How do you do the Basic Dining Plan?

[DizFan101]

Howdy!

101 days or so until my 2011 trip and was wondering how do you do the basic dining plan?
I mean since you each get 1 counter, 1 snack and 1 table per person you can only get breakfast OR lunch with counter, 1 snack and 1 table.

So how do you manage to get breakfast & lunch and a table and snack?

My mom and I have been going yearly since 2005. Where as the years gone? . We split breakfast and lunch so that way we get both.. . This year since I was surprised we got only 1 snack last year I am going to be bringing some thing to hold me over til lunch. (if need be).

SOoo.. post away.

 

[Goofypop]

Not sure I understand your question. Are you asking how we manage our meals? And you understand that you can use the TS for breakfast, lunch, as well as dinner right?

 

[quirty30]

I think I know what you're getting at. How can you use the DDP to get 3 meals a day without significant additional expense? We tend to use the DDP as follows:

1) Snack credit for a breakfast item such as a muffin, bagel, cinnamon roll, or croissant. Sometimes we order a few groceries so we have beverages in the fridge to pair with the above. We're not huge breakfast eaters so this suits us just fine.

2) CS credit for lunch

3) TS credit for dinner

Others like to use the TS credit at lunch, but we like to grab something quick at lunch while at the parks, and usually head back to the hotel after lunch sometime to swim & then get ready for a nice sit-down dinner. Then sometimes we head back to the parks at night for EMH. Love getting cinnamon rolls at the Main Street Bakery after EMH at MK and then having them in the room when we wake up the next morning.

 

[Granfan]

We used to split CS for breakfast and one for lunch then TS for dinner. But I decided that breafast was not a good use of CS and wastes time so now I bring
Plenty of breafast type snack foods and mostly eat in room. If we want a table service breakfast such as Kona or Tusker House we just pay for it and keep all our credits and snacks for the rest if the day. For us, it seems to work better and everyone can get what they want and still share some if they want.

 

[jaceraden]

We did it a little differently.

We did a TS buffet breakfast because we are breakfast people.

When we got hungry in the parks, we'd do a QS meal. Usually this was well after noon.

Then we would use our snack credit for a quick bite before bed.

Plus, I'm a Mom - I can't help but to pack extra just in case snacks and whatnot. It's coded into our dna and then pregnancy seems to turn the switch on.

 

[Patience]

Is it better to use a snack credit for the breakfast-type foods listed above (muffins, bagels, etc.) and then pay OOP for an afternoon snack in the parks or is it better to do the reverse and pay OOP for a small breakfast and then use the snack credit for afternoon snack? We are not huge breakfast eaters but we will need a little something in the mornings and I know we will want a snack in the afternoon because we tend to eat lunch early (plus, we all want to try a dole whip float and the jalapeno pretzel and the carmel corn in Epcot).

 

[Goofypop]

Ohhhh Now I see. We always rent a vehicle so we drive to Walmart and get breakfast stuff for the room. Then we use the snack credits in the parks. So far this is what we have for dining:

Day 1
Earl of Sandwich - QS
T-Rex - OOP
Day 2
Chef Mickey's - TS
Casey's Corner - QS
Cosmic Ray's - QS
Day 3
Eat in room
Flame Tree BBQ - QS
Restaurantasaurus - QS
Day 4
Eat in room
SciFi Dine In - TS
50's Prime Time Café - TS
Day 5
Eat in room
World Premiere FC - QS
Liberty Tree Tavern - TS
Day 6
Eat in room
McDonald's on the way to beach - OOP
World Premiere FC - OOP
Day 7
Eat in room
The Electric Umbrella - QS
The Garden Grill - TS
Day 8
Eat in room
The Rose and Crown - TS
Teppan Edo - TS
Day 9
Cinderella's Royal Table - TSx2
Pecos Bill's - QS
Cosmic Ray's - QS
Day 10
Eat in room then fly home

 

[3pletprincesses]

We normally will use either dessert we didn't eat the day before or snack credits to have a small breakfast. then we do CS for lunch and TS for dinner.

Our second option is to do TS for breakfast, snacks during the day and early CS dinner. Or vise versa with the CS and TS. We never had to buy more food then what was in the plan unless we needed to use the credits for 7 full days when we had 6 nights credits because we arrived very early the first day and left very late the last day. In that case, we paid 1 or 2 CS OOP. Some trips we bought bigger CS meals where yo uget half chicken and ribs and split between the 2 of us therefor keeping 1 credit for another day.

 

[MHSweb79]

We generally bring Pop Tarts, Fig Newtons and the like with the intention of using them for breakfast. However, we usually end up throwing most of our snacks away by the end of the week.

You get dessert with lunch and dinner, and like others have said, you can get them packaged "to go" with any meal. So if you choose a muffin or fruit for dessert, that can easily make a breakfast the next morning. You can also use snack credits for yummy pastries in the Norway or France pavilions and save those for breakfast too.

Another thing we've found is that many of the CS meals can be shared. At the POFQ food court, you can get a breakfast buffet for 1 QS credit that easily feeds two people. There' a half-chicken meal at Cosmic Rays that again, is large enough for two. Also Flame Tree BBQ. So there's ways to share credits if you need to.

But most people (including us) find the regular dining plan WAY too much food. The Florida heat & humidity kills our appetite and often, we find ourselves sitting down to a meal we'd rather have skipped, just because we had credits to use up. We have NEVER walked around hungry on the dining plan!

 

[Hopefully]

We have groceries delivered to our Villa from wegoshop.com. I buy coffee, juice, fruit, breakfast stuff, beer, wine, water, cheese and crackers, and chips and salsa. We use this for breakfast and afternoon snacks when we return for a swim. We save the delivery fee cost on just the case of bottled water, and it is nice to have an "adult" beverage in the evening.
We use our CS for lunch and our TS for dinner. We use our snack credits at the Food & Wine festival booths.
Works great for us.