Best Use of Dining Plan

[ANNFMUR]

Hi,
We are a family of 5, mom, dad, 3 girls ages 8, 5, 2. I am trying to figure out the best use of the dining plan for our stay. We are staying four nights at the Poly with a 5 day pass. Our last night will be the Pop but that is room only as we are leaving early the next morning. Are there any meals that we would be better off paying for ourselves. Out TA has booked alot of Character meals so we have quite a few to choose from. We did get Cinderella's royal table for a late breakfast. I am looking forward to feedback. Thanks

 

[all4fun]

There's a Dining plan FAQ on the Restaurant Board you might want to check out. There are lots of threads on this subject there too.

From what I understand if you need two credits (or points or whatever their called, lol) for one meal at a "signature" restaurants - say CRT for example, at one of your other regular meals you can simply opt to pay cash for your kids meals (since they're usually fairly inexpensive) and then use that credit towards one of your other more "expensive" meals. That way you can stretch the use of your credits. There were some posts that cm's were trying to make it sound like you can't pay cash for one person's meal but personally, I don't see how they can deny that seeing as you're supposed to be able to use the points any way you see fit.

But I wouldn't take my word for it either since I haven't had the opportunity to use the meal plan yet.

I would check out the Restuarant board I linked above.

hth!

 

[The Sweetness]

When you eat at a TS that isnt all you care to eat (buffet or family style), and you and DH dont always order your own ap and desert w/ dinner, you may use 1 ts credit, order an entree, and share the ap and desert. Or order an ap and share the entre, whichever you like. Also, if the 5 and 8 y olds arent big eaters, they can share as well. 2yr old can always share the food on the table. For cs, what I have heard, is that some ppl order the regular size meal, and have the kids share it. such as ordering a dbl cheeseburger meal (comes with fries, drink and desert) and have the kids share it. Ive even heard that you can order an extra bun. This will help you stretch your credits. Also, at ts where you order from a menu, you CAN pay for the kids meals saving your TS credits for something else. I dont know if that is really considered cheating, but Ive read that its been done BTW, you cannot share at buffet or family style meals like LTT dinner or Chef Mickeys, but the 2 y old can eat whatever he or she wants, just like you

One other tip, if you dont eat your cs desert right away (cookie, brownie...) save it for later when someones got the munchies