Do I need to order food if I have the DDP??

[ryansgirl96]

Seems like a dumb question right?? Just trying to mazimize the use of the plan so that we are using the credits for th maximum cost savings.

So it is me, DH, DS3, and DS7m. We will be hitting the parks at RD most days. We are staying at SSR so I know we will be trying to get that first bus to make RD. With that being said I thought of ordering some breakfast items, i.e. cereal bars, oatmeal packets, milk, etc to eat in the rooms before heading to the bus stops. We have early TS lunch most days, ~11:30 (1 TS dinner) but know that if we eat before getting on the bus, say 7:00 or so my DS may be wanting a snack prior to lunch??

Is this the best use of the DDP?? I am trying to figure out how folks with small children utilize this for breakfast...

TIA!!

 

[Nayan]

I believe the dining plan allows snacks, but you cannot 'order' ahead of time. However one thing you can do is buy/bring your own breakfast items and have them in the room before you head out for the day. You can also bring snacks with you to the parks (granola bars, fruit, etc.) but since you have the dining plan you can always pick up a snack there. Did you plan to use all your credits at lunch? Or do you have reservations for dinner too? Maybe bringing a snack with you and using your credit for a snack later in the day might be a better choice.

 

[MHSweb79]

We bring Fig Newtons, granola bars, Pop-Tarts, etc. with us on the plane to use for a quick breakfast and/ or a snack in the park.

After a couple of days on the DDP, however, we find that we have tons of desserts leftover and we can save those for breakfasts. You can get often get a muffin, fruit cup or yogurt with your CS meals and those are great to pack away for later. (I'm thinking of the resort food court, where you can bring your stuff back to the refrigerator.)

That said, we always have snack credits left over at the end of the week, too.

 

[TDC Nala]

I'm not sure what you mean by "ordering" these items. There's no room service at SSR and they wouldn't deliver snacks anyway.

Your best options are: 1) bring your own; 2) purchase your own (separately from the dining plan) through a grocery delivery service (info on these can usually be found on the resorts board), or 3) stock up on snack items at the resort CS and keep them in your room refrigerator. At DVC resorts they have things in the resort shop or the CS like a box of doughnuts or perhaps a box of poptarts or cereal bars; those aren't eligible for a snack credit though. To get them for a snack credit you would have to purchase one individual single serving item per credit.

 

[LisaNJ25]

We brought out own cereal and oatmeal for breakfast. Worked out great for us.

 

[crashbb]

Do you mean "order" from a grocery delivery place?

If I understand your question, you are basically asking if you need to order (from a grocery delivery place) *extra* food, or will you have enough food given that you are on the dining plan? Is that the question?

You will have a snack credit each day. You could use that to get something in the parks to tide your son over until your lunch. Or just get a snack OOP, if you run out of credits.

Maybe you could price out a grocery delivery. How many OOP snacks could you get for the price of the delivery? If the cost of delivery is X snacks worth (let's assume $4.00 per OOP snack), and you thing you'd buy more than X snacks, go with the delivery. If you'd buy less than X snacks, then don't. Only count snacks that would be covered by your gocery delivery (so, don't count the Dole Whips you plan on getting, if any).

 

[ryansgirl96]

Sorry for the confusion...yes I mean order "extra" food from a grocery delivery service. Probably won't bring it with us as I don't want to have to carry anything extra, lol!! Although you're right that pricing it out may need to be done. We will be ordering baby items, i.e. diapers, wipes, baby food, etc since we will be down in Fl 11 days total (part @ WDW and part at in-laws) so didn't know if I should be adding some breakfast items as well. What time do most of the "snack" places open anyway??

 

[Nadjalu]

Ok, everyone is helping out with the snacks part of your question, so I will help with the later part.

Using a TS credit for lunch is not the best use of the plan. Lunches are much cheaper than dinners.

Since you are planning to do TS lunches, what are you doing for dinners? I would assume the CS???

You should really switch the 2, especially if you are paying for the plan. You won't save much $ if you use the TS credits on lunches.

 

[ryansgirl96]

Ok, everyone is helping out with the snacks part of your question, so I will help with the later part.

Using a TS credit for lunch is not the best use of the plan. Lunches are much cheaper than dinners.

Since you are planning to do TS lunches, what are you doing for dinners? I would assume the CS???

You should really switch the 2, especially if you are paying for the plan. You won't save much $ if you use the TS credits on lunches.

I know but this late in the game not sure we have an option. Two of them are no change though, a 3:20 @ CP (not sure if this is considered lunch or dinner) and a 11:30 at H&V. Those are our CL so I know it will be difficult to get anything this late in the game. I was surprised we got those since we just decided to go to Disney last month. We have one dinner at Turf Club, then a lunch in Epcot that I might be able to get a dinner swith to. Our last day is a park day so dinner won't work on that day. I will definately be saving my receipts to see if this is actually a cost savings for us...may not be. Guess we'll see!!

 

[Nadjalu]

Good luck then. I hope it does save you money that way!! !

Have a good trip!

 

[lmbcdb]

We are staying at SSR so I know we will be trying to get that first bus to make RD. With that being said I thought of ordering some breakfast items, i.e. cereal bars, oatmeal packets, milk, etc to eat in the rooms before heading to the bus stops.

but know that if we eat before getting on the bus, say 7:00 or so my DS may be wanting a snack prior to lunch??

Is this the best use of the DDP?? I am trying to figure out how folks with small children utilize this for breakfast...

TIA!!

Us - DS,7 DD,2 plus me and my DH.

In January we did exactly what you are planning. At home, they usually eat a small breakfast - fruit, yogurt and a cereal bar or a bowl of oatmeal.

We bought the same stuff so we could make rope drop. They barely touched it they were so excited every day! We ended up feeding ourselves and taking the kids' breakfasts with us. By the time we got to to the parks, it was gone.

As for morning snack, I kept what we call "bag of stuff" (homemade trail mix - Chex, raisins, nuts, pretzels) in our bag.

Usually we ended up eating an early counter service lunch around 11:00 instead a snack. Then, around 2 or 3 we used our snack credit. Then, TS for dinner. Worked out great for us every day!

 

[Maus]

We bring our cereal for the early morning and eat it in our room. Instead of early breakfast we like a late character breakfast in the park we are visiting tha day, kind of like brunch. We use the snack credits later in the day and go for a signarure dinner in the evening. We are on the deluxe dining plan.