Changes to dining plan entitlements-exchanging meals for snacks!

[sheila <3 WDW]

I just saw this on reddit. Thought I'd post here. I, for one, am excited because based on my plans for our next trip we might have a couple QS meals leftover. I would love to exchange them for some big rice krispy treats at Big Top Treats or somewhere!
http://www.orlandoparksnews.com/2015/05/disney-dining-plan-enhancements-begin.html

Disney Dining Plan Enhancements Begin May 31, 2015
Tuesday, May 26, 2015 | Posted by OTPN administrator

As part of the popular Magic Your Way Vacation Package, Disney Dining Plans continue to be Guest favorites at the Walt Disney World Resort. To improve this service, several enhancements are taking place that will expand Guest offerings and simplify the usability of the program. Starting May 31, Guests will have more flexibility and choice in using entitlements in nearly every Disney-operated food & beverage and merchandise venue throughout the Walt Disney World Resort.

Below you will find additional information about the upcoming changes and additions. They include:

1. Expanded Snack entitlements;
2. Meal entitlements may be used as Snack entitlements (in select locations only).

SNACK ENTITLEMENTS
The following will be included as of May 31, 2015, as eligible Snack entitlements for Guests with DDP:

• All single-serve non-alcoholic beverages that are not in a souvenir container (single serve is equal to or less than one liter and excluding beverages sold at recreation counters);
• All ice cream novelties;
• All hand-scooped ice cream offerings, including sundaes that do not exceed two (2) scoops or are not served in souvenir container;
• Additional items considered single-serve previously excluded are now included, such as Caramel or Candy Apple (with or without peanuts, excluding character-inspired apples), large Mickey Cookie, Tin Mints (1.5 oz), fresh-popped, scooped popcorn (only applies to Big Top Souvenir andKaramell-Kuche locations). Note: Pre-bagged popcorn of any kind is no longer included in the Dining Plan.

MEAL ENTITLEMENT CONVERSION
Effective May 31 at quick service restaurants and select merchandise locations (listed below), Guests may substitute one Meal entitlement for up to 3 eligible Snack plan items within the same transaction.

Example 1: Guest chooses to substitute one (1) QSR Meal entitlement for an apple, bottle of soda, and bag of potato chips (within the same transaction).
Example 2: Guest chooses to substitute one (1) DDP Table-service Meal entitlement for three eligible snacks (within the same transaction).

Resort locations where the meal entitlement conversion will be available starting May 31, 2015:

• Artist's Palette
• BayView Gifts
• Beach Club Market Place
• Calypso Trading Co.
• Conch Flat
• Donald's Double Feature
• Dundy's Sundries
• Everything Pop
• Fittings and Fairings
• Fulton's General Store
• Ink and Paint
• Jackson Square
• Johari Treasures
• M. Mouse Mercantile
• Maestro Mickey
• Moana Mercantile
• On the Boardwalk
• Panchito's Gifts and Sundries
• Sandy Cove
• Seashore Sweets
• Settlement Trading Post
• Sport Goofy Gifts and sundries
• Wilderness Mercantile
• Zawadi Marketplace

Park locations where the meal entitlement conversion will be available starting May 31, 2015:

• Big Top Souvenir (Magic Kingdom)
• Confectionary (Magic Kingdom)
• Prairie Outpost (Magic Kingdom)
• Karamell-Küche (Epcot)
• Beverly Sunset (Disney's Hollywood Studios)
• Writer's Stop (Disney's Hollywood Studios)
• Mombasa Marketplace (Disney's Animal Kingdom)
• Candy Cauldron (Downtown Disney)
• Goofy's Candy Co. (Downtown Disney)

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

- The price of a Mickey cookie exceeds five dollars—is that still considered a Snack?
Yes. If the item falls within the guidelines stated within the updated business rules, then it is considered a Snack, regardless of the price.
- Is the pre-bagged Kettle Korn still considered a Snack?
No. The only popcorn considered a Snack is fresh-popped and scooped by the location.
- Can I exchange my Meal entitlement for two Snack options now and one later?
No. If Guests choose to exchange their Meal entitlements for Snack entitlements, the exchange
must be completed in the same transaction.
- Can I exchange my Meal entitlement for two snack options?
Yes. Guests may exchange the Meal entitlement for one, two, or three Snack-eligible items.

- Can I exchange my table-service Meal entitlement on the Dining Plan for the snack option?
Yes. Guests may exchange any Meal entitlement on any plan for one, two, or three Snack-eligible
items (the maximum number of snack is still three).
Updated signage to reflect some of these changes will be in place starting June 4, 2015.

 

[supersnoop]

That was posted earlier today. The article references an "official" release from Disney, but doesn't link to it anywhere. I'm skeptical.

 

[pperfectmom]

I hope this pans out. I'm curious to see if any more information comes out soon.

 

[Bernie23]

When Disney does things like this, it is almost never in the guests best interest, so I highly doubt they'll be offering more.

If this is true, I am nervous about the "above categories". What does that mean? Are those the only type of snacks you can get?

 

[dbramer]

When Disney does things like this, it is almost never in the guests best interest, so I highly doubt they'll be offering more.

If this is true, I am nervous about the "above categories". What does that mean? Are those the only type of snacks you can get?

It looks like it expands the snack offerings and takes away the dollar amount to replace it with the verbiage "single-serve." If this is becomes official, then the snack offerings take on a greater variety.

 

[sharonabe]

The wording "nearly every Disney-owned/operated restaurant" would cause so much more confusion than already exists. How does a guest even know which places are Disney owned/operated? And the word NEARLY gives all of them an out if they so choose.

All this really does is put in print what already happens "most of the time" at Disney resort restaurants. It does add in a few park snack places, so that would be a good thing.

 

[cluvsdisney]

When Disney does things like this, it is almost never in the guests best interest, so I highly doubt they'll be offering more.

If this is true, I am nervous about the "above categories". What does that mean? Are those the only type of snacks you can get?

I think this type of accommodation is a good will move on Disney's part. Guests will have the opportunity to dump left over meal credits at a lower cost to Disney than a QS & esp TS meal instead of letting them go completely to waste. Overall, the plan won't feel as wasteful and will probably increase the chances that the guests will continue to purchase the plan in the future.

 

[Superchikk]

I think this type of accommodation is a good will move on Disney's part. Guests will have the opportunity to dump left over meal credits at a lower cost to Disney than a QS & esp TS meal instead of letting them go completely to waste. Overall, the plan won't feel as wasteful and will probably increase the chances that the guests will continue to purchase the plan in the future.

No kidding. We left with QS meal credits last time because we just didn't use them all. I'd have LOVED to swap them out for snack items to take on the road with us - even if it wasn't as much of a "value" as a full meal.

 

[justme0729]

In January we exchanged some quick service DDP credits for three snacks like the article suggests at Captain Cooks. For example, with one quick service credit, we got a snickers bar, a Mickey rice krispy bar, and a bottle of water (could have chosen anything that was a snack credit).

The cashier just told us that we couldn't pick all of our snacks to be one thing (like taking home 15 Mickey rice krispy bars- we had five QS credits left) so that they didn't run out of anything for other customers. It was nice because we didn't use all of our quick service credits and could bring some snacks home

 

[sharonabe]

If this does become an official policy, I wonder what that means for free dining. Trading down for a plan you paid for is a definite win for Disney, but if free DDP users all do this too, it's not so good.

 

[jon18uk]

It's been semi-official that you can do this at resort food courts for a while apparently, you can get a "continental breakfast" of two snacks and a drink (eg pastry, fruit and juice) and some cashiers will allow any two snacks plus drink to count, so it is more an existing policy being formalised.

The snack stuff is just confusing though, why not just keep it as anything with the purple DDP logo next to it.

I would LOVE to be able to switch dessert for appetiser at some table service though.

 

[Superchikk]

I'd love to be able to switch a dessert for an appetizer. Then, we could split an appetizer between us for one person, then for another person, get dessert and split it as well. It'd be the best of both worlds. And let's face it - I love dessert but eating it every meal is not my thing.

 

[kaytieeldr]

That's a change which will likely never happen.

 

[andrewilley]

I'd love to be able to switch a dessert for an appetizer. Then, we could split an appetizer between us for one person, then for another person, get dessert and split it as well. It'd be the best of both worlds. And let's face it - I love dessert but eating it every meal is not my thing.

I believe you will be able to swap out an unwanted dessert option for a snack item instead, including bottled drinks and also soups - but not for all appetisers.

Andre

 

[kaytieeldr]

I believe you will be able to swap out an unwanted dessert option for a snack item instead, including bottled drinks and also soups - but not for all appetisers.

Andre

I don't beleive you can split credits this way. A meal = entreé+drink+dessert. Period.

 

[cluvsdisney]

A couple of times when we declined dessert when we used the DP (way back when) we were offered bottled water to take with us.

 

[starshine74]

Hello all -
I am currently staying at a resort and saw something called a "team talk" on the floor of the quick service location there. I'm sure I wasn't supposed to see it or take it, but I did. Seemed like an internal memo type of thing for the employees. Anyway is shared all that information, plus something else that was interesting to our family:
QSR breakfast items that may be included as Snack: a. Cereal with milk (including Create Your Own) b. French toast sticks c. Oatmeal or quinoa (including Create Your Own) d. Grits e. Side of bacon f. Side of sausage g. Side of eggs h. Side of potatoes i. Biscuits and gravy j. Hard-boiled eggs

In recent history (as far as I know), bacon and sausage have not been included as snacks. This will make the whole "three snacks for a meal" conversion a lot more enticing to my family.

Also read this which is helpful to families with 8 and 9 year olds that have larger appetites
QSR locations will not enforce the adult/child mix of the DDP meal purchases. NOTE: On the Disney Dining Plan, an adult Table-service Meal entitlement must be decremented for child who orders an adult meal"

 

[lovndisney12]

It would be nice if they did something more official. The last two times we have gone on FD the staff has been very accommodating. My DH was sick and missed a TS meal. POFQ let me exchange his TS credit for several bottles of powerade and crackers. Sure, not really a big win on my part - but what he needed at the time. We have also been able to get cappuccino at Mama Melrose's for our dessert. And, we have exchanged a QS meal for some snack credit from one of the candy shops. Will be nice if this becomes universally standard.

 

[tabistar]

Although we've been able to do a few of these before, it will be nice for it to be official. At Flame Tree and Columbia Harbour House, we always skip dessert and get bagged grapes/apples or yogurt instead. I don't always order a QS for my DD because she'll share with me and DS (especially if I trade dessert for more sides), so I can use her QS credit for more snacks It will definitely be nice when I'm using lots of snack credits for F&W!

 

[2 Little Mermaids]

So if my 9 year old chooses an entree from the adult menu, would they also get the adult size drink and dessert as well? That is too much for me let alone for her. But at some counter services she would rather have the adult entree. Especially the chicken nuggets.