits left at the end of our 9 night stay. We never paid for anything out of pocket.

 

[mrsmac1203]

This is my first time in 15 years for me. When I was booking my dining I was advised to go with the basic because we were "first timers" plus I two little ones (ages 1.2 & 6). So that is what I did and we shall see how it works.

 

[james'mommy]

We've done both. We usually get the basic but I upgraded for our anniversary. We don't care if we spend a lot of the day in restaurants because we have annual passes and really feel no need to commando style tour the parks. If we didn't have AP's the deluxe plan would not work for us since it does take up alot of time eating 3 meals a day. On the Basic plan we share counter services for breakfast and lunch and supplement with snacks and then have a sit down dinner.