We're arriving next weeK..should we upgrade to deluxe DDP?

[mouseketeer mom]

My DH and I are sitting here talking about our arrival next week. We have the basic dining plan for the five of us. We had planned on paying for CRT, Jikos, and Narcoosees out of pocket instead of using the plan. Now we're thinking we might come out ahead bumping up to deluxe dining. We are confused because honestly, we didn't even figure this plan before, it seemed like too much food and money..but the more we think about it, we're thinking perhaps we should just do it. We are not meal skippers, we eat some kind of breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. We have 4 signature meals booked, breakfasts at Kona's and Ohana's and a few Epcot lunches booked too. The other dinners are table service, altho not signature dining. :confused:

[kwhitt3202]

we are going in october and after i looked at what we would be paying for outside of the plan we were only $27 difference and this way most all meals included and we get refilable mugs and extra snacks. so we bumped up to the deluxe plan. if you are going to come out ahead on the deluxe i say do it .

[cal5755]

We bumped up to the Deluxe this year. We always buy each of us a refillable mug and that comes included in the DDP. We also upgraded so we could enjoy the CRT, HDR and the Luau.

My mom and I are also taking a separate trip in November and opted for the Deluxe to enjoy more of the signature dining choices.

I would think it would be well worth it for you party especially if you do not skip meals.

Have a super time!!

[SBETigg]

Considering your plans, you may benefit from the upgrade to Deluxe DP. But I think you'll have to do it soon if you decide to do it. Other package elements can be altered onsite, but they want changes to the dining plan made before arrival about a week out, or so I've heard.

[TheRustyScupper]

1) You need to do the actual math.
2) Using DDP or DxDP for dinner shows is a bad financial deal.
3) A very poor choice of TS coupons!
4) Financially, for TS coupons,
. . . don't do a breakfast
. . . don't do a character meal
. . . don't do a dinner show
. . . don't do most lunches

NOTE: When you use TS coupons for the above, you actually lose money on the plans. Disney loves this because they make more profit. In fact, there have been bonuses for "selling" dinner shows when using TS coupons.

[ElenitaB]

I've broken some of Rusty's rules and still have come out "ahead" financially. However, I do think that you would benefit from switching to the DxDP. Have you crunched some numbers? Adding in those Signature restaurant meals that you would have paid for OOP might really prove that the DxDP is worth it for you!

Have a fantastic trip!

[mouseketeer mom]

We are trying to crunch those numbers and we figure we might not come out ahead, but perhaps break even..On our first full day alone we have Kona for breakfast, CRT for lunch and Narcoosees for dinner. Not every day is booked like this, of course, but every day has between 1-2 table service meals and we love to snack, and counter service meals cost the five of us close to $50.00 bucks a pop usually. I have to change our plan at least 72 hours prior to arrival. That means this weekend, so I'm trying to crunch those numbers, but its driving me crazy. What worries me the most about commiting to the plan is that I won't feel like I can cancel an ADR if we decide we are having fun at whatever we are doing...I might feel like I have to keep eating.

[mouseketeer mom]

We just made the upgrade to deluxe. I almost popped my brain trying to figure this out, but I know this is the right plan for us now, and we will come out ahead. I'm excited to have everything paid for up front now! No more figuring what comes out of pocket, what goes on the plan. Except for soveniers, we are good to go! Thanks everyone!

[eandrsmom]

We did the DDP in Feb., and found it to be too much. We had ADR's for CRT, Narcoossee's, and the Yachtsman. We ended up only going to CRT. For us, eating 3 large meals plus snacks was too much food. We didn't want to use the meal credits for CS b/c we read that it was not a good value. So, we always had TS breakfasts. After eating a big breakfast, we really weren't hungry for lunch, but felt compelled to keep our ADR's b/c we'd already paid for everything. I think you really need to crunch your numbers and be realistic about how much you'll be dining. Having all of the dining options sounded good to us too, but at the end of the day, we were tired and didn't feel like getting dressed up to go to Signature restaurants.
When we checked out, we had a few meal credits and a bunch of snack credits left over.

[jonahbear2006]

We had the ddp for the first time in Feb and it was too much food for us. We ended up eating our last meal after we checked out, on the last day. We did use all of our snacks at Epcot, Great place to do that. But, our stomachs never needed for food during the entire trip. I remember getting home and my stomach growling and thinking, wow, I forgot what that felt like!

[Nurse Kim]

Currently we are booked with the quick service plan but are considering upgrading to the regular dining plan. I think 1 TS meal is all we can handle. For us it will be time to take a breath and talk about our day and what we will do next. I think we will probably break even but that is ok with me. The fact it will be paid for before we arrive sounds great to me.

If we stick with the quick service we will pay for 4 TS OOP if we upgrade we will get to do more TS meals we would like to try. I guess if the numbers are right for your family then the upgrade would be the way to go

[Figaro0826]

Were thinking of upgrading to deluxe too.

I cant tell what a blessing the dining plan is.
If stop and think of how much money you would on 3 meals , wow!

Were thinking of goin to some of the best Disney resteraunts offers , so they take two credits each, so this may a great deal.

But, I would never book a 10 day vacation, without a meal plan, its too much to set aside, given I know I am pre-paying for the food, but who wants to think ok I need to set aside x amount of money for food, its taken care of with the dining plan.
sorry to babble on... thanks for listening.