DDP, using dining credits

[kathyfhsu]

I need some help, we are going to Disney for the first time this spring. Our group got the deluxe dining plan, (three table service meals, 2 snacks and a refillable mug). The other group with us got the (one quick service, one table service meal and one snack) plan. Will we be wasting a lot of time if we eat three table service meals a day? And can we use our table service credits for a quick service meal? We do have a reservation for a character breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table on Thursday of our stay at 10 AM. We will be flying in on a Monday and flying back out on a Friday. So we will have three full days and 2 half days in the parks. Any suggestions would be great.

 

[Nadjalu]

Yes you should be able to use your TS credits at a CS place. (just a side note, if you are paying for the plan you should down grade as is isn't a good way to spend your credit. If you got free dining then it isn't so bad, but you did pay to upgrade...)

Now your credits are based on nights at the resort, so everyone will have 4 nights of credits. (hopefully you know that already)
They can be used whenever you wish during your trip.

CRT is a 2 TS credit meal, so it isn't a big of deal for you, but your friends will take half their credits to do this meal. Or are they paying OOP?
(it might be worth it for them to pay OOP for this meal) As they will have to pay for 2 other meals in order to use those credits for this one.

Without knowing you and your party's tastes it is hard to recommend. But I can tell you some of our favorites.
Crystal Palace in MK is my fav. It is a character buffet with Pooh and friends. I love the food, the atmosphere and the fact it is all within MK. Don't have to go anywhere for this meal.
Ohana is another favorite. It is an all you can eat family style meal. They only serve the all you can eat, there is no menu to choose from. But the food is fantastic. Ohana is at the Poly.
Whispering Canyon Cafe at the WL is my husband's favorite. He loves the all you can eat bbq skillet and the antics played by the servers. He aggravates them and they him back...he is such a kid.
Kids love this place as it is loud, the antics and it is rustic, cowboy themed, very cute. I too like it, but for the ribeye I get there. I could do without the antics. LOL


Good luck with your trip and have fun!!!

 

[mickeynut1]

You will spend alot of time in restaurants if you choose to eat 3 TS meals a day. With the deluxe dining plan, you get 3 credits per person, per night to use in any combination you wish; they don't all have to be used for sit downs. We always got the basic DDP (1 TS, 1 CS, 1 snack) and decided to try the deluxe plan on our most recent trip and we loved it . I thought it was going to be alot of food, but we tried a couple of signature restaurants, using 2 credits per person . If you aren't interested in doing signature dining, you could do a TS for breakfast, CS for lunch, then another TS for dinner . Good luck and have a magical trip .

 

[Faldred]

Okay, first note is that on Deluxe (DxDP), you get 3 meal credits per day. These can be used as TS or CS, at your discretion. Rule of thumb is that using up to 1/3 of your meal credits for CS is still cost-effective.

A lot of folks recommend only doing 2 meals a day on DxDP anyway, either a late breakfast or early lunch and then a dinner. Use your snacks to fill in the gaps. One of the two meals would then be a 2-credit meal, typically a signature dinner or a dinner show, though you can do breakfast or lunch at CRT or lunch at the Hollywood Brown Derby as 2-credit meals.

That said, when we went in 2009, we typically did 3 meals a day, and sit-down meals at that. A typical day would be a pre-opening in-park breakfast; ride standby and accumulate fast passes in the morning; lunch; see the shows and parades, use the fast passes, and ride standby on lower-demand rides; and and the day with dinner.

With a good plan (and a bit of flexibility) you don't have to sacrifice a lot of "park time" for dining. If you have kids, you can get many of the character autographs at meals and a sit-down lunch provides the down-time and rest so that you might not need an afternoon break. The thing to remember is not to have to scramble all over the property (or even all over a single park) to make a meal time -- make your touring plans mesh with your dining plans.

 

[ccrosner]

We had DxDP in December and it worked out well for us. Ate more than we usually would (dessert!) but I had run the numbers beforehand and knew that we'd at least break even if we got it. I made a chart (by hand, folding a paper into fours) and laid out our ADRs and the number of TS meals we were using each day. REally helped me plan and helped me figure out when to use TS for quick service and when to use snack credits.

We ate at the following restaurants and were very glad to have a chance to sit down each day for lunch (we made Rope Drop each morning and just grabbed snacks/muffins at Beach Club Marketplace of Main Street Bakery for breakfast):

Hurricane Hanna's (traded TS for CS on arrival)
La Hacienda
LTT
Flying Fish
50s PT
Jiko (our favorite)
Marrakesh
Citricos
Plaza

Thought the DxDP freed us and our teens to not worry about what to order.