Deluxe Dining Plan: Trading Meal and Snack Credits, Credits for Signature Meals

[mondomojo]

Hey all-

First trip to the World- looking to have many fine dining experiences with my man so we are doing the Deluxe plan.

I have read on a few boards that you can exchange 3 (or 4?) snack credits for one meal credit on the deluxe dining plan. I have not seen this mentioned in the official Disney World material about the deluxe plan. Maybe this practice is allowed in some locations but not in others?
So, if this was true, could I exchange 6 snacks for a signature (2 meal credit) table service meal? That would be an incredible value: at $4 per snack, that's perhaps an $80 meal for a $24 value.

Also, meal credits are interchangeable, right? I'm pretty sure they are - so I can get a signature dinner by skipping lunch or breakfast that day?

Thanks

 

[catne]

Hey all-

First trip to the World- looking to have many fine dining experiences with my man so we are doing the Deluxe plan.

I have read on a few boards that you can exchange 3 (or 4?) snack credits for one meal credit on the deluxe dining plan. I have not seen this mentioned in the official Disney World material about the deluxe plan. Maybe this practice is allowed in some locations but not in others?
So, if this was true, could I exchange 6 snacks for a signature (2 meal credit) table service meal? That would be an incredible value: at $4 per snack, that's perhaps an $80 meal for a $24 value.

Also, meal credits are interchangeable, right? I'm pretty sure they are - so I can get a signature dinner by skipping lunch or breakfast that day?

Thanks

You haven't seen it mentioned because it cannot be done..snack credits cannot be used for anything except snack items. Now it is possible to make yourself a continental breakfast in the AM by using a couple of snack credits...say get a muffin and a banana...would cost you 2 snack credits. Then you use your refillable mug to get your morning coffee or tea and you have a light breakfast. On deluxe dining, you get 2 snack credits and 3 meal credits per night of your stay. You can use the meal credits at either counter service or table service. Counter service meal (entree, dessert & beverage or combo meal, dessert & beverage) will cost you one meal credit. Regular table service meal, including most of the character meals and majority of Disney restaurants will cost you one meal credit per meal (appetizer, entree, dessert and beverage at menu-type table service meals; full buffet & beverage at the buffets.)

If you choose to eat at signature restaurants (like California Grill, Cinderella's Castle, Jiko, Citrico's, and the like), as well as the dinner shows like Hoop De Doo or Spirit of Aloha...the cost will be TWO meal credits per person. On the deluxe dining, at the signature restaurants you will be getting appetizer, entree, dessert and beverage. At the dinner shows, you will get the meal as served...like the picnic-type food at Hoop De Door Revue is what you get for your 2 credits per person

So if you decide to eat at say Crystal Palace for lunch, that would take you one credit. And then that evening eat at Cali Grill, that will take you two more meal credits...that day you'd want to use your snack credits for the continental breakfast mentioned above. However, you could eat 3 meals, all at table-service places...for example, on your Magic Kingdom day, you could eat at Crystal Palace buffet for breakfast at park opening, Grand Floridian Cafe for lunch, and then finish the evening at the Kona Cafe or 'Ohana. That would take you 3 meal credits (which is what you get per night)

Snack credits cannot be traded for anything but snacks (including bottled water) but you cannot clump several together and trade it for a regular meal.

Now in some cases, people have managed to trade down...like leftover meal credits on their last day and they were allowed to get 2 or 3 snacks in exchange for their meal credit. But you can never trade up, sorry.

 

[catra121]

I love the deluxe dining plan. I have never heard of combining snack credits to make a meal, though I have used snack credits at a place like Main Street Bakery to get a nice breakfast or lunch, but they are used as seperate snack credits. On the deluxe plan, I don't think you will really feel like you would need to do this anyway. Three meals a day is a lot of food and I personally found it a much better use of the credits to do two meals a day (a 1 credit and a 2 credit) and then use the snack credits to supplement that if I got hungry in between or in the morning for a light breakfast. I also used credits on both my arrival and departure days. At the end of the trip I don't have any credits left over (either snack or meal credits). I would recommend looking at where you guys want to eat and I imagine you'll find that you'll have plenty of credits to cover it all. And yes, the meal credits are interchangable so you can eat at either counter service or table service.

 

[Mikey'swife]

No, what you have seen people talk about is that you can sometimes exchange a ts or cs meal that may have a value of say 15-40 dollars for 2-4 snacks which have a value of 8-16 depending on who is giving the exchange. Basically exchanges always work in Disney's favor. The only offical ones allowed are the 2 ts credits for Signature, 2ts credits for room service and 2cs for pizza at a value/moderate food court. All other exchanges are at the mercy of a cm and usally for snacks for people leaving with lots of credits left to spend.

However, if you are dxdp you should have plenty of food and not need to worry about exchanging your snacks for meals. You will get 3 ts/cs meals every day or 1 signature and 1 other meal which includes apps and desserts plus 2 snacks and the mug so you can do shows and have lots of great meals.

 

[mondomojo]

Thanks for all your replies. You have confirmed my suspicion that you can never trade up (snacks combining into meals), but you can sometimes trade down (meals into snacks) even though the practice is not officially endorsed. You lose a lot of value by trading down, which makes money for Disney!