Tough choice regular dining or deluxe

[petey]

Hello Dining Experts, I will be going to the World in July for 9days (eight nights) and staying @ AKL. I presently have booked under the regular dining plan. Some of the meals I will be going solo. In the past I find myself doing more table service places than quick serve. Sometimes I will go to the Mara for breakfast before heading out on the days I go for morning EMH @ MK or
AK. That being said I also like restaurants like Artist Point & the Yachtsman, which take two credits. I usually do not do lunch (maybe a Casey's hot dog). Would I be better better paying some of the meals out of pocket or upgrading? Here are some of the places I have already made ADR's for:
Sanaa, Captains Grille, Rose & CRown, Boma, Artist Point, Whispering Canyon, and Kona Cafe. Also you can give me your opinion on my selections. Thanks so much for your help. Any thoughts Master Yoda, since you advise people on this all the time!!

 

[Monty]

Deluxe Dining is way too much food!

I generally prefer Table Service and enjoy Signature dining a lot. I have an AP, so I get the TiW card and pay out of pocket for all my meals. I spend much less by not wasting snacks and counter service and using the TiW discount.

 

[brifraz]

Couple thoughts...

We have done both the regular and the deluxe in the past. I would have to agree with Monty - too much food with the Deluxe. To make it worth the $$, you really do have to eat two table service meals a day and that makes whatever else you eat that day feel like gluttony.

If we are going to do a signature meal, we usually do it out of pocket or with TiW card. Looking at your current reservations and the fact that you might want to add a couple signatures to that, the TiW is a better financial bet. And since you are doing a 9 day stay, an Annual Pass would likely be worth it as well.

Having done DDP and stayed at AKL before, we did the regular plan and used counters at Mara for breakfast quite a bit. One credit gets you the Bounty Platter which can pretty easily satisfy two people for breakfast. Not sure if you are solo for the whole trip or not, but as a family of 3, that breakfast was gold for us and allowed us to spread the rest of the counter credits around and eat quite well.

My $.02.

 

[real mad hatter]

Hmmm.

Well if your a BIG eater,then deluxe but I've read that it's way too much food.I would stick to regular.:wave:

 

[petey]

Hi Brifraz, thanks for the suggestions. A couple of questions:
1) what is required to get an AP, how much does it cost?
2) what is on that meal you mentioned that would be enough breakfast for two people.

Since I usually only eat breakfast & dinner and some of those breakfast may be at Mara, even if I go to Artist Point one night (which I could pay out of
pocket to save a few credits) it sounds like you are saying to just stick with the regular dining plan. Is that right? Thanks again!!!!!!

 

[Monty]

Hi Brifraz, thanks for the suggestions. A couple of questions:
1) what is required to get an AP, how much does it cost?
2) what is on that meal you mentioned that would be enough breakfast for two people.

Since I usually only eat breakfast & dinner and some of those breakfast may be at Mara, even if I go to Artist Point one night (which I could pay out of
pocket to save a few credits) it sounds like you are saying to just stick with the regular dining plan. Is that right? Thanks again!!!!!!

An Annual Pass costs $552.74. But take into account you can often get room-only AP discounts of 30-40% on Deluxe resorts. With an 8-night stay at Contemporary in a Tower room, theme park view that can add up to around a $1700 or higher savings, which easily pays for your AP and a lot more instead of paying rack rate to get "free" dining. Granted, AP discounts aren't always available, that's why it depends on when you want to go. For two people, the AP discounts are almost guaranteed to be a better deal than "free" dining.

 

[bmarkelon]

I agree here with above advice. We have done the deluxe dining a couple of times before and while you do eat like kings and hit a few fabulous signature restaurants it really is too much food and pressure to have a packed itinerary of ADRs.

That being said on our trip last year we tried the Basic plan and found it to be perfect for us. We used up all of our points and did not have to worry about cancelling an ADR later in the trip because we just didn't have it in us to get there. We paid out of pocket for a few breakfasts but it still was a much better fit for our family.

We have also bought the AP (Annual Pass) before when we knew we were going to have two trips within the year. We are talking about buying it again in late August this year and using it for another trip next spring/summer. With that you can buy the Tables in Wonderland card (I believe $75) which a lot of folks on here push as being a better value as you get 10%-20% off your meals and this includes alcoholic bevarages. We do not have experience with this card yet but will probably buy one for our next trip.

Hope this helps and have a magical trip!!

 

[brifraz]

Hi Brifraz, thanks for the suggestions. A couple of questions:
1) what is required to get an AP, how much does it cost?
2) what is on that meal you mentioned that would be enough breakfast for two people.

Since I usually only eat breakfast & dinner and some of those breakfast may be at Mara, even if I go to Artist Point one night (which I could pay out of
pocket to save a few credits) it sounds like you are saying to just stick with the regular dining plan. Is that right? Thanks again!!!!!!

I think Monty took care of the AP question quite effectively.

Regarding the Mara "Bounty Platter" you get eggs, sausage, bacon, potatoes, a Mickey waffle, and a biscuit. Not a huge breakfast for two, but definitely enough to start the day, plus you can get one bottled drink with your credit and then fill your re-usable mug for the other drink (you get mugs with the regular plan now!). With just two people, I could easily see doing that for breakfast with one credit, the Ribs and Chicken at Cosmic Ray's for lunch with one credit, and then a table service dinner. That would gain us a meal for another day.

In terms of my advice, I'd figure out exactly what it is you want to eat and then what would be the best deal for that. For our family of 3 and our eating habits, the regular DDP is the best deal (even paying cash for it as we are DVC). I know that when DW and I have gone on our own, we have found the TiW card to be a better deal because we have more table service meals and more alcoholic beverages and since they all get the discount, it works out to save us $$.

Whenever discussing the DDP, TiW, and their benefits, my mantra is "This is what we did, your results WILL vary." Every person/family has different dining habits and so the results of which dining route you take will be different. Do your homework and you'll figure out how to save the most $$. The updated menus here on WDWMagic are very good to figure out $$ for dining and savings or lack of savings with different approaches.

 

[MagicMegan]

The ONLY time I have done deluxe was when we went during F&W and I used all of my snacks at that. We also got ADRs for a ton of signature dining places. It was fun, but I ate ALOTTTTTT!