By Old Pro DevoWhen considering the Deluxe Dining Plan offered by Disney, three negatives quickly surface. The cost of the plan is an obvious consideration for many, which is understandable. Second, taking time out for three sit-down meals every day is not appealing to those trying to maximize time spent in the parks. Finally, the quantity of food offered is overwhelming for some folks. The obvious conclusion, therefore, is, “Nothing to see here folks, . . . move along.”
In the words of Lee Corso, colorful college football analyst, “Not so fast, my friend!!” Before writing off the Deluxe Plan as a loser, let’s take another look. If the cost puts the plan out of reach for your team, so be it. Hang around for the rest of the analysis anyway. You might find a morsel or two you can apply to your game plan.
One simple strategy attacks the remaining issues of time and too much food directly. In a word (actually two) Signature Dining. Instead of eating three sit-down meals as provided in the Deluxe Plan every day, utilizing a Signature Dining/Dinner Show experience each day may be a great call for your team. Let’s break it down. The traditional way of using the Deluxe Plan usually involves a breakfast buffet followed by two other meals complete with appetizer, entree, and dessert. Let’s call an audible and do this. Use a snack credit or two for a quick bite for breakfast and hit the parks! Follow up with any table service meal of your choosing that requires one table service credit for lunch. Finish it off with a terrific Signature Dining/Dinner Show experience, using two more credits. That’s it! This strategy allows your team to hit the parks early, yet encourages you to slow down twice a day to relax and regroup, which may help your team avoid a fourth quarter meltdown. We’ve all seen other teams do that, and it’s not a pretty sight!
As an added bonus, the utilization of Signature Dining/Dinner Shows certainly doesn’t limit
your playbook. A wide variety of choices are available at many Disney Resorts and three of the parks. From a guy’s perspective, how can you beat a steak at Le Cellier, the Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show, and seafood at Fulton’sCrabhouse? If the real head coach (we all know who that is) needs to be pleased or appeased, there are always the California Grill, Monsieur Paul, or Artist Point among others. If your team is larger than two, you could throw in Cinderella’s Royal Palace or the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue. Wow, this sounds so good it’s easy to forget there is another table service credit available for lunch each day to round out your dining plan!
Let’s summarize the game plan utilizing this variation of the Deluxe Dining Plan. We’ve got a plan that gets us to the parks on time, manages the amount of food consumed without giving up too much park time, and allows us to enjoy the very best dining Disney has to offer. For the right team, this has the potential to make a real winner out of an apparent underdog. What are we waiting for? It’s game day! Go Deluxe!
