DDP...snack questions

[hershey4]

I'm quite confused about the snack portion of the dining plan. Are most food items under $3.99 eligible for the snack? I keep reading about people "saving snacks" and "trading"...what does this mean? We (4 people) will be arriving in less than 2weeks for 4 nights on the regular DDP. I have no idea whether I should use the daily snack credit for a breakfast item, because I have no idea how hungry we'll be. It does seem like a lot of food since both the CS and TS come with a dessert, but we plan on having long days, and I have no idea whether we'll be needing additional snacks, or not. If you are at a TS restaurant, and aren't hungry for dessert, would they have something smaller to pack up for you...something that WASN'T on the menu...like a cookie instead of a piece of pie or cake?

 

[sharonabe]

If you look at the top of the forum, you'll see a sticky that says either 2011 or 2012 Confirmed Snacks. Take a look through that and then you'll have an idea of what you can get for your snack credits.

TS restaurants will pack up your desserts to go, but I don't think many of them have anything other than what's on the menu. If you're not headed back to your resort after your meal, you may want to choose something that will carry well until you do return.

When we did the DDP, we did use some of our snack credits for breakfast items (pastry and coffee). We found that we didn't all need or want a regular snack every day, so by the end of the week we had a glut of snack credits to use. That's usually when we hit Main St. Bakery for a late breakfast and use up the bulk of them.

Other people use their left-over snack credits to get pre-packaged items to take back home (rice krispie treats, candy, etc).

The sticky above should get you started.

 

[hershey4]

Thanks!

 

[nkereina]

I'm quite confused about the snack portion of the dining plan. Are most food items under $3.99 eligible for the snack? I keep reading about people "saving snacks" and "trading"...what does this mean? We (4 people) will be arriving in less than 2weeks for 4 nights on the regular DDP. I have no idea whether I should use the daily snack credit for a breakfast item, because I have no idea how hungry we'll be. It does seem like a lot of food since both the CS and TS come with a dessert, but we plan on having long days, and I have no idea whether we'll be needing additional snacks, or not. If you are at a TS restaurant, and aren't hungry for dessert, would they have something smaller to pack up for you...something that WASN'T on the menu...like a cookie instead of a piece of pie or cake?

Most food items under $3.50 (I believe) are eligible as a snack item. When you're at a stand, DDP snack credits will have the DDP logo next to it on the menu so you can identify. And don't be afraid to ask.

A lot of people save their snacks and use them on pre-packaged things like the Mickey head rice krispie treats to bring home. We had a few snacks left over and brought home a bunch of rice krispie treats. Also, you can sometimes trade in 2-3 snack credits for an extra QS meal but I wouldn't count on it. I have heard of some people not being able to. I think it's also usually only done at the QS locations in the resorts also. We were able to do the opposite - we traded in a left over meal credit for 2-3 snacks and got some more pre-packaged things to bring home.

As far as getting dessert to go, you can do that, but you will be limited to the desserts they have on the menu. If it's not on the menu, they don't offer it. It's also use it or lose it - you'd have to get that dessert to go then. You wouldn't be able to use that dessert later on or at another place.

 

[figment_jii]

According to this year's DDP brochure you can use your TS credits at QS location, but it does not say anything about converting QS credits to snacks (or vice-a-versa). As others have said, some resort locations have allowed converting credits, but it's not guaranteed.

Also note that you do not have to use 1 TS, 1 QS and 1 snack per day. At the start of your trip you are given a credit "pool" (in your case 16 TS, 16 QS, and 16 snacks (4 adults for 4 nights)). You can use those credits in any combination you'd like (except you cannot charge more "meals" than you have people on the reservation - so in your case, you can't order five QS meals at one time and use the DDP for all five).

The items eligible for the snack credit are generally under $4, but as others have said, there are a few exceptions. Look for the DDP symbol next to the item or, if in doubt, ask the CM.

As nkereina said, you can only order the desserts that are on the menu from TS locations. The server will often help you find one(s) that travel well if you don't think you can eat it right away. They will pack it up for you to take. I'd avoid anything frozen, dairy based, or liquidity.

 

[Hemlock]

Back when the QS Dining Plan included 2 snack/person, we would usually use one sanck credit for a "breakfast" item and one for an afternoon snack. The muffins, pastries, croissants... are HUGE and were more than enough to fill me up until lunch. My kids would usually share one breakfast-type snack item between them.

 

[Faldred]

On the TS dessert question, you may want to see if there's a dessert on the kids' menu that is portable in those cases -- they clearly would have those and they should have no problem subbing that in for you. Most desserts without melting issues can be taken away for later, but be careful about anything perishable in the FL heat and sun.

As a personal example, we were able to get the ooey gooey toffee cake at LTT "to go" (sans ice cream) because we weren't hungry for it right away, and it made an excellent snack an hour or two later after we worked up a new appetite by walking around. But I wouldn't have kept it much longer than that without storing it in some kind of refrigerated pack.