Second-guessing: Upgrade DDP to DxDDP?

[kaboule101112]

We visiting in April for 4 night on a Magic My Way package plus dining that we booked through AAA and got savings on whole package (incl. dining portion). Just DH and me. Thought we'd try a signature restaurant or two; booked ADR at Narcoossees for Anniversary dinner but would also like to try Yachtsman Steakhouse (DHs choice), but that would take all our TS, leaving us with only CS for lunches and 2 dinners if we use Snack for breakfast. Should I carefully budget our meals or spring for the Deluxe DDP? (Don't know if I'd get a discount on that portion). This is our first time trying a dining plan and I was worried about reports of too much food! Should I upgrade and have no worries (but be broke) or keep what I have and still have to worry about oop costs all week?

 

[catne]

The AAA discount is on the room, not on the food (it's all packaged together so may look like it's all discounted, but in actuality, the discount is coming off the room rate - Disney only allows one discount per reservation.) So if you upgrade to DxDDP, won't change the discount you're already getting.

Couple of things about the DxDDP...it's a LOT of food. Even if you're using up 2 credits at a signature meal, that's an appetizer & entree & dessert & beverage each. You're also getting the 2 snacks a day & another meal. That's a lot of eating. And it takes a lot of time, too - especially the signature restaurants...expect to be fine-dining for at least a couple of hours at the signature places.

We did the DxDDP for just two days in January just to see what it was like (we've always done the regular plan)...and decided never again! Way too much food, and kind of felt like the whole purpose of the trip was eating...we didn't use a single snack credit in those two days, so the day we checked out we had 8 snack credits to get treats for the road.

 

[pezaddict231]

We just decided to upgrade. We really enjoyed it on our June trip, we did mostly signature restaurants and another TS meal each day. We used all our snacks, mostly on beverages (it's very hot in June!) but on a few treats too. Loved having all the snack credits. A lot of time is spent eating, but we don't have any children so we are able to have nice relaxing meals and still see everything we want to in the park. We're not big on CS meals.

I did price out the difference and realized DxDP was only going to really cost us about $200 more for the week which would easily be made up because we would add more/different meals, on the DDP we were going to pay for a few meals OOP. I also like having the appetizer included because that's just something that we would end up paying OOP for anyway.

So I would say it depends on what type of trip you want, but for a relaxing couples trip, I would recommend it.

 

[Colleen27]

We loved the deluxe plan because we love signature dining. I figured our costs OOP vs standard DDP with extra TS meals vs DxDDP and the deluxe plan was the best choice. The upgrade wasn't much more than either of the alternatives and it allowed us to enjoy a lot more TS meals than we would have otherwise. And I LOVE not having to think about the dining budget when we're on vacation!

 

[Sandy321]

I think it just depends, have you checked the menus at allears.net?

For us, the shorter the stay, then the DXDP is "worth" it to us - but for a longer (ie 10 day) stay, then, no, its just too much money and food, and time at a TS place - so we'll pay OOP for one of the TS places, or maybe pay OOP for a breakfast TS place -

Good luck workin the DIsney Math!!

 

[morgy827]

We love the idea of not having to think about what we are spending at each meal. We also love our appetizers. We decided togo with the deluxe dining plan because the break down of cost worked out to about $7 more per day per person than the reg. plan. Worked out for us and we've had a great time planning all of our ADR's

 

[flipflopmom]

Let me tell you why we chose to upgrade. We haven't gone yet, but, for us, it might cost us more out of pocket, but we don't have to stress over food prices when we get there. We booked only 6 months out, not really enough time to "pay it off' before we go, so we put it on our Disney Rewards Visa. All vacation packages are 0% APR for 6 months, so when the final dep. goes in 45 days out, we will have 6 months interest free to pay for it. We are going to try to pay it off before we go, but if not, it's not hurting us. We know it's on the card, and how much is there. If we want an expensive entree' we can get it without keeping up with money!

I wanted to try out the cool TS places, my family w/ a 2yr. old and a 9 yr. old all like to sit down and be together during meals, and from what I've heard, CS in the parks especially takes as long as TS at times. We are big breakfast eaters, my girls fav. of the day, so if we did a TS for that, we would not have any TS left on regular. My only fear for you is that with traveling next month, you might have a harder time getting a lot of ADR's. Check out where you want to eat, and see what you think. For us, not having to stress over it while we are there is the plus!

 

[kaboule101112]

Thanks for all the replies and tips! I think I'll try to upgrade today. We love going out to breakfast early and would hate to use up our only TS for the day on that.

Now if I could only stay long enough to try every restaurant......

 

[pezaddict231]

I know how you feel about trying every restaurant! There are so many I want to go to!

At least on the DxDP you get to try a lot more!

 

[AlternateEgo]

Have you thought about doing this:

Day 1:
Breakfast - Pay OOP
Midday Snack - Snack Credit
Dinner - Narcoossee's

Day 2:
Late Breakfast - Quick Service credit
Mid Day Snack - Snack Credit
Dinner - Quick Service Credit

Day 3:
Breakfast - Pay OOP
Midday Snack - Snack Credit
Dinner - Yachtsman Steakhouse

Day 4:
Late Breakfast - Quick Service credit
Mid Day Snack - Snack Credit
Dinner - Quick Service Credit

You figure to upgrade to the DxDP it will cost you $32 more a day each ($64), plus tips for 3 TS a day. Plus a lot of food. (I honestly felt regular DDP was too much food)

Now don't get me wrong, I really want to do the DxDP for the "experience" but I think we will be too full to enjoy it.