Thinking of upgrading to Deluxe Dining

[3pletprincesses]

we did the DXDDP last month and won't go back to DDP. For the 5 of us (2 adults and 3 kids) after paying tips, we still saved $600. To us it was worth every penny.

 

[USAND3KIDS]

Without a doubt, you should upgrade to the deluxe dining. We are also going in Ayugust and we have free dining so only have to pay the difference between regular dining and deluxe. It just works out so much better that way. Last year we had the basic dining and ended up going out of pocket for a lot of meals.

 

[tlap04]

Without a doubt, you should upgrade to the deluxe dining. We are also going in Ayugust and we have free dining so only have to pay the difference between regular dining and deluxe. It just works out so much better that way. Last year we had the basic dining and ended up going out of pocket for a lot of meals.

We did the same thing last year. We paid OOP for 3 or 4 TS meals and had 4 QS credits to burn the last day.

I upgraded to DxDDP this afternoon! Luckily, I have been able to get most of my ADR's. I'm still working on my schedule, but it's coming along.
Thanks again for all your help!

 

[Marshay]

Another person here thinking of upgrading to Deluxe dining. I just wanted to confirm what was included:

3 meals a day (TS or CS and includes appetizer, entree, dessert and non-alcoholic drink), 2 snacks, mug and taxes?

Now does this also include tips? PP mentioned it included tips for some and others said that tips were OOP.

We are considering California Grill and CRT using up 2 credits each and then a Chef Mickey's breakfast and Yak & Yeti as the other 2 meals (just getting DxDDP for 2 days as part of our split/linked stay).

Thanks!

 

[momtotwins]

in general it does not invclude tips but certain places( i believe CRT and dinner shows not sure if there are others) are included.

 

[3pletprincesses]

The only restaurant I can think that includes tips in CRT and dinner show(usually the melas you need to prepay) other then that, you have to pay for it. For the 5 of us, we paid around $300 in tip but even after paying that we stay saved a little over $600.

TLap04 we will be there at the same time.

 

[Marshay]

in general it does not invclude tips but certain places( i believe CRT and dinner shows not sure if there are others) are included.

Thanks for a quick response. So CRT for dinner is listed at All Ears for $54.76. If I paid OOP, I'd still have to add a tip to that? But if I use 2 sig TS credits than it includes the tip?

Also, just read the other thread where DxDDP for 2012 is now $85.52/pp/day so I need to relook at our numbers to see if we're really saving or not. ($23.79/child)

 

[3pletprincesses]

no usually even when paying OOP CRT will include the tip.

BTW if yo uintend to do character meals, $23 for the deluxe meal is not alot considering that most character meals are around $15 for children... just a thought

 

[Marshay]

no usually even when paying OOP CRT will include the tip.

BTW if yo uintend to do character meals, $23 for the deluxe meal is not alot considering that most character meals are around $15 for children... just a thought

Ok, thanks! Just trying to do the math to make sure I'm comparing apples to apples.

yeah, we did DDP in May and found that the kid's plan was definitely worth it! One TS was more than the price of a child's plan for the full day.

We paid TIW for CRT in May but wont' have an AP for our Jan trip. So just looking to see if DxDDP is a better option and I couldn't remember if we paid tip or not.

THANKS again!!

 

[smiths02]

Another person here thinking of upgrading to Deluxe dining. I just wanted to confirm what was included:

3 meals a day (TS or CS and includes appetizer, entree, dessert and non-alcoholic drink), 2 snacks, mug and taxes?

Now does this also include tips? PP mentioned it included tips for some and others said that tips were OOP.

We are considering California Grill and CRT using up 2 credits each and then a Chef Mickey's breakfast and Yak & Yeti as the other 2 meals (just getting DxDDP for 2 days as part of our split/linked stay).

Thanks!

If you decide to use your meal credit for a CS, I don't believe that you get an appetizer (just entree, drink, dessert like the other plans). You also don't get an appetizer or dessert at breakfast TS or CS (like the other plans).

 

[EvilQueenT]

when we do deluxe dining plan we book a signature dinner each night then use the remaining credits to book lunches at places like le cellier, wolfgang pucks (inside downstairs), brown derby, or sometimes crt. on the days we book a lunch it's an early lunch and a later dinner. on days we only book dinner we either do them a little earlier. any time we get a little hungry we use our snack credits and tend to share because of the size of portions (unless of course it's for something like a banana). at home we almost never sit down to breakfast so we either keep something in our room to eat in the morning or just skip it. i feel like this is the best way to get our money's worth on the deluxe plan but we also don't stress out if we don't eat every bite on the plate. last year on an all adult trip for my sisters 40th birthday everyone kept taking left over desserts back to the room...we have a photo somewhere of what turned into a dessert tower in our room.

 

[Brandilovesdisney]

We have the dining plan presently - I was wondering, if we wanted to upgrade to the deluxe plan, when would we have to do it by? Can we do it when we check-in or does it have to be done 48hours or 1-2 weeks in advance of check-in?

 

[Bete]

I think there's more value to the regular plan. Now, if you completely hate QS then I suppose the deluxe plan is the way to go. If you want 3 TS meals a day then the deluxe plan is the way to go.

I feel it's quite a time commitment to do the deluxe plan and we are there to enjoy the parks, not so much the meals. I do like a dinner meal to be TS, but to do it more than once in a day is too much for us. You can pay OOP for an appetizer and still be money ahead on the regular plan. You can pay OOP for some cheaper TS like Biergarten or Tusker and then have credits saved for a few, signature restaurants on the regular plan. Many signature restaurants are at the resorts and there's a time committment getting to all these places.

The more you do TS the more tips you pay, too.

If you have the funds and you really enjoy TS then deluxe could be a good deal.

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

We have the dining plan presently - I was wondering, if we wanted to upgrade to the deluxe plan, when would we have to do it by? Can we do it when we check-in or does it have to be done 48hours or 1-2 weeks in advance of check-in?

I was told that you had to do it at least 5 days prior to check in, but I think if I knew I wanted to upgrade, I would do it before then.

We are considering it for our January trip. We are celebrating our 10th Anniversary and want to go all out and try some of the Signature restaurants and at leat 1 dinner show. We have had many trips to WDW in the last few years, I just want to mix it up a little.

I think we are going to do Character breakfasts almost everyday, then a Signature, dinner show, or nice TS meal each evening. But something is still pulling at me not to do it, I think because the parks close earlier.

Suzanne

 

[heatherenae71]

I'm so happy to read this post, 'cause I was coming to this board to post the same thing!!

I currently have restaurants reserved with just the DDP. Over the weekend, DH and I got to talking about food, places to eat, etc. and I mentioned that one of our meals will probably be paid OOP (lunch at Sci-Fi because I added dinner at WCC on one night - I know WCC isn't all that popular on the Dis- haha.) Or, I can just cut out Sci-Fi altogether and we can do counter service at DHS. DH doesn't really care what we do, but then we got to talking about some signature restaurants we'd like to try...I'd really like to do the character breakfast at CP with Pooh, etc. etc.

SO....if my calculations are right...to upgrade from DDP to DxDP it would cost $344...but these are the restaurants we'd be adding on:

Dinner at Tony's (this will be before MVMCP)

Lunch at Sci-Fi
Dinner at California Grill

Breakfast at Crystal Palace (after DD's BBB appt. Only thing I'm worried about with this one is...if we eat breakfast at 10:30, will we be hungry for our dinner at CRT at 5:30 that night? Surely we will, right?!)

Dinner at Narcoossee's (this will be our last night...then we check into a cheapy hotel and fly home the next day!)

What do you think?! Because we only have 5 days at the parks, I don't want to spend a lot of time sitting at restaurants eating, but eating Signature at night (and viewing fireworks that way) kinda helps out, maybe?!

After reading this thread, I think I'm gonna upgrade DH is gonna be in churro-snack heaven - LOL!!!

 

[Marshay]

I just finished looking at all the menus, figuring out prices, factoring in what we would order, adding appetizers, tax, 2 snacks and mug and came up with the following savings for us based on 2011 menu prices and 2012 DxDDP prices:

$100 adult savings
$110 child savings

Now this only works if we would pay for all of this anyway or value the sit-downs, apps, etc. I admit I wouldn't do 2 snacks a day or purchase the mug. However, if I take their value out, the DxDDP savings is still around $80 so it is a great thing.

We are going to do two 1-nights on Deluxe (we are DVC so don't have to do for the entire vaca). So we'll do DXDDP Mon (until Tue midnight) and then again Thur (good until Fri midnight) for our 8 night stay. This spreads out the TS restaurants and still gives us time in the parks.

CRT + Yak & Yeti (both dinners)
Norway Princess breakfast + Chefs de France dinner + Kouzzina dinner

*My girls are really into the Princesses!*

We are very excited to try these restauants and wouldn't normally go to all of them OOP (maybe just 3). So the DxDDP allows us to eat at some {hopefully} nicer restaurants.

Our trip is Jan 2012.

If it doesn't work for us, then we won't do it again. but at least 'on paper' it's a good thing.

 

[carrie6466]

We've done the deluxe plan twice. We talked about doing it this trip, because we are a few meals over on our ADR's and we really liked doing a dinner show and CRT on our last trip. That was in December and it was cooooold.

This time we're going in July and it's going to be hot. We decided we might not want to eat as much in the heat as we did in the winter. So we are just going to just pay oop for the few extra meals and forgo the dinner shows this time.

I'm quoting myself here, because we changed our minds. After we decided to pay oop for a few meals, then I decided I wanted to take dd to CRT and we were able to book Spirit of Aloha.

So between the luau, the castle and the oop breakfasts, we just decided we might as well do deluxe. We will still have 2 days with no breakfast and CS lunches at the water parks. Now we can get a TS meal on the night we get in and 2 meals on the day we're leaving, since our flight isn't until 8:40 pm.

I also figured that our apps will be given to dd, because she likes apps better than most of the kids meals LOL

 

[Bete]

I just finished looking at all the menus, figuring out prices, factoring in what we would order, adding appetizers, tax, 2 snacks and mug and came up with the following savings for us based on 2011 menu prices and 2012 DxDDP prices:

$100 adult savings
$110 child savings

Now this only works if we would pay for all of this anyway or value the sit-downs, apps, etc. I admit I wouldn't do 2 snacks a day or purchase the mug. However, if I take their value out, the DxDDP savings is still around $80 so it is a great thing.

We are going to do two 1-nights on Deluxe (we are DVC so don't have to do for the entire vaca). So we'll do DXDDP Mon (until Tue midnight) and then again Thur (good until Fri midnight) for our 8 night stay. This spreads out the TS restaurants and still gives us time in the parks.

CRT + Yak & Yeti (both dinners)
Norway Princess breakfast + Chefs de France dinner + Kouzzina dinner

*My girls are really into the Princesses!*

We are very excited to try these restauants and wouldn't normally go to all of them OOP (maybe just 3). So the DxDDP allows us to eat at some {hopefully} nicer restaurants.

Our trip is Jan 2012.

If it doesn't work for us, then we won't do it again. but at least 'on paper' it's a good thing.

this might be a good way to go. For most of us it is an all or a nothing proposition. We can't do a day here or a day there on the deluxe plan; unless, we go through loops to do so with split stays and so forth and then the park ticket prices kill you for a package deal doing it that way.

It's just like the premium plan and doing it for one night to get all the perks; it can be done. So, in your case I could justify doing two days on deluxe over an 8 day stay especially since you use 4 days to use your 2 days of deluxe plan credits. This is a smart stradegy for you. Infact, I would be doing it every other day; so, I could use 4 days of deluxe across 8 days. That's a bargain!

 

[SabresFan]

To the OP, if you are going in August, I strongly recommend the DxDDp. We went last July and I was going back and forth on regular DDp versus DxDDP - we ended up with DxDDP and it was the best possible decision. Just being able to sit down at lunch for a relaxing meal with multiple refills on the drinks in air conditioning is priceless. Even in July heat, we spent the full day in the parks, never leaving for afternoon naps or pool time (which is not a bad idea at all, but does involve its own costs - like hiking back to the park entrance, back to the bus stop, waiting for the bus, riding the bus, doing whatever you're going to do back at the resort, waiting for the bus back to the park, riding the bus back to the park, hiking from the bus stop to the park entrance, and hiking from the park entrance to whatever part of the park you want to visit next). I know lots of people who do that leave in the afternoon stuff and love it, but for me, time is money, and saving 1 to 2 hours per day while also eating a decent meal is well worth it.

Plus with youngsters, I think the buffets (especially those that have characters) are ideal.

We'll be back this July and doing DxDDp again, although this time we're adding some Signatures and not having as many 3 meal days (only 1 actually).

Plus I think we took home over 40 snacks that we picked up on the last day, and I use the refillable mug as my coffee mug at work (I don't think I ever used it at the resort, but we also got upgraded to Concierge level since it was our 25th anniversary and they probably saw we were on DxDDp, so how much extra could we eat in the concierge lounge anyway)?

 

[juliebug1997]

We did DxDP last summer because I could stomach the idea of a whole bunch of fries and burgers. We had lunch reservations for almost every day and it was great to have a nice, relaxing lunch with air conditioning instead of fighting the CS crowds for a meal and a table. We did spend a few of our credits on CS at POR for breakfast and dinner but only because we didn't have any ADRs. We used our snack credits for water inside the parks. We packed some inside one of our suitcases and we used that water to start off our days. We did get some popcorn though--my one downfall.