Dining plan vs cash

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Disney.Mike

Well-Known Member
Hello everyone,

I have a question! I havent used the dining plan since 2010. After 2010 I've always stayed at Shades of Green and did their breakfast and dinner deal. This time however, we are staying at a moderate for the free dining. I'm trying to figure out which places will be worth using a table service for vs paying OOP. A friend will be with us for several meals and he also has a TIW card.

We have reservations at the following:
Breakfast:
CRT
Tusker house

Lunch:
Sci Fi cafe

Dinner:
Mickeys backyard BBQ
Chef Mickeys
Le Cellier
Sci Fi
Be Our Guest

We have a total of 7 table service credits. Can you buy more?
 
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Minthorne

Minthorne

Well-Known Member
i would definitely not upgrade to deluxe.

Pay out of pocket for any meal that would be 2 credits. Especially if they TiW is there. Using gift cards is a convenient way to pay for your meals when someone else is using the TiW.

I'd pay OOP for Le Cellier and Mickey BBQ - though that might leave you with an extra TS.

Be sure you use all the credits!
 
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sxeensweet

sxeensweet

Love a little Disney every day!! ;)
We love Sci Fi but I would not see the need to do it twice in one trip.
Lunch and Dinner is the same menu. Maybe get rid of that second one all together, or switch the second reservation at Sci Fi to 50's, Mama Melrose, or HBD to do something different.
Also no you cannot buy extra credits for the dining plan. :)
 
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CaptainAmerica

CaptainAmerica

Well-Known Member
Minthorne said:
i would definitely not upgrade to deluxe.

Pay out of pocket for any meal that would be 2 credits. Especially if they TiW is there. Using gift cards is a convenient way to pay for your meals when someone else is using the TiW.

I'd pay OOP for Le Cellier and Mickey BBQ - though that might leave you with an extra TS.

Be sure you use all the credits!
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+1
 
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Disney.Mike

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thing is, we booked at a CBR with the free standard dining. It cost our family of 5 (2 adults 2 kids, 1 under 3) 850 to upgrade to the deluxe. CBR, hoop-dee-doo, le celliar, and bbq all run right at 200 each so that covers the extra 800. We also booked ashukers and several other sigs and used all our table service credits (we use 3 of them on quick service on our stay).

If my math is wrong somehow please correct me.
 
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CaptainAmerica

CaptainAmerica

Well-Known Member
Disney.Mike said:
Thing is, we booked at a CBR with the free standard dining. It cost our family of 5 (2 adults 2 kids, 1 under 3) 850 to upgrade to the deluxe. CBR, hoop-dee-doo, le celliar, and bbq all run right at 200 each so that covers the extra 800. We also booked ashukers and several other sigs and used all our table service credits (we use 3 of them on quick service on our stay).

If my math is wrong somehow please correct me.
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It's hard to prove the math out when you're getting the original plan as part of the free dining and only paying for the upgrade. You might, in fact, be right that Deluxe looks like the way to go "on paper."

However, I'd still caution that the deluxe dining plan is more food than I've ever seen a human person able to consume. You can read countless reviews of the regular dining plan that talk about how it's just too much food and the deluxe is going to basically double that. Further, pursuing an itinerary with that many sit down meals is going to eat up (no pun intended) a lot of your day with traveling to and from your reservations and then eating the meals themselves.

Finally, with that $850 over seven nights, you would probably be spending the equivalent of if you were to upgrade from your moderate to WL or AKL. Just something to consider.
 
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Disney.Mike

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Yes, the issue I was worried about was the lunch time meals. Thats where the 3 QS are planned, with the other 3 lunches being Sci-Fi (historically has been quick meal) San Angel Inn(historiclly quick), and Rose and Crown (never ate here). I dont mind the big sit down meals at breakfast and dinner since its really more of an experience type deal moreso than the food (minus Le Celliar)

I didnt really consider upgrading. I wouldnt be interested in WL due to the inconvience. If the wife ever pops out another kid we will be there though lol. I would like to stay at AKL (although I'm scared I will get spoiled and only want to stay in a deluxe form now on lol)
 
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tglancy

Active Member
I can confirm that the Deluxe Plan is too much food. I've done the Deluxe Plan and the Regular Plan and felt as if I overpaid both times. And the poster who said that you spend a ton of time trying to get to and from your reservations is right. Your vacation becomes almost dominated by worrying about where you are going to be for every meal.
 
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sxeensweet

sxeensweet

Love a little Disney every day!! ;)
tglancy said:
I can confirm that the Deluxe Plan is too much food. I've done the Deluxe Plan and the Regular Plan and felt as if I overpaid both times. And the poster who said that you spend a ton of time trying to get to and from your reservations is right. Your vacation becomes almost dominated by worrying about where you are going to be for every meal.
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Just depends on your eating habits. We have done regular many times (and came out even or slightly ahead) and we have done Deluxe and came out almost even.
Also we never felt like all we were doing was running around eating either on Deluxe. We did a a good mix of signatures/2 credit dinners and 1 credit dinners, ate QS for lunch, and had a few days with breakfast TS meals. We ended up with only 1 credit each (me and DH) we did not use and still came out almost even on the Deluxe. Never felt like we were only eating and not enjoying the parks. You don't have to do 3 sit down meals a day to get your money's worth with Deluxe by any means. It is not poor use to use them on QS for one meal a day just like the regular plan. Most think you have to use them as all TS to be of good use but that is not necessarily the case. :)
 
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DarthVader

DarthVader

Sith Lord
The last time we stayed at DW, we used the dinning plan (the one with 1 QS and 1 sit down).

I believed we saved money because we loaded up on character meals. Still it can be expensive because for sit down meals you're on the hook to pay the gratuity.

This time around we're doing the base Quick Serve meal plan and any sit down meals will be paid out of pocket. For the most part when we're in the parks we want to maximize our time and not use an hour (or more) to eat. Our kids are now 9 so while they still like the character meals there's less of a draw at this point
 
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