Dining plan

[minnie1972]

We are thinking of staying at AKL in August with free dining, my question is are you able to swap table service meals for counter service meals instead?

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Yes I think you can swap a TS credit for a QS credit (but obviously not the other way round). Not very good value doing that though!!!

 

[minnie1972]

Yes I think you can swap a TS credit for a QS credit (but obviously not the other way round). Not very good value doing that though!!!

Thank you DD will only be 4 when we go and she won't sit still long enough for a TS meal so QS is a much better option for her

 

[Pooh's-Honey-Pot]

I've never tried so not sure. You can definitely swap a counter credit into snack credits though, if that helps - we have done that a couple of times for breakfast at POFQ. We don't really like cooked breakfasts, instead they let us have three snack credit items (2x cereals and a pastry we always go for!) in place of one counter service credit. I have read that this is dependent on each restaurant's manager though!

 

[mossyflossy]

I don't think you can actually as a "right" on the standard DDP, you can on the deluxe DDP as the tokens are not distinguished ie. you can use them for either CS or TS.

I guess you'd be able to do it but don't expect it as you'll be disappointed if they say no.

TBH I would either book a resort offering the QS plan for free eg. POR/POFQ/CSR/CBR or book character buffets with your TS meal tokens where the little one will be entertained.

 

[starrysky]

We witnessed lots of people at Cs places using TS credits for meals and one woman had no CS credits left and the girl serving asked her if she wanted to use her TS credits. So its seems to not be a problem to do this.

 

[tinkerpea]

Hi I hvae just come back from staying at the AKL myself and also have 3 boys who do not like to sit still haha and they are 5,5,and 8!! Luckily my mum always comes away with us and she likes to go to bed early and shine early.
So on days where the boys was tiredshe would just get a quick service with the boys and we would go out to dinner there was never a problem of swapping the Table for counter on the whole holiday and we was on the Normal DDP 1table 1quick and 1 snack you can also swap Table for 3 snacks at your hotel if you have any left and swap Counter for 3 snacks if you have any of those left as well .... have a wonderful time

 

[dixonsontour]

I've done DDP with my daughter aged 3 and 4. She was absolutely fine for TS meals.

Remember you can do the character meals as your TS and alot of meals have entertainment - kids aren't expected to sit all the time eg at whispering canyon they have a wooden pony parade and at ohana coconut races.

They want to quickly turn tables - you are not sitting around - they get you in and out asap.

All give kids crayons and colouring sheets.

We did alot of character breakfasts the first time on DDP. Not the best use of a credit but alot better than using it for cs.

 

[dixonsontour]

Also make adrs. You will be seated quickly. I can see how kids get fed up if they have to wait ages to be seated.

My DD loved the following

sci fi - eat in a car and watch old films

coral reef - ask to sit next to the tank - they give them a menu to find the fish and divers come up and wave

chef mickey breakfast - meet mickey, minnie, donald, goofy and pluto. She loved the monorail going through the building aswell.

Tusker house breakfast - minnie, donald, daisy, mickey in safari gear - they do a parade with instruments for the kids aswell.

Akershus princess breakfast - see belle, snow white, cinderella, ariel and aurora - photo package included

ohana - DD did the hula and coconut race

Whispering canyon - kids meal served in a little frying pan, pony races, did hokey cokey

Teppan edo - DD loved the chef cooking in front of her and the little tricks they did - they did the chopsticks so she could use them.

 

[WiganTony]

As noted above, the waiting is the killer, not the time at the table as once you are seated, in the non-buffet restaurants you are in and out fairly fast (our record in August was 45 minutes at Le Cellier - most of the other TS restaurants were around 1 hour).

May also be worth looking a the Dinner Shows (Hoop de Doo, Mickeys Backyard BBQ or Spirit of Aloha) which use up 2 TS credits but would have more than enough to keep the kids occupied.

Again as noted above, also consider the Character Meals e.g. Chef Mickeys, Crystal Palace, 1900 Park Fare, Asekrhus (these two with Disney Princesses), O'Hana Character Breakfast etc. These should definitely keep DD ocupied waiting for the characters or joining in with things. Incidentally, I have seen a few posts and websites with the tip that if booking a breakfast character meal, go for a later time rather than early as you may well find that the characters have more time to interact with the children, and you can treat your breakfast as brunch and not need any lunch that day.

 

[minnie1972]

Thank you everyone for your comments, we have never done the dining plan before so all new to me you have shared some really good ideas