Why do you do the plus deluxe dining plan

[aaarcher86]

We really enjoyed being able to see a ton of characters during meals. It made us feel less pressured in the parks. Also, when I'm on vacation I look forward to eating out. One of the things the Deluxe plan allowed us to do was try new things and we wouldn't ordinarily have done that paying OOP. I'm not much for desert, but trying things and taking a few bites (or eating the whole thing!) was a lot of fun. I didn't feel bad if I didn't eat it all. I enjoy getting appetizers.

Getting the deluxe plan let us feel more comfortable and relaxed. We weren't counting our money all the time. We'll be going in October and doing the deluxe DDP again. I can't imagine going without it to be honest.

 

[Mickeyfan333]

why oh why did I look at this thread. I loved the dxdp last trip but DH hated it. (He doesn't like eating out at all for some reason) The lure of the dxdp for our trip in May is so strong I am having a hard time resisting. There are so many TS places I want to try we will end up spending the money anyway. I am thinking DH will have to suffer through it. I have told him if he agrees to back more often we wouldn't have to try so many places in one trip, but he refuses.

I have ran the numbers for our adrs and even if DH only orders an entree(which he most likely will) we will just about break even and that's not including snacks or the mugs.

DXDP

Sending some pixie dust your way to convince DH...did you get free dining for your trip in May? If you did, all you have to do is pay the difference!

 

[NMW]

Our reasons are:
1. We LOVE signature restaurants.
2. We LOVE appetizers.
3. We like to eat a TS character or resort breakfast every day.
3. We like being able to use snack credits for water and/or bottles of soda.
4. We really dislike CS meals. The whole standing in line, looking for a table, eating in the heat at most places, lack of choices...ugh. Just not for us. We like sitting in an air-conditioned restaurant having a cold drink brought to us while we look over the menu. MUCH more relaxing and I don't think it takes very much more time than a crowded CS place does. TS lunches are a nice break from the parks. We don't do one very day, but we do a few a trip.

 

[MtMinnie2]

We went in 2004 with a party of eight consisting of ages 84-14. We were on the deluxe plan and I thought it worked out very well. We were able to enjoy a couple of shows(Hoop de Do and The Cirque Solei) as well as some signature restaurants and character breakfasts. I loved the fact that it was prepaid and we didn't have to worry about the bills, I believe that we did have some credits left over so as far as saving I am not sure. We went again in 2008 with just 3 of us also on the deluxe plan and this time I found it was just too much food, We are planning on going again in 2011 with 10 of us and I am leaning toward the deluxe plan but will see what the rest of the group thinks.

 

[EeyoreEma]

We are doing the deluxe for our trip later this month and are excited for several reasons. We like the nicer restaurants and hardly ever do any counter service anyway. We like the break - we're not commando park people, though, so I"m sure that is part of it. We really feel like we need the chance to sit down for a while and regroup. We do several of the 2 TS meals per trip. Part of the Disney experience for us is eating out at the restaurants. It is truly vacation when you can go to a sit down restaurant and be taken care of, instead of cooking yourself or getting something from counter service and feeling like you're at a fast food restaurant. We also like appetizers, and the occasional dessert, and would be less likely to order them if we were not on the deluxe plan.

 

[PoohsFan1]

We did the DxDP for the first time in September and will be doing it again for our upcoming May trip. My DH and I really loved that we prepaid for our meals and were sitting down resting our tired feet with good food in front of us. For us, we like it because we love the signature restaurants (for mom and dad) and we do a ton of character meals (for the kids), plus there are days where we do do 3 meals in one day. We figured that our family has been to Disney enough times that we like to sit down when we eat and just enjoy our food. I also like the DxDP personally because when I am in Disney I will have both the app and the dessert with my meal and luckily for me they are included in the plan

 

[MSLRAC]

We opt for the DxDP for numerous reasons:
1. We need 3 meals/day or the kids and DH will get cranky. The basic plan only includes 2 meals and paying OOP for a 3rd meal each day for all of us would make the cost savings very minimal, if any.

2. We don't really like most of the CS restaurants. Waiting in a long line for fast food, then searching for a table (while carrying an overloaded tray) in a crowded, noisy area equals not fun and often takes just as long as a nice sit down TS place. Plus, our kids do better during meals in a TS environment.

3. Our kids love the Disney characters so character meals are a must. We'd much rather sit inside an air conditioned restaurant, eating a nice meal and wait for the characters to come to us than stand in endless lines throughout the parks for a few brief moments with whatever characters we happen to stumble upon.

4. Having ADRs planned in advance helps me structure our days so we don't waste time wandering around or wondering where we should go or what we should do. We also don't waste any time trying to decide on the stop where or what we want to eat.

5. We are not ride junkies. We have our favorites but also enjoy the overall experience and for us, part of the experience is nice meals shared as a family through out the day.

6. There are so many good TS places we want to try! I can't imagine being limited to only 6-7 of them in a trip and honestly we couldn't pick just a few.

7. We also really enjoy signature dinning. We only did 1 last trip but we will be doing 4 on our next.

8. We like appetizers but we all like different ones. Most often we compromise and get just one but at Disney, we can each get what we want.

9. I like knowing that when we get there, EVERYTHING but alcohol is paid for.

10. When we crunch the number, the DxDP saves us a ton of money. We saved well over $1000 last trip and I didn't even figure in the cost of our 56 snack credits when I did the math.


ETA: My kids dining habits were also a deciding factor for us. They are more accustomed to TS type foods. They do well in restaurants because they like to eat but they like regular food instead of kid foods. We were easily able to accommodate their tastes with the DxDP.

 

[pezaddict231]

We love the DxDP and it's definitely worth it for us, but of course everyone's situation is different, but here's why it works for us:

1) We want to eat at signatures every night, so that takes up two credits and we would normally order appetizers. For us, part of being on vacation is going out to nice dinners.

2) Dh also doesn't like CS and doesn't find it relaxing, so we usually do another TS and there are our three credits for the day. I have to agree that having and ADR and just going there and sitting in an air-conditioned restaurant is just what we need in the middle of the day.

3) There are so many places we love and so many left to try, so we have plenty of credits to do that. DH gets his steak dinners every night, I get a few character breakfasts and we're both happy. We also really enjoy the restaurants at Disney and that is part of the fun for us.

4) We like having 2 snack credits, we mostly use them for drinks since we normally go to Disney in the summer and I also use them for dole whips!

5) It saves us a lot of money, because we would pretty much order the same way even if we weren't on the plan.

6) It fits with our touring style, get up early, leave after lunch, nice dinner in the evening. I feel like we get the best of both worlds, the fun of the parks, but also some time to relax. We do plan our meals based on where we will be each day to minimize travel time, so I haven't found that to be an issue. We also usually only do 2 ts a day, the days we have tried to do three it is a bit much.

7) I like having the cost of our meals already paid for before we get there, so there's not a huge bill after the trip.

 

[senadler]

This is an easy choice for us. We will only do two TS meals per day, but we like the dinner shows and signature dining for dinner. That allows us to do either lunch or a character breakfast every day.

DD (10) will be on the adult plan, but DS (6) will not. He would not be satisfied with only the kids choices, especially with his sister ordering other items, so we can use appetizers to get him some extra items.

 

[havoc315]

A MK day of Whispering Canyon for breakfast, CRT for lunch and Cali Grill for dinner/wishes costs 5 Deluxe credits but I can make that up over 2 other days by doing snacks for breakfast (muffins, yogurt, fruit) and STILL have 2 TS meals on those days.

hmmmmmmm that's pretty sweet.

Sharing some of those meals is another way to make up for it on other days. You said you had 7 people --- you don't need to use 7 credits for every meal. Especially since appetizers are included, I can easily imagine having a satisfying lunch with only using 4-5 credits. Or sharing 4-5 CS breakfast platters, supplemented by a couple of those snack credits.

 

[Disneywedding2010]

We chose the Deluxe because I like the break and being able to sit and enjoy a meal and have someone wait on me. I also like the character meals because then we aren't having to stand in really long lines at parks to see the characters. To me its a time saver for us personally.

 

[auntfrannie]

It's a vacation and I want to enjoy things I don't normally enjoy at home. That means someone else doing the cooking and I don't mean burgers & fries that I can get at any fastfood chain. I love the signature dining. I have a trip scheduled for April and every night is a different signature dining restaurant.

 

[PureTcrazy]

We just returned Saturday from WDW, we did 2 day Dxdd, then 1 day Platinum and then 3 day DxDD. We did signature restaurants every night and breakfast's every morning. One day, we did 3 meals in one day. OMGee we were stuffed to overflowing. We loved being able to try many of the restaurants that we would not normally be willing to pay oop for and going to character breakfasts in the park.

IMHO, I would not recommend this to someone unless they have been to WDW many trips and they are not pressured to spend a lot of time at the parks. Even with a car supplementing Disney transportation, it takes up a lot of time to travel to other resorts, park/walk to restaurant, wait on ADR's etc. If you have been multiple trips and are willing to stop and smell the flowers or in this case, taste the appetizers...then DxDD is the way to go. I will say that because we wanted to taste everything we could, I ended up feeling guilty about wasting so much food.

 

[fallen_angel727]

We chose the Deluxe plan so we could have a sit down meal for breakfast AND dinner everyday...which is something we do at home

 

[blakrose9999]

Did the deluxe plan in 2008 when it was just hubby and I it worked out great for us. We had a couple 2 credit resarants planned and were eating a minium of one TS mean a day on top of those. We did do a few CS meals for quick convience but when I added up the receipts at the end of the week I believe we about broke even for what we paid and it was great to have the convience. We would have come out ahead but our dinner at one 2 credit was cancelled as I got sick, plus we had extra snacks since hubby paid for snack a few times afraid to run out of credits.
We are going again next year and will be doing the deluxe again just so i don't have to think.

 

[ambertides]

We did the DxDP for our weekend stay for my birthday. It's excellent for weekend stays like that. We had an early breakfast (8:30am) and late dinner (9:30pm) the first day and 5pm dinner the second. So it didn't seem like too much food spread out that way.

One night, $71.99 per person, so $144.

Our bill totals were $49 (CP), $70 ('Ohana), and $90 (WCC). So $209. It was Food & Wine so we used our snack credits for that, and the total for those ended up being $23. Add in 2 mugs at $14 each, and it would've been $260 out of pocket. The only thing I might've done differently off the plan is skip desert at WCC, so even if you take off that $7, it's $253. Over $100 savings either way.