Character Meals - DDP or OOP?

[Txmomof3Boyz]

If you have the Regular Dining Plan with TS, how many character meals can you do? Is there a limit? If you are lucky enough to be able to book one for each day of your trip can all your TS dinners be Character dinners?

We have chosen the free QSDP for several reasons because we thought it would work out better for our family with two small children. I think the cost to upgrade for our party of 6 is only about $212. The one character breakfast we booked will be $175 + tax OOP. If we could book two character dining meals, it would definately be cheaper that way, but then we lose the free mugs and the extra snack a day. I just don't know if that is worth it.

What do you think? My three boys are 13 and 5 year old twins. We will most likely eat at least one meal a day at the hotel at least 3-4 days of our trip when the parks do not have Extra Magic Hours at night. So we will definately use those mugs 2-3 times a day.

 

[TDC Nala]

You can do as many character meals as you want. There isn't any limit. They can be breakfast, lunch or dinner. If it's what you want, you can use all your TS credits on character meals. If you are going over Thanksgiving you should probably be sure you can book the meals before you upgrade.

 

[Txmomof3Boyz]

Thanks for the info. We were able to find two character breakfasts available that we were interested. We gave the boys the choice and we are doing the Disney Jr. one at Hollywood Studios on Tuesday, Nov. 21. I am hoping they don't up the charge because it is a holiday week. Our travel agent told us that early in the week they may not.

My MIL keeps telling me to quick overthinking the trip and trying to make it complicated! LOL! But I'm just trying to get as much out of this trip as possible for my kids without being too overwhelming for them. We do not have the luxury of going to WDW very often and have only been able to make these last two trips because of the generosity of my MIL wanting to treat her grandchildren. The trip is our family Christmas present, as was the one in 2006.

 

[TDC Nala]

If you only want two character meals you may be better off sticking with the quick service plan. With the regular plan, you will probably need to plan a TS meal every day to get the value out of the dining plan. Of course, if the trip is a gift then getting the most for the plan may not be your priority.