Upgrade to Deluxe Dining?

[Livelovedance]

I'm getting ready for a Disney vacation! I will be vacationing with friends who have already booked ADRs. I have my own room booked, and we are using the standard dining plan.

I was just going through the reservations, and I would need 11 TS credits for all of our reservations (I only have 5!). Would it be worth it for me to upgrade to the deluxe dining plan (I'd then have 15 credits, but could use some of the others on counter service meals we don't have reserved) or should pay for the additional meals separately and look into the TIW card? Our meals are listed as $15-29.99 and $30-59.99 each, depending on the restaurant! I can't figure out how to tell what the better value is.

 

[supersnoop]

Look up the actual menus to get a feel for price, or check the pinned post in this forum for buffet pricing. Are you on a "free" dining package? If so, you should first do the math to see if a room discount would be a better deal. I can't imagine a TiW card would make much sense for one person, but that math shouldn't be too difficult.

 

[honeybunches]

I think it makes a difference if you're dining at 11 different meals, or if you're using 2 credits at signature restaurants. If I had 2 TS meals in one day, I probably wouldn't eat much at the second one. That would be a meal I'd pay OOP for, since I might just order an appetizer. Deluxe dining is pretty hardcore eating, IMO! We had it for 2 trips and wasted so many credits that we just keep the regular DDP now, and pay OOP for any meals that go over.

 

[ArmyVet80]

We always get the Deluxe Dining Plan but we schedule our meals about 7-8 hours apart. We also dining at 3-4 Signature restaurants per trip also. 2 meals per day is what we average normally so it doesn't change much for us on vacation. With the snack credits you can always get something "light" like fruit or a mickey ice cream bar/sandwich that would hold ya over. I just posted our ADR's for our trip in September on here. Minus a few reservations there is a reasonable amount of time between our ADR times. We also only have 2 meals per person left at the end of the trip which we just haven't scheduled yet. Not sure if we are doing DTD or a park so we haven't made an ADR for them yet.

 

[Kkb0517]

It could also depend on how you plan to hit the parks. It's just my husband and I in our twenties and we do so much walking at Disney we eat three full table service meals a day because we are hungry. So we like the deluxe (2015 version) but it probably depends on how you tour and how much you eat.

 

[Livelovedance]

Thanks everyone. Our dining plan was not free. We have 1 TS the first day and 1 the last day. The other 4 days we have 2 TS each. One ADR is for CRT which takes 2. All the others are 1. Our meals are scheduled either as breakfast and dinner, or early lunch and dinner.

I'm thinking on the first and last day I'll need at least one CS meal each day in addition to the 1 TS. Although CS is a lot cheaper than TS that would make use of a total of 13 meals. I guess I'm just having a hard time deciding because I haven't been to most of the restaurants we are going to, so I'm not sure if I'd be better off paying OOP. We'll definitely be in the parks every day.

Thanks again for the advice! I guess I have more thinking to do!

 

[DisBuckMan]

The standard dining plan is $60.64/day, and the deluxe dining plan is $109.53/day. Look at the menus of the restaurants your group is planning on visiting, and make your decision from there. Keep in mind that the standard plan is one snack, one QS, and one TS per day, while the deluxe is 3 TS and 2 snacks per day. Also keep in mind that the deluxe plan includes a dessert AND an appetizer with each TS meal, while the standard plan only includes a dessert. To me, the deluxe is a TON of food that I'd never come close to eating all of, and all those table service meals take a lot of time which my family would rather spend in the parks. That's in individual decision, though.

TIW can be a great deal, if you qualify for it. My family does not.

 

[supersnoop]

Thanks everyone. Our dining plan was not free. We have 1 TS the first day and 1 the last day. The other 4 days we have 2 TS each. One ADR is for CRT which takes 2. All the others are 1. Our meals are scheduled either as breakfast and dinner, or early lunch and dinner.

I'm thinking on the first and last day I'll need at least one CS meal each day in addition to the 1 TS. Although CS is a lot cheaper than TS that would make use of a total of 13 meals. I guess I'm just having a hard time deciding because I haven't been to most of the restaurants we are going to, so I'm not sure if I'd be better off paying OOP. We'll definitely be in the parks every day.

Thanks again for the advice! I guess I have more thinking to do!

I'm only counting 10 meals in there. And, to be clear, how many people are in your room?

 

[DisBuckMan]

I'm only counting 10 meals in there. And, to be clear, how many people are in your room?

She stated that she needed 11 credits, and one of them was for CRT which requires 2. 10 meals plus the extra credit for CRT = 11. I'm still struggling to see how the deluxe plan would be a good deal for her...especially since it doesn't appear that she'll even use over 1/4 of her TS credits.

 

[mrsjoannh13]

You really need to do an analysis of where you'll be eating, what you'll most likely order off the menu, and compare the out of pocket cost to the dining plan cost. I didn't think the Deluxe plan made sense for us at first with the additional cost, but we have about 4 or 5 signatures and several character meals so it actually came out saving us money to do the DDP. We're traveling with some "slow movers" (toddler and 2 seniors) so we'll be taking frequent breaks - at least 2 TS credits per day, sometimes 3 with signatures included. It just depends on your plans, your ADR's and how much you eat. For us the standard plan was free and we only had to pay $40 per day to upgrade. When we did the math it was worth it, but on future trips I don't know if it will make sense for us. This is our first with DD3 and possibly the only time we'll bring parents with us so we're doing a lot of dining experiences. In the future we might want more park time and only 1 TS per day. Just need to crunch the numbers.

 

[Livelovedance]

She stated that she needed 11 credits, and one of them was for CRT which requires 2. 10 meals plus the extra credit for CRT = 11. I'm still struggling to see how the deluxe plan would be a good deal for her...especially since it doesn't appear that she'll even use over 1/4 of her TS credits.

I'm staying for 5 nights. I'm traveling with a friend and her family but I'm staying in my own room, so my dining plan would not affect theirs. They signed us up for the standard DP, which gives us 5 QS and 5 TS, but made reservations for 10 TS (one of which is CRT which requires 2 TS credits), which leaves me to need 11 TS credits.

I was just trying to figure out if it was better for me to upgrade to the deluxe DP because I'd have 15 credits to use instead of 5 TS. Right now I have 5 QS and 5 TS, but I didn't know if it made more sense for me to be paying out of pocket for 6 additional TS meals. I have an annual pass so I could buy the TIW but I don't think it'd be worthwhile.

I'm new to Disney dining. I only have done the regular dining plan once, and we made our reservations based on the number of credits we had. This is a completely different situation! I've never been to most of the restaurants we have reservations for so it's hard for me to say what the cost would be and what I would order. I know the dining plan cost is based on individual experience, I was just looking for advice/suggestions from people that have more experience with it. I appreciate all of your comments!

 

[supersnoop]

I'm staying for 5 nights. I'm traveling with a friend and her family but I'm staying in my own room, so my dining plan would not affect theirs. They signed us up for the standard DP, which gives us 5 QS and 5 TS, but made reservations for 10 TS (one of which is CRT which requires 2 TS credits), which leaves me to need 11 TS credits.

I was just trying to figure out if it was better for me to upgrade to the deluxe DP because I'd have 15 credits to use instead of 5 TS. Right now I have 5 QS and 5 TS, but I didn't know if it made more sense for me to be paying out of pocket for 6 additional TS meals. I have an annual pass so I could buy the TIW but I don't think it'd be worthwhile.

I'm new to Disney dining. I only have done the regular dining plan once, and we made our reservations based on the number of credits we had. This is a completely different situation! I've never been to most of the restaurants we have reservations for so it's hard for me to say what the cost would be and what I would order. I know the dining plan cost is based on individual experience, I was just looking for advice/suggestions from people that have more experience with it. I appreciate all of your comments!

Sorry, I missed the "and last day" on your post, so it does look like 11 meal credits.

Plug in your information at www.distripplanner.com and see what it says. They'll use averages for the meal costs, but it should give you a good idea. I doubt you'll hit the $500 you'll need to make a TiW card worthwhile unless you're going to pay for everyone's extra meals.

The standard dining plan is about $60 per night, so figure $5 for a snack, $18 for a counter service meal, and $37 for a table service meal. It's very difficult for a single adult to extract that much value from the plan.
The deluxe dining plan is about $110 per night, which makes it a little easier. Figure $10 for the two snacks, which leaves $33 for each meal. Since the meal also includes appetizer, a single adult can sometimes save money as long as you actually order appetizers and deserts with each meal.

 

[Fantabulously Cherry]

We made the upgrade for our September trip recently. We normally do the regular plan, but now we have our 2YO DD with us, it made more sense economically and strategically to upgrade to Deluxe.

 

[Baklava]

So I use this awesome tool: http://www.distripplanner.com/

It gives you the average cost for each meal you want, adds it all up and tells you how much you'd save or lose with the various plans v. out of pocket.

For us, the difference between OOP and the average costs is about $16 over 10 days. Given the propensity of my husband and son for wanting the pricier entrees wherever we are, that's actually much higher. Plus we get the free refillable mugs, which I didn't factor into our comparison because we wouldn't buy them, but they make a nice souvenir.

 

[Alliecat33]

So I use this awesome tool: http://www.distripplanner.com/

It gives you the average cost for each meal you want, adds it all up and tells you how much you'd save or lose with the various plans v. out of pocket.

For us, the difference between OOP and the average costs is about $16 over 10 days. Given the propensity of my husband and son for wanting the pricier entrees wherever we are, that's actually much higher. Plus we get the free refillable mugs, which I didn't factor into our comparison because we wouldn't buy them, but they make a nice souvenir.

Thanks for that link! That is really cool! We are paying for the dining plan so it is nice to see what it would cost without it and to see that we are actually saving money with it!

 

[supersnoop]

Thanks for that link! That is really cool! We are paying for the dining plan so it is nice to see what it would cost without it and to see that we are actually saving money with it!

Any chance you could post your numbers? If your party consists of the people in your signature, I'm surprised you come out ahead with four adults and one child on the plan.

 

[Alliecat33]

Any chance you could post your numbers? If your party consists of the people in your signature, I'm surprised you come out ahead with four adults and one child on the plan.

A whopping $20.66! But really knowing that we don't have to plan for meals or spend money out of pocket, we would gladly pay more. It was a HUGE part of our trip last time! We like to have everything planned. We'll never go without dining!

 

[SouthJersey]

I'm getting ready for a Disney vacation! I will be vacationing with friends who have already booked ADRs. I have my own room booked, and we are using the standard dining plan.

I was just going through the reservations, and I would need 11 TS credits for all of our reservations (I only have 5!). Would it be worth it for me to upgrade to the deluxe dining plan (I'd then have 15 credits, but could use some of the others on counter service meals we don't have reserved) or should pay for the additional meals separately and look into the TIW card? Our meals are listed as $15-29.99 and $30-59.99 each, depending on the restaurant! I can't figure out how to tell what the better value is.

Add up on the menu's.
I did that, exactly to a T. We save like $700 by using the deluxe dining plan DURING free dining, because it's exactly how we'd dine without the plan.

 

[Livelovedance]

Sorry, I missed the "and last day" on your post, so it does look like 11 meal credits.

Plug in your information at www.distripplanner.com and see what it says. They'll use averages for the meal costs, but it should give you a good idea. I doubt you'll hit the $500 you'll need to make a TiW card worthwhile unless you're going to pay for everyone's extra meals.

The standard dining plan is about $60 per night, so figure $5 for a snack, $18 for a counter service meal, and $37 for a table service meal. It's very difficult for a single adult to extract that much value from the plan.
The deluxe dining plan is about $110 per night, which makes it a little easier. Figure $10 for the two snacks, which leaves $33 for each meal. Since the meal also includes appetizer, a single adult can sometimes save money as long as you actually order appetizers and deserts with each meal.

Thank you! This was exactly what I needed. According to this it's definitely not worth it to upgrade to the deluxe dining plan. I'll just have to plan accordingly and choose the right meals to pay OOP. Thanks everyone for your help!