Dining Values...Regular vs Deluxe

[Nicole Matthews]

We're going back to Disney in March. We know we want to purchase a dining plan. Previously we enjoyed the the regular but are considering the Deluxe. Is the Deluxe a good value to add to our vacation?

 

[mco65]

Every one is a little different. The Deluxe always seemed like a lot of food and a lot of time spent sitting down and eating. Our family has done the regular dining plan on many occasions and have always enjoyed it but often found that we had more than 1 (left over) quick service meals at the end of our vacation so i can't imagine Deluxe. If your the Commando type that like to run at break neck speed from rope drop to park close then the Deluxe might just cramp your style but if you like to take it slow and enjoy the sights and sounds then Deluxe might be just up your ally. As for value.. geez, if your gonna sit down a few times everyday and eat well anyway then i suppose there is value but i always cringe when i see what Disney charges for meals.. not sure value is a proper term.

 

[loves to dive]

Whether it is a value to you is subjective. There are a few factors to consider, #1 being it is a lot of food. Do you normally eat 2 TS meals a day when you go? #2 is being tied down to two TS ADRs every single day, that takes a lot of time and a lot of planning. #3 is the price, for that I would just go through the menus of the places you think you want to eat and add up the costs of what you would order, don't factor in whether you would be on the DP or not, just what you would order. Then compare that to the price of the DDP. Personally it's not a good value for myself and my grown son because there are days when we might just want to snack around the world at Epcot instead of sitting down to a meal and we certainly never eat two big TS meals a day. While we do normally eat at least one, we don't ever book it in advance, it's just on a whim while in the parks so having to be tied down to a schedule wouldn't work for us. Also, I'm a very small eater. I usually get a kid's meal for breakfast or a muffin and my son tends to sleep through breakfast. If we eat QS, again I normally get a kid's meal. Not to save money but just because I just don't eat large meals. When we eat at TS I tend to order and appetizer and a soup or salad and we share a dessert since neither of us are big dessert eaters. Also keep in mind, if you are eating 2 TS meals a day, you are going to be tipping for those two meals so factor that into your costs as well.

 

[Faldred]

As noted above, you really have to want to focus on food if you do DxDP, because there's a lot of it. (Personally, it fits my style, but I know I'm not typical.) This includes a bit less park time as meals will take up big parts of the day, though this can be somewhat offset by using meals to replace other breaks/downtime, character meals to spend less time in meet & greets in the parks, etc.

If it does fit your style... from a dollars and cents standpoint, DxDP is a much better value than DDP. You can afford to be far less "optimal" in your choices, even including skipping an appetizer or dessert once in a while, and still come out ahead, whereas you've got to work hard just to break even on basic DDP.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

The other place where DxDP may make sense is if you're a Signature dining person. If you do a Signature every night, it may be worthwhile.

 

[gmboy95]

Whether it is a value to you is subjective. There are a few factors to consider, #1 being it is a lot of food. Do you normally eat 2 TS meals a day when you go? #2 is being tied down to two TS ADRs every single day, that takes a lot of time and a lot of planning. #3 is the price, for that I would just go through the menus of the places you think you want to eat and add up the costs of what you would order, don't factor in whether you would be on the DP or not, just what you would order. Then compare that to the price of the DDP. Personally it's not a good value for myself and my grown son because there are days when we might just want to snack around the world at Epcot instead of sitting down to a meal and we certainly never eat two big TS meals a day. While we do normally eat at least one, we don't ever book it in advance, it's just on a whim while in the parks so having to be tied down to a schedule wouldn't work for us. Also, I'm a very small eater. I usually get a kid's meal for breakfast or a muffin and my son tends to sleep through breakfast. If we eat QS, again I normally get a kid's meal. Not to save money but just because I just don't eat large meals. When we eat at TS I tend to order and appetizer and a soup or salad and we share a dessert since neither of us are big dessert eaters. Also keep in mind, if you are eating 2 TS meals a day, you are going to be tipping for those two meals so factor that into your costs as well.

This is great advice....for us, the amount of food and the price would steer us away from this. It seems like a deal, but by the middle of the trip the food becomes a bit much

 

[DisneyHardin]

We always do the regular dining plan, but are going to do the Deluxe for our trip in October because we want to do some signature places without the huge sticker shock.

 

[Nancyg56]

AS you can see, the DxDDP is more of a commitment to dining than the others, and you need to determine if that is how you want to tour. For my family, it depends on who is with us, and how we are planning to vacation. We prefer TS to CS, so that impacts our decision making as well.

I would suggest you do the math. Make your list of restaurants you would plan, check out the aps and entrees, as well as the desserts and beverages, and price out what you think your family would order. Be sure to factor dining time into your decision.

A lot of people discuss the additional gratuities that you are incurring, and I agree that they add up, but I then remove the taxes from all our food, and while it is not a wash, the difference is okay with us.

 

[heather913]

When I decided if the dining plan was right for us, I sat down and looked through all of the menus for restaurants and determined where we want to eat. I also looked at the cost for those meals. I decided we won't save money using it because we want to do some TS meals but not enough to get value out of the plan, especially because a lot of the TS meals we want are breakfast. If you end up eating things you wouldn't normally eat just to get value out of the plan, to me, that isn't worth it. TS includes a drink and dessert, but we usually drink water with a meal and we can share 1 dessert with 4 people. For me, the value of flexibility is more important than the small amount of money we may save.

 

[North of Mouse]

No way could we see it as a value - not even the regular DDP. But, it is very subjective to the people using it. Our 'worth' may be different than yours. I see so much waste with most using that plan, and I 'hate' waste! Lots of people say they don't eat the desserts or many apps after the first few days as they are stuffed! But to each their own!!
Tips will be paid on the full amount regardless whether you want it or not.