Just returned on Deluxe plan -- not again

[Darth Cupcake]

no, your credits expire on midnight of your "check-out" date.. so, if you book a package for 7 nights, and 3 nights room only, you could use them until midnight of the 1st night of your room only reservation. On day/night 2 of your room only, the credits will have expired and would no longer be available to use.

I don't understand. There are a lot of people saying they are doing this:

Quote:
Originally Posted by luckytobeme88
I know that DlxDDP give you lots and lots of food. That's the reason we will be doing the plan during our upcoming trip in July. Do you know that your credits are still good until midnight of your "supposed" check out date? Do you understand what that means? We will doing a week of DLXDDP(6 nights) but adding an extra night with room only. So there you have it, my secret of not over-eating because we will be spreading our 6 nights' credit to use on the seventh nights.
So plan accordingly.

 

[disneyjunkie]

I don't understand. There are a lot of people saying they are doing this:

Quote:
Originally Posted by luckytobeme88
I know that DlxDDP give you lots and lots of food. That's the reason we will be doing the plan during our upcoming trip in July. Do you know that your credits are still good until midnight of your "supposed" check out date? Do you understand what that means? We will doing a week of DLXDDP(6 nights) but adding an extra night with room only. So there you have it, my secret of not over-eating because we will be spreading our 6 nights' credit to use on the seventh nights.
So plan accordingly.

Maybe I can help.

Say you book dining for 2/1-2/5 and room only for 2/5-2/7.

You can use dining from the time you check in on 2/1 until midnight on 2/5.

If you check out on the first resort at 6:00 am on 2/5 then check into the other resort, you'll be able to use the balance of your credits until midnight.

You won't be able to use credits on 2/6 or 2/7.

 

[luckytobeme88]

I was happy to know that there will many of us with the "Deluxe DDP" planned out the same way. Disneyjunkie, I like your example very much. I hope our fellow Dis'ers will want to give the Deluxe plan a second look.
So if you were going to be there for a total of 7 nights, book a 6-nights DlxDDP plus 1 night room only. We are talking about 6 x 3 TS = 18 TS and 12 snacks to use for 7 nights. Lovely!!

 

[JamesMom]

And you could use snack credits on your room only night to buy breakfast to eat the next morning!

 

[robemcdo]

I felt the 2007 plan was 'too much' food. I can only imagine how you felt after eating 3 full meals on the deluxe plan.

My guess is that is your paid as you went, ate normally, you'd have considerably more money left in your pocket than you had after this trip.

Not to mention, trying to coordinate all these meals would turn your trip into a week long food fair. No time for anything else

 

[ransom]

I felt the 2007 plan was 'too much' food. I can only imagine how you felt after eating 3 full meals on the deluxe plan.

My guess is that is your paid as you went, ate normally, you'd have considerably more money left in your pocket than you had after this trip.

Not to mention, trying to coordinate all these meals would turn your trip into a week long food fair. No time for anything else

That's just it -- it all depends on how one likes to dine, and how much time one has for dining.

Many of us, whether on a dining plan or not, will end up using the equivalent of 2 or 3 TS credits per day by going to signature restaurants for dinner, doing one or more TS breakfasts, and doing the same for lunch. For us, the deluxe plan is a money-saver.

But, as you say, for those who eat lightly or who simply don't have the time for dining at table service restaurants every day, the deluxe plan makes no sense at all. Eating light, and eating mostly CS, is the least expensive option of all...and will work great for those who like doing that.

Isn't it great that Disney can accommodate us all?

 

[bevypoo63]

This is how we intend to use the Deluxe DDP:
We have a motorhome and originally were booked at FW for the entire length of stay of our trip, but when the free upgrades came out we could only get them if we were staying at one of the other WDW resorts for at least 3 days.So we booked POP Century for 3 days.
Now we will have the deluxe DDP for the first half of our trip. We plan to eat 2 meals a day for 4 days. one being California Grill. use snacks if we need them in between. Any remaining snack credits will be used on the last day for things that can be stored in the Motorhome to have for quick breakfast such as cinnamon rolls from Main Street bakery etc.
we have made ADRs at the most expensive restaurants the first half of our trip and have ADRs at places like Rose and Crown , where you can get a fairly inexpensive sitdown meal when we are no longer on the dining plan.

 

[hddanis]

I have another question... for those who find the DDP to be a good deal~ how many of them have growing boys? I noticed this poster talking about trying to keep her boys from starving in the park and I can sympathize
My boys 10 and 13 are very trim but have developed a tape worm I swear they have!!!!!!!!!!! Our grocery bill rivals are house note and we live in a nice house
If we did the regular dining plan, I would still have to shell out money for food in the parks. A CS meal just doesn't fill them up for as long of time as a TS one.

We plan table service into our schedule. Eating a nice meal is part of the vacation and we look forward to it just as much as park touring. I don;t feel that time siting in a restaurant is wasted time.

How about a teenage daughter with hollow legs? DD13 eats us out of house and home!!!

We're doing Deluxe when we go mainly because of her. We're also arriving very early our first day and leaving very late our last day so we can stretch them out an extra day. I doubt we'd be able eat all that food if we didn't have that day. DD9 is a moderate eater, so I plan on sharing my apps and meals with her. As it stands now, I have 10 of our 12 credits accounted for mainly breakfast and dinner, with 2 lunches. Even with that, we're coming out ahead, and to be honest, I just like the fact it's already paid for. Budget wise, that helps out more than anything. All I need to worry about is tips and spending money at this point.

As for the snacks, I don't care if we use them all up on the last day bring home treats for my younger kids who aren't coming with me.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

I think I've arranged my ADRS so that it's an almost reasonable amount of food. I have one meal on my arrival and departure days, and two meals every other day, except for three out of the eleven full days where I am going to book three table-service meals a day.

 

[praline3001]

I am currently planning 2 trips.
The trip in June is just for my DD and myself. I decided to do deluxe even though we aren't bringing the boys.. here is what our ADRS will look like for the 2 of us:

14th -MK (Artist point dinner, cs lunch)
15: AK (room service breakfast, rainforest dinner )
16: Epcot (room service breakfast, coral reef dinner )
17: MGM (whispering canyon breakfast, brown derby dinner package)
18: MK (breakfast cindy castle, Ohana's dinner)
19: MGM or AK ( Whispering canyon breakfast, hoop Dee Doo dinner)
20: ak or epcot (room service breakfast, le ceillers dinner)
21: MK (room service breakfast, lunch at tony towne square)

Neither of us are HUGE eaters but we do like dining at the nicer places. We also LOVE room service the only thing between me and a pot of good coffee is the poor room service bell hop
Since I just started planning this trip over this weekend, it is subject to change a few times but so far I like what I see.

 

[tinker_me_happy]

I printed menus for the places we are going to eat and had everyone pick out meals they would like. Even considering appetizers and desserts on occasion and the refillable mugs, I think I will still save money with the DDE and paying oop. We do have plans for a LOT of TS restaurants, and very few cs so it was Deluxe DP or nothing. Since we are all "adults" (three teens and two adults) it would have been almost $2500.00 for the deluxe plan. Since we can share appetizers and desserts when we want them, and share meals if someone is not very hungry (typical of the 19 year old) I think paying out of pocket will be in my best interest. I hope my math works out!! I'll know in August when I return if it was worth the cost of the DDE or if I should have gone with the set price of DDP.

 

[Flower Power]

Has anyone used their PH voucher from their resort? Long story short, I ended up with 2 vouchers and wondered if I would be able to use both at the same time to equal 30$ in food credit? Any answers would be helpful. TIA

 

[Tricia1972]

We just returned from a great trip on the deluxe plan but we won't do it again. No one human should eat that much in a day!!!! Yes we saved money with the plan over $500.00 but we ate and ate and ate. We ate when we were not hungey and still came home with 5 meal credits. We went to several 2 credit meals, Brown Derby, CRT, and Narcoussie. You cannot eat (should not eat) that much. I still feel like a stuffed whale. On our next trip we will do the regular plan or may buy all our meals out of pocket. It is just way too much food.

Renee

I think that it's nice to hear how this plan worked for you who has actually used it. I'll be interested to hear more opinions of those who have been there and used the plan - as in did it actually work for you in practice, not just in theory.

 

[angelmav]

I printed menus for the places we are going to eat and had everyone pick out meals they would like. Even considering appetizers and desserts on occasion and the refillable mugs, I think I will still save money with the DDE and paying oop. We do have plans for a LOT of TS restaurants, and very few cs so it was Deluxe DP or nothing. Since we are all "adults" (three teens and two adults) it would have been almost $2500.00 for the deluxe plan. Since we can share appetizers and desserts when we want them, and share meals if someone is not very hungry (typical of the 19 year old) I think paying out of pocket will be in my best interest. I hope my math works out!! I'll know in August when I return if it was worth the cost of the DDE or if I should have gone with the set price of DDP.

Dont forget to add 18% to that total, which is what I am going to be really curious to see as people start coming back, because I think alot of people will still eat all these meals, even if there not really hungry because they have the credits and will consequently run up some pretty hefty tips. Heck, thats how people ate on the old plan, nibble of this, nibble of that because it was included.
Seems to me, its really closer to $100 per person per day if your eating three TS or 1 TS and 1 Signature a day by the time you add it all up. Cant wait for more first hand reports though!

 

[mickey2000]

I just can't do it

 

[tnmomof4]

Dont forget to add 18% to that total, which is what I am going to be really curious to see as people start coming back, because I think alot of people will still eat all these meals, even if there not really hungry because they have the credits and will consequently run up some pretty hefty tips. Heck, thats how people ate on the old plan, nibble of this, nibble of that because it was included.
Seems to me, its really closer to $100 per person per day if your eating three TS or 1 TS and 1 Signature a day by the time you add it all up. Cant wait for more first hand reports though!

That's what I was starting to think. Right now I have the DxDDP. I am planning on eating at a lot of TS restaurants. Then I realized that the 18% tip is going to start adding up by eating at a bunch of TS restaurants. Eating at a lot of TS restaurants will be nice, but I am wondering how much money I will have spent at the end of my trip in just tips. I don't mind paying the 18% tip, it's just that I didn't think about how much I would spend in just tips.

 

[TLSnell1981]

I am spreading my 4 nights of DxDP credits over 5 days. Using the "Disney standard" of 18%, my total OOP grat will be $140. That if figured on $770 TS meals, pre-tax. I have one meal, CRT, that the tip is already included. That did not factor into the above calculations.

 

[tnmomof4]

I am spreading my 4 nights of DxDP credits over 5 days. Using the "Disney standard" of 18%, my total OOP grat will be $140. That if figured on $770 TS meals, pre-tax. I have on meal, CRT, that the tip is already included. That did not factor into the above calculations.

I know you didn't do it in your calculations, but is the tip amount supposed to be including tax? I mean should I figure out how much each meal will cost, then add tax, then do the 18% on that to figure out how much the tip will be? I wonder how much tax is in FL?

 

[TLSnell1981]

I know you didn't do it in your calculations, but is the tip amount supposed to be including tax? I mean should I figure out how much each meal will cost, then add tax, then do the 18% on that to figure out how much the tip will be? I wonder how much tax is in FL?

Disney calculates the tip on the pre-tax amount. I posted the figures I used, so if someone wanted to figure out my overall savings on the plan. (which actually comes out to around $380) The gratuity will cost around $140. I still come out around $240 and my gratuity is "paid" for.

I hope I haven't confused anyone.

 

[Darth Cupcake]

Maybe I can help.

Say you book dining for 2/1-2/5 and room only for 2/5-2/7.

You can use dining from the time you check in on 2/1 until midnight on 2/5.

If you check out on the first resort at 6:00 am on 2/5 then check into the other resort, you'll be able to use the balance of your credits until midnight.

You won't be able to use credits on 2/6 or 2/7.

Thank you! We've used the regular plan before and frankly didn't think that much about it. I get it now though! I like your example. I see now what people are saying. Thank you!!!!!!