Deluxe Dining Plan Question

I've done the regular dining plan quite a few times and we really like the ability to prepay and not have to worry about how much were spending at meals.

For our honeymoon in Nov 2012 we're considering doing the deluxe dining plan. I tried playing with the intercot dining spreadsheet but it wasn't working for me for reasons that elude me. Anyway, we'd be doing mostly sit down breakfasts in the morning and then signature dining every night (thus using our 3 meal credits each day) and snacks would be used for lunches and and in between munching.

Is this worthwhile money wise on the plan? I was trying to run the numbers but was getting confused.:confused:

I think it would be. If you are going to go with the signature dining in the evening then i think that the cost would be effective. (maybe ?) signature dining is expensive. it usually cost about 12 - 15 per person for lunch at a rest. and about 20 each for dinner regular with drink and desert. so that would be around 40 per person for signature dinner or more. good luck.

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Originally Posted by Dulcee

I've done the regular dining plan quite a few times and we really like the ability to prepay and not have to worry about how much were spending at meals.

For our honeymoon in Nov 2012 we're considering doing the deluxe dining plan. I tried playing with the intercot dining spreadsheet but it wasn't working for me for reasons that elude me. Anyway, we'd be doing mostly sit down breakfasts in the morning and then signature dining every night (thus using our 3 meal credits each day) and snacks would be used for lunches and and in between munching.

Is this worthwhile money wise on the plan? I was trying to run the numbers but was getting confused.:confused:

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The way i did it was that i took all the restaurants we are planning on eating at and then looked at online menue's to get the estimated OOP price we would pay.

Comparing the OOP price (pre-tax) to the cost of the DlxDP I found that we are "saving" around $500 with our dining plan.

Now things to consider is that if we didn't have the plan we wouldn't be touching the signature restaurants as often as we are on it... nor would we be going to Ohana dinners 3 nights lol

But lets face it, the DlxDP give you option of trying new places and double (or triple) dipping on the ones you love :)

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Originally Posted by brivers222

The way i did it was that i took all the restaurants we are planning on eating at and then looked at online menue's to get the estimated OOP price we would pay.

Comparing the OOP price (pre-tax) to the cost of the DlxDP I found that we are "saving" around $500 with our dining plan.

Now things to consider is that if we didn't have the plan we wouldn't be touching the signature restaurants as often as we are on it... nor would we be going to Ohana dinners 3 nights lol

But lets face it, the DlxDP give you option of trying new places and double (or triple) dipping on the ones you love :)

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:thumbsup:

We have done the deluxe the last four years and we have come out ahead each time. There was a 2 week trip that we didnt even use like 20 credits between all 6 of us and we still came out way on top. If you are doing a breakfast and sig dinner than you will be fine. Plus don't forget you also get appetizers with that plan so don't forget to think of that cost as well when crunching your numbers. We never eat a breakfast and lunch in the same day although friends of ours went in may on the deluxe and ate a B,L and D. have no idea how they ate that much food!

That is exactly what we have done for the last few Disney trips - sit-down breakfast with a signature dinner. We have saved a lot of money, and have gotten to eat at the best places. We particularly like the deluxe plan because we have been to Disney many times, and the deluxe plan allows us to sit down and enjoy our meals as part of the experience. We actually seldom use our snacks, except for souvenirs (my wife is a teacher, so we bring treats home for her students!)

To save money (and so we don't need to use snack credits for beverages), we usually have water delivered to our resort from Costco, and then just take some with us each day....

We love the deluxe dining plan. If you do a nice buffet breakfast like Boma, Chef Mickey's etc. you are looking at like $25 there. And then a signature meal for dinner is going to be at least $60 when you figure in the appetizer, entree, dessert, and drink (Which can be a non-alcoholic smoothie, etc.) Then add in the snack credits and it is a no-brainer......

It seems to me, chefs will "play" more with the appetizer menus--always something interesting to try. For us, the deluxe plan is a peace of mind thing too--I have an 11 yr old and a 13 yr old who like to eat and are adventurous. With the deluxe plan, they order something, don't like it, it's O.K. And after seeing the bill at Narcoossee's the second night there, I was thankful we were on the deluxe plan.

Another thought--will you be there during Food and Wine? All those snack credits mean trying lots of different foods!

We like to make our adrs for signature dining later so it doesn't interfer with our day as much. California Grille overlooking fireworks, Yachtsman after Illuminations, Narcoossees after parade and watch fireworks from the table.

But let me play devils advocate for a moment.

While we usually get the Deluxe if not the Premium, I always shudder when the bill comes because you still have the tip. It's great getting that 40-50 dollar meal, the 12-15 dollar appetizer and the 12 dollar desert and a few alchoholic beverages at 10 bucks apiece. (all x 2 or more in my case) But that 200 dollar plus meal could come with a $40+ tip! Added to a $50 character breakfast, you have $300 in tips by the end of the week. Just keep that in mind.

This time we are going regular for the first time. I'm thinking I'll be a little hungry for a change.

Have fun!

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Originally Posted by spoiledraf

Added to a $50 character breakfast, you have $300 in tips by the end of the week. Just keep that in mind.

This time we are going regular for the first time. I'm thinking I'll be a little hungry for a change.

Have fun!

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You are very right... it was awesome back in 04 when tips were included :(

we have $319 in tips needed for our trip.... That is a downfall... but its budgeted so its not a shock to us.

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Originally Posted by Dulcee

I tried playing with the intercot dining spreadsheet but it wasn't working for me for reasons that elude me.

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I was thinking of the DlxDDP for our trip in Nov. and couldn't get the estimator to run either but realized I forget to put an x in the top center box on page 1 after entering all your meals/snacks. That made the page 2 calculations run. Also, keep in mind that the spread sheet is from 2009 and is using $71.99 as the DlxDDP price and you may need to update #adults based for those that were 1 cr and are now 2 cr (such as LeCellier dinner).

WE have friends that keep track of how much money their meal would have been if they weren't on the deluxe dining plan, and I showed that to my hubby and that convinced him in a second that the dlxDP was the way to go for our first family trip in 42 days!