I think the Deluxe Dining Plan is for us next time...

[slappy magoo]

During an exceptionally long train ride today, I was looking up menus and plotting reservations I'd try to get for the next vacation. There will be 4 of us, wife, 3 year old (closer to 4), 6 month old infant and me. With such a young baby, we'll be a little limited by the things we can do, and we're pretty sure our oldest will be all about meeting the characters, so we'll be doing a goodly amount of table service meals, usually for breakfast and dinner.

I was originally thinking that it may be worth it for at least one of us (OK, me) to get an annual pass with our DVC discount (even though we won't be back within a year), and adding the Tables in Wonderland discount. It seemed that, if we spent at least 150 each day in table service dining, we'd at least break even, which would be much easier if my wife and I drank during meals (which I don't and she won't while breastfeeding)

And then I started to think "well, for 30 dollars more than that, we can do the Deluxe Dining Plan." I started trying to do some more intricate number crunching - knowing the prices of the buffets and family-style pay-one-price restaurants is obviously easy, but for other types of eateries, I had to make an educated guess as to what my wife and I would each probably order (most times, the kids' menu is pay-one-price regardless of the adults' menu). And when all was said and done, it looks like just eating 2 table service meals a day (with only 1 Signature dining meal) gets us within 20-30 dollars of the cost of the deluxe plan, not including all those remaining credits that could be used for counter service OR table service OR even in-room dining if necessary (and if the kids get cranky it might be necessary). AND 2 snack credits daily, and the mug.

I don't think it'd be worth it were we doing 2 counter service meals a day, but it really does seem like 2 table service meals a day tips the scales, quite heavily, in the favor of deluxe dining. And hey, it affords us the opportunity to bring some of the snacks (if they're prepackaged or otherwise travel-ready) home to make the vacation last in our mouths for a few more days.

Even if we don't try to maximize the cost - skipping an appetizer or dessert once in a while in those table service restaurants, and gasp! not falways cleaning off your plate - it still seems like a value. "value being a subjective term, if we really wanted "value" we'd just skimp like crazy. But for a family that would like to sit and enjoy being served, OR the options that a buffet provides, Deluxe, at this time, makes sense.

Anyone else find this to be true for them?

 

[NewfieFan]

Interesting thoughts! Hopefully, the deluxe does work out for you and it is a better deal than the TIW.

Our family just doesn't eat enough food to justify any of the DDPs. I have had them free in the past and yes, for a family of four staying in a value room it did save us more money than a room discount! But we've moved on from the values for the most part and now we're DVC owners. We've had APs for the last two years and the TIW has been wonderful for us. We just don't eat at enough TS during a trip to make the regular or the deluxe DDP work. We have been to enough TS though, to start saving with our TIW. I just can't eat two TS meals in one day! We're really small eaters and we like our schedule to be pretty flexible.

If you think your family can handle and enjoy two TS meals a day than by all means go for it... and have fun!

 

[cslafferty]

I love the DDP! I know that before I leave my house EVERYTHING (except tip and souveniers) is paid for. We feel free to try foods and restaurants that we might not otherwise try because we don't have to worry about price. We have the option of trying signature restaurants that we might otherwise feel we can't afford. We usually do breakfast and dinner, and use the snacks in between. That spreads out our meals over all of our days there. And, yes, I have to tell myself that it's ok to give up the Clean Plate Club for a few days In figuring out what's a good deal, I factor in $ and convenience, and to me it's the best value. :slurp:

 

[Jo DeVil]

We love the DDDP and have used it 3 times now, we come to the World for 14 nights at a time and with careful planning we always make it worth it, for me, DH and DS (7 today, he has spent his last 3 at WDW, he tells me he is not spoilt just lucky)
We have a character breakfast and then a nice evening meal, people say they don't eat enough to pay for the DDDP, but we have found it is the quality not quantity. We all love going for good food and having a sit down meal to wind down and relax in the signature restaurants , and if we are to full to have a dessert then we don't have one!
I am the planner so I work out all the magic hours Etc and plan all the restaurants and at the 180 day mark I sit here on line awaiting the reservations to open and then book on line, this I repeat every day until our 14 nights are booked. So IMHO if you are a planner and don't mind sticking to a schedule then it is well worth it.

 

[wvdisneyfamily]

Make sure you factor the tip in because that really helped us decide that TiW was a better option.

 

[slappy magoo]

Make sure you factor the tip in because that really helped us decide that TiW was a better option.

I think TiW - heck I KNOW TiW - would have been a better deal for us if we knew for sure we would go back within a years' time. That would justify the added expense of getting the card. But it is more than likely that we WON'T go back. I did the "what if," anticipating buying just one annual pass so we could also take advantage of TiW. For the amount of time we would be going, we'd have to spend $150 at table service meals for each night of our stay just to "break even (only a handful of counter service restaurants officially honor TiW, the Value resorts food courts, POFQ's food court, the water parks, WWoS, basically anywhere that a full service restaurant isn't around). Neither one of us will be doing much drinking. So for the extra $30 a night, may as well get the extra meal credit, the 2 snack credits...oh, and that highly prized, unique and distinct refillable mug.

As the kids get older, we may be doing more running around and the DDP might not be the "better deal." And if we know we'll go more than once within a year, the TiW card would work out. But the baby will be pretty small, we suspect our other daughter is gonna get fried quite a lot, this will be more walking and running around and sensory input than she's ever done or had, breaks to regain our energy whilst being entertained at the same time (most of our planned restaurant choices are character meals or "fun" restaurants like Whispering Canyon & 50s') seems like a smart choice, fingers crossed.

 

[djpoore94]

DH & I almost always get the Deluxe DP, it's A LOT of food, but there are so many great places to eat we try to go for quality over quantity. The plan allows us to eat places we normally wouldn't and order dishes we wouldn't. I also agree with the previous poster who said they like to know everything is paid for! We have looked at the TIW card, but since neither of us really drink alcohol we figured we'd have to spend a ton on food to get our money's worth out of it.

 

[disneygirl76]

During an exceptionally long train ride today, I was looking up menus and plotting reservations I'd try to get for the next vacation. There will be 4 of us, wife, 3 year old (closer to 4), 6 month old infant and me. With such a young baby, we'll be a little limited by the things we can do, and we're pretty sure our oldest will be all about meeting the characters, so we'll be doing a goodly amount of table service meals, usually for breakfast and dinner.

I was originally thinking that it may be worth it for at least one of us (OK, me) to get an annual pass with our DVC discount (even though we won't be back within a year), and adding the Tables in Wonderland discount. It seemed that, if we spent at least 150 each day in table service dining, we'd at least break even, which would be much easier if my wife and I drank during meals (which I don't and she won't while breastfeeding)

And then I started to think "well, for 30 dollars more than that, we can do the Deluxe Dining Plan." I started trying to do some more intricate number crunching - knowing the prices of the buffets and family-style pay-one-price restaurants is obviously easy, but for other types of eateries, I had to make an educated guess as to what my wife and I would each probably order (most times, the kids' menu is pay-one-price regardless of the adults' menu). And when all was said and done, it looks like just eating 2 table service meals a day (with only 1 Signature dining meal) gets us within 20-30 dollars of the cost of the deluxe plan, not including all those remaining credits that could be used for counter service OR table service OR even in-room dining if necessary (and if the kids get cranky it might be necessary). AND 2 snack credits daily, and the mug.

I don't think it'd be worth it were we doing 2 counter service meals a day, but it really does seem like 2 table service meals a day tips the scales, quite heavily, in the favor of deluxe dining. And hey, it affords us the opportunity to bring some of the snacks (if they're prepackaged or otherwise travel-ready) home to make the vacation last in our mouths for a few more days.

Even if we don't try to maximize the cost - skipping an appetizer or dessert once in a while in those table service restaurants, and gasp! not falways cleaning off your plate - it still seems like a value. "value being a subjective term, if we really wanted "value" we'd just skimp like crazy. But for a family that would like to sit and enjoy being served, OR the options that a buffet provides, Deluxe, at this time, makes sense.

Anyone else find this to be true for them?

My DH and I did the Deluxe Plan once and we really enjoyed the experience. We did not eat 3 TS meals a day. We usually did a counter service - usually for lunch. But we would use all 3 TS meals a day. We enjoyed many signature dining experiences and got to do loads of character meals too. We actually found it to be cost effective especially when you take into consideration what you would be spending on the signature dining experiences. We never spent out of pocket for food b/c you get the 2 snacks. I agree with your value idea - it is all subjective. For us, we had the ultimate disney experience that trip - 10 days, Deluxe Dining, GF, the works. But for us, it was a value b/c we had the experience of a lifetime. If you wanted to "save" money, then we wouldn't have done it. But it was the experience we wanted to have and I would totally do it again!

 

[NickandSammie]

To be honest, I absolutely love the Deluxe plan. I've never actually crunched the numbers myself, but I'll always go with it. I feel like the Deluxe plan affords me a level of freedom that I wouldn't get if I were to have a limited amount of cash on hand (or in the bank, for that matter) to worry about allotting for food. What can I say? I'm a horrible saver, and The World is a moneypit for spenders like myself. Since it is my one and only vacation every year, I tend to put convenience and enjoyment above all else, including price. Don't get me wrong, I sell guitars at Guitar Center for a living, so I don't make much money at all, but I just love being able to arrive at MCO knowing that, for the next week, everything except gratuity is already paid, and that keeps the whole worrying-about-funds variable out of the equation. Some people might not see eye to eye with me on this one, but it's what I believe.

 

[real mad hatter]

Way too much food.

Now being from Scotland,we scots like value for money, but friends have just returned from a 14 day vacation and opted to upgrade to the deluxe,it had way too much food for two adults and one nine year old,also they had to arrange twelve adrs before leaving home,having to be at a certain restaurant each night at a pacific time they felt they were controlled by their adrs,not to mention the tipping( Scots eh)If i wanted a holiday with fine cusine i would choose elsewhere,anyway,thats my personell view:sohappy:

 

[becanya]

I'm with you, we always do DDDP for the reasons you highlighted. I LOVE to be able to sit down to a meal at least twice a day. Even though it's way too much food, I like the experience to much to downgrade. We will always do deluxe! I look at it as a way to sit down, regroup, and cool off while eating great food.

 

[71dsp]

We've done the deluxe plan for every trip so far, and we did it for our upcoming trip as well. Yes, LOTS of food, but that doesn't mean we have to eat it all.

Plus we can do a lot of 2-ticket restaurants because we'll split a single adult meal between my wife and I for lunches here and there. We just have to go to Yachtsman, Narcoossee's, et al when we go.

My wife (and me too!) have been spoiled by table service, so we don't do much counter service places when we've gone to WDW, so the deluxe plan is a perfect fit for us.

Plus we don't have to walk around the park with water bottles and snacks. We use our snack credits for that, and it never fails that we have quite a few snack credits left over at the end of our trip.

 

[Medic77]

Deluxe worked for us!

We just returned from the World a few weeks ago. The Deluxe plan worked perfectly for us, and although we never ate three TS meals a day we used almost all our credits because of the various signature dining and dinner shows we enjoyed. I am totally a planner, and factored every meal in to see which, if any, dining plan would benefit us down to the dime. We went Deluxe and I was not disappointed. AND I saved receipts to calculate and compare for next years trip!

 

[emcclay]

This thread has made me consider it for our 11-day trip in 2013. Pepper Market is delicious for breakfast. But, it would be awesome to be able to experience some TS breakfasts elsewhere and not have to decide whether to use our one TS credit for B/L/D.

 

[Eldon_Brasche]

We love the DDDP and have used it 3 times now, we come to the World for 14 nights at a time and with careful planning we always make it worth it, for me, DH and DS (7 today, he has spent his last 3 at WDW, he tells me he is not spoilt just lucky)
We have a character breakfast and then a nice evening meal, people say they don't eat enough to pay for the DDDP, but we have found it is the quality not quantity. We all love going for good food and having a sit down meal to wind down and relax in the signature restaurants , and if we are to full to have a dessert then we don't have one!
I am the planner so I work out all the magic hours Etc and plan all the restaurants and at the 180 day mark I sit here on line awaiting the reservations to open and then book on line, this I repeat every day until our 14 nights are booked. So IMHO if you are a planner and don't mind sticking to a schedule then it is well worth it.

If you have your resort reservations booked, at 180 days you can book your dining reservations for 10 days out. You then only need to wait for days 11-14 to arrive to book them.

 

[gracie1]

If free dining is being offered and you are staying in a Deluxe, how much extra is it to upgrade to deluxe dining?