Reviews of Disney’s DELUXE Dining Plan
Reviewed by DePasquale Review Date: 07/08/2016
Rating: (10) Recommended
It’s not about saving money. It’s about experiencing food that you wouldn’t normally order. We’ve calculated it a hundred times. On a typical stay, the two of us dining with reasonable economy will spend the same as the Deluxe Dining Plan. The difference is more food (great food) on the plan, especially with apps and dessert.
Pros:
Good way to do some Signature diningCons:
Tend to overeatReviewed by gilesmt Review Date: 06/26/2016
Rating: (10) Recommended
I heard all the reviews this is a lot of food. We had some objectives, first I was on a diet, I have lost 59 pounds since Jan, I need to eat every few hours and I need real food not fast food so quick meals were out. Second after chemo and radiation I am a full diabetic which I control thru diet, so again I need to eat right and eat often. Third we traveled with a service dog, we needed breaks. And fourth this was a vacation, not just about rides. We had 15 days so we would ride everything. So with those as our needs and not going into this that I would get my money out of it, we went with this plan and did almost three sit downs a day. It is a lot of food and takes a lot of time. We ate at character meals a lot, which my granddaughter loved, well worth not standing in the line for princesses and characters. We ate at all the dinner shows, mickeys backyard BBQ, HDDR, SoA. We also ate a lot of the well known places in the parks and some we always wanted to try and never did at the hotels, like cape May and Capt Grill, Boma and beaches and cream. I was able to keep my diabetis sugar levels down to 150 three times a day and needed no insulin thru the whole vacation. I did gain 10 pounds, but four days home, I after the humidity change lost 8 pounds, so over all I gained 2 pounds while on vacation for 15 days, eating a lot of food. Buffets gave me lots of options for lots of proteins and veggies, without having to do carbs, I never touch potatoes, breads, rice and such. If a sit down meal, I was able to get meat and ask to skip the carb and get double veggies. I will say Walt Disney's favorite veggie must be string beans, one of my least favorites,mi eat them but for 15 days it was on every menu as the veggie for lunch and dinner, I now hate string beans. Yes we left lots of food, we may have only eaten half an appetizer, and may have only tasted the dessert, and sometimes only ate half the meal, usually we finished the meal part. My granddaughter was able to try tons of new food, she at crab, lobster, clams, African sausage, sushi, yellow beets, red beets, and a ton of other food she never would have tried before. She always found something new to try, and found lots she liked and a few things she did not. All in all if you have a reason and do not go into this thinking you will get your money's worth, than it was a great plan. For us the plan worked, but we did waste a lot of food, but we got lots of signatures, had lots of fun and had plenty of time to rest and talk with each other.
Pros:
Great foodCons:
PriceReviewed by GSHROUT Review Date: 01/08/2016
Rating: (10) Recommended
We wanted to go to as many character meals as we could fit in on this trip for my 5 year old granddaughter. For her this trip was all about meeting the Princess'. It worked out wonderfully and we didn't waste a meal. Trip we took a few years ago we were with young adults and the Quick Serve plan was perfect. Think about who your with, it takes a lot of time out of each day to have a sit down meal at least once a day. It makes balancing those Fast Pass' with dinning resv. quite tricky. Our next trip is the wife and I alone. We will use the Deluxe plan because we want to go to as many of the more expensive meals as we can. I've ridden plenty of rides, for me Disney World is all about Fine Dinning.
Pros:
Great plan if your doing several character mealsCons:
Too much if your plans are to spend most of your time in ParksReviewed by ROCCOFIRE Review Date: 07/11/2014
Rating: (0) Recommended
The first time we used the plan. Incredible amount of food, and we ate all of epoct, and many restaurants that I would never go if I paid, like France and Morocco, and what a awesome surprise. The 2 snacks a day great for buying beverages during the hot month of July. BUT we only ate twice a day because you get an appetizer, main course and dessert plus refills on beverages, we were too full. So much food, but you are able to order anything and eat anywhere that was nice. I wish I could donate my un used dinning credits. It was nice to not to worry about buying food, but TIPS not included.
Pros:
a variety to eat anywhereCons:
too much foodReviewed by Ladies4Disney Review Date: 04/17/2014
Rating: (9) Recommended
We have used the Deluxe Dining Plan in the past and decided to use it again this trip. It is a lot of food, but we were able to eat at many of the Signature restaurants for dinner. We used one table service credit for an early lunch and scheduled a later dinner at the restaurants that required two table credits. We saved money on this plan and would use it again. I wouldn't recommend it if you don't use it for all table service meals. You would probably lose money on this plan.
Pros:
3 Credits a DayCons:
A lot of food.Reviewed by mawdryn Review Date: 03/22/2014
Rating: (10) Recommended
My family always uses either the regular dining plan or deluxe dining when we visit WDW, because we find it saves us money each time we visit.
This last visit was just my husband and I, so we splurged and used the deluxe dining plan. We dined at the following restaurants: Captain's Grill, California Grill, Liberty Tree Tavern, Be Our Guest, Sci Fi Diner, Brown Derby, Olivia's, Narcoossees, Yak and Yeti's, Artist Point, San Angel Inn, Via Napoli and Le Cellier. We had so many leftover snack credits, that we used them on candy to bring home for the kids.
It was so nice to go on vacation and only have to worry about tip money and alcohol. Everything else had been pre paid. 🙂
Pros:
Abundance of FoodCons:
NONEReviewed by ibwalrash Review Date: 02/10/2014
Rating: (8) Recommended
This was our second time using the deluxe dining plan, and we had the same feelings as our first time, lots of fun to eat out all the time, but too much food! We appreciate getting the added bonus of appetizers when compared to the regular dining plan. But it can feel like a full time job to get your money's worth.
Is it worth it? If you and your family like to enjoy taking a break and sitting down at a table service restaurant at different times throughout the day, then yes. If you want to sample different restaurants throughout the world that offer foods that you would never get at a counter service restaurant, than yes.
Some drawbacks. In order to maximize the delux dining plan, you must eat 3 table service meals a day. This means making reservations well in advance for the popular restaurant and being flexible with all other plans to be able to accommodate your dining plans.
If you want to eat your way through Disney, then the Deluxe is a great way to experience some really good restaurants in the World. Otherwise, consider a regular dining plan and pay out of pocket for appetizers and extra meals.
Pros:
Adds an "all-inclusive" aspectCons:
so much foodReviewed by rebelbuddhist Review Date: 01/05/2014
Rating: (10) Recommended
We have found that the DDP meets our modus operandi perfectly. We are a mature couple who enjoy meals at WDW as much as attractions at the parks. We don't think it is any loss of valuable time to spend a couple of hours at a quality Meal. We would rather spend the time at a meal than in line for a thrill ride. We use one credit for a late morning breakfast buffet after a few hours in the parks. Then we hit the parks again and eat a later dinner usually at a signature restaurant. That uses the 3 meal entitlements and we use the 2 snacks if we need something in the afternoon. We also tend to eat steak or seafood so we are often ordering the more expensive entrees. Since we eat late dinners, we often take desserts with us back to the room for a late snack or early morning treat! We paid out of pocket in July and tracked that we spent a lot more each day than the Deluxe plan fists. That's especially true if we can score a free dining plan and then upgrade to the Deluxe. Do you math well because if you don't use all your credits; have picky eaters who don't want what's on the menu; tend to want smaller meals without an appetizer and dessert or just want/prefer counter service the DDP may not be best for you. Using all 3 entitlements for table service seems to be the best way to be sure to save on the Deluxe Plan.
Pros:
Ease of use: opportunity to eat wellCons:
—Reviewed by Imjustababyduck Review Date: 11/25/2013
Rating: (10) Recommended
We love this plan and always get it when we go to Disney. It is great to have the meals paid for in advance (and just have to worry about the tip). We often will use 2 dining credits at the more deluxe places so it is not so much food in one day. We do always have snack credits left at the end of the trip, and come home with tons of stuff from Goofy's Candy Store in Downtown Disney. I know this last trip I bought over $123.00 in snacks with credits before we left to fly home. I think this plan is better value for the money than the regular dining plan. The only disadvantage I see is that sitting down to eat 3 times a day takes a lot of time.
Pros:
EasyCons:
NoneReviewed by jim61vik Review Date: 11/22/2013
Rating: (8) Recommended
My family and I stayed at the Polynesian resort 11/13-1/18 for 5 nights. We had the free dining plan upgraded to Deluxe.
My family consists of my 2 daughters (10,17) wife and myself. The 10 yr old likes steak and good size meals and is often not enamored of the "childrens menu" so we though it would be interesting to see how she did with nearly all grown up meals.
First off we were happy with the cost since we just did the upgrade on free dining at a deluxe resort we ended up getting more than our moneys worth assuming we would have made the same dining choices paying direct out of pocket (which we probably would not have had quit as many very large meals).
We tried a bunch of character meals:
Ohana - Breakfast
Chef Mickey - Breakfast
Park Fare (at GF) - Breakfast
Crystal Palace - Breakfast
They were all decent Chef Mickey probably had the best food and variety of the bunch. They are all fairly similar. Photos are very nice we had Photo Pass Plus.
We also tried the Arkeshus lunch which the whole family thought was awesome! The princesses there were unbelievably friendly best character experience I've ever had at Disney.
We ate at Artist Point which some of us loved and some of us didn't I'll try and write reviews of all the restaurants we tried.
We also tried Tuto Italia, Kona Cafe, Liberty Tree Tavern, 50's Primetime as well as a couple quick dining options.
One thing to keep in mind is that the tips on these meals can be substantial our tip alone was over $50 at Artist Point so make sure you keep those in mind if you are watching your budget. We did not drink any alcoholic beverages on this visit but those are also not included.
The amount of food is really staggering and I think you need to realize you aren't going to be able to eat it all at every meal. My youngest couldn't eat half of most of her meals. We did later on skip a couple appetizers or deserts just because we were full.
The biggest complaint I have is how long it takes, the servers in general are very cordial and attentive but some locations just don't seem to have enough servers or they have too many tables for the servers this seems especially so on the breakfast buffets. It takes forever to get your check, wait to process the tip, get your pin number, wait for the desert menus, etc. It was almost an 1.5 - 2 hours for each meal. Do the math... if you have 3 sit down meals you're talking about 5-6 hours of your day. And some restaurants are very busy and even if you are on time for your reservation you may wait 15-30 minutes. I don't have the answer to this problem, but Disney really needs to look at it and try to streamline it. It's to their benefit to get you back into the park and spend more money. I never felt rushed at any meal even though I had read that some people have experienced that. For us it was the opposite we were all sitting at our tables repeatedly waiting for something.
Another negative is the ADR, if you have to change a reservation it is nearly impossible to do so. So if you are running late you end up canceling and with the new rules on canceling a day ahead this will cost you if you just don't go.
Not sure how we'll do this next time. I like the food but it was too much. I wish they had another category with maybe 2 sit down meals a day and 1 quick serve.
This is definitely a good way to try some very nice restaurants if you can manage the schedules.
