DP - still need to order extra food?

[travelbel]

We're going for 7 nights and have the DP with 1 TS meal / 1 QS and 1 snack. There are 2 adults and 2 children, ages 4 and 7.

We've never had the dining plan or stayed on property, so we're not sure if we should order extra food from Garden Grocer?? Maybe some snacks?

Or, should we be okay? I see some people having too much food and leftover credits and others with not enough food!

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

 

[tink0283]

we have had the dining plan for our last 3 visits and each time we have had more than enough food.

we always bring plenty of snacks for the room just in case, but leave each trip with just about the same amount of snacks that we came with...we are plenty full by the time we get back to the room each night.

somedays we even feel too full for the dessert at dinner, but still go ahead and get it since its included (and cause you can always make room for dessert ).

so i would say have some snacks in your room just in case since you have never done the dining plan, but from my experience with it you prob. won't need them. hope this helps you out! enjoy your trip!

 

[Sandisw]

The plans have been more than enough food for our family. The first time we went on the DDP, our kids never, ever asked for a snack. We even ended up with a few extras to use up the last day.

Prior to that visit, we very rarely ate TS meals and did CS and snacks for the most part. The kids were always "hungry". However, with 1 TS and 1 CS meal each day, which included dessert, they were just never in need of snacks--they were always full.

This last time, we did the QSDP and still had 8 snack credits to use up the last day so will not be doing that next summer.

 

[Bete]

especially for breakfast items. Breakfast bars are easy and good. We always bring nuts, as well. Crackers and peanut butter works well, too. Cereal can be done and then get milk at the resort with a snack credit. Bring powdered drinks for the parks if you don't want to drink just tap water there.

Use your snack credits for a breakfast item like a muffin or fruit. Get the refill mugs and pay OOP for them and then you don't need to use snack credits for drinks.

We have an early QS lunch and then an early TS dinner and we are always quite satisfied.

If you do want a more substantial breakfast then pay for it OOP; it's usually the cheapest meal except for character breakfasts. You can split those extra cost breakfasts, too.

Be it that you haven't done this yet, I would wing it to a certain degree. Find out if you do need more food or not. If you pay OOP for any meals then make sure they are cheaper meals. Remember to split meals, too.

If you are use to three hardy meals a day, then maybe this plan will not be enough. Again, just go for some cheaper meals and split them if you can.

 

[daisyduck123]

We use the DP every trip, & would never even consider ordering/bringning along extra food/snacks. No way. Nada. Our room refrigerator always sits empty.

 

[frannn]

We've done DXDP for a few years, but I remember when we did the reg DP we had to pay OOP for breakfast. We're 3 meal a day people, especially with all the added exercise in the theme parks . I'm having the reg DP vs DXDP dilemma right now for our next trip....

 

[Sunday]

I do Garden Grocer, even though we are on the regular DP.

For the record, the travellers are myself (33), DH (37) and DD (3).

We love the DDP, and for the most part it covers our needs. But I always find that DDP doesn't quite get us there. For example, an average day:

Breakfast: Garden Grocer food, i.e. muffin and milk, Rice Krispies, or bagel and cream cheese, plus coffee for me or Diet Coke for DH.
Park must haves: Garden Grocer food, i.e. grapes, ham roll ups and cheese for DD, Powerade for DH, Water or Diet Coke for me.
Lunch: QS credit for each of us. Dessert is usually saved if possible, including saving grapes or apple slices for DD.
Snack: Popcorn for DD during a show, ice cream for DH, Dole Whip for moi!
Dinner: TS credit, all of which is eaten at the table
Snack: Saved dessert from lunch (muffin or cookie for example)

Because we have an early dinner, we are usually snackie by the time we get back to the room, hence the saving of the dessert or fruit, or the snacking on Garden Grocer chips and dip.

We are not big people, and yes the DDP is a good amount of food, but it isn't enough to sustain our almost constant eating habits (we eat 5 or 6 small meal a day at home).

 

[Colleen27]

On the basic plan we usually got some snacky type stuff like apples/bananas and nutrigrain bars for breakfasts and bottled waters so we weren't using all our snack credits on drinks (both our basic DDP trips were at HOT times of year - during a cooler season I wouldn't bother with toting water to the parks). Then we used our dining plan credits for a QS lunch and TS dinner, with the snack for something fun/yummy whenever.

 

[coconutprincess]

I am a huge fan of breakfast... so in the past I would go to the POR foodcourt and get me a nice delicious Mickey waffle. We had some snacks in the room at night, but we never let a snack credit go by unused.

 

[Momto2PrncChrmgs]

We have 2 boys ages 8 and 4, and we'll probably bring a box or 2 of granola bars, fruit snacks, trail mix, etc. That way if we're in a hurry, we can eat breakfast in line for the bus, or if we're in a long line at the park, kids can munch on fruit snacks. We also usually have a pool day, so we may grab a few CS meals for lunch to share, grab a can of pringles, and we're good. We don't take much, but it's nice to have it, and that way we have snacks on the plane, too.

 

[llqool]

I agree with what a PP said about time of the year making a difference. In hotter times of the year, we brought a case of water and drinks with us, even when we had the DDP. And the hotter weather made my kids crave ice cream/popsicles/Dole whips, so that's what we used our snack credits for.

When we went during the F&W festival, we used our snack credits for the F&W kiosks, so we did bring some extra snacks for the kids.

We also usually bring granola bars/little bites so we can have breakfast in the room or on the run.

Other than that, we really did not need a lot of extra stuff when we were on the DDP. Our last trip we used the QSDP and had TONS of food (and we only bought one TS meal OOP)

In January (on the QSDP), the main thing I'm going to be bringing with me is Starbucks Via packets to put in my resort mug, b/c I hate Disney's coffee.

 

[pilferk]

We're going for 7 nights and have the DP with 1 TS meal / 1 QS and 1 snack. There are 2 adults and 2 children, ages 4 and 7.

We've never had the dining plan or stayed on property, so we're not sure if we should order extra food from Garden Grocer?? Maybe some snacks?

Or, should we be okay? I see some people having too much food and leftover credits and others with not enough food!

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

We order breakfast stuff (bagels, cereal, fresh fruit etc) from GG for the room (along with a case of water)...mostly because we like to use the snacks for other options. But...really...you don't have to. You could use that snack credit for a bagel every morning and about all you'd need in your room is some juice, milk, or coffee (or spring for it when you pick up your bagel).

We've done the dining plan MULTIPLE times and have NEVER thought we needed "more food". 2 adults, 3 kids.

 

[travelbel]

Thanks for all of the great ideas! I love the idea of saving dessert, or some part of lunch for later! And, I think we'll just stock the suitcases with some dry good foods (nuts, granola bars, etc.) for quick snacks or breakfasts! With GG, we'd have to buy quite a bit to make it worth while, so I think we'll wing it!

 

[3pletprincesses]

I did purchase opp a qs meal for all of us but our flight out was at 9pm and we had arrived early and had used a qs the first day. If our departure flight would have been in the afternoon, we would have been fine with the ddp only. Oh and we did have 3 snacks left which I bought mickey rice treats for my girls for the flight home

 

[jlm]

We are a family of 5 that went on the reg. dinning plan and ordered from GardenGrocer. I ordered water, mtn dew (for dh-not a coke fan), chips, salsa, crackers, bkfst bars, pop-tarts, bagels, cream cheese, milk, fruit and granola bars. We drank about 1/2 the water (it was cold when we were there), dh drank all the soda. We ate some fruit and few pop-tarts-bkfst bars, and all the chips/some salsa. We left SOOO much behind it was rediculious!! Plus I had enough credits left over to get 18 snacks!
We had way too much!!

 

[DCDisney]

We usually just bring a box of granola bars for a light breakfast before parks and then eat an early lunch to beat the crowds. That way we actually get hungry for a snack too I do order a case of water to be delivered to our resort from costco.com. I don't think you have to even be a member to order it. It's like $6 or $7 including shipping. If you do find you need more snack or breakfast stuff the resort shops sell whole bags of pretzels, chips, boxes of doughnuts, etc for about the same prices you'd find at a convenience store.