Changes To Dining Plans May-June 2015

[bookgirl]

I am hoping they release something official as well. I am trying the dining plan again because of the changes but I'd really like to know WHERE I can do the 3 for 1 exchange. Luckily I have till Oct but I like to plan ahead.

 

[PoohsHunnyBee]

PoohsHunnyBee, this is exactly what we are doing but we area only booking one room. Taking complete advantage before or if there is a change in price. There are 7 of us. It was actually cheaper to book one room at ASsp free dining on DxDP and book 4 people and get 168 DxDP credits for 14 nights. We found a 3 bedroom 2 bath condo at Windsor Hills for $875 for 14 nights....we are also {renting a van, we don't do buses ever} so 2 people in AsSp and the other 5 in the condo. We had this booked before the new changes, worked out saving us a lot of money on food!!

I think it's great if you can take advantage of savings while following policy! My point is if any of the four you have booked for deluxe dining is a child and you'd use their credits for an adult staying (and booked) off-site assuming that will be officially allowed, that's a HUGE savings. I would expect the price difference between children and adults to shrink accordingly, but if you're going after they implement the rumored changes while paying current prices, enjoy!

 

[12disneybee]

I agree Poohshunnybee, following rules and taking advantage of the change... cannot wait

 

[LATJLP]

I wonder if Disney knows what kind of mess they've opened up and how people are going to take advantage of it. We quit using any of the plans because we just don't eat that way. We prefer water and don't do many desserts. Trust me, if we do the QSDP the way the changes seem to say it will be, Disney will lose money on us.

I wonder if that is WHY Disney is doing this.....too many people (like myself) do not stay onsite because the cost of the hotel plus the "no choice but to eat onsite" (unless you rent a car) has made it too expensive. If you can get a decent discount on a room, plus pay for dining that will fit your family's style of eating now....you are more likely to stay onsite.

The Dining Plan just doesn't work for us the way it was.....we don't do a dessert at every meal, we prefer appetizers or savory sides, we generally share 2 CS or TS between the 3 of us....so we would have many leftover and wasted. We are doing the FREE dining in September because we have a very short (for us) stay (only 11 days instead of our normal 25-30 days).....but we did the math and for such a short stay a vacation home is higher priced than the "monthly" rate, car is also more expensive for short stays.....but we would normally still have extra CS (no extra TS because we'll use the extras for a couple of 2 credit places we've never tried because of the price). This new plan, if rumored correctly, will be near-perfect for us.....only way to make it even better.....let us sub our dessert and drink at a TS for an appetizer.....most of the appetizer are in the $10-12 range....desserts are $8-10 and drinks are nearly $3....so it wouldn't be a big stretch. Ok, I can dream.....but I know soooo many have complained about the dessert over an appetizer....maybe, hopefully, this is the first step towards it. Heck, I'd even be willing to take a slightly smaller sized appetizer over the regular menu for my dessert/drink. We prefer water anyway.....last time we did Free Dining we got so tired of soda at every meal and just skipped it for water instead.....waitresses thought we were nuts and explained almost every time that a soda was included in our meal credit, lol.

 

[12disneybee]

Everyone has to realize that disers don't makeup all of the guests in disney and I'm always so surprised how many people don't know but free dining in September when we are there..so the whole world will not know of loopholes like we do...we only make up a small % of Disney guests. I for one am Taking complete advantage of 2 adults 2kids booked AsSp free dining upgrading to DxDP. Kids will not be dining with us most if the times since grandparents live in Orlando... signature dining for us every night.... sit down breakfasts.... snack
galore for lunch...loving it... I'm sure the price email will increase for 2016

 

[andrewilley]

I am hoping they release something official as well. I am trying the dining plan again because of the changes but I'd really like to know WHERE I can do the 3 for 1 exchange. Luckily I have till Oct but I like to plan ahead.

As has been said, nothing has been announced officially, but I found the following list online which looks fairly convincing. Still technically all rumour of course, and I assume the list would be in addition to all of the normal counter service locations.

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)

Andre

 

[sharonabe]

12disneybee's plan to book separate rooms and do the DxDDP for part of their party got me to thinking. Now, those who still have kid's are going to make out like bandits doing something like this until Disney changes the price of the kid's plans. Kuddos to all of you. But, we no longer have Disney kids, so I wanted to see how it would work for us. Here's what I did:

"Booked" the same week, same number of nights, same ticket for the four of us at a mod with one room and the regular DDP for all 4 of us AND then at a value with two rooms, two people in each, and only one of those two rooms on the DxDDP. What do you think the difference was???


It was only $11 more for the value rooms and DxDDP. That would give us 6 meals/night instead of 4, and we get apps with all of them. Not to mention the fact that with two rooms, we also have two bathrooms and more space! We probably will never really do it, but it was interesting to see what could be done.

 

[12disneybee]

Sharon bee
Why won't you do it?

 

[senadler]

It was only $11 more for the value rooms and DxDDP. That would give us 6 meals/night instead of 4, and we get apps with all of them. Not to mention the fact that with two rooms, we also have two bathrooms and more space! We probably will never really do it, but it was interesting to see what could be done

I don't really think using the changes in this way makes a lot of sense. You would get 6 TS instead of 4 TS, but you are also not getting the other 4 QS you would have with the regular plan. You are also moving to value instead of moderate.

 

[12disneybee]

We are getting 168 DxDP credits. None of us eat 3 meals a day. Plus we get 112 snacks and paying 2 adult prices and 2kids prices
upgrading from free QS
Dining

 

[sharonabe]

I don't really think using the changes in this way makes a lot of sense. You would get 6 TS instead of 4 TS, but you are also not getting the other 4 QS you would have with the regular plan. You are also moving to value instead of moderate.

True, but with the app added in, we can easily share 2 or 3 TS meals. I've been perusing the menus to see what we might order, and sharing 3 meals between us is actually too much food. We would be over stuffed once we had 3 apps, 3 entrees, and 3 desserts. Two is just about right if we order things we can share. Staying at a value doesn't bother us if we can have two rooms. All four of us in one room at a value would be a little tight, and since my kiddos are teen boys, that privacy curtain at the moderates is a must if we are going to share a room. That extra bathroom is definitely a big plus, though!

 

[PoohsHunnyBee]

True, but with the app added in, we can easily share 2 or 3 TS meals. I've been perusing the menus to see what we might order, and sharing 3 meals between us is actually too much food. We would be over stuffed once we had 3 apps, 3 entrees, and 3 desserts. Two is just about right if we order things we can share. Staying at a value doesn't bother us if we can have two rooms. All four of us in one room at a value would be a little tight, and since my kiddos are teen boys, that privacy curtain at the moderates is a must if we are going to share a room. That extra bathroom is definitely a big plus, though!

Depending on where you want to eat this could work wonderfully! On the other hand, throw in a buffet where everyone must use a credit and/or a signature where sharing 3 meals would cost all of one night's credits, and all of a sudden it doesn't sound as nice. It really depends on what and how you want to eat; definitely worth considering but not an obvious choice for everyone.

 

[sharonabe]

Depending on where you want to eat this could work wonderfully! On the other hand, throw in a buffet where everyone must use a credit and/or a signature where sharing 3 meals would cost all of one night's credits, and all of a sudden it doesn't sound as nice. It really depends on what and how you want to eat; definitely worth considering but not an obvious choice for everyone.

For us, the buffets make it even easier. DH and I would not want more than an app for our other meal, so the boys would have the two entrees, and then there's still two desserts that someone has to eat. Signatures don't work for us right now as we have one picky eater and there's just not much on their menus he will eat. It's not worth it.

 

[rainboots]

Anxious to see how they work the loopholes/change prices. Going in Feb, with 10 people (7adults/3kids = 4 rms). If everything remains as is, I will put 2 or 3 adults (1or 2 rms) on DxDP, and the rest on DDP. It would give us enough flexibility to have a couple of extra TS meals (incl 2TS credit meals), but not cost an extra fortune.

We all had DxDP last trip and had a ton of credits leftover. I still have more numbers to crunch, but I think it would work!

 

[Andysol]

Anxious to see how they work the loopholes/change prices. Going in Feb, with 10 people (7adults/3kids = 4 rms). If everything remains as is, I will put 2 or 3 adults (1or 2 rms) on DxDP, and the rest on DDP. It would give us enough flexibility to have a couple of extra TS meals (incl 2TS credit meals), but not cost an extra fortune.

We all had DxDP last trip and had a ton of credits leftover. I still have more numbers to crunch, but I think it would work!

Why would you put the adults on the deluxe? Put an adult and the kids on the deluxe.

 

[thr33boys]

So I was just running the numbers. We are staying at POR and I was already considering getting a second room so we could have separate sleeping areas and another bathroom. The cost for the second room over the course of our stay is $1,211.76. If I get the DxDP for 1 adult and 1 child that will cost $1,125.12. This will give us 48 meal credits and 32 snack credits. We are a family of 5 (with 2 kids under 9). We will have to share meals if we don't want to run out of meal credits. Therefore, we will have to be very strategic in the places we choose to eat in and be well thought out in advance. Of course, I can add another child for $238.88 and we'd pretty much be set on meal credits and have more snack credits than we could use. However, this would exceed the amount that we would spend if we went oop. Was really trying to limit the number of TS reservations this trip.

On one hand, I think it's a steal of a deal since I'm sure the kid prices will go up next year. So why not take advantage of it while I can? On the other hand, it's another way for Disney to get more money out of me than I really need to spend (extra cost for 2nd room and cost of the meal plan).

Something to think about for sure.

 

[ginny_lynn]

As has been said, nothing has been announced officially, but I found the following list online which looks fairly convincing. Still technically all rumour of course, and I assume the list would be in addition to all of the normal counter service locations.
Goofy’s Candy Co. (Downtown Disney)
Andre

This would make me super happy if I could get 3 MYO Treats for a QS credit on our last day! We would be stocking up for friends and family!

 

[Alicatt]

Has anyone actually tried sharing credits with people in a different room since the change? We will have 2 rooms in January, since we are traveling with my parents. If I could upgrade to DxDP and share our pooled credits with them, that would be worth it.

 

[TexasBelle7]

Obviously, like so many other things, I am not sure if it is 100% but I did speak to a CM today at the dining reservation line who did tell me that you could share the dining credits. I was hoping for an answer on further changes but all he could tell me was that all he officially knows is that credits can be shared.

 

[supersnoop]

Obviously, like so many other things, I am not sure if it is 100% but I did speak to a CM today at the dining reservation line who did tell me that you could share the dining credits. I was hoping for an answer on further changes but all he could tell me was that all he officially knows is that credits can be shared.

Were you more specific than "sharing?" You've always been able to redeem one credit to feed two people who are both on the plan. That's what I think constitutes "sharing." Were you specific about sharing with someone who was not on the plan?