Free Dining Plan Question

[poupoue]

Hi,
With the free dining plan (1 table meal, 1 quick service and 1 snack per day), is it possible to switch table meal for quick service meal ?
I ask someone on Disney chat and he told me that I would have to have the free dining plan deluxe in order to do so.
Thank you !

 

[TDC Nala]

Yes. Say at the quick service restaurant that you would like to use a table service credit.

There's no free deluxe dining plan, either; the deluxe plan has never been offered for free.

 

[lanejudy]

A TS credit has more "value" than a CS credit so they'll usually accept it. Not a wise financial decision if you are paying for the dining plan, but since it's free and that's what you want to do, yes it is possible. You can also use a CS credit for (I think) 3 snacks rather than a meal, at least at the resort food court but maybe not in a park.

As PP mentioned, the deluxe dining plan isn't offered for free, only the DDP and QSDP depending on your resort. You can upgrade your free DDP to Deluxe for an upcharge.

 

[meggiebeth]

Yes, you can use a TS credit for a CS meal BUT it isn't really the best thing to do when there are so many great TS restaurants at WDW a mile better usually than CS restaurants.

Why were you thinking of using a TS credit for a CS eatery, if you don't mind me asking? There are so many TS restaurants that have better food (and you can meet the characters too at some!) and you will get better value for your Dining Plan, even if it is free.

 

[poupoue]

Thank you all for your replies !

Maybe I would go for the quick meal instead of table service mainly for two reason :
my DS1 isn't so patient and sometimes when we sit in a restaurant he get easily bored (but I think there is buffet so that would be alright)! And also my mother is so capricious about food, she doesn't like much things But I will check the list of restaurant available for the table meal and we will surely go eat there to take plenty advantage on our free dining plan!

I'm happy to have the free dining plan, it's so worth it ! More money to spend on souvenirs !

Leaving in 3 months for my 30 years old birthday, I can't wait !!
There is not an happiest place on earth to celebrate my thirty !

 

[candy0730]

I am not the OP but I thought I would share why we might do the same thing as OP. First, we are not sure we want to spend the extra time sitting at another restaurant. Secondly, while it may not be a great financial decision, it doesn't make sense to me to use the credit towards a meal that may cost anywhere from $15-$30 per person and have to pay gratuity. If it were just me it wouldn't be a big deal but since there are 5 of us that can add up. Just my $.02.

 

[poupoue]

I am not really used to abreviation !

What does OP means ?

 

[erincon23]

OP = Original Poster. Have a great trip and a happy birthday -- make sure you get a Birthday Button, and you'll get lots of birthday wishes.

 

[Cyrano]

Moving this to the Disney Dining Plan board

 

[poupoue]

Thank you Ericon ! Ok, I will ask for my birthday button !

Cyrano : Oops .. my mistake ! As you can see, I'm pretty new here

 

[meggiebeth]

I would definately look into buffets. They are pretty quick- you go in, get seated, and then can head straight up to the buffet tables.

Most buffets we went to we were done with after 40 minutes. Are you interested in character buffets? There are many of these and they are such good fun!

Realistically, a counter service restaurant will take you about 30 minutes from joining the queue to leaving the table. So not much of a difference. The character buffets are very fun and really distract everyone!

Have you thought about Crystal Palace? If you book for 8am (on a day where there are no Extra Magic Hours) you get let into an EMPTY Magic Kingdom park! The park opens at 9am so it is a great perk of eating there.

Akershus and Garden Grill (both located in Epcot) are also great. Akershus is a buffet I believe. The resort restaurants, in our experience are even better than at the themeparks. Perhaps on a Magic Kingdom day you could get the monorail to the Grand Floridian and eat at 1900 Park Fare. The Polynesian also has great restaurants and after eating there for dinner you can head out to the beach and watch the Magic Kingdom fireworks display.

Sorry, I just cannot bear to let good food go to waste. It was one of our favourite parts of the trip.

 

[sharonabe]

Poupoue, do you know that you need to make reservations for any sit down meals you want to do? If you go to the disneyworld.com website, and click on dining, you can make those reservations online. Depending on when you are going, it could be very difficult to just walk up to a TS restaurant and get a seat. Please make some reservations (we call those ADRs at Disney).

 

[poupoue]

meggiebeth : Good idea for the buffet ! I will go for that I will probably book one character buffet, that sound interesting ! Thank for your recommandations ! Polynesian is a good idea and it would be great to watch the firework from that place, my DD4 doesn't like the sound that firework make !

sharonabe : Alright, thank you

 

[luvallprincesses]

Yes, you can use a TS credit for a CS meal BUT it isn't really the best thing to do when there are so many great TS restaurants at WDW a mile better usually than CS restaurants.

Why were you thinking of using a TS credit for a CS eatery, if you don't mind me asking? There are so many TS restaurants that have better food (and you can meet the characters too at some!) and you will get better value for your Dining Plan, even if it is free.

Unless things have changed in programming the registers since Dec 2011, this isn't always so simply done. Always easy to do at the resort food court, but not at the parks. We had 3 TS credits left on our last day, decided to get a CS meal in France, expecting to use those last TS credits (since we had done that prior at food courts). The CM (and the other CMs she asked nearby) said there was no way to use her register to redeem a TS meal. We had to pay OOP and waste those credits. (Good thing it was the amazing meal that it always is, so it was a little easier to swallow...)

I know this was a "tip" in the 2012 dining brochure, but checking the most current revised brochure (April 2012) in the sticky, that wording has completely disappeared.

And I'm with OP even though using TS credits for CS isn't the best "deal". When staying for 8 nights with small children, they can get really table-serviced out. Buffets are a good idea for that problems. Other times, we just don't always want to feel "tied" to reservation times. IMO, our daily lives are full of time commitments and it feels great to be more carefree and not watching the watch while on vacation every day. Prior to free dining, one could get the great table service meals by walking up when hungry, but those days are over. Not bashing the free dining discount - it worked out better than room only discount for us this trip so we are using it - just wish we could really use a few of those TS credits for CS meals without a hassle or having to ask before ordering. The lack of consistency is confusing.