Wish They Had A New Dining Plan

[supersnoop]

I haven't seen any posts saying people want the deluxe at the regular price, so I must have those posts. Can you point me in that direction?

Why not get the deluxe plan? Because it is almost 50 bucks per person more than the regular plan, and it's too much dining. That's why. What we're wanting is something in between. We have 4 Disney adults, so the difference between the regular plan and the deluxe plan is almost 200 per day. I like the convenience of pre-paying for our dining and not paying for meals OOP, but the deluxe plan gives us too many dining credits, and the upcharge is too much. So, the deluxe plan is not a good value. Value being the key word here.

Perhaps I wasn't clear enough. People are asking for the exact scenario that the deluxe plan covers, but without paying deluxe pricing. You say it yourself. No, the deluxe plan is not a good value; no dining plan offered is a good value. If you want two TS and one CS per day, the deluxe plan covers that.

The features that you, jcjen519, ncc1701, ForeverAlice, olwyngdh, fuzzylogicllc, and MamaCoog all describe meet the deluxe plan's features exactly. Your argument is that, because you'll use one meal credit for a counter service, or not use all the snack credits, or skip desert, you should pay less. And that level of customization just doesn't make sense.

 

[tinka-belle]

That is a plan we might consider buying. We might each get a appetizer (usually a salad or soup) at lunch or dinner but not big on desserts.We wouldn't do more than two 2 credit meals on a 6 night trip and other than our breakfast at CP we usually do counter service for breakfast.
Since we are no longer park commandos we do get TS at lunch most days..
I have crunched the numbers before and after our trips. The regular DDP doesn't cover enough and paying OOP gives us more freedom. The DxDP would be a waste of money.So unless free dining is available at PORQ or maybe POR when we go no dining plan for us.
If Disney ever offered a prepay for $X in food on property and get a 5% discount that we would gladly do.

Disney DID have this several years ago, I remember a "silver" dining plan we used that was less inclusive than the old "gold key" dining & fun plan. It cost $50 per person per night and gave you $55 per person to spend on dining. Like the current dining plans you got all your credit up front, and people would often overspend and not be able to load more discount credit to their account (was in advance like adding the current dining plans), thus having no more meal credit for their last day or two.

This happened more than you would think. $50-$60 or so was an average food day back then, but most would order more upscale or more apps and desserts with the feeling that the vacation food was prepaid, then have to pay oop toward the end of the trip. Left a bad feeling for the trip, few repeat bookings on that plan, so Disney ditched it and come up with the current dining plan options.

One credit per meal is easier to understand than trying to figure what your meals will cost ahead of time with varying menu prices. Remember this was before the days of the internet and everyone trying to ballpark meal costs! Most people don't do very detailed planning like we DISers do. The plan for paying $XYZ up front for a discount never really got popular and was dropped.

FWIW, we often feel tempted to upgrade to DxDP, but stick with the basic DDP and just pay for a few meals during our stay, always works out less and we don't fell forced to use those extra credits. We sort of customize the DDP to what WE want that way.

 

[Sarahbelle341]

We have done the deluxe plan and loved it but that was a shorter trip. This next trip we are doing a longer trip with more focus on the parks and using the regular dining plan. What I would love is a 2 table service one snack plan. We are not fans of disney counter service, hate standing in yet another line for food, and really would like to do a character breakfast and a sit down dinner with just snacks in between. Signature dining is nice and all but not totally necessary for us every trip. I like having reservations vs standing in line for quick service plus the food is better. I love the Dinsey cruise setup whatever I want to eat is included unless I want fine dining then there is a small upcharge.

 

[olwyngdh]

Perhaps I wasn't clear enough. People are asking for the exact scenario that the deluxe plan covers, but without paying deluxe pricing. You say it yourself. No, the deluxe plan is not a good value; no dining plan offered is a good value. If you want two TS and one CS per day, the deluxe plan covers that. The features that you, jcjen519, ncc1701, ForeverAlice, olwyngdh, fuzzylogicllc, and MamaCoog all describe meet the deluxe plan's features exactly. Your argument is that, because you'll use one meal credit for a counter service, or not use all the snack credits, or skip desert, you should pay less. And that level of customization just doesn't make sense.

No, deluxe doesn't meet what I want. I don't want three meals. I only want two and maybe a snack or two. Three meals are way too many.

 

[sharonabe]

No, deluxe doesn't meet what I want. I don't want three meals. I only want two and maybe a snack or two. Three meals are way too many.

But it can meet what you want. You have a 1 credit breakfast or lunch and a 2 credit dinner with a snack or two in between. Voila!! It works!