Should I upgrade from free dining to deluxe?

[gettinlm]

Sorry, as I'm sure this has been asked before, but is it worthwhile to upgrade from a free dining plan (1 TS, 1QS, 1 snack) to the deluxe plan? It's approximately $50 per person per day, but it would be nice to do 2 TS meals a day and an occasional signature meal, at no extra cost. The way I'm looking at it is that because I only have to pay the difference in the plans, there is little fear of me losing money on it. Is that a reasonable way of thinking, or is it absurd?

Thanks!

 

[TheOptiMystic]

There is really no wrong answer here. Whatever you feel is best for you is the way you should go! Having said that, I guess the one question to ask yourself is if you are pretty certain that you will be using the Table Service meals twice per day. If so, then I guess it's worth the upcharge. I toyed with the idea of this myself for my upcoming trip, but ultimately decided it wouldn't be worth it for me. I do enjoy doing table service in the evening, but I wasn't sure I would want to be doing that midday for lunch. For me, stopping at a counter service restaurant or stand at lunchtime is fine.

 

[Quin]

Agree no "wrong" answer; just whichever works best for you. We did DDP 2 years ago and DxDP this year. Both worked well because we were touring differently; this year was much less about doing as much as possible and much more about stopping to smell the roses (and eat the cupcakes). We ate at several Signatures. Some days we did 2 TS plus 1 QS. Some days we even did 3 TS. We 'stretched' the credits to make up for the Signatures by using 1 meal credit plus 1 snack credit for some meals: for example, use 2 meal credits for a TS breakfast, 1 meal credit to split a CS lunch plus a snack or 2 in the afternoon, and then 2 meal credits on a TS dinner.

The potential down sides to the DxDP are that you tend to have a more rigid schedule because you tend to want to use more of your credits at TS/Signature locations so you have more ADRs, you tend to take more time eating because you have more TS meals, and you spend quite a bit more in out of pocket costs for tips. That said, it can be a great experience.

 

[GaBelle]

Sorry, as I'm sure this has been asked before, but is it worthwhile to upgrade from a free dining plan (1 TS, 1QS, 1 snack) to the deluxe plan? It's approximately $50 per person per day, but it would be nice to do 2 TS meals a day and an occasional signature meal, at no extra cost. The way I'm looking at it is that because I only have to pay the difference in the plans, there is little fear of me losing money on it. Is that a reasonable way of thinking, or is it absurd?

Thanks!

It's a very reasonable way of looking at it. That is exactly what we are doing.
3 TS meals per day for about $50 per day is a bargain in my opinion.

 

[doberlady]

Like the other have said if it works for your family. There are too many CS that we love so the regular plan works best for us

 

[gettinlm]

Thank you all for the wonderful responses! I think we will go ahead and do the deluxe upgrade. We already have at least 3 character breakfasts planned, so that will allow us more chances for 1-2 meals at signature restaurants and table service every evening. Your comments are appreciated!

 

[Cafeen]

When using a free dining promotion, it makes the DxDDP a bit easier to deal with, since you have to eat far less to make it work financially.

If the extra meals/upgraded meals will end up costing more than the amount you're putting toward upgrading to DxDDP, then it's the way to go. If you'd come out considerably less by keeping your existing plan and paying OOP for those extras, then you should probably do that. If it's close, it's a bit more subjective.

Also to note, if you've already "broken even" on the upgrade, then don't feel that you have to stuff yourselves to burn all the credits and entitlements.

 

[gettinlm]

Thanks!

Another quick question: are the signature restaurants kid friendly, or are the kids better left out of it? If so, any particular signatures you'd recommend for adults and kids?

 

[shana398]

Last year we were in the same situation. We stayed at WL with free dining and upgraded to Deluxe. It was myself, DH and DS 18 months at the time. We did a few two-credit meals, such as Hoop Dee Doo Revue and Artist Point.
For us it was nice at the time because our baby needed breaks during the day and the TS helped. We did, however, leave with meal credits leftover. We went ahead and paid for a family's meal at the QS as we were leaving. The CM said that was fine. We also had A LOT of snack credits left, due to the fact that we were getting desserts at lunch and dinner plus appetizers for EACH person. We used them right before we left and brought back lots of snacks as gifts. It was really a lot of food, and I probably wouldn't do it again unless we wanted to do a lot of signature dining/dinner shows.

Now that our son will be 2 1/2 for this trip, the regular dining plan will be better for us. We plan on mostly sit-down dinners and QS breakfast and lunch with maybe one character breakfast and one character dinner.

Keep in mind, too, that all of that time spent dining will take away park time! For us last year that was a good thing, but this year not so much!

For kids, I think the dinner shows that are two credits are good.

 

[mickeynut1]

Thank you all for the wonderful responses! I think we will go ahead and do the deluxe upgrade. We already have at least 3 character breakfasts planned, so that will allow us more chances for 1-2 meals at signature restaurants and table service every evening. Your comments are appreciated!

As others have said, there's no wrong answer, but it looks like upgrading to the DlxDDP will work out fine for your family . We've done both the DDP and DlxDDP and we enjoy both. On the deluxe plan, we tried a couple of signature restaurants, but we also did 1 TS meals, as well as CS and in the end, the deluxe plan worked out great for us and we loved it .

Another quick question: are the signature restaurants kid friendly, or are the kids better left out of it? If so, any particular signatures you'd recommend for adults and kids?

I think they are. We don't have little ones, but we've eaten at Artist Point and Yachtsman Steakhouse and there were several kids around.

 

[extremeplanner]

I have gone back and forth with this same issue. One of my concerns is....what if I pay for the upgrade then all the good signature restaurants are booked up. I'm going the week of Christmas, otherwise I wouldn't be so worried about no available ressies. I've already passed my 180 day mark and have already made my ADRs. Another reason I thought of adding it is because I have read that the CS lines are terrible during the week of Christmas. I still don't know what to do!!! I guess it's a good problem to have, because without the free dining promo I would even be able to consider it.

 

[SEA333]

Can't you make your ADR's first, then add the upgrade?

 

[lovedworld]

You should also consider the more TS meals you eat the more you will be paying OOP for tips and those can really add up.

 

[aaarcher86]

I have gone back and forth with this same issue. One of my concerns is....what if I pay for the upgrade then all the good signature restaurants are booked up. I'm going the week of Christmas, otherwise I wouldn't be so worried about no available ressies. I've already passed my 180 day mark and have already made my ADRs. Another reason I thought of adding it is because I have read that the CS lines are terrible during the week of Christmas. I still don't know what to do!!! I guess it's a good problem to have, because without the free dining promo I would even be able to consider it.

Why don't you make the reservations you want for dining and then add the DXDP? Or upgrade it now and not pay it until 45 days out?

You have plenty of time before having to make a decision on keeping it or upgrading it and it wouldn't be due until the 45 day marker if you do it now.

If you're worried about getting the reservations, make them now and cancel if you don't want to keep them.

 

[Cafeen]

Can't you make your ADR's first, then add the upgrade?

Absolutely. The ADR system (outside of the prepaid events) doesn't care what (or even IF) you're on a dining plan.

Why don't you make the reservations you want for dining and then add the DXDP? Or upgrade it now and not pay it until 45 days out?

You have plenty of time before having to make a decision on keeping it or upgrading it and it wouldn't be due until the 45 day marker if you do it now.

If you're worried about getting the reservations, make them now and cancel if you don't want to keep them.

^^ This.

 

[Quin]

Good heavens, yes. We had our dates set about 9 months in advance so I booked room-only just to take advantage of the 180 +10 for ADRs. I made the ADRs assuming DxDP. Then, as it got closer to our trip and pricing deals came out I picked the best option for us and switched the room-only to a full package with DxDP. If the deals had not been good enough and I was not able to swing DxDP on top of the other trip costs, I'd have freed up a bunch of ADRs for people a good 45+ days ahead of the trip by cancelling Signatures and multi-meal days.