Dining Plan Strategy

[GoingtoDisney]

We have never used the Dining plan before, but are for this trip. We have 5-6 table service reservations already made. How do you plan to most efficiently use your credits? Do you print out all of the restaurant price/menu lists and compare prices? Do you map out counter service options before hand and compare the prices? We have a 5 day plan, so I know there will be some meals we have to pay for. Do you split counter service meals for kids and "save" the credits?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[beroh2253]

Print out the ones that appeal and go over them to see what you like. Now that we have been there several times we go back to the one we really like and add a few new ones.



http://www.allearsnet.com/menu/menus.htm

 

[THERESA522]

I've "studied" menus for all the places we'll be eating at and use the TS credits for the most expensive ones and typically pay out of pocket for a buffet if we have to. As far as the cs's, sometimes we split a meal and use a cs credit for breakfast or dinner.

 

[WildGrits]

Find out what parks are opened late. Make ADRs for the late parks or resorts near said late parks.

I wouldn't worry about planning CS or figuring out with menu cost the most. We just stopped in the nearest CS when we were hungry.

 

[bookgirl2632]

I don't plan my credits. I use the menus to decide in which restaurants to eat, but I don't plan out what I'm going to eat. I do try to keep the CS breakfasts to a minimum as you don't get a great value at breakfast. If we do any CS breakfasts, we usually pay OOP.

 

[jmpellet]

I do exactly as you posted and plan it out down to the CS meals and yes we share them frequently as to not waste food. We pick TS based on appeal and value and have never paid anything OOP in our 3 times using the plan. We don't usually plan snacks though.

 

[Krmrr]

I try to have a couple, or more, of CS choices ready. So where ever we are we can get something besides burgers. Nothing wrong with burgers, but, I'm on vacation! So if we leave PoTC at 11, I would steer us towards the Haunted Mansion and the Columbia Harbor House (great sandwiches) rather than Splashdown Mountain and Pecos Bills.

 

[PolynesianPixie]

Being on the dining plan, you get an allotment of meals including 1 TS per person per day. If you know you are going to have more TS than alloted, pay for the kids meals out of pocket and save those credits for another adult meal. A credit is a credit and not specific to adult/child. Plus, you get so much food, we always had desert for breakfast the next day!


DH

DD11

DD8

DD6

ME

 

[WDWBetsy]

Being on the dining plan, you get an allotment of meals including 1 TS per person per day. If you know you are going to have more TS than alloted, pay for the kids meals out of pocket and save those credits for another adult meal. A credit is a credit and not specific to adult/child. Plus, you get so much food, we always had desert for breakfast the next day!

Actually, the credits are per night, and the adults and children are separate now. Please see the DDP FAQs thread for 2007 and the 2008 DDP FAQs thread. You can pay out of pocket for a child's meal and then save their credit for another child's meal later, just not for an adult meal. The rules changed in 2007.

 

[Quicklabs]

I just book the restaurants at which I want to eat my TS irrespective of costs. For the CS, I have a number of "picks" for each park or location, and then I choose from among them. If we're hungry, we'll each use a CS; if not, we'll share. Snacks are "on the fly."