Just got back from a nine-day trip on the Deluxe Dining Plan. While we did manage to use all of our meal credits, a large part of that was due to buying a bunch of packaged items from the gift shop while we were waiting for our express bus.
Having experienced the plan, I have these tips for those considering it:
1. If you want to plan for at least one two-point meal (which are generally character meals, dinner shows, room service, or exceptionally fancy places), then the deluxe plan might actually be worth it for you. We were able to burn our points only by doing four different character meals, two dinner shows, and one room service.
2. If you want your Disney trip to be mostly about the food and don't mind missing large sections of other aspects of the park (which is perfectly fine for a lot of people), then by all means try this plan.
3. The only reason we used all our snack points was because of all the tasting we did at the Food and Wine Festival, AND we were generous with them for others in the snack cart lines the last two days of our trip.
4. That being said, some say not to use your snack points for bottles of water or drinks. We used some of ours for those drinks and don't regret doing so.
5. Be prepared for deluxe table meals to take TIME. That, really, was my biggest peeve of being on the plan. But if you're at a table service, by the time you are served appetizer, entree, and dessert, it easily takes over an hour, or even up to two hours if the place is exceptionally busy, which is absolutely HUGE when you only have 7-10 hours at the park, maximum. And if you do that three times a day...(!). The buffets, really, and the fast pass schedules were pretty much what kept us out of the restaurants.
Having experienced the plan, I have these tips for those considering it:
1. If you want to plan for at least one two-point meal (which are generally character meals, dinner shows, room service, or exceptionally fancy places), then the deluxe plan might actually be worth it for you. We were able to burn our points only by doing four different character meals, two dinner shows, and one room service.
2. If you want your Disney trip to be mostly about the food and don't mind missing large sections of other aspects of the park (which is perfectly fine for a lot of people), then by all means try this plan.
3. The only reason we used all our snack points was because of all the tasting we did at the Food and Wine Festival, AND we were generous with them for others in the snack cart lines the last two days of our trip.
4. That being said, some say not to use your snack points for bottles of water or drinks. We used some of ours for those drinks and don't regret doing so.
5. Be prepared for deluxe table meals to take TIME. That, really, was my biggest peeve of being on the plan. But if you're at a table service, by the time you are served appetizer, entree, and dessert, it easily takes over an hour, or even up to two hours if the place is exceptionally busy, which is absolutely HUGE when you only have 7-10 hours at the park, maximum. And if you do that three times a day...(!). The buffets, really, and the fast pass schedules were pretty much what kept us out of the restaurants.
