To Deluxe Dine or Not???

[TheLadyTremain]

Hello Everyone.

We are planning a late February trip for our family. We have always had the Basic Dining Plan on our past trips. But we tend to eat at a lot of table services. So we end up using our points or paying out of pocket. We usually stay in a vacation villa so I have a kitchen where we tend to eat breakfast in and have a ton of snacks delivered via garden grocer.

This trip, I am thinking going Deluxe. My husband isn't convinced. I feel like it will off-set our out of pocket on table services. Also, we aren't staying at a villa so no full kitchen so less groceries from garden grocer. I also dont' have as many point for this trip.

Can any of you give me some insight on why you opt to go for Deluxe dining?

 

[LillsnJills]

Unless you're big eaters and plan to do lots of signature places, I wouldn't go deluxe. We just got back from a week of the DxDP and even as a foodie who loves to eat, I was sick to death of eating. We paid to upgrade from the free standard plan to deluxe, and it did save us money based on what we actually ordered. We're going to go back and look at what we WOULD have ordered had we paid oop, based on what we know now (esp how the heat effected our dining choices). Bottom line, unless you would NORMALLY order separate apps and desserts rather than sharing, or if you don't mind about wasting food, then DxDP is probably not worth it.

 

[bedogged]

Hello Everyone.

We are planning a late February trip for our family. We have always had the Basic Dining Plan on our past trips. But we tend to eat at a lot of table services. So we end up using our points or paying out of pocket. We usually stay in a vacation villa so I have a kitchen where we tend to eat breakfast in and have a ton of snacks delivered via garden grocer.

This trip, I am thinking going Deluxe. My husband isn't convinced. I feel like it will off-set our out of pocket on table services. Also, we aren't staying at a villa so no full kitchen so less groceries from garden grocer. I also dont' have as many point for this trip.

Can any of you give me some insight on why you opt to go for Deluxe dining?

We love Deluxe, but I hesitated in answering your post because Disney has raised the cost of Deluxe next year and I am not sure how the value will work out. I have it in the back of my mind that they will be raising meal prices to make Deluxe look like a value, but at this time it is anyone's guess.

If you do Deluxe, I would recommend that you only do TWO meals a day. What we do is schedule a one point TS lunch or breakfast and then schedule a two point Signature meal or show for dinner. We use snack credits for breakfast or lunch depending upon which TS meal we scheduled. If you try and do three meals a day, in my opinion, it is way too much food. Two meals a day seems just right to us.

In answer to your question, we do Deluxe because we find the quality of the Signature restaurants to be very good and we enjoy the adult atmosphere. We are not big fans of CS so having a sit down lunch appeals to us. I also think that this year it was also was a good value, especially when compared to the regular dinning plan.

 

[abdgeek]

Hello Everyone.

We are planning a late February trip for our family. We have always had the Basic Dining Plan on our past trips. But we tend to eat at a lot of table services. So we end up using our points or paying out of pocket. We usually stay in a vacation villa so I have a kitchen where we tend to eat breakfast in and have a ton of snacks delivered via garden grocer.

This trip, I am thinking going Deluxe. My husband isn't convinced. I feel like it will off-set our out of pocket on table services. Also, we aren't staying at a villa so no full kitchen so less groceries from garden grocer. I also dont' have as many point for this trip.

Can any of you give me some insight on why you opt to go for Deluxe dining?

I now exclusively get the DxDP when I go to WDW. I started out with the DDP and found that I wanted to eat in the signature restaurants, which aren't a good value on the DDP if you have to use 2 TS meals.

When I do the deluxe plan I use 1 TS for breakfast, eat my two snacks around 1 or 2 pm and then have dinner at a signature restaurant around 6 or 7pm.

For next year, I would figure the price breakdown to be similar to below:

TS= $30 for each meal($90 total)
S= $4 for each snack($8 total)

If you think that you will spend at least $60 or $70 on your signature restaurant meal, I would say that the DxDP is still a good deal, even with the price increase. I know that most of my meals at the signature restaurants come to at least $70.

 

[aaarcher86]

We also always do deluxe, but not for the signatures.

We have 2 smaller children, and we end up doing a character bfast and character dinner everyday. We'll have a qs for lunch typically if we need something to snack on.

We do also do the Luau at the Poly, CRT, and the fantasmic dinner package which are 2 TS credits.

I did the fast math on it this trip and I think the DXDP was only about 200 cheaper. It doesn't save us much, and we may even break even if I really sat down and looked at the numbers. However, the convenience is awesome. I love trying new deserts, or getting a steak without worrying about the price, or even trying an appetizer that I normally wouldn't have out of fear that I wouldn't like it.

I like not worrying about any of the meals while we're there and not having to keep track of when to pay, and what to put on the DP, etc.

 

[jsw1114]

Question, if u have free dining how much is it to upgrade to deluxe? This past trip we ended up paying 2 meals out of pocket which came to almost 300. We r a family of 2 adults 2 kids over 10 and a 7 year old. We also do a character meal at least once a day. This trip we did a breakfast And a dinner twice in same day would it be beneficial to do upgrade?

 

[aaarcher86]

Question, if u have free dining how much is it to upgrade to deluxe? This past trip we ended up paying 2 meals out of pocket which came to almost 300. We r a family of 2 adults 2 kids over 10 and a 7 year old. We also do a character meal at least once a day. This trip we did a breakfast And a dinner twice in same day would it be beneficial to do upgrade?

There is a sticky about the upgrade price. You're just paying the difference between whichever free dining plan you get (based on resort stay) and what you want.

It's still going to be a numbers game to see if it will save you money. Figure out how much you'd spend versus how much you'd pay to upgrade and see which is less. It'll depend on the number of nights and the number of out of pocket meals with their costs.

 

[davedmaine]

You may want to look at doing TiW instead. I think you'd find you'll save more money that way than by purchased the plan

 

[BlissfulMama09]

We went on the deluxe plan last year and at checkout we had 9 unused ts credits! We ate at a couple of signature dining restaurants but it was just too much food for our family - and I was 33 weeks pregnant! We were always trying to get to a reservation and it really took away from our park time.

 

[Karin1984]

I love Deluxe, I did it last time and love that I can try basically everything without thinking. The best dishes I ate were appetizers. Also did a lot of signature dining and the dinners were wonderful for taking a well-deserved break from the parks.

 

[sabcook]

We are huge fans of Deluxe after trying it for the first time on our last trip to the World. We have two children (then 7 and 4) and typically do a character breakfast and a signature dinner with snacks for lunch. The things that make it work so well for us (an maybe not so much for others) are ...

1. We seldom do CS meals - we just don't find them that appealing.
2. We don't stress about finishing all the food - the deluxe plan is a lot of food and we love it for the variety of eating experience and not for volume.
3. We don't stress about losing time in the parks - in fact, we enjoy the break in the chaos when it is time for an ADR.
4. I am a rabid planner so making those plans 6 months+ out isn't a problem.
5. We love to try new things and having three courses at a meal lets us try something that we may or may not like without worrying about leaving hungry.

What it adds up to is that we value the plan for multiple reasons, not just the savings. We know that we are going to drop a boatload of money at WDW on food - we are at peace with that and the value of the Deluxe plan to us is that we don't even have to think about it while we are there - we can just enjoy.

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

I'm debating this myself. Mine is a gift trip, the giver doesn't seem to care either way. I'm taking two un-adventurous kids. They're not picky, but I know they won't be ordering anything fancy--they'd be perfectly happy with Mickey ravioli, mac and cheese, that sort of thing. On the one hand, it seems like a lot of money (even if it's not my money--I try to be a good steward). OTOH, we could try an awful lot of fun restaurants and even the dinner shows. And I'm covering the tips, so I'll have to pay more that way, but that's minor compared to the overall cost. I'm stilll not sure what I'm going to do...

 

[Nancyg56]

My family considered it this trip but even when we added in our extra meals and considered the cost of any appetizers we would order it did not make financial sense for us. I think that if you look at the prices of the meals you are adding as well as the appetizers you can determine if you will break even or save money.

 

[sheilanne]

We are huge fans of Deluxe after trying it for the first time on our last trip to the World. We have two children (then 7 and 4) and typically do a character breakfast and a signature dinner with snacks for lunch. The things that make it work so well for us (an maybe not so much for others) are ...

1. We seldom do CS meals - we just don't find them that appealing.
2. We don't stress about finishing all the food - the deluxe plan is a lot of food and we love it for the variety of eating experience and not for volume.
3. We don't stress about losing time in the parks - in fact, we enjoy the break in the chaos when it is time for an ADR.
4. I am a rabid planner so making those plans 6 months+ out isn't a problem.
5. We love to try new things and having three courses at a meal lets us try something that we may or may not like without worrying about leaving hungry.

What it adds up to is that we value the plan for multiple reasons, not just the savings. We know that we are going to drop a boatload of money at WDW on food - we are at peace with that and the value of the Deluxe plan to us is that we don't even have to think about it while we are there - we can just enjoy.

I agree 100%. We are going 11-27 and are trying the DXDP for the first time. We weren't lucky enough to get free dining and upgrade but to my family the extra money is worth it. We have 4 adults, a six year old and a 4 month old. Its not about the quantity of the food but just the experience of trying new things and able to enjoy without worrying about the price. We just don't eat fast food at home, in fact the six year old doesn't eat burgers or
Nuggets. She probably will not eat most of what's on the kid menus but will share with the adults. Iknow DXDP is not for a lot of families but mine is excited about it. We are staying at BLT and will have a kitchen but probably just use it for drinks. So excited about our trip!!!!!

 

[ericar]

I am close to a "Man vs. Food" eater and I couldn't eat all of the food on
the DLX plan. We ate at a lot of signature 2 credit places and it is just too much. We had to cancel our last meal because we couldn't face another meal.

 

[sheilanne]

I am close to a "Man vs. Food" eater and I couldn't eat all of the food on
the DLX plan. We ate at a lot of signature 2 credit places and it is just too much. We had to cancel our last meal because we couldn't face another meal.

I know the amount of food available will be too much but the quality is so much better. We are having 2meals each day, early bkfst in Parks and Signature at night. We're not trying to see how much we can eat we just appreciate better quality.

 

[MentalVacation]

We followed the "Character Breakfast" and Signature Supper with snacks in between routine and we enjoyed it a LOT. It was an insane amount of food, but what made it fun for us was DH tried an app he would *never* *never* *never* have tried otherwise (crab cakes at Narcoosees) and he LOVED them. So, for me, that was the fun. Did we take a lot of snacks home in the form of candy? Yep. Did we probably waste food? Not terribly, but we did a lot of buffets for those character meals, and we didn't order dessert or apps every time, even though it was 'included' -- did we come out "ahead" -- I think we still did, but for us the benefit was the ease of use and that it gave DH that freedom. He is the guy who will order a sandwich in a steakhouse because it is 11.95 when he really wants the 27.95 steak. He ate steak ALL WEEK LONG. I am not lying! By our last meal at Ohana, we were food-fried, but up until then it was all good! (I was pregnant and feeling no caloric guilt, which also helped! And we had a 2 1/2 yr old sharing, so it was nice in that regard).

This time we're going to try the reg DDP and see how close we come and what we pay OOP for. So far we are already over on TS but only by 1.

 

[myramsy]

We love the DxDp. We love having a relaxing meal at supper to take time out from the parks. We eat at restaurants that we normally wouldnt and we dont have to worry about what we are ordering...we can eat the steak if we want...no counting pennies! Plus with a teenager it is awesome because teen boys are always hungry!