Why would you choose DxDDP over regular DDP?

[bangzoom6877]

We went to WDW in July and loved the regular DDP. We enjoyed the CS lunches and TS dinners each day. We also felt we had more than enough snacks to enjoy. It was me, DH, DS3 and DS1. So DS1 was not on the DDP, but there was plenty for us to share with him, and they did not charge at the dinners because we did the all-you-can-eat meals where kids under 3 are free anyway.

Next time we go (not for a while, July 2010...and I know things can change drastically for 2010 with the DDP but I am still having fun looking into it!!), we are considering going to some dinners for 2 TS credits. So, I am starting to look into whether or not the DxDDP would be better for us next time around. By then my little one will be 3 so he would be on the dining plan. So, for our planned 10-night stay, we would have a total of 80 snacks, which seems pretty excessive, no? I suppose it is not excessive if we use some of those snack credits to get bottled water instead of carrying our own into the parks, and use the other ones for snacks we love and also enjoyed on this last trip. Then there are the three meals a day. The places we would consider for 2 TS credits are:

-Yachtsman's Steakhouse
-Flying Fish Cafe
-Hoop-Dee-Doo dinner show
-California Grill
-Hollywood Brown Derby (Fantasmic dinner package)

However, I am not sure we would definitely want to plan to go to ALL of the 4 above restaurants. Now, we would be staying 10 nights at BWV (becoming DVC members there...awaiting to hear about a resale there). We will only be spending 5 days in the parks, the rest of the time will be down time at the resort (pool, Community Hall, etc.), and Downtown Disney. So on those off days when we are not at a park, we would definitely have time to go out and treat ourselves to a nice breakfast without having to rush out of the restaurant to go to a park. On this last trip we stayed 5 nights and went to a park each day so we did breakfast in the room except for one morning at DHS before the park opened, and the morning we left (did not go to a park that day). Lunches would definitely be CS for us on the days we are at the parks, so 5 of those. The other 5 days lunch could be anywhere we want on the Deluxe plan because we could do TS for any of the meals. And we would have time on those off days too. At a park I do not want to spend more time at a restaurant for lunch, so definitely CS for lunch those days. We also love character meals because the boys enjoy them (so do we!!! we love those Disney characters!).

I will also add that the food on our vacations is very important to us and we like to treat ourselves nice on vacation (we only go away once a year). I know also that the DxDDP includes an appetizer at the restaurants that are not all-you-can-eat, whereas the regular DDP does not. And I know that neither one includes gratuity.

So, for those of you who have done the deluxe plan, how did you spread out your meals? Did you find value in the plan, or just break even? Would you do it again?

 

[Mom2PrincessK]

We are trying the Deluxe for the first time this year. We are a family of four (only one on the child plan) staying 5 nights. Our normal schedule is to eat at two sit-down restaurants a day...including several Character meals. (either a late bfast/early lunch and a dinner).

While it is five nights (15 TS credits), it is six days, and we are doing three 2credit meals. With our planned meals, we have enough for two meals a day with snacks to fill in for quick breakfast/lunches between the TS meals.

I went through the menus on what we would eat at without the (no apps, desserts), and came up with an estimate. Compared to the DDDxP cost it is basically a break-even for us as far as dollars go...

We wouldn't normally have the apps & desserts (except maybe splitting a dessert here and there). With the Deluxe plan we won't be saving any money, but we'll be getting the apps, desserts and snacks for "free" (except for the extra amount of the tips involved....)

While we aren't saving money, since we do the meals anyway it is a good deal for us. It may be "too much" food, but it is only a few days, and we'll at least be able to try the apps & desserts although I don't know if we'll be able to eat all of them every meal. I can't wait!

 

[PaulaSB12]

I booked the free dining plan for september 2009 and upgraded it to deluxe, why? because it looked fun and I am going to all the signature resteraunts. Oh its a solo trip.

 

[bangzoom6877]

Thanks for the feedback. I wish Disney would come up with something in between the regular and the deluxe, like one with 2 "anywhere" meals and one snack a day, or one with 2 TS meals, 1 CS and one snack a day. With apps included at TS places of course!! Wouldn't that be nice?

 

[maggieb9975]

Thanks for the feedback. I wish Disney would come up with something in between the regular and the deluxe, like one with 2 "anywhere" meals and one snack a day, or one with 2 TS meals, 1 CS and one snack a day. With apps included at TS places of course!! Wouldn't that be nice?

I booked deluxe so we could have 2 TS a day but don't like having to eat 3 TS a day..too much time wasted...so I have booked a lot of signature dinners. Your idea would be almost perfect

for me .....I would like the 2 snacks still as I plan on using for drinks (water mostly) and I would like to have a CHOICE of either app or desert...

Hopefully Disney will keep reviewing plan for OUR benefit...not just theirs

 

[septbaby]

It was me, DH, DS3 and DS1.?

Ask this question again when the boys are 17 and 15 and seem to have hollow legs!

 

[bangzoom6877]

Ask this question again when the boys are 17 and 15 and seem to have hollow legs!

LOL, DH and I are becoming DVC members (Disney approved our purchase or a resale today!!), since we plan to go to WDW at least every other year. That way we can take advantage of the membership many times between now and when the boys start college. DH and I loved the DDP this last trip, and will definitely get it again next time (either the regular or deluxe, if they still have both in 2010). I pointed out to DH that once the kids are 10 years old, they have to pay the adult price, which as of 2009 is $40 for the regular DDP per day per person. I told him I did not know if it would be worth it at that point since they will still be pretty young and may not eat that much. He started laughing so hard and said to me, "you think a 10-year-old boy can't eat $40 worth of food a day?" It's funny because I'm not used to it...it was just my sister and myself growing up so I never had a brother to see how a boy at this age really is on a daily basis! So DH informed me! After that I was wondering if we would definitely need the deluxe plan in just a few short years from now! By then they will probably be using up all of MY snack credits!

 

[septbaby]

That DH is a wise man! I am the oldest and only girl, I have two younger brothers. My mother had to resort to hiding certain items so she could have some as they seemed to inhale everything.

I grew up with Heinz Ketchup and Aunt Jemima syrup on the table. When the boys started eating it changed to Econo brand Catsup and Syrup, they never even tasted the food long enough to know the difference and my mother refused to give them "the good stuff"! I used to ask them if they wanted some pancakes with that syrup, yuck! Keep an open mind with the DP, it will keep you out of that DVC kitchen as they age.

You have a lot of fun yrs between now and then, enjoy the ride.

 

[RACHELSMOM1]

We choose Deluxe because we hate CS - takes up too much time for what you get. CS meals get to be boring after awhile. I would much rather go to a TS and order a light lunch in a cool and comfortable place and have the food brought to the table. You don't have to hunt for a table and go back for the other things (condiments) and it is a good time to plan the rest of our family day at the parks. With the deluxe you also get the refillable mugs, and 2 snacks a day. There is no need to bring extra sodas or water for the parks (no grocery shopping needed) and you get to try out all the restaurants you would not normally go to. We love the deluxe dp and can't imagine a WDW trip without it.

 

[tnd]

We haven't decided on a dining plan yet, but if we do, it would only be deluxe. We aren't big CS fans, and will probably eat at 3-4 signature restaurants while we are there in January, as well as 3-4 character meals. For us, eating well is a big part of vacation, and I prefer the variety at TS restaurants.

 

[Crazy Mother of Two]

I booked the free dining plan for september 2009 and upgraded it to deluxe, why? because it looked fun and I am going to all the signature resteraunts. Oh its a solo trip.

Just a question....I am planning our Sept.2009 trip and you said you already booked free dining? I thought you had to wait for it to become available? I would love to book it now so I don't have to worry about it!

Also, if it is free dining at the time and you upgrade to Deluxe - how much do you pay for the dlx?

 

[Tricia1972]

Just a question....I am planning our Sept.2009 trip and you said you already booked free dining? I thought you had to wait for it to become available? I would love to book it now so I don't have to worry about it!

Also, if it is free dining at the time and you upgrade to Deluxe - how much do you pay for the dlx?

Anyone who has booked Free Dining already did so via the bounceback offers that are being offered right now.

If you upgrade to deluxe, you pay the difference between the regular DDP and the DxDDP.

 

[LUVMICKEY]

I was thinking about this same question so I'm really glad bangzoom6877 asked. I've been tossing the possibility of the dxddp back and fourth and wondering if it would work out good for us. We have used the regular dining plan several times and love it. Using up all the snacks isn't a problem, it's using all the TS meals I keep wondering about, even though we are planning on going to a couple of 2TS dinners. So I'm very interested in everyones thoughts also.

 

[PaulaSB12]

Just a question....I am planning our Sept.2009 trip and you said you already booked free dining? I thought you had to wait for it to become available? I would love to book it now so I don't have to worry about it!

Also, if it is free dining at the time and you upgrade to Deluxe - how much do you pay for the dlx?

I can't remember how much, will look it up at some point, no we have not done the bounceback I am in the UK and we already have the offer, it started while I was out and final booking date in in November it starts 8/02/09 and finishes it 10/03/09.

 

[Crazy Mother of Two]

Anyone who has booked Free Dining already did so via the bounceback offers that are being offered right now.

If you upgrade to deluxe, you pay the difference between the regular DDP and the DxDDP.

Ooohhh bouncebacks! Of course! Thanx for the info!

 

[pickles]

My family has done the DDP and then my son and I only trip in jan we tried the Dlx, and I really enjoyed it! It does work out well if you arrive early and leave later, so you can make full use of credits and it also helps if you change your resorts once(check in and out) so you can have it for several days and then a couple days without.(using up any extra snacks etc..)

anyways, the nice thing for us is we were at AKV and ate Boma's breakfast everyday, we didnt stress whether we wanted a sit down for lunch or counter, we did whichever fit best for the day, we did the HDD once and a ts every night.
anyways, we went into it not worrying if we nought the most expensive thing or ordered appetizer/dessert..we just did what felt best for us, and we really enjoyed it

I crunch numbers at home, and I think overall it's a pretty good deal. Oh, and I didn't bring waters from home this time, just used the plan for drinks

 

[bangzoom6877]

Thanks everyone!

One thing that holds me back about the deluxe plan is all the ADRs for the TS restaurants. We will be staying at BWV, so Spoodles for breakfast many mornings is a possibility, but do we always need an ADR? Are there any TS places you could get into in mid-July that you would not have to plan for and make an ADR?

When we went to WDW in July, we had an ADR for all 7 TS meals we had. So I was not nervous about getting in, I knew we had an ADR, and we always arrived early (I purposely made each ADR 15-20 min after we would arrive, and sometimes we got sat before the ADR time!!). If we were to go without ADRs for any meals, I think it would make me totally nuts worrying about getting into a restaurant. I know that for any character meal you need an ADR (VERY popular), and I assume the same for most or all of Epcot's TS places, but not sure about the other TS places. And since we will be going for 10 nights, we will be going to plenty of TS places without the characters too. We want to enjoy more of WDW's "regular" restaurants too!

I know that 3 TS meals daily is definitely not for us, at least at this point. My kids are very well-behaved and sit in restaurants, but for breakfast, lunch and dinner, I don't know. They would probably be okay, but they did get pretty darn tired by early afternoon on our trip in July, so I would worry about them being cranky during a sit-down lunch. The CS lunches worked well for us, they were quick (we went early, before noon), and we all did enjoy the food at the CS places. It is definitely more realistic for us to plan on CS lunches for our days at the parks. However, with all of this I am saying, on our next 10-night trip, we are only planning on going to the parks 5 or maybe 6 days. We are going to enjoy BWV more than we enjoyed the resort on the last trip (we stayed at Pop but did 5 days at the parks in a 5-night trip). So I don't know. I do have lots of time to think about it!! Not going until July 2010!

I did crunch some numbers, with one place for 2 TS (Yachtsman's), Hoop-Dee-Doo one evening, and the rest 1 TS credit each for breakfast and dinner, some regular a la carte places and some character places, then a couple of all-you-can-eat dinners without characters (like Cape May Cafe clambake dinner), and 1 CS credit for lunch daily (even though I know all credits can be used for either CS or TS on deluxe). With all that is included (2 snacks daily, refillable mug, appetizer), it would cost less to get the deluxe plan than to pay OOP for us, getting the exact same things. However, when I crunched numbers as to what we would normally do, it came out to a little more for deluxe. So it looks like next time we will probably go with regular DDP, and pay OOP for a couple of character breakfasts, as we did this past July. The deluxe plan is definitely something to consider for the further future though, when the boys are a little older and maybe wanting to eat much more, as others have confirmed they most likely will!!! We'll see what's available by then!

 

[septbaby]

The one thing you have an option for with Deluxe is room service. Those cost 2 meal credits, but on the Deluxe plan it could easily be worth it and doesn't require and ADR.

You can likely do w/o the Deluxe plan now, unless you and DH have a long list of places you really want to try. Especially since you're likely to do many character meals (buffet, AYCE) you'll have plenty to eat even on the basic plan.

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

DS12 and I just did the deluxe dining plan for 9 nights. We upgraded for 'free' dining but even if we had paid out of pocket, we would have saved over
$400. We also enjoy food and treat ourselves on vacation. I don't think we ordered any differently than if we were paying OOP. We love appetizers so that was a huge deciding factor for us. We didn't get dessert every meal or sometimes split one. Just because it is offered doesn't mean you have to eat it!

We also do not really care for CS. Nor do we plan midday breaks so sitting down to a nice lunch was our break. We ate at a few signature places and spread our 9 nights credits over 10 days so we only ate 3 meals once or twice on the trip.

As for snacks, we did use quite a few for water. We had 3 on our last day and grabbed some Mickey rice krispie treats to bring home.

We loved the DxDP. It would be hard to go back to Disney without it.

 

[distherapy]

We did the Deluxe, DH, me and our 3 yo twins. It's now a requirement for all future visits. We used snack credits for breakfasts on days where we didn't have character buffets for breakfast, so that worked out well (you can get huge fruit bowls, yogurt parfaits and much more). The little breaks for lunches really helped the parks not be too overwhelming and we loved the signature meals (kids too!).