Food sharing on Deluxe Dining Plan - is it enough?

[mshanson3121]

We are looking at two rooms at All Star Movies, and getting the Deluxe Dining Plan on one room. Trying to decide if it would be enough food:

- 4 night stay, paying for 3 people, sharing among 6 - 3 adults, 3 children. One adult and two of the children have tiny appetites. We can easily get by on snack credits for breakfast. Or for that matter, we're also content to buy a couple boxes of cereal or loafs of bread.
- Wouldn't be getting in till late on our first day, so would only need supper that night. So, 3 full days, plus supper on arrival night and breakfast on departure day.
- Very happy to order pizza and share for suppers.
- Only doing one character meal, so after that meal, we would have 30 meal credits, plus 24 snack credits.

Thoughts? Doable?

 

[Dakota731]

Are you buying three adult plans? If so and you aren’t doing breakfast, you should be ok though you could always pay out of pocket for a few kids meals.

 

[mshanson3121]

Are you buying three adult plans? If so and you aren’t doing breakfast, you should be ok though you could always pay out of pocket for a few kids meals.

No, 1 adult, 2 children, but on the deluxe plan it doesn't matter, they're interchangeable is what I was told.

 

[Dakota731]

Not so much any more. According to other threads on this forum they appear to be cracking down on this, and the brochure states “Guests ages 3 to 9 must order from a children’s menu, where available.” And it makes sense or why would’nt everyone just pay for kids’ meals?

 

[mom2rtk]

When are you going? Is free dining not offered during your target dates?

 

[mshanson3121]

When are you going? Is free dining not offered during your target dates?

September. Yes, it is. But it's more expensive since we have to buy 4 day passes, and park hoppers at that.

 

[mom2rtk]

September. Yes, it is. But it's more expensive since we have to buy 4 day passes, and park hoppers at that.

That's too bad. Have you considered staying offsite to make the budget go further?

 

[tzolkin]

No, 1 adult, 2 children, but on the deluxe plan it doesn't matter, they're interchangeable is what I was told.

Check out the current thread where people have been reporting daily. Many have been having issues using the credits. Many have not even been allowed to use an “adult” credit to buy a meal for another adult.

If they’re eliminating sharing between adults, I would think they would be even more so on using child-priced credits to feed adults.

We already had deluxe booked for our upcoming trip (all adults) but are considering canceling because it doesn’t seem worth the hassle.

 

[mshanson3121]

That's too bad. Have you considered staying offsite to make the budget go further?

Yes, I imagine that's what we'll do. If we were able to meal share, with the room discount it was basically just as cheap to stay on site by the time we rented a van (6 ppl), but I don't want to risk not being able to share the meals, since that would end up costing us a lot more.

 

[mom2rtk]

Yes, I imagine that's what we'll do. If we were able to meal share, with the room discount it was basically just as cheap to stay on site by the time we rented a van (6 ppl), but I don't want to risk not being able to share the meals, since that would end up costing us a lot more.

I wouldn't be comfortable taking that kind of risk either. I'm sort of surprised though that it's more to have 4 days with free dining than to have less days but have to add the dining plan. Is the difference very big?

 

[mshanson3121]

I wouldn't be comfortable taking that kind of risk either. I'm sort of surprised though that it's more to have 4 days with free dining than to have less days but have to add the dining plan. Is the difference very big?

Huge, actually when you consider the cost of the extra tickets.

5 nights with 2 rooms at All Star Movies, paying for the dining plan out of pocket, meal sharing the Deluxe (as we had planned with 1 adult, 2 children assigned to that room), with 2 day base tickets, was going to be $3475 total for 6 people.

5 nights at 2 rooms at All Star Music, doing the same thing as above, but using free dining on one room, paying to upgrade it to deluxe (the other room we booked with the Sun & Fun discount, and used the Canadian discount, base tickets only to save money), was going to be $4205. So, an extra $730.

Now, if we were actually going to have 4 day passes with the first option, using the Canadian resident discount and the room discount, then (still meal sharing), then it worked out to right about the same price. Which of course makes the free dining a better deal since we would have gotten Park hoppers. But for the Americans who can't get that discount, the room discount is still a better deal.

 

[Dakota731]

Sharing is one thing but only paying for a child’s (or several children) dining plan and using it for adults doesn’t seem right to me. I can understand why Disney would be cracking down on this practice since it would certainly would cause them to lose money especially when people are doing this for large groups of people in several rooms.

 

[elsbit]

While sharing credits may be potentially difficult, sharing food should not be, with the offhand recollection that Via Nappoli doesn't like sharing. Depending where you eat, an appetizer can be like an entree, like at Skipper canteen. All of those snack credits can also be used for things like breakfast (Epcot France bakery).

We had the dxdp in May. My then 9 year old has an adult palette and was very happy when restaurants did not care what menu she ordered off of. Sone offered without being prompted. That said, she was the one eating the food, but we shared all the APS amongst us. She and I did share an adult meal on one occasion, don't remember where, but it was a signature.

What would be the price for 2 adults deluxe and no kids? Kids meals out of pocket can be much cheaper...

 

[mshanson3121]

So everything I have read online, the fine print, and even asking a CSM, you are still allowed to share meal credits as long as you are all eating together (but only adult to adult, child to child). Can someone point me to the thread where this issue is being discusseD?

 

[mom2rtk]

Huge, actually when you consider the cost of the extra tickets.

5 nights with 2 rooms at All Star Movies, paying for the dining plan out of pocket, meal sharing the Deluxe (as we had planned with 1 adult, 2 children assigned to that room), with 2 day base tickets, was going to be $3475 total for 6 people.

5 nights at 2 rooms at All Star Music, doing the same thing as above, but using free dining on one room, paying to upgrade it to deluxe (the other room we booked with the Sun & Fun discount, and used the Canadian discount, base tickets only to save money), was going to be $4205. So, an extra $730.

Now, if we were actually going to have 4 day passes with the first option, using the Canadian resident discount and the room discount, then (still meal sharing), then it worked out to right about the same price. Which of course makes the free dining a better deal since we would have gotten Park hoppers. But for the Americans who can't get that discount, the room discount is still a better deal.

I'm confused. Why would you need to upgrade to deluxe dining if you had free dining? What are you trying to accomplish?

Sharing is one thing but only paying for a child’s (or several children) dining plan and using it for adults doesn’t seem right to me. I can understand why Disney would be cracking down on this practice since it would certainly would cause them to lose money especially when people are doing this for large groups of people in several rooms.

So wait, I think I'm starting to understand. OP, were you planning on paying for the deluxe plan with the intention of using their child credits for adults in the other room? I'm all for a good loophole, but that seems a bridge too far.

So everything I have read online, the fine print, and even asking a CSM, you are still allowed to share meal credits as long as you are all eating together (but only adult to adult, child to child). Can someone point me to the thread where this issue is being discusseD?

Honestly, it's probably one of those policies where you get some CM's enforcing it and some not enforcing it. That's not a level of stress I would be comfortable with since you won't know how it's going to play out until you are seated in the restaurant.

 

[mshanson3121]

I'm confused. Why would you need to upgrade to deluxe dining if you had free dining? What are you trying to accomplish?

So wait, I think I'm starting to understand. OP, were you planning on paying for the deluxe plan with the intention of using their child credits for adults in the other room? I'm all for a good loophole, but that seems a bridge too far.

Because the "free" dining was only quick service, which wouldn't give enough meals to share with 6 people when you were only booking it for 3. Nor, would it give you character meals, which would be really the only reason we wanted it.

And it wasn't some sort of seedy loophole - several years ago when we were planning our last trip, we were told on this very and other websites, that was permissible with the deluxe plan. However, given the judgement, I'm assuming that since 2014, that has changed.

 

[DVCdisneyfam]

So everything I have read online, the fine print, and even asking a CSM, you are still allowed to share meal credits as long as you are all eating together (but only adult to adult, child to child). Can someone point me to the thread where this issue is being discusseD?

I'm interested in this as well. I wanted to share my kids meals and not order 2 is there a place to see what restaurants let you share and do they charge a fee?

 

[mom2rtk]

Because the "free" dining was only quick service, which wouldn't give enough meals to share with 6 people when you were only booking it for 3. Nor, would it give you character meals, which would be really the only reason we wanted it.

OK, I was just thinking having free dining for both value rooms (without upgrading) might be the most cost effective plan possible at Disney these days. I totally understand wanting to do some character meals. We usually do. How about doing both rooms free quick service and paying for one character meal out of pocket?

You've mentioned maybe ending up staying offsite. Character meals will really add up fast if you're offsite and paying OOP for all of your food.

 

[mshanson3121]

OK, I was just thinking having free dining for both value rooms (without upgrading) might be the most cost effective plan possible at Disney these days. I totally understand wanting to do some character meals. We usually do. How about doing both rooms free quick service and paying for one character meal out of pocket?

It's still a lot more money, since we have to buy 4 day park hopper passes.
We booked 2 rooms at ASM for 5 nights, for the 6 of us (3 adults, 2 children under 9, 1 over 9) with 3 day base passes for $3087.
For the same thing with Free dining, having to upgrade to 4 day hoppers, is $4338. Tack on another $300 for the character meal, so a difference of $1600.
Having poured through menus, planning to buy milk, cereal and fruit for breakfasts, packing snack foods that we bring with us, meal sharing pizza for a couple meals, doing one character meal, we're estimating our OOP meal costs to be $750. Big difference!

Unless someone is already planning on park hoppers, or unless they plan on a lot of table service/character meals, the free dining just isn't worth it, when you consider the steep room discount being offered.

 

[sharonabe]

So everything I have read online, the fine print, and even asking a CSM, you are still allowed to share meal credits as long as you are all eating together (but only adult to adult, child to child). Can someone point me to the thread where this issue is being discusseD?

It's a sticky at the top of this forum with "actual experiences" in the title. Unfortunately, it's been a hit or miss thing since the beginning of the year. H&V and 50s have been a complete no for everyone trying it there. Some other places have been no for one guest, but okay with no issues for other guests.

I'm interested in this as well. I wanted to share my kids meals and not order 2 is there a place to see what restaurants let you share and do they charge a fee?

What you're talking about doing isn't the same as the OP. You want to share a MEAL; they want to share CREDITS with those not on the plan. You can almost always share a MEAL (use 1 credit and two people eat) without any problems and no fees charged. Via Napoli is the only restaurant that consistently does NOT allow you to do that. However, you said "kids meals." If you're on the regular dining plan, kids must order from the kid's menu and those credits are separated, so you can't use kid's credits for an adult meal at a TS restaurant. If you're on the deluxe plan, then for now, you can get an adult meal with a kid's credit. Just pointing this out because kid's meals are pretty small and would be difficult for most adults to share even with their small child.