Does everyone have to eat at the same time?

[mnasmom3]

My family of 5 going w/free dining. Do all 5 of us have to use the CS credits at the same time? I know 5 CS credits would be too much food. Could I use 3 of them and then the other 2 at a different time?

 

[WI_DisneyFan]

My family of 5 going w/free dining. Do all 5 of us have to use the CS credits at the same time? I know 5 CS credits would be too much food. Could I use 3 of them and then the other 2 at a different time?

Nope, you don't have to use all of the counter service credits at once. Basically you get a counter service credit per person, per night you are staying. You might choose to use all of them in one day, or space them out evenly.

So if the five of you are staying 5 nights, you'll have a total of 25 CS credits to use during your stay. You might only get three CS meals on your first day and split the food. Then you would have 22 CS credits left to use the rest of your trip. On the other hand, everyone might be hungry enough for their own CS meal for lunch, and then another CS meal later that same day for dinner. In that case, you would be using 10 CS credits that day. But basically, you can use them however you would like until you have used your allotted credits.

I hope I didn't confuse you too much.

 

[mnasmom3]

Nope, no confusion. Thank you. That's exactly the info I needed.

 

[Colleen27]

My family of 5 going w/free dining. Do all 5 of us have to use the CS credits at the same time? I know 5 CS credits would be too much food. Could I use 3 of them and then the other 2 at a different time?

Yes. What we did most days was order 2 adult meals for the 3 adults in our party and a kids' meal for DS(then)7. DD(then)4 usually shared with the adults because she isn't a big eater, especially when it is hot. We used a few of the leftover credits for breakfasts to share or for something like nachos or chicken strips to take back to the room for an evening snack, but we still had credits leftover at the end of the trip.

 

[Dizneydaz]

We also shared many CS meals and we too had credits leftover towards end of trip. (10 nights, 3 people)

We ended up treating 3 different families with our leftover credits. It was great spreading the magic!

This trip I plan on being more aware of our CS and SC. I was very good with planning our TS but we had so many CS and SC left on the last few days. We actually used our last 9 SC for boxes of cookies from DTD (of which I just threw 5 of the boxes away the other day-we gave away some when we got home and no one in our family cared for them ) So this next trip if my DM wants to use one for a bottle of water, I will let her!

 

[mnasmom3]

So this next trip if my DM wants to use one for a bottle of water, I will let her!

I can totally see me saying to my kids "You want to use a SC for WATER? Are you NUTS? Drink from the fountain!" Thanks for the replies. I was planning on having easy breakfasts in our room, but I think if I use the CS and SC's wisely, I can swing a nice hot breakfast a time or 2 w/out even having to pay.