Disney Dining Plan tips!

[Jenniww]

I'm looking for tips to get the most for my money.

I have heard you can pay for the childrens meal (I have 1) and save that meal for an adult to use later.
Also when at a full service rest can you not order everyone a meal. My son is 12 and he counts as an adult but would never eat all that food. He would just love my app and dessert.

I'm open to any tips!

Thanks

 

[disneyjunkie]

You might want to read this thread before you start planning how you'll use your credits.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1303335

 

[Tess'smom]

I'm looking for tips to get the most for my money.

I have heard you can pay for the childrens meal (I have 1) and save that meal for an adult to use later.
Also when at a full service rest can you not order everyone a meal. My son is 12 and he counts as an adult but would never eat all that food. He would just love my app and dessert.

I'm open to any tips!

Thanks

Be prepared for some serious flaming. If you pay for a child's dining plan, it is to be used for a child, not an adult. There is a huge difference in price comparing an adult DP and a child DP. From what I understand from other Disboarders, Disney is closing that loop hole anyway.

 

[Luv'sTink]

Run for cover quickly....This always turns ugly fast! Just using the plan the way it was intended is the best way to use it.

 

[ransom]

Run for cover quickly....This always turns ugly fast! Just using the plan the way it was intended is the best way to use it.

The best advice I can offer is to use your table service credits for dinner, your counter service credits for lunch, and your snack credits for either breakfast (you can get a carton of milk and a box of cereal for one snack credit) or for the more expensive snack items (less than $4 each, of course). To avoid snacking too much during the day, take advantage of the desserts and appetisers offered with dinner and tank up!

Beyond the dining plan, get yourself a resort mug and take advantage of the free coffee/cocoa/soda while you're at your resort. If you like to keep such beverages with you while you're at your resort, you'll save a ton of money by using the mugs.

And that's good enough for us! If we hadn't done the dining plan and resort mugs on our last trip, we would have easily spent $30 more per person per day, so I'm thrilled with the dining plan and personally would feel like a thief if I was trying to game the system.

 

[nut4disney]

For four people:

We use two snack credits and two CS credits at breakfast.

Then two snack credits and two CS credits at lunch.

Save the 4 TS credits for dinner, as it's the most expensive meal of the day.

 

[kimis]

I agree with you 100%! Just do it the right way and realize you are already saving a lot of money and eating very good!

 

[Joan S.]

Hi, What you can do at a TS restaurant is use 2 Adult TS and the 1 child TS and the 4 of you can eat this as you please. You can also order an extra adult entree or appetizer or dessert and pay OOP. You can then use your (saved) Adult TS to dine at a 2 credit per person TS restaurant, doing the same of using 4 Adult TS (I do not know if you need to use 2 child credits at the Signiture restaurants???) and the 4 of you dining. We did this, this past summer with 5 Adults on the DDP. We would use 4 TS(adult) and share appetizers and desserts. I would order my entree and pay OOP because mine was always the CHEAPEST!(I do not eat beef) Good Luck planning! Joan

 

[Lisa0503]

For four people:

We use two snack credits and two CS credits at breakfast.

Then two snack credits and two CS credits at lunch.

Save the 4 TS credits for dinner, as it's the most expensive meal of the day.

Ohhh....This is a good plan for when my kids are old enough to both have to have the DDP!!!! Great idea!!!

 

[laura001]

I just fail to understand why someone would look for a way to specifically cheat at the Dining Plan. If your child is of adult age (as far as Disney rules go), if you want to use the Dining Plan, then why try to beat the system, adult age = adult price.

When we went with my MIL she eats like a small bird, yet we had to pay full prices for her to eat, and my youngest DD was 14 (weighs about 80 lbs.) and eats like a bird. Both are classed as adults and we paid for adults.

I would suggest that if you don't think you will get your monies worth on the Dining Plan, don't use it. Pay for your own meals and that way you won't have to worry about it. I believe "cheaters never prosper", let's teach our kids how to beat the system.....

Also.....am not trying to flame........just stating my opinion, a humble one at that.

 

[nut4disney]

I just fail to understand why someone would look for a way to specifically cheat at the Dining Plan. If your child is of adult age (as far as Disney rules go), if you want to use the Dining Plan, then why try to beat the system, adult age = adult price.

Looking for the best way to use the Dining Plan doesn't automatically mean cheating. I use the DDP without circumventing any rules whatsoever, and it works to feed the whole family.

 

[disneyfan6301]

When we went in Nov., my DS (adult by Disney standards, and he does eat like one!!) and I shared a meal at Tony's, not to try to cheat anybody, but simply because there is way too much food. You cannot do that at the buffets (obviously), but we did not catch any flak about it at Tony's. My DH and I shared some counter service, again due to the amount of food.

 

[bytheblood]

To the OP, to the Dis.

I agree about looking at the thread about the DP. This will help you get started.




Some of you are awfully judgmental. The OP never said, “hey, teach me how to cheat the system.” The OP simply reiterated what was told to them and asked if it was true!!

Also, it might be helpful before you assume that somebody is trying to cheat the system or “steal”, which is the same in this case, to take notice of the numbers of posts and recognize that not everybody who posts here has the same knowledge about Disney vacationing and processes as you do!

Dis snobbery at its finest!!!

 

[Jenniww]

I just fail to understand why someone would look for a way to specifically cheat at the Dining Plan. If your child is of adult age (as far as Disney rules go), if you want to use the Dining Plan, then why try to beat the system, adult age = adult price.

When we went with my MIL she eats like a small bird, yet we had to pay full prices for her to eat, and my youngest DD was 14 (weighs about 80 lbs.) and eats like a bird. Both are classed as adults and we paid for adults.

I would suggest that if you don't think you will get your monies worth on the Dining Plan, don't use it. Pay for your own meals and that way you won't have to worry about it. I believe "cheaters never prosper", let's teach our kids how to beat the system.....

Also.....am not trying to flame........just stating my opinion, a humble one at that.

WOW that was a little rough, don't ya think. I'm a new girl to these boards and read about this idea in a book. I was asking if it was true thats all.

 

[laura001]

Just using the plan the way it was intended is the best way to use it.

This is exactly what I was trying to say, if you aren't looking to use it the way it was intended.....to me that equals trying to beat the system.

 

[nut4disney]

This is exactly what I was trying to say, if you aren't looking to use it the way it was intended.....to me that equals trying to beat the system.

But your harsh tone implied that someone who is unfamiliar with the plan, is trying to "cheat". It isn't cheating to ask how to use the dining plan. It would be like...oh, i dunno, a Canadian or a person from the UK asking about using the DDE when they aren't AP holders. People can't learn if they don't ask.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Assume_good_faith

Assuming good faith is about intentions, not actions. Well-meaning people make mistakes, and you should correct them when they do. You should not act like their mistake was deliberate. Correct, but don't scold.

It's a good operating principle.

 

[themudd4]

If you read the link a PP left you, you'll notice this may not be the thing to be planning. Beginning 1/1/07 the computers at wdw TS meals now can tell the difference between a child credit and the adult credits. It is still undetermined if the CS can yet tell the difference, or when they will be updated.
Best to plan on using your credits as decribed in the package.