Changes To Dining Plans May-June 2015

TDC Nala

1937, what a year that was
Joined
Jun 22, 2001
The following are the NEW DDP rules set forth by Disney to be in effect May-June 2015:

TABLE SERVICE DINING

  • Guests who do not want a dessert will now have the ability to substitute that dessert choice for either a side salad, a cup of soup, or a fruit plate. Do keep in mind that this is only available upon request and substitutions may be limited. Guests will not be able to select an appetizer option instead.
  • Guests will not be restricted on the number of meal entitlements that may be used in one dining experience. (Meaning, you can use more DDP credits per transaction than you have guests on the plan. Does it mean you can use your DDP credits to buy table service meals for your guests who are not on the plan? We don't know yet, will have to see it in practice.)
  • Those guests on either the Deluxe, the Premium, of the Platinum Dining Plans will now be able to mix their adult and child credits. This means that if a guest on the dining plan has two adults and two child meal entitlements, they may choose to select four adult entree options, if they would like. Those on the regular Disney Dining Plan will not have this option and a child entitlement must still be used for a child meal.
QUICK SERVICE DINING

  • Guests may substitute any dessert or non-alcoholic beverage choice with any eligible snack, provided it’s within the same transaction. This means that if you don’t want your quick service chocolate cake, you can substitute it with say a side of french fries.
  • Quick service locations will also not enforce the mixture of adult and child entitlements. Guests with two adults and two children on the Quick Service Dining Plan can choose four adult meals, if they prefer.
  • Guests may substitute one Quick Service meal for up to three snack options within the same transaction at Quick Service dining locations or food courts (NOTE: NOT KIOSKS, which likely means you will not be able to trade your quick service for 3 food and wine festival kiosk items). For example, if you didn’t want to eat a quick service meal, but were still hungry, you could choose to grab an apple, a bottle of water, and a muffin and it would be able to count as one Quick Service meal entitlement, if you chose that option.
SNACKS

The following are now considered DDP snacks:

  • All single-serve non-alcoholic beverages, not in a souvenir container
  • All soups served in Quick Service locations
  • All items that were considered snacks, but had an additional option at a separate price, such as toppings, sauces, etc. For example, funnel cake with ice cream or a pretzel with cheese sauce.
  • All ice cream novelties
  • All hand-scooped ice cream, including sundaes. (Cannot exceed two scoops, nor can it be served in a souvenir container.)
  • All items on Quick Service menus listed under the Sides option.
  • Quick Service Restaurant breakfast items that can be considered part of an entree and also offered as a side. (For example, if a guest wants orange juice, a side of bacon, and a side of eggs, they can choose to use 1 Quick Service meal entitlement or 3 Snack entitlements.
 
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Has anyone heard whether Disney got the snack stuff figured out? I had heard that many of my fave snack locations would no longer be included on dining plan, then I heard it would all work out, it was still being negotiated with the snack places that weren't owned by Disney.
 
That was merely a blogger's misreading of the WDW website apparently.
 
Just want to make sure I am really reading this right.

We have 2 adults, one "Disney adult" (sorry, but an 11 year old isn't my idea of an adult) and one child on the deluxe dining plan. All four of us can order adult meals (quick or table service) the entire time we are there. And I will still only pay $29.86 per night for the child.

DD9 prefers things from the adult menu, so this would be a great thing for us, but I don't want to tell her and have them refuse at the restaurant.

And this seems like a great thing for us, but won't Disney be loosing money over this? I mean, she'll wind up eating meals that cost twice as much as what was allowed before this change. Who's expecting a kids price hike next year?
 


I think there will be many who still choose the kids meal, just because there are so many picky eaters out there. My kids will love it though! There have been many places that would let you do this the past few years. We have asked and they have been very accommodating!
 
I have read that snacks will simply be all single serve items regardless of price...is that piece of the DDP changes unconfirmed as of now?
 
So only DxDDP and up really have the changes and anything underneath is still the same. If I were to get the DxDDP with 2 adults and 2 children my kids can order off the adult menu does that mean the child price is going up?
 


So only DxDDP and up really have the changes and anything underneath is still the same. If I were to get the DxDDP with 2 adults and 2 children my kids can order off the adult menu does that mean the child price is going up?

While I have zero doubt that Disney is going to raise the prices as a result of these changes, the DxDDP has ALWAYS pooled the adult and child entitlements so this isn't new at all. Acknowledging that it is a single pool and can be utilized as such is the only new thing here.
 
We will be on the Premium Package. So, if I were to meet my family from Florida, I can use 2 of my credits for their meals without breaking the rules? I guess Disney feels, I paid for it, right??
 
We will be on the Premium Package. So, if I were to meet my family from Florida, I can use 2 of my credits for their meals without breaking the rules? I guess Disney feels, I paid for it, right??

No changes announced by Disney yet.

Current rules would not permit it. If the changes end up being true then yes, you could.
 
I have read that snacks will simply be all single serve items regardless of price...is that piece of the DDP changes unconfirmed as of now?

I don't think that's really the case. I have a hard time believing that entree size items are going to be included as snacks, and those can be considered single serving. Like the chicken waffle sandwich. I think they mean items like large cookies or some of the candy apples that weren't previously included due to price.
 
Just want to make sure I am really reading this right.

We have 2 adults, one "Disney adult" (sorry, but an 11 year old isn't my idea of an adult) and one child on the deluxe dining plan. All four of us can order adult meals (quick or table service) the entire time we are there. And I will still only pay $29.86 per night for the child.

DD9 prefers things from the adult menu, so this would be a great thing for us, but I don't want to tell her and have them refuse at the restaurant.

And this seems like a great thing for us, but won't Disney be loosing money over this? I mean, she'll wind up eating meals that cost twice as much as what was allowed before this change. Who's expecting a kids price hike next year?

Correct, if you are on the deluxe plan. Only the regular plan will still treat children's TS credits as different from adult TS credits.
 
Just want to make sure I am really reading this right.

We have 2 adults, one "Disney adult" (sorry, but an 11 year old isn't my idea of an adult) and one child on the deluxe dining plan. All four of us can order adult meals (quick or table service) the entire time we are there. And I will still only pay $29.86 per night for the child.

DD9 prefers things from the adult menu, so this would be a great thing for us, but I don't want to tell her and have them refuse at the restaurant.

And this seems like a great thing for us, but won't Disney be loosing money over this? I mean, she'll wind up eating meals that cost twice as much as what was allowed before this change. Who's expecting a kids price hike next year?

I think this means that you will still only have so many child and adult meals, you can use them however you like for whomever in your party. You may end up with not enough adult credits and too many child credits. You could, for example, use a child credit for the 11 year old and an adult credit for the 9 year old, but you would still be limited to how many adult meals and how many child meals you could order. When they say interchangeable, I believe it means that anyone in the party can utilize the credits. Say you have an adult that eats smaller portions and a growing child that can easily eat an adult meal. The adult could order the child's meal and the child could order the adults meal.
 
I don't think that's really the case. I have a hard time believing that entree size items are going to be included as snacks, and those can be considered single serving. Like the chicken waffle sandwich. I think they mean items like large cookies or some of the candy apples that weren't previously included due to price.

Oh, I agree it is unlikely. I am surprised a caramel apple would be considered a single serve item.
 
I think this means that you will still only have so many child and adult meals, you can use them however you like for whomever in your party. You may end up with not enough adult credits and too many child credits. You could, for example, use a child credit for the 11 year old and an adult credit for the 9 year old, but you would still be limited to how many adult meals and how many child meals you could order. When they say interchangeable, I believe it means that anyone in the party can utilize the credits. Say you have an adult that eats smaller portions and a growing child that can easily eat an adult meal. The adult could order the child's meal and the child could order the adults meal.

The new rules, if confirmed, take it outside the party and you can use any number of your credits to buy any number of meals for anyone you wish. Additionally, if it's the quick service plan or the deluxe plan, there ARE no child or adult credits. Anybody can order from whatever menu they want. There's a child/adult separation only on the regular plan's TS credits.
 
We are season pass holders and we do a couple trips there a year and always do the Deluxe Dining plan. We have 2 adults and 2 children and have been getting the children adult meals each time so no big change there BUT theoretically I could book a trip with only myself (1 adult) and both my children, book the Deluxe plan and then spread out my meal entitlements over 4 people? ( 2 adults and 2 kids) Since the children are able to eat adult meals then that would still give all 4 of us 2 table service meals a day ( which is plenty) and Disney take a hit of over $100/ day in the lack of paying for the second adult? For us this would be OUTSTANDING bc 3 table services/ day is way too much but 2 is perfect. I can't imagine them letting us get away with that for long......
 
We are season pass holders and we do a couple trips there a year and always do the Deluxe Dining plan. We have 2 adults and 2 children and have been getting the children adult meals each time so no big change there BUT theoretically I could book a trip with only myself (1 adult) and both my children, book the Deluxe plan and then spread out my meal entitlements over 4 people? ( 2 adults and 2 kids) Since the children are able to eat adult meals then that would still give all 4 of us 2 table service meals a day ( which is plenty) and Disney take a hit of over $100/ day in the lack of paying for the second adult? For us this would be OUTSTANDING bc 3 table services/ day is way too much but 2 is perfect. I can't imagine them letting us get away with that for long......

What you are talking about here is dishonesty as if you are booking for only three people, but four are staying and dining with you, I am sure there will always be ways to work around systems, but when you are deliberately doing that, it is a chance for Disney to close that loop hole
 
The new rules, if confirmed, take it outside the party and you can use any number of your credits to buy any number of meals for anyone you wish.
Just to be clear, that's not what the original article said. It said you could redeem more credits than people, but it didn't say you could use them for people not on the plan. While that sounds like the only reason to allow it, they might just want to allow one person to order two meals for himself.
 
What you are talking about here is dishonesty as if you are booking for only three people, but four are staying and dining with you, I am sure there will always be ways to work around systems, but when you are deliberately doing that, it is a chance for Disney to close that loop hole

I totally agree. However, we had been doing the ' kids eating on the adult menu' on the deluxe plan for a long time bc a server at the restaurant told us about it with a caveat that they don't like to 'advertise' it. We weren't trying to 'scam' them- we were informed by actual Disney people and took advantage. We booked our kids KNOWING they would occasionally eat as an adult and weren't really 'loop-holing' anything. I guess my question is, would this be a similar situation with 'reading between the lines' as opposed to breaking a rule or anything. Disney isn't stupid, if they emplement a service that opens them up to this type of circumstance- one that as a patron I was able to deduce in a matter of minutes- does it not mean they are ok with it? If they allow me to get a dining plan and use a credit for anyone I choose- even if let's say they aren't staying on property which up to now has not been allowed, this doesn't seem much different. Disney is still going to get a significant amount of money from our dining fee- we would just be utilizing in a way that better fits our needs.
 
So do you think they will have just one price for DxDDP and up? I would love to get the DxDDP next trip it would be 2 adults and 2 children age 9 how would that work for me?
 

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