Club level and dining plan?

[lynnzrae]

Hello fellow Disney lovers!

2019 will be our last trip for a few years. My three kids will be 5 and 2 around the time we are looking to go. I was thinking about doing club level as a splurge; however, I have always done, and enjoy doing the deluxe dining plan. Normally the way our meals work out b/c we do so many 2 meal restaurants, it equates to a character breakfast and early-ish dinner every day.

On one hand, the club level seems not necessary if we do the deluxe dining plan because we have enough food on the plan. On the other hand it sounds nice to be able to grab a quick breakfast and go so we can take more advantage of EMH (as we are normally eating during that time) and will get more rides in before the kids poop out. And, since the kids are so young and we will be going back every day for a pool/nap break, happy hour sounds nice. So then I thought about dropping back to the regular dining plan and maybe not doing the character breakfasts and just having a nice dinner in the evenings. But what is nice about the character dining is that it checks the box for us in seeing characters so we don't have to do meet and greets throughout the day.

So, can anyone provide me with their thoughts and experiences on club level and its' relationship to doing the deluxe dining plan? OR are there so many other amazing perks with club level that the food issue is a kind of mute point?

Thank you very much for your help and support.

 

[Mousemommy1]

I have found that club level with the regular dining plan is too much, so I certainly would think the deluxe dining plan would be too much for us.

You are going to find it hard to get your monies worth doing club level. We splurge on it once in awhile and really like it, but it's more of just that feeling of being "extra" pampered. We also like having an extra place to spread out (the lounge).

 

[lynnzrae]

I have found that club level with the regular dining plan is too much, so I certainly would think the deluxe dining plan would be too much for us.

You are going to find it hard to get your monies worth doing club level. We splurge on it once in awhile and really like it, but it's more of just that feeling of being "extra" pampered. We also like having an extra place to spread out (the lounge).

Thank you for such a quick and helpful response. Maybe the splurge money would be better spent doing something else? Say, first class plane tickets.

 

[Lesley Wake]

Thank you for such a quick and helpful response. Maybe the splurge money would be better spent doing something else? Say, first class plane tickets.

Yeah, I would say pick either Club level or Dining plan.

You could also splurge on something like a 1-bedroom suite. It would give the kids one space to nap while the adults could be in living room relaxing.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

You will find varying opinions and of course different strokes for different folks, but for our Disney touring style, CL and any type of dining plan doesn’t make much (any) sense together.

One of your comments caught my eye - the part about grabbing a quick breakfast and taking advantage of EMHs. All of the CLs start their morning service at 7AM (some have coffee out around 6:30am). Depending on park hours and travel time to any given park, you can sometimes be pinched for time to make it right at EMH start time. 7AM EMHs would be a non-starter. 8AM possible depending on your travel distance.

Just something to think about as you map out your options / schedule.

Also just curious, which resort/CL are you considering?

 

[mickeynut1]

Everyone vacations differently and while I don't know that I'd do the DlxDDP with CL, I don't think the regular DDP is bad with CL. We don't stay CL every trip but when we do, it's more for the lounge itself and having another place to sit & relax rather than in our room or around the resort. The food offerings are a nice perk, but not our main reason for staying CL. Some people can make meals out of the CL offerings, while others need an actual meal. We spend more time at the resort than we do the parks so we often take advantage of the CL offerings throughout the afternoon, but we also enjoy a sit down meal every night for dinner. There's no right or wrong answer, just depends on what you prefer and how you vacation. Have a great trip .

 

[Marionnette]

Hello fellow Disney lovers!

2019 will be our last trip for a few years. My three kids will be 5 and 2 around the time we are looking to go. I was thinking about doing club level as a splurge; however, I have always done, and enjoy doing the deluxe dining plan. Normally the way our meals work out b/c we do so many 2 meal restaurants, it equates to a character breakfast and early-ish dinner every day.

On one hand, the club level seems not necessary if we do the deluxe dining plan because we have enough food on the plan. On the other hand it sounds nice to be able to grab a quick breakfast and go so we can take more advantage of EMH (as we are normally eating during that time) and will get more rides in before the kids poop out. And, since the kids are so young and we will be going back every day for a pool/nap break, happy hour sounds nice. So then I thought about dropping back to the regular dining plan and maybe not doing the character breakfasts and just having a nice dinner in the evenings. But what is nice about the character dining is that it checks the box for us in seeing characters so we don't have to do meet and greets throughout the day.

So, can anyone provide me with their thoughts and experiences on club level and its' relationship to doing the deluxe dining plan? OR are there so many other amazing perks with club level that the food issue is a kind of mute point?

Thank you very much for your help and support.

It's going to depend on what you value from a CL stay. If it's only about the food, then the DxDP will probably be overkill. But if you want them to do your ADRs, tours and buy the extra FP+ package (currently in trial phase), then CL has added value beyond the food.

There's a lot to be said for being able to grab some food to eat in the lounge or to take back to the room while everyone is getting ready. It really makes the morning go more smoothly. And if you were to get the regular DDP, then you could do a few character meals for dinner instead of breakfast. So, you would get your character fix.

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

I did have the DxDP and club level one trip. It was a lot, and we didn't really try to make it to the room for the evening club hours or anything like that. It was HOT that trip (September, if I remember correctly), and we don't tend to want as much food when we are doing theme park-style touring. It was fun trying more restaurants than we normally would, but as a result of doing both, we really just took advantage of the club lounge to grab bottled water and a quick breakfast.

 

[lynnzrae]

You will find varying opinions and of course different strokes for different folks, but for our Disney touring style, CL and any type of dining plan doesn’t make much (any) sense together.

One of your comments caught my eye - the part about grabbing a quick breakfast and taking advantage of EMHs. All of the CLs start their morning service at 7AM (some have coffee out around 6:30am). Depending on park hours and travel time to any given park, you can sometimes be pinched for time to make it right at EMH start time. 7AM EMHs would be a non-starter. 8AM possible depending on your travel distance.

Just something to think about as you map out your options / schedule.

Also just curious, which resort/CL are you considering?

I don't have a specific hotel in mind. This past year there were club level rooms with a military discount. We are going this September at staying at Beach Club (not Club level) and I am going to upgrade my salute your way tickets to an AP since we are going to go again in ~July 2019...(one more trip while the twins are free). I have been staying at the Yacht and Beach Club for the last 15 years and although I am not ready to give up my deluxe hotels yet (mostly due to location) I am open to doing the MK deluxe hotels again.

So, the long winded answer is I am open as long as the price is right (e.g. military or AP discounts).

 

[Best_Vacation_EVER!]

We have done DxDP twice once while staying club level at BC and once while staying in a regular water view room. We did find that we didn't use the club lounge much at all during our trip with DxDP -- maybe the odd snack or wine before heading out for our evening ADR. We also found we ate differently to maximize the value of DxDP.

Above everything I think we found DxDP just too much food overall. We used our credits for 1 regular TS per day and 1 signature. With the appetizer and dessert we wasted an appalling amount of food and often found we ate more than we normally would which sort of sucked our energy level over the course of our 11 nights. We prefer OOP as we only order the amount of food we may actually eat (less waste) and don't overeat.

So the questions I would say you'd want to ask yourself are:

1/ How long is your trip? 3 to 5 days it's probably fine... longer stays we found it was just too much food with the club level and dining plan
2/ Do you normally eat that much food day to day (appetizer, entree, dessert) daily or even twice per day if you're not doing signature?
3/ If you aren't big eaters normally will you want to do that while you're in WDW ? (particularly if you're going when it's hot and humid.)
4/ Is it worth it to pay the additional tip amount for appetizers/entrees/desserts you wouldn't order otherwise?
5/ Do you want to rope drop? as a previous poster mentioned most club lounge food isn't out until 7AM so you may not get to rope drop.
6/ Does the deal you're getting on the Club level room (especially during Free dining where you just have to pay the upgrade fee to DxDP) make sense for how you want to eat?
7/ Did you want to do the extra fast pass purchase offered at club level which would make that something you want to do? If yes, then it maybe look at how much food you want to eat above and beyond club offerings.

 

[Mshap001]

I think that CL and the DDP is a lot. We went 2 years ago with my 3 boys (6, 4, 4) and spent the last day buying a ridiculous amount of snacks to take home. We had 1 day when one of my boys didn't feel well and so all of our dining plans changed for that day and we had lots of credits left. Also, we stayed CR CL and they had pb&j at evening appetizers that my kids were more than happy with for dinner. We are going back in August and staying CL and not doing the dining plan. We will do 2 character dining experiences. We do eat the breakfast on CL and generally take a break in the afternoon since it is

 

[Staren]

During my solo trip in January I did the regular dining plan and club level. It worked for me on that trip, but it can be a lot of food and takes some planning. I did the club lounge for breakfast, a TS for lunch, and a QS dinner. It worked out mostly to plan, but making sure that I was actually using stank credits took some managing. Getting the deluxe dining plan and club level I would need a specific reason to do. The only situation I can see it making sense is if you are doing a lot of signature meals that burn through credits, but you still want the lounge for mornings or evening snacks.

 

[k5xs]

With 5 and 2 year-old kids, I would think the CL food would be limiting. We as oldsters love it (and never do the DDP for that reason), but there are only limited food items put out, and in my experience aren't served in a kid-friendly way.

I think I'd go with the DP.

 

[Sue M]

If we do CL we don’t do DDP. Actually we haven’t done DDP in a few years. And never do DxDDP. Way to much food and time spent dining. I’d rather get into the park at rope drop then sit around for a TS breakfast so my opinion prob has a bias.

We enjoy CL and having breakfast in lounge, then have a late TS lunch, and return to lounge for evening offerings which is sufficient for us as we had a large lunch. And I prefer grazing!
CL does have Children’s table for food.

It all depends how you like to eat. But imo if you get DxDDP you don’t need CL.

 

[MissionMouse]

We often paid OP when doing club level. When we ran the numbers when our kids were the age of your kids we found OP to be the better deal. It can be challenging to be at the club at some of the time of their food offerings, so making it every night is probably not going to happen, but you could if that is what you want. The club lounge provides a place outside of your room to unwind rest and a place for one of us (you can rotate) to go to get a break when the kids were at the age where we took a nap during the day. There is also little kids TV areas too and we found that worked out pretty well with our girls who loved the area along with the beverage offerings, snacks, etc. Its also a great place to get your lite morning breakfast. The days of having the extended club staff make your ADRs is of no value anymore as we can make them online.

Overall, club offering never equate to a dining plan and if you find DxDDP to work for you it should too with the club. If you are looking for value, then it depends on the monetary value you could assign to what is provided in today's club offerings and services. Today, we just take what we could have spent on club and make the trip special in ways that have more meaning to the members of our family.

 

[auntfrannie]

I would think it would be too much to do both. Why not do a fireworks cruise as your splurge?