Should I upgrade to Deluxe Dining...I have 4 days to decide

[MistressMerryweather]

Help! I'm trying to figure it out money-wise, but my mind is now swiss cheese after fiddling with it for so long. Right now we have the plus dining for 5 nights for 2 adults. I'm trying to decide if we would save moolah if we upgrade to deluxe.
We already have HDDR scheduled and were going to pay for it out of pocket.

So...
5 night(reg dining) 459.90...with oop hddr 583.88
5 night(deluxe) 789.90

$330 difference between the two. If we upgrade and use 2TS instead of OOP for HDDR, the difference would now be $206.02

It does sound like a lot of food and I am 5 mos pregnant, so I am either going to be starving or not able to eat a ton. LOL
Also, we are arriving by noon on day 1 not leaving until afternoon the last day. So, technically we will need to eat at least one meal on those end days.

What to do, what to do?
There are days when I would love to do two sit-down dinners and I wouldn't mind trying a couple of sig dining dinners. We are only going to the parks for 2 of the 5 days and it will just be dh and I.
Any advice for this question being asked the umpteenth time on the boards? LOL

 

[disneymayz]

Just my opinion.....
Deluxe is a lot of food and time away from the parks. 3TS/day means stopping what you want to do to make sure you get to your reservations. I think you should stick with what you got and spend that $200 on getting the baby some cool Disney stuff.
BUT
If you are the type that goes to Disney to enjoy all the food (this is not us) then go for it and add a couple new places to try since you will have extra TS credits.
Currently -
5 CS
5 TS

Change to -
15 TS = another 7+ reservations you have to make/hope to get

 

[Faldred]

The rule of thumb is that you need to use at least 2/3 of your DxDP credits on table service for it to make sense. You don't need to do 15 table service meals, as a previous poster suggested -- DxDP still makes sense with some CS meals, and most folks on DxDP go for some signature restaurants and/or dinner shows.

One thing in your favor is that you aren't planning on spending a lot of time in the parks, so that should give you a lot more flexibility. Another thing in your favor is that if you want to try to schedule some last-minute signature restaurants, that's probably going to be easier than other places.

With DxDP, if you're staying somewhere with room service, you could leave a few credits (in pairs) unplanned to have a room service meal at some point when the mood strikes you.

Since you appear to be close to your travel date (or did you know you can upgrade to DxDP as late as 3 days before check-in?), I'd suggest trying to make the additional ADRs before committing to DxDP, if that's what you want to do.

 

[Colleen27]

Personally, going by the information you posted and looking at your signature, I'd say go for it! First kid-free vacation in 8 years, pregnant so you really aren't going park-commando, and spending more time on resorts than rides? To me, that sounds like the perfect trip for some signature meals, lingering over TS breakfasts, and taking it slow.

Faldred is right about checking for availability before making any decisions, but at this time of year you shouldn't have too tough a time finding some good choices even on short notice.

 

[inkedupmomma]

I would not, not this close to the trip. If you took the time and planned some signatures, then maybe. But with the trip being only 5 days, I say save the $200 and just pay OOP for extra snacks if you get that hungry. I think the regular dining plan will prove to be plenty of food!

 

[InDashMP3]

We were in your exact situation. We booked our trip in August of 2010 for a trip in late March/Early April. At the time we had regular dining. I noticed a LOT of advertising about the Kids Stay / Play special going on now. I requoted our trip with the EXACT same options/days/resort etc., and with the current promotion it was cheaper! So, I requoted with the DDP and it was only $98 dollars more for all four of us. SO.....since I was happy with our original price of our vacation, I decided to pay the extra amount with the new promotion and get the DDP.

OOPS!! You are NOT in the same situation.. You are two adults.. We were 2 adults/ 2 kids... Sorry!!

 

[Jubilee]

I always say yes to the DxDp. We just stayed there for 1 night Saturday and got it.

 

[hannahdrewmom]

I'd go for it. You can easily add signature meals to your plan as they normally have availability. It will give you ALOT of flexibility to eat when you want and what you want. Basically you won't be paying anything oop then except tips. With a resort heavy vacation it makes total sense to me. But with meE when I was pregnant both times the thought of fried food made me sick and gave me HORRIBLE heartburn! I'd go with the more relaxed and healthy choices that will be better for you and baby.

 

[allstar]

Help! I'm trying to figure it out money-wise, but my mind is now swiss cheese after fiddling with it for so long. Right now we have the plus dining for 5 nights for 2 adults. I'm trying to decide if we would save moolah if we upgrade to deluxe.
We already have HDDR scheduled and were going to pay for it out of pocket.

So...
5 night(reg dining) 459.90...with oop hddr 583.88
5 night(deluxe) 789.90

$330 difference between the two. If we upgrade and use 2TS instead of OOP for HDDR, the difference would now be $206.02

It does sound like a lot of food and I am 5 mos pregnant, so I am either going to be starving or not able to eat a ton. LOL
Also, we are arriving by noon on day 1 not leaving until afternoon the last day. So, technically we will need to eat at least one meal on those end days.

What to do, what to do?
There are days when I would love to do two sit-down dinners and I wouldn't mind trying a couple of sig dining dinners. We are only going to the parks for 2 of the 5 days and it will just be dh and I.
Any advice for this question being asked the umpteenth time on the boards? LOL

We did the deluxe dinning plan once and we found it to be too much food. Unless you plan to do alot of character meals, dinner shows and signature dinning it may be worth it. If you go over your snacks and table service entitlements, just pay extra for additional meals and it still doesn't add up to the cost of upgrading to deluxe dinning. In my opinon I don't think its worth to upgrade. We even found with the regular meal plan that we weren't always hungry. If you schedule a late breakfast especially a buffet, you will not always be hungry for lunch!

 

[tjs198]

Help! I'm trying to figure it out money-wise, but my mind is now swiss cheese after fiddling with it for so long. Right now we have the plus dining for 5 nights for 2 adults. I'm trying to decide if we would save moolah if we upgrade to deluxe.
We already have HDDR scheduled and were going to pay for it out of pocket.

So...
5 night(reg dining) 459.90...with oop hddr 583.88
5 night(deluxe) 789.90

$330 difference between the two. If we upgrade and use 2TS instead of OOP for HDDR, the difference would now be $206.02

It does sound like a lot of food and I am 5 mos pregnant, so I am either going to be starving or not able to eat a ton. LOL
Also, we are arriving by noon on day 1 not leaving until afternoon the last day. So, technically we will need to eat at least one meal on those end days.

What to do, what to do?
There are days when I would love to do two sit-down dinners and I wouldn't mind trying a couple of sig dining dinners. We are only going to the parks for 2 of the 5 days and it will just be dh and I.
Any advice for this question being asked the umpteenth time on the boards? LOL

I would definitely do deluxe especially with you only going to the parks for 2 days - use it to go to 3 or 4 signatures in addition to HDDR for dinners and you still have 5 to 7 sit down meals for breakfast/lunch and the extra day you need for your 6 day trip length and just fill in the day with snacks if need be.

 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

I would do the DxDP, for the reasons stated by PP. You could also do the Luau.

 

[Tricia1972]

I agree with those that say don't go for it.

We are just back from a DxDDP 10 night trip and it was a lot of food and a lot of pressure to use all our credits. We felt compelled to order apps, even when we weren't hungry for them. Servers would encourage you to order apps, and one even sent home a dessert with my family when I left the restaurant before dessert and said that I didn't want anything!

Being pregnant, you are probably more likely to graze, and the DxDDP isn't conducive to grazing.

 

[nkereina]

I much prefer Deluxe. If you're only going to be at the park 2 of the 5 days you're there, then it's not much time away from the parks for meals. Additionally, you can use your credits for QS if you do not want TS. It's 3 credits per day and not distinguished as QS or TS so you can use them how you want so you don't technically need to have 3 TS meals per day. I know when we go, our days are long so we eat breakfast lunch and dinner each day, and would end up paying at least one of those meals OOP every day if we did regular dining. In the grand scheme, $200 is not very much money considering the amount you are spending on a vacation, and you may or may not spend that much OOP if you don't upgrade. But to have the comfort of know you have the options on the DxDP and don't have to worry about the cost of what you're ordering is reason enough for me to upgrade!

 

[emlutz23]

I would say go for it and try some of the Sig Dining options. We are going Deluxe for the first time in August.

But if you do decide to stick with the Plus, why not use your credits for HDDR and play OOP for another meal you already have booked. What other meals do you have? A breakfast buffet or lunch TS would be cheaper than paying for the HDDR. Just a suggestion!

Good luck with your decision!

 

[juliebean]

I say go for it - it's not that much of a difference in what you are paying, you're not going to the parks that much and vacation is about fun! Adding some signature or special experiences will add to that for a fairly minimal price increase. Have a wonderful, eat what you want, sleep in and enjoy your time alone!

 

[sydneysmom]

we LOVED the deluxe dining plan. We're not big huge eaters and the quantity of food isn't why we chose it. We chose it because we knew we wanted to do character breakfasts / dinners as well as some 2TS Signatures. for us, it was perfect. We used the snack credits for lunch / water/ soda. We will do it again next time for sure.

I vote for the upgrade!!!

 

[princesspeach]

I changed to dxdp about 3 weeks before our trip. It was a very good descision. I was able to change my 1ts dinners to 2ts signatures without a problem. We had some very good meals. The 1 ts restaurants seem to get so-so reviews. I will be sticking to the deluxe dining plan on our next trip.

 

[vllygrrl]

DH and I are definitely DxDP converts. We used the DxDP for the very first time in November, on our adult-only trip, and found it amazing! We never ate more than 2 meals a day, however, so we got to eat at Narcoossee's, Flying Fish, Jiko, California Grill, Yachtsman Steakhouse, Artist Point, and the Castle!

We liked the plan so much that we convinced my parents and sister to upgrade the dining plan when we take a family trip this August. I've been to Disney 7 months pregnant, and believe me, you'll appreciate taking time to sit in a climate controlled environment!

 

[MistressMerryweather]

Thank you so much for the great advice, guys! I'm on the line now waiting to upgrade to deluxe. Yay! 4 days until we leave. I'm so excited not to have to think about any extra dining moolah while we are there and to try out some signature restaurants. It's so hard to make the decision, you know, because you don't want to waste money, but I'm thrilled to try it once and see how it goes.

So far, I have added Citrico's and a Brown Derby Fantasmic package. Off to look for other yummies!

 

[juliebean]

Have a wonderful time! Sleep in, eat appetizers, relish not having to take anyone to the potty!

I am envious, I cannot remember the last time we had a vacation alone! But, we have big plans for our 20th anniversary next summer.