Deluxe Dining

[jn0662]

Is the deluxe dining actually worth it? We are looking at it as an option but are a two meal type of person.

It appears to be worth it just because you can combine table and quick anyway you want. Just not sure how valuable that really is?

 

[gator girl]

I like it for character breakfasts followed by signature (2 credit) dinners, with a midday snack if I'm hungry. Obviously if you use credits for counter service meals you get a lot less value for your money, but it is an option if that's what you prefer.

 

[Cafeen]

Typically, if you can use 75-80% of your credits at TS locations, and you can use up most (all but 2-3) or more of your total credits, you'll come out ahead.

It does take a bit more planning, and obviously a bit more time dining, but it's easier to come out ahead on Deluxe than it is on the Standard, making it a better value.

 

[jn0662]

I like it for character breakfasts followed by signature (2 credit) dinners, with a midday snack if I'm hungry. Obviously if you use credits for counter service meals you get a lot less value for your money, but it is an option if that's what you prefer.

Thanks! Good call with the character/signiture dining! Didnt even realize we can put them together. Maybe even go to some dining shows! I think we will def add it now.

We would prefer not to eat quick, just because of the value-- but with a 2 and 6 year old on board it sometimes gets pretty crazy come sit down. I am sure you know!

We can normally see the mood before entering the restaurant and could change it up to a qs last minute/ hotel meal if stuck back at the resort for the day.

 

[DixieBelle]

deluxe dining is a lot of food. we did it as an upgrade from the free regular dining plan. honestly, I am not sure it saved money exactly...we don't usually order appetizers and desserts at each meal. but it was really nice to have the freedom not to look at the prices!

 

[pmaurer74]

You may get more responses on the Dining Plan page but we did the DxDp once and had 21 reservations. I loved it, DH hated having to be somewhere all the time. We did character breakfasts , CS lunch and TS dinner. I had a lot of fun but it was a ton of food. We did use att 42 snacks because DD was only 2 at the time and we used snack credits to feed her. SUmmer months when it is hot it can be nice to have an air conditioned place to eat. I would not do it if it was a once in a lifetime trip. We prefer the regular DDP and concierge if we can get it.

 

[JerseyJanice]

We just came back from a 4 night trip on Deluxe, and I loved it mainly because we ate at 4 signature restaurants we'd never been to before. After 4 trips in the past 4 years using the dining plan, we got to try out some new restaurants having deluxe this time.

Most days, we did a 1-credit meal for breakfast or lunch and a 2-credit meal for dinner. Those 2-credit meals were so luxurious! We spaced our meals out by several hours and used snack credits in between, and things went very well.

Whether any money was saved, I don't know, but it was a lot of fun!

 

[catra121]

I LOVE the Deluxe Dining Plan. We were able to space out our meals and ony do two a day by doing two things. First, as was already mentioned, we had some 2 credit meals in there. The other thing we did was have meals on both arrival and departure days.

We used one snack credit in the AM for a bagel or muffin and then used our refillable mugs for a drink. The second one was used in the afternoon usually for a coke or water while touring the parks. We used almost every credit as planned, only cancelling one reservation because we decided to go to the second Fantasmic show rather than the first that night. We used the credits on the last day to get some CS meals that we took to the airport and ate before we went through security (since you get there pretty early with magical express).

 

[DsnyMama]

We the DxDDP! Out of 4 trips we've only done Regular DDP once and hated it! We'll be doing DxDDP again on our next trip! For us, eating is half the fun of WDW - so many wonderful places!! We love Sig dinner and we love Character meals too! Sitting down to 2-3 meals a day helps us slow down and relax and rest a bit too! We generally do 8-8:30 breakfasts, 1-2pm lunches, and 7-8pm dinners - this always works out well for us!

For a 10 day trip (leaving afternoon of the last day and arriving afternoon of the first day) we have:

8 dinner
7 lunches
6 breakfasts

2 dinners are 2 credit meals and one lunch is a 2 credit meal. We have 2 quick service meals planned and still hope to get a reservation for dinner at Be Our Guest.

 

[sydneysmom]

We absolutely LOVED the deluxe dining plan !! We aren't 3 meal a day people either, but we chose this plan for a few reasons.

1. we wanted to do Cinderella's Castle for a breakfast and a dinner. (so that was 2 TS each meal alone)

2. We knew we wanted to do a character breakfast each morning... so if we only did the regular dining plan, we would have used up our TS for that day... the Deluxe gave us more flexibility.

3. We knew we wanted to try Flying fish and Narcoosee's ( again, 2 TS each)

4. You got 2 snack credits per day. Which came in handy when we wanted a light snack on the days we did a breakfast and dinner only.

5. snack credits came in handy with a DH that constantly must have a diet coke or water at all times. (I know, not the best use of the snack credits, but we didn't have to keep pulling cash out each time we got a drink)

6. It was a great way to start the day with a sit down meal, and a nice way to end the day with a sit down. On every other day, we did use a TS for a light lunch...which I have to say was REALLY nice to sit down in air conditioning and take a break and just relax for a little while.

The way we looked at is was this way... for us, it was a convenience and made our trip "all inclusive" so we didn't have to pay out of pocket for everything. So even if we broke even, we would have been just fine. As it worked out, we actually saved $ 668 by choosing the deluxe plan (this is after I have included what we spent on tips). We made smart choices at meals, didn't always eat dessert....sometimes shared appetizers...we didn't feel compelled to order everything that was included with our meal. For us, it worked. The one thing I have to be more aware of next time is the snack credits.... we had 6 left on our last day and I used them all for the Mickey rice krispy treats... I probably could have used them better.

I think if you want to try some signatures or CRT or the character meals, this is definitely the way to go. We are doing this again on our next trip.

 

[WillAustin]

We just did a 10 night stay with the Deluxe Dining Plan. We loved it.

Just on the meals alone, we came out $800 ahead of what we would have spent out of pocket, and that doesn't take into account the snack credits.

We usually did 2 TS meals a day, several at signatures or dinner shows.

 

[Yellosno]

It all depends on what you want to do.

 

[pigletto]

We loved it. Generally we used it for shows and signatures in the evenings, and had a TS at some point during the day (usually a late breakfast or early lunch). We didn't find it to be too much food but for one distinct reason.. we didn't feel compelled to eat it all. We would eat most of the appetizer, and some of dinner and stop when we were full. Dessert we might get to go, or only order a few for the four of us and share.
As long as you aren't feeling like you have to eat every single bite it's not too much food. I just didn't order what I didn't want.

 

[SabresFan]

Our family loves the DxDDP too. We usually just schedule two meals a day - one using one credit and a second using two credits. Only exception is Epcot, because there are so many outstanding one-credit places to eat, so that leaves us a couple extra credits to use on our last day, getting 9 days worth of meals out of an 8 day plan.

I would absolutely recommend scheduling reservations ahead of time if you're on the dining plan. Unless you are traveling at a very slow time, the more popular times will be full when you try to get there.

Reasonably well behaved children are perfectly fine at signature restaurants - this is Disney, and most people know that kids will be everywhere. Our two girls were like little angels at fancy restaurants, and they thought it was extremely cool to be at them. Although we were VERY heavy on the character meals so only a couple of fancy-but-no-characters with the young kids.

One other wrinkle with the reservations - for any of the signatures and character meals, you now need to cancel 48 hours ahead of time - if you are a no-show, you are charged $10 per person.

Because the DxDDP gives you SO much food (app, entree and dessert) we find that we hardly use any of the snack credits, even when only doing two full meals. So at the end of the trip, we visit a resort store and load up on snacks to take home - usually, most edible stuff under $4 qualifies as a snack. So you can get very fancy lollipops, Pez dispensers, Mickey-shaped pretzels, or whatever.

Enjoy!

 

[jn0662]

deluxe dining is a lot of food. we did it as an upgrade from the free regular dining plan. honestly, I am not sure it saved money exactly...we don't usually order appetizers and desserts at each meal. but it was really nice to have the freedom not to look at the prices!

Are appetizers included in deluxe do you know?

 

[jn0662]

We absolutely LOVED the deluxe dining plan !! We aren't 3 meal a day people either, but we chose this plan for a few reasons.

1. we wanted to do Cinderella's Castle for a breakfast and a dinner. (so that was 2 TS each meal alone)

2. We knew we wanted to do a character breakfast each morning... so if we only did the regular dining plan, we would have used up our TS for that day... the Deluxe gave us more flexibility.

3. We knew we wanted to try Flying fish and Narcoosee's ( again, 2 TS each)

4. You got 2 snack credits per day. Which came in handy when we wanted a light snack on the days we did a breakfast and dinner only.

5. snack credits came in handy with a DH that constantly must have a diet coke or water at all times. (I know, not the best use of the snack credits, but we didn't have to keep pulling cash out each time we got a drink)

6. It was a great way to start the day with a sit down meal, and a nice way to end the day with a sit down. On every other day, we did use a TS for a light lunch...which I have to say was REALLY nice to sit down in air conditioning and take a break and just relax for a little while.

The way we looked at is was this way... for us, it was a convenience and made our trip "all inclusive" so we didn't have to pay out of pocket for everything. So even if we broke even, we would have been just fine. As it worked out, we actually saved $ 668 by choosing the deluxe plan (this is after I have included what we spent on tips). We made smart choices at meals, didn't always eat dessert....sometimes shared appetizers...we didn't feel compelled to order everything that was included with our meal. For us, it worked. The one thing I have to be more aware of next time is the snack credits.... we had 6 left on our last day and I used them all for the Mickey rice krispy treats... I probably could have used them better.

I think if you want to try some signatures or CRT or the character meals, this is definitely the way to go. We are doing this again on our next trip.

Thanks for the response, this was very detailed and convincing! The rice krispy treats are def worth it! Who does not like them, good choice!!

 

[danceintherain]

Are appetizers included in deluxe do you know?

Yes.

I keep going back and forth on the Deluxe. As we are now it doesn't make much sense for us, but I'm having a hard time overlooking it for future trips. It does sound good, but the thought of having even two table service meals a day seems crazy to me, and three is out of the question. It might have something to do with the fact that we tend to go during Value season, so the park hours are shorter.
I probably will do it on our next adult only trip, but we shall see. By then it probably won't be worth it anymore.

 

[darguel]

We actually did an estimate of the cost of meals we planned to eat based on our ADRs and menus from allears. It's a bit tedious (and oh so anal) but it helped us make the decision to cancel our DDP booking as it would in fact cost us abt $200 more as we would probably not eat all that food if given a choice (can't stomach an appetiser, entree AND dessert each).

If you don't mind doing a bit of math, you can try that to figure out what makes the most sense.

 

[mom2rtk]

Thanks! Good call with the character/signiture dining! Didnt even realize we can put them together. Maybe even go to some dining shows! I think we will def add it now.

We would prefer not to eat quick, just because of the value-- but with a 2 and 6 year old on board it sometimes gets pretty crazy come sit down. I am sure you know!

We can normally see the mood before entering the restaurant and could change it up to a qs last minute/ hotel meal if stuck back at the resort for the day.

If you are looking for flexibility to choose a CS at the last minute (because you see a meltdown coming), then you'll need to make your ADRs at the less popular restaurants. All character meals, plus some other popular non-character meals require a CC hold. You'll be charged $10 per person unlss you cancel at least 24 hours in advance.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

I wish that they had a dining plan that was in between the plus dining and the deluxe dining plans. If there was a plan that had two TS credits and one QS credit a day, that is the one my family would get. I also think it would be nice if you could choose either an appetizer or a dessert. As is, the deluxe just does not make sense for us right now, so we go with the plus dining option.