We came out way ahead ($ wise) on the Deluxe Dining Plan! Here’s how we did it.

[Laura527]

DH and I, and my brother stayed at Pop for 6 nights at the end of February/early March. We had two rooms and purchased the DxDP for one of the rooms (the 2-person room with DH and me), sharing the 36 table service (TS) credits and 24 snack credits among the three of us. We made 9 ADRs at restaurants we wanted to try, and everyone ordered what they wanted from the menu (we didn’t purposely try to order the most expensive items). I kept careful track of our dining expenses. The DxDP cost us $1,395 which includes tax. If paying OOP for the same meals and snacks, we would have spent $2,027 (including the tax but not the tip or other OOP expenses not covered by the dining plan), saving us $632 using the DxDP – a 31% savings! Here’s why it worked for us:

• We shared 2 adult credits among 3 adults, all with fairly ‘hearty’ appetites. Even with sharing the credits among the three of us, it was a lot of food! I can’t imagine just DH and I trying to use all those DxDP credits; we would have wasted a lot of food and/or credits.

• Among the 9 ADRs we made, 3 were Signatures (Cali Grill, Jiko, HBD) requiring 2-credits per meal, 2 were character breakfast buffets (Crystal Palace, H&V Fastasmic! package), and 3 were one-credit TS restaurants (‘Ohana, La Hacienda, Sci-Fi). Subtracting out $120 for the 24 snack credits (which for us averaged about $5 each), we needed to spend at least $35 per person per TS credit on the DxDP to come out even. Our meals ranged from $45-76 per person per credit at these restaurants. Only 1 (BOG breakfast) came in below $35 pp.

• We were fine with eating one or two big meals a day, and there is a LOT of food included in those DxDP lunch/dinners: each person can order an appetizer or side dish (we ordered 3 different appetizers and shared them), a main entree, dessert and beverage. On three of the days, we had breakfast and dinner ADRs and that was more than enough food for the day! On the other three days, we had just one dinner ADR; on those days, we used snack credits or leftover dessert from the night before to eat breakfast in our room (Pop rooms have a coffeemaker and mini-frig), had savory snack items at the parks in the afternoon (e.g., Poutines from the Refreshment Port at Epcot; mac ‘n cheese topped with pulled pork at AK) and then ‘gorged’ on an early dinner. I don’t think we would have come as far ahead if we had kids or members in our party who needed to eat three ‘regular’ meals a day.

• We each ordered wine, beer or cocktails for our beverage at every meal. Even the 3 breakfast ADRs included mimosas or sangria with the dining plan (along with coffee or tea) which we took advantage of. Alcoholic beverages add a lot to the tab, and we wouldn’t have come as far ahead if we had kids or non-drinking members in our party.

• We used all 24 snack credits to fill in around our breakfast and dinner ADRs, or for sodas, ice cream, etc.

I wrote a brief review of these restaurant in the Dining Reviews forum (https://www.disboards.com/threads/6...ief-report…well-maybe-not-that-brief.3738301/) if anyone is interested.

 

[Janet McDonald]

DH and I, and my brother stayed at Pop for 6 nights at the end of February/early March. We had two rooms and purchased the DxDP for one of the rooms (the 2-person room with DH and me), sharing the 36 table service (TS) credits and 24 snack credits among the three of us. We made 9 ADRs at restaurants we wanted to try, and everyone ordered what they wanted from the menu (we didn’t purposely try to order the most expensive items). I kept careful track of our dining expenses. The DxDP cost us $1,395 which includes tax. If paying OOP for the same meals and snacks, we would have spent $2,027 (including the tax but not the tip or other OOP expenses not covered by the dining plan), saving us $632 using the DxDP – a 31% savings! Here’s why it worked for us:

• We shared 2 adult credits among 3 adults, all with fairly ‘hearty’ appetites. Even with sharing the credits among the three of us, it was a lot of food! I can’t imagine just DH and I trying to use all those DxDP credits; we would have wasted a lot of food and/or credits.

• Among the 9 ADRs we made, 3 were Signatures (Cali Grill, Jiko, HBD) requiring 2-credits per meal, 2 were character breakfast buffets (Crystal Palace, H&V Fastasmic! package), and 3 were one-credit TS restaurants (‘Ohana, La Hacienda, Sci-Fi). Subtracting out $120 for the 24 snack credits (which for us averaged about $5 each), we needed to spend at least $35 per person per TS credit on the DxDP to come out even. Our meals ranged from $45-76 per person per credit at these restaurants. Only 1 (BOG breakfast) came in below $35 pp.

• We were fine with eating one or two big meals a day, and there is a LOT of food included in those DxDP lunch/dinners: each person can order an appetizer or side dish (we ordered 3 different appetizers and shared them), a main entree, dessert and beverage. On three of the days, we had breakfast and dinner ADRs and that was more than enough food for the day! On the other three days, we had just one dinner ADR; on those days, we used snack credits or leftover dessert from the night before to eat breakfast in our room (Pop rooms have a coffeemaker and mini-frig), had savory snack items at the parks in the afternoon (e.g., Poutines from the Refreshment Port at Epcot; mac ‘n cheese topped with pulled pork at AK) and then ‘gorged’ on an early dinner. I don’t think we would have come as far ahead if we had kids or members in our party who needed to eat three ‘regular’ meals a day.

• We each ordered wine, beer or cocktails for our beverage at every meal. Even the 3 breakfast ADRs included mimosas or sangria with the dining plan (along with coffee or tea) which we took advantage of. Alcoholic beverages add a lot to the tab, and we wouldn’t have come as far ahead if we had kids or non-drinking members in our party.

• We used all 24 snack credits to fill in around our breakfast and dinner ADRs, or for sodas, ice cream, etc.

I wrote a brief review of these restaurant in the Dining Reviews forum (https://www.disboards.com/threads/6-nights-on-the-dxdp-2-25-2019-to-3-3-2019-a-brief-report…well-maybe-not-that-brief.3738301/) if anyone is interested.

Thank you for the report! Great job and glad yall had a great trip! Appreciate you taking the time to post this.