Do you overbook your ADRs?

[BuffaloJim]

I was wondering if other people overbook their ADRs in order not to finish your trip with extra meals that you can't use.

We're on the DxDP (first time) and have a total of 105 adult dining credits. I originally scheduled our meals to use exactly 105 credits. Then I realized that there was no way every person was going to make it to every meal, especially since we're going during F&W, so some of us will be grazing at the booths and not always doing a sit-down meal.

Consequently, I ended up scheduling 126 meal credits. There's a very good chance we'll end up paying out of pocket for some of them, but I' rather get all of the value out of the meal plan that I can. If I have to buy a few meals, then so be it. At least I got full value from the meal plan.

So my question is do other people do this? And if not, do some of you often leave meal credits "on the table" when you finish you're trip.

Thanks,

Jim

 

[Lolsmum]

I'm confused.

How does paying for meals out of pocket give you better value from the dining plan?

 

[Reddy]

I think they will be canceling some of the people showing up at some of the meals

no I only book what we will eat but I do 2 character meals per trip then live on quick-service
I think the deluxe meal plan would be way too much food but then I been dieting & cutting down on how much I eat (I can't finish the McD's nugget meal by myself anymore - that was a cheat meal)

 

[BuffaloJim]

I'm confused.

How does paying for meals out of pocket give you better value from the dining plan?

I knew my wording would be confusing.

Consider the following...

If you purchase the meal plan (as we're doing - we're not on the free dining plan), and don't use any of the credits, you've obviously wasted a lot of money. If you only use most of the credits, you're also wasting money because you're not getting all the value you've paid for.

My goal is to use ALL of the credits we've paid for. In a perfect world, we'd use exactly the amount of credits we have and pay nothing OOP. What I don't want to do is not use up all of the credits, thus giving Disney some of my money. So I'm OK with buying some of our meals OOP.

My question really is do people end up with a lot of credits left over? If I overbook my meals, I'll ensure that this does not occur.

Jim

 

[TDC Nala]

Sorry, I still don't get it.

I am taking it that you don't know where your entire party is going to want to eat for every meal. So you book extra restaurants just in case some of them want to go someplace else? Or just in case some of them don't go at all and the others can use their credits? That may not work if you're not all staying in the same room.

It appears your group is not all on the same page about planning. That will make it more difficult for you to determine now whether or not all of them will be using every single credit allotted to them.

Also you don't have to attend every single restaurant you booked. If you use up your credits you can cancel the extra restaurants, just be careful about canceling the ones with a credit card hold as you can't cancel those the same day without paying a penalty.

 

[BuffaloJim]

Here's what I mean...

We're staying for 5 nights, so we have 15 credits per person. If I makes ADRs for exactly 15 credits per person, I know I'll have some left over. This is because some people won't be hungry at some meal times, or they won't make it to our early character breakfasts.

Therfore, I booked ADRs for 18 credits per person. Doing this, I'm sure we'll use our entire allotment. In fact, I may end up purchasing some meals OOP. But I'm OK with that because we'll have gotten full value out of the meal package.

I would hate to leave Disney with unused meal credits because that would mean we would not have gotten full value from the DxDP. Overscheduling allows us to definately use all of the credits.

Jim

 

[TDC Nala]

Okay, if it gives you peace of mind that you're pretty much guaranteed to use all your credits, then you may be happy planning to pay for some meals. Although I get the impression you aren't booking those extra meals because you or your group wants them, but so you can ensure you use all your dining credits. You could always add extra meals while you're there, though, if needed.

 

[momofkids]

This doesn't seem totally right. It sounds like the DxDP may be more than you need. Why not just get the regular dining plan? That still allows for a sit-down meal each day at table service. You could save and use your snack credits up at F&W.

Also, I can't help but think this is a little unfair to people who couldn't plan their vacations way in advance. Some people don't get vacation time until 30-60 days before, or they may have to book late for other reasons. By overbooking, you are holding seats that those people might want. I guess if Disney allows it that it is fine, but isn't this one of the reasons we now have to secure reservations with credit cards?

 

[GoldieLocks5]

This doesn't seem totally right. It sounds like the DxDP may be more than you need. Why not just get the regular dining plan? That still allows for a sit-down meal each day at table service. You could save and use your snack credits up at F&W.

Also, I can't help but think this is a little unfair to people who couldn't plan their vacations way in advance. Some people don't get vacation time until 30-60 days before, or they may have to book late for other reasons. By overbooking, you are holding seats that those people might want. I guess if Disney allows it that it is fine, but isn't this one of the reasons we now have to secure reservations with credit cards?

I agree with this. Just get the regular dining plan with one sit down, one quick + one snack. that's what we get - and we had no problem using up our meals... we had snacks left over on the last day so we stocked up on stuff we could take home on the plane, which was nice - so we had snacks to eat while traveling, and some fun disney snacks to have back at home.

I also don't like the idea of getting ADRs knowing i wouldn't use them all... i'd hate to take away from someone else getting a meal they really wanted. And yes- that's why Disney now requires a credit card and will charge a fee if an ADR is missed, which I think is a great idea.

 

[TDC Nala]

And yes- that's why Disney now requires a credit card and will charge a fee if an ADR is missed, which I think is a great idea.

This does not apply at all restaurants, but the OP should research which ones in case the group wants to cancel some.

I had the impression the OP is planning to attend every meal he booked, whether or not the whole group decides to come, even if he has to pay for some of them.

 

[ses1230]

I think there are too many variables at play to say what the majority of people do. I think here on the DIS, most people are "planners", that's why we are here, and will schdule meals according to the number of credits they have.

OTOH, I would venture to say that many people add a dining plan because it sounds convenient, without really understanding ADRs or meal credits, and end up with extra credits. Then some people may schedule more ADRs than credits, and pay for the cheapest meal(s) OOP. It really depends.

Without knowing the makeup of your group, I will say that 126 TS credits sounds like a huge amout of ADRs/food/time in restaurants. Each TS meal is at least 60-90 minutes, and depending on how you are scheduled, may require travel time too. If you are having to fill in ADRs to equal the number of meal entitlements you have, maybe consider the regular DDP? Then you won't have to worry about wasted credits and will have more time in the parks.

 

[gtpoohbear]

We always do the DxDP, and end up having to pay for 2-3 meals out of pocket b/c we still don't have enough credits. We do a TS for pretty much every meal (B-L-D) plus a few signature restaurants that take 2 credits. So I figure out ahead of time which meals will be the cheapest and we pay for those OOP instead of using a dining credit. I do worry sometimes that if we do that earlier in the trip and something happens to make us miss ADRs later, we will have paid OOP for meals, AND had leftover credits, but so far we've been lucky and not had to miss any.

So I guess you could say I "overbook" my credits, but honestly I don't really think in terms of credits when I am planning. I just plan for what we want to do, then after the plans are made, calculate how many credits short we will be.

 

[alicia080979]

This does not apply at all restaurants, but the OP should research which ones in case the group wants to cancel some.

I had the impression the OP is planning to attend every meal he booked, whether or not the whole group decides to come, even if he has to pay for some of them.

This is what I got from his post as well. I don't think there is anything wrong with what he is doing. He isn't saying we have credits for 10 and going to book 14 and just not show up to 4.

We have 3 adults for 9 nights on regular DDP which would mean 9 meals. I have 12 scheduled. I know that my mother & I will share some meals or one of us will just eat an appetizer leaving extra credits. I know that we will likely pay OOP for a TS meal that is really cheap and use the credits for something more expensive. So yes, we overbook as well. I think maybe the word overbook is what people are caught up on...I say, we make the most of our DDP and stretch our credits to include more meals. We will show up for every scheduled meal so I don't feel like we (or the OP) is doing a disservice to any other guest.

 

[BuffaloJim]

This is what I got from his post as well. I don't think there is anything wrong with what he is doing. He isn't saying we have credits for 10 and going to book 14 and just not show up to 4.

We have 3 adults for 9 nights on regular DDP which would mean 9 meals. I have 12 scheduled. I know that my mother & I will share some meals or one of us will just eat an appetizer leaving extra credits. I know that we will likely pay OOP for a TS meal that is really cheap and use the credits for something more expensive. So yes, we overbook as well. I think maybe the word overbook is what people are caught up on...I say, we make the most of our DDP and stretch our credits to include more meals. We will show up for every scheduled meal so I don't feel like we (or the OP) is doing a disservice to any other guest.

Thanks.

Of course, we're going to show up for every meal. But I have a feeling that EVERY person won't show up for EVERY meal. The DxDP is indeed a lot of food. But the variety and "excitement" of Disney's meals is one of the draws of the world itself. And if I'm going to prepay for these meals (even on the free plan, you'd still be paying because nothing is ultimately free at Disney), I want to make sure I'm at least getting full value from the plan.

You could argue that I should pay OOP at all of our meals, and certainly that's a valid argument. But with a family of 9, that would add up to a significant sum added to all the other charges I'm certain to rack up after a week at WDW. By purchasing the DxDP, it's one cost I simply don't have to worry about when I get there.

My main concern in starting this thread was wondering if other people worry about leaving money "on the table" by not using all their credits by the time they leave.

I think I have it planned out that we should exhaust all of our credits and not give Disney any "free" money by having credits left over.

Hopefully, you also don't donate any money back to Disney.

Thanks again,

Jim

And "overbook" probably was the wrong word, but it's what came out when I was typing.

 

[elfbo]

We booked 1 extra TS than we (hopefully) will have credits for. That we will pay out of pocket if it gets to that point. We have a 4 year old with us on the trip and there is always the chance of a meltdown and missed TS, so it seemed the better course to have one scheduled rather than scrambling around trying to get a reservation ANYWHERE.

Last time, we ended up with extra credits that we tried to use, like 5 meals in one day. Didnt work so well, had wasted food. Will try better planning this time.

 

[emmebear]

im on the deluxe and have 9 TS meals that I have spread out 4 days & 3 nights.

it's my first time on the dining plan and think it's a great way to try out some new places for my daughter & i. she is 2 which means she eats free which is also even better. i would never even consider a 2 credit breakfast at CRT but scored an 8:05 ADR and reserved because i am on the deluxe for this one trip.

when we return in october, we will be on the regular dining and return to the places we liked the best.

i plan on using everyone of them & not lose the $10 reservation fees!

 

[jagafen]

My main concern in starting this thread was wondering if other people worry about leaving money "on the table" by not using all their credits by the time they leave.

I think I have it planned out that we should exhaust all of our credits and not give Disney any "free" money by having credits left over.

Hopefully, you also don't donate any money back to Disney.

Thanks again,

JimQUOTE]

To answer this question, for us, it's a yes and no....

This trip, DS is going to the sandcastle club 2x so DH and I can go to a few restaurants that won't live up to his "picky palate". He'll get fed (for free) 2 dinners at the kid's club. Granted, we won't be using his TS credits for our meals, but we'll have 4 kid's credits (we have signatures planned) that are extra for him. Since he's getting fed, but not using his credits, I consider that a "wash" money wise. If he wants nuggets and fries to keep in the fridge in the room for a late night snack, or a pizza from CS, I won't feel like we're "wasting" a credit....it's now a possibility to do that without paying OOP for them.

But in general, we plan our meals so that all our credits are used. This is the first time we've done a 2fer at a kid's club...