ruled and tortured by deluxe dining 5-29 thru 6-3

[Mustangdi]

We are on our trip home now. I am posting while my memory
of dlx dining is fresh. This was our 1st trip on dlx plan. It was
way too much food and it ruined our park time. I did either an
early br. and 6 PM dinner. Or we did early lunch and late
dinner. I know some
people love dlx, but it's not for us, never again. We had 8
snack credits that we had to use at Rix before we left C Springs.
I hope our exp will help someone in deciding if they want to
do dlx

1st day WP Exp 11 am. C Grill 6 pm
2nd day. Akershus 8:30 Yachtsmans 5 pm
3rd day. 50's PT 1900 PF. 6:40
We also had Boma, LeCellier , Narcoosse's
and more, now you get the idea, never again. I am
still stuffed and weigh 5-10 lbs more.

 

[AndyFL]

My Wife and I have toyed with the idea of doing a dp and I couldn't help but wonder HOW in the world anyone could possibly eat that much food, not to mention the time involved. Thanks for sharing

 

[ilovepete]

It is a ton of food. We have done it a few times and love it because of the appetizers and we had a 2 year old with us that was a big eater so we shared with her, too. We say every time though that we are never doing it again. Next time, we really aren't. We decided to do Tables in Wonderland.

 

[RN2B12]

Thank you for sharing this. We currently have the deluxe dining plan, but are considering changing to the regular. I enjoy sitting to eat, but our budget is tighter now than when we first began planning. We have 5 people in our party, so I'm also anticipating at least $60 in gratuities each day of our trip (that's going to add at least $300 to the $500 extra that we paid for the dining plan!). I'm thinking that with the regular plan we could do a late (10 AM) character buffet breakfast, then we shouldn't really be hungry again until late afternoon/early evening. I think we will use the quick service to have dinner at the resort b/c I feel like you get more there than at the parks (and there is much more to choose from). Thanks

 

[vettegirl]

I totally agree it is way too much food. We did it to go to the signature restaurants, but this next trip I am not doing the DDP at all. That way we aren't strapped to having to use our credits, as some evenings we didn't even want a meal at all.

 

[cmesq61]

As with all things Disney, it all depends on what you like. We like to get up early, do a 7:30 or 8:00 breakfast, schedule no lunch, and a 7:00 2 TS dinner somewhere. We do lunch when we feel like it to use the extra meal credits, and snack in between. All depends on what you enjoy.

 

[lisaisanurse]

I have a 6 ft 2 14 year old athletic boy....I don't encourage fast foods, he would never skip a meal, and he likes real food especially if he's walking/swimming all day....just because ur on the DXDP does not mean you have to stuff yourself.....dessert is often sherbet or an iced coffee, appe is often a small salad or shrimp cocktail....maybe an angus burger or scallops or salmon for lunch or dinner entree...signature meals delete your credits fast....we eat signature every night......but our park commando days r behind us......people tend to save their snacks....we use them for breakfast or lunch....we are not snackers @ parks, never were....love our sit down meals...but it's an adult trip.....and we go often.....I believe those factors matter......I love a 7a AKL or 1900 park fare breakfast to start off the day, 1pm Coral Reef lunch, 8pm Narcoosees dinner

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

I have a 6 ft 2 14 year old athletic boy....I don't encourage fast foods, he would never skip a meal, and he likes real food especially if he's walking/swimming all day....just because ur on the DXDP does not mean you have to stuff yourself.....dessert is often sherbet or an iced coffee, appe is often a small salad or shrimp cocktail....maybe an angus burger or scallops or salmon for lunch or dinner entree...signature meals delete your credits fast....we eat signature every night......but our park commando days r behind us......people tend to save their snacks....we use them for breakfast or lunch....we are not snackers @ parks, never were....love our sit down meals...but it's an adult trip.....and we go often.....I believe those factors matter......I love a 7a AKL or 1900 park fare breakfast to start off the day, 1pm Coral Reef lunch, 8pm Narcoosees dinner

I agree. My 15 year old DS definitely wants to eat 3 times a day! We have deluxe dining for our upcoming 10 day trip. A few of the days I have 3 meals scheduled, most only 2. The restaurants are part of the Disney experience for us. We don't generally go back to the hotel to swim or nap so a nice air conditioned lunch is our refresher. Only going once a year it is hard enough eating at all of the places we want to, could never do it with the regular plan!

 

[Hooked On The Mouse]

I agree. My 15 year old DS definitely wants to eat 3 times a day! We have deluxe dining for our upcoming 10 day trip. A few of the days I have 3 meals scheduled, most only 2. The restaurants are part of the Disney experience for us. We don't generally go back to the hotel to swim or nap so a nice air conditioned lunch is our refresher. Only going once a year it is hard enough eating at all of the places we want to, could never do it with the regular plan!

I agree with all of this! Also I find that eating too much "fast food" type food doesn't feel good physically after a couple of days. I cannot eat 10 days of cs.

 

[angierae]

We usually eat three meals a day at home, but not three meals with appetizer and dessert!

When we did DXDP we did a snack credit breakfast and then a sit down lunch and a 2TS dinner. It worked out well for us and I don't think we spent "too much time" eating. Then again we were going at a slower pace because my DMIL 70 was with us. Maybe if we were younger with younger kids it would be less ideal but we were ranging in age from 15 and 70 and we found it to be perfect for us.

However, we had free dining so upgrading didn't cost much.

 

[mwatson011]

Just because it's included does not mean you have to eat it or order it. We priced out the DDP plus an app here or there, an extra snack here or there, and an extra CS meal per day (shared), and it was cheaper to upgrade to the DXDP. Knowing that, we did not always feel compelled to order an app and a dessert at every meal, and we ate CS when we didn't feel like taking the time for TS.

Yes, it can easily be too much food, if you eat the biggest of everything all the time. We are early risers, so we usually did a character breakfast no later than 8am for the kiddos, then did lunch around 1pm, usually skipping desserts, or taking them to go for a late night snack, and then had dinner around 7pm. We normally eat 3x per day, but agreed with pp, not app/entree/dessert 3x per day. All in all, we saved several hundred $$ on the DXDP over what OOP would have been, eating the way we wanted to eat, not ordering the most expensive meals, not always getting dessert, not always getting the apps. It worked our $$ wise probably in part due to all of the character meals, but they were ideal for us at the time. Our next trip we are doing the QSDP for 12 nights (skipping the character meals this time) ...we'll see how that goes...

...oh, and we used a lot of snack credits for bottled water, fruit, and other "lower value" items, and still came out ahead...

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I've done it twice and really liked being able to eat at all the signature restaurants without worrying about cost. But every time I play with prices now, it doesn't work out to be a good deal anymore.

 

[lisam427]

i've playing with whether or not to upgrade to the deluxe plan. i look at the food reviews of people who had the deluxe and seriously i am tempted. it does seem like alot of food. also, i have alot of family style/all you can eat meals booked (ohana, cape may, boma, liberty tree for dinner)this upcoming trip. i just cant see having to eat more sit downs before or after those buffet dinners.

in the past, a lot of times during our counter service meals, dd and i get fruit and a muffin/banana bread instead of an actual desert or get our deserts. we then put it in the fridge, and split them for breakfast the next am. doing this, after a counter service meal, snack and sit down, we are usually stuffed with just the regular dining plan. also its an extra $300-$400 to upgrade.

although we would be able to eat at signature restaurants and get in some dinner shows if we went deluxe. i dont think we would be able to eat all of that plus i cant justify the extra $$$.

 

[cammie810]

My DH and I did the deluxe dining plan a few years ago and really enjoyed it. We are not big breakfast eaters so we usually scheduled an early TS lunch and split it. We had a signature dinner each night and split that as well. We went during the food and wine festival and used up all of our snack credits for that which made it worth the cost alone!!

 

[Buckimion]

 

[LynneyPooh]

We recently returned and spent 5 days of our 10 day trip on the DXDP. (as campers we ate breakfast and crockpot dinners at our camper the other days, and carried snacks or bought food depending on our plans). For my family it was SOOO worth it. We ate character breakfasts most mornings and a late dinner (7-8:30 ressie times). We used our snack credicts for mickey bars and bottled water most days. We also had a few sig resturants (Ca Grille, Le Cellier and the castle). After crunching numbers when we got home I found that we had saved over $500. Now would we have eaten this way at home? No, but we also do not normally go to disney every year either.
That being said 2011 has been a good year for us. DH and I did go in Jan for marathon weekend for an adults only weekend. We did the DDP, and quite honestly did not enjoy it near as much. While we don't have to eat 3 meals a day, the CS's did us in. I'm not a huge fan of fast food and had a hard time finding meals that I liked. DH does way better, and isn't as picky as I am. He also struggled after 1 day with the CS's. We didn't use the CS for breakfast as there seemed to be confusion as to what we could get with the CM's. Also the apps helped us to decide on the DXDP. DH likes salads with most meals, as do I. Adding this to each TS still left us reaching into our pockets. If DDP allowed either an app or dessert we'd probally choose an app each time and maybe for us DDP would be the better option.
We hope to go back in Oct. for halloween with my parents. Knowing how picky my dad is, that my mother is diabetic, and this will be the last trip for DD at kids prices, we are seriously thinking we'll go deluxe again with the same plan: Breakfast and late dinners.
Remember what works for us, just may not be good for you, and that's ok.

 

[EKW]

I have a 6 ft 2 14 year old athletic boy....I don't encourage fast foods, he would never skip a meal, and he likes real food especially if he's walking/swimming all day....just because ur on the DXDP does not mean you have to stuff yourself.....dessert is often sherbet or an iced coffee, appe is often a small salad or shrimp cocktail....maybe an angus burger or scallops or salmon for lunch or dinner entree...signature meals delete your credits fast....we eat signature every night......but our park commando days r behind us......people tend to save their snacks....we use them for breakfast or lunch....we are not snackers @ parks, never were....love our sit down meals...but it's an adult trip.....and we go often.....I believe those factors matter......I love a 7a AKL or 1900 park fare breakfast to start off the day, 1pm Coral Reef lunch, 8pm Narcoosees dinner

Disney is not home. First, at home we aren't spending 12 or 13 hours outside in the heat and humidity. On our last trip we rarely ate 3 meals because it was just too hot...high 90's and humid...the entire trip.

Second, I don't think most people eat dessert at home. And, we never have appetizers. We are all good sized people...and, even at our hungriest, couldn't eat the amount of food the deluxe dining plan!

Third, my children would abandon me if I expected them to spend four or more hours a day sitting eating! Eating and sleeping are a waste of time when you're at Disney! We'd be very happy for everyone else to be on the dining plan, tho, if it means folks are sitting at restaurants instead of in the ride and show lines with us!

 

[GeneralTso]

I can see the plan working well for families that have big eaters.
It just would not work for us. Mostly a scheduling thing. I hate the idea of being tied to reservations throughout the day. Especially there, you never know how long it's going to take on a ride or walking around looking at things.

What works for us is a reservation every other day, for one meal of that day. The rest we just wing. Honestly (don't shoot me!) we have walked up to any restaurant we want, whereever we are, and we get seated. Yes, even O'hana, Boma, 1900 Park Faire. We made a reservation for Le Cellier last time we were there, so that was on the books. Everything else, we just went when we wanted.

 

[lesabrowning]

Just because it's included does not mean you have to eat it or order it. We priced out the DDP plus an app here or there, an extra snack here or there, and an extra CS meal per day (shared), and it was cheaper to upgrade to the DXDP. Knowing that, we did not always feel compelled to order an app and a dessert at every meal, and we ate CS when we didn't feel like taking the time for TS.

Yes, it can easily be too much food, if you eat the biggest of everything all the time. We are early risers, so we usually did a character breakfast no later than 8am for the kiddos, then did lunch around 1pm, usually skipping desserts, or taking them to go for a late night snack, and then had dinner around 7pm. We normally eat 3x per day, but agreed with pp, not app/entree/dessert 3x per day. All in all, we saved several hundred $$ on the DXDP over what OOP would have been, eating the way we wanted to eat, not ordering the most expensive meals, not always getting dessert, not always getting the apps. It worked our $$ wise probably in part due to all of the character meals, but they were ideal for us at the time. Our next trip we are doing the QSDP for 12 nights (skipping the character meals this time) ...we'll see how that goes...

...oh, and we used a lot of snack credits for bottled water, fruit, and other "lower value" items, and still came out ahead...

Yes, this is how we do it as well