How many meals do you pay for OOP when on the dining plan?

[mrg013]

I'm wondering how many meals most of you end up paying for out of pocket when you are on the dining plan. It seems kind of dumb to be paying for some meals when you are on an "all-inclusive" plan, but for our upcoming trip, having one ts credit per day doesn't quite cut it. We are doing one table service breakfast on our last day, which isn't provided for, and possibly another lunch or two. What do you normally do?

 

[HayGan]

Last year we paid for quite a few of the kids meals OOP. In Dec we won't be paying for any. We often share CS meals and can spread those over breakfast and lunch some days. Plus we will have a grocery delivery for mostly breakfast foods so I really don't anticipate paying for any meals OOP. Snacks - possibly, meals - no

When my mom and I go in Sept., I am surprising her with an early ADR at CP one morning (which she loves) so we can walk down a nearly empty Main Street Since we had plans for all of our TS credits already I will pay for our Boma breakfast OOP and use those credits for CP instead (it is $2 cheaper per person @ Boma.)

 

[HaleyB]

What do you normally do while at WDW? Or is this your first trip?

For my family ( 2 adults, 11 yo and 8 yo) 10 TS meals over 11 days is more than enough. Last year we did 11 TS meals over 9 days and it was too much, so I am not doing any extra out of pocket (oop) sit down meals this year. For us they just eat up too much time, we would rather grab a quick service meal and be in line for whatever that much sooner.

I know other people who eat 2 and even 3 table service meals a day. For the most part these are people who have been to the parks many, many times and who do not have children with them.

We do plan to pay for a few counter service breakfasts, but for the most part we will be too full from the night before to eat much in the morning. We will have to buy some extra waters in the parks, and our adult bevrages.

 

[DanenRox]

I think it depends in how flexible you are with your meals. Typically, we stop for some basic breakfast items before we check into our resort...muffins, danish, that sort of thing. Then our lunch is a counter service meal, always very filling, usually more than I can eat. Dinner, a table service meal, which is ALWAYS more than my husband or I can eat, so we get doggie bags. Dessert typically comes home in a doggie bag. Now, here's where you need to be flexible...last night's dessert makes a wonderful breakfast. Hot coffee and cold chocolate cake...now that's a vacation breakfast. Even if you're not "stuffed", it's enough to hold you over until your next counter service meal. Then the whole pattern just repeats itself. We have never bought a meal outside of the meal plan. With some creativity, you really don't have to.

 

[BlindTyldak]

We will be paying for two lunch TS's OOP because we are saving the points for Cindy's and HDD. We'll also be paying for a breakfast or two at Boatwrights OOP most likely. other than that it's all in the plan; we eat VERY light for breakfast so a piece of fruit is plenty for us normally, then a big CS and a TS every day. We're packing some snacks and budgeted for some as well.

 

[jdtopgun71]

We actually only had to pay OOP for one meal (CRT which we paid for in advance) and we made use of all of our TS and CS credits and actually ended up with 33 snacks left over at the end of the trip. We used 33 credits on the overpriced snacks at the store at CSR for snacks on the way back and ended up having bags of chips to eat for weeks after we returned.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

We paid for zero. It's a ton of food anyway. One early lunch and a dinner covers all the food we need.

 

[plutospup]

I agree with "Cannot Wait 4Disney". We paid for zero OOP. Sometimes we used a snack credit for a quick breakfast (danish, muffin, etc). We didn't share meals, and had PLENTY of food from CS, and TS.

 

[Bev J]

We plan on paying for one TS breakfast on our last day, otherwise we will use snack credits for breakfast type items, TS at lunch time most days and CS for evening meal. Don't want to have the large TS meal too often in the evening, can't sleep on all that food!
Like a previous poster mentioned I think we will be having deserts from the day before for breakfast some days...
We are having water delivered and with a mug for coffee we won't be spending much on drinks either....

Only 6 more weeks and well find out if this actually works out..

Bev

 

[Tink_Or_Belle]

we are planning to pay out of pocket for 2 meals. One on the day we leave (we will be using TS credits every day so the day we leave we will be out) we will also be paying OOP for one Character breakfast because one day we are eating 2 TS a character breakfast early then a non buffet meal late that evening. I believe we will end up with CS left but the kids REALLY wanted that character breakfast and It was the 1 night we could get an ADR at a place we really wanted to try

 

[WAHMto5]

One CS and one TS per day, plus a snack was PLENTY of food , we did not have to pay for any meas oop. We are really small eaters and I couldn't imagine eating more then that a day!

 

[aubriee]

When we used the dining plan last Sept we didn't pay for any meals OOP, but did buy a few extra snacks and drinks that were not included on the DDP.

This past May I think we paid for one breakfast OOP.

However, in Sept we are paying for seven meals OOP (L-Sci Fi, B- Chef Mickey's, B- Konas, D- Hoop de Doo, B- Rainforest Cafe, D-'Ohannas, and B- Doanld's).

 

[LoriNSC]

On our July trip, we paid for Cinderella's breakfast (when making our reserv.), Rainforest Cafe in Downtown & Rainforest in AK. But, we had plenty of food with the DDP. We ate a big breakfast at our resort, a snack at the park & a nice dinner around 5-6pm. One day we ate a snack at breakfast, CS lunch & TS dinner. That worked pretty good too.

 

[LoriNSC]

OH, when we checked out, we still had 3 CS meals & 8 snacks & we got those to go. The DDP was a lot of food. On our next trip, we're doing DDP again. We will probably pay for Cindy's & Rainforest again just 'cause we like those places.

 

[Terk-1]

I'm going for 10 days, but will only have 9 days worth of meals. So after reviewing my schedule and ADR's, will pay for 2 TS OOP, but they won't be that expensive anyway and I would not have ordered appetizers, so not a big deal. Will pay OOP for a TS on my first day and one TS mid-week, since I am going to use a TS on my first night for dinner and my last day for breakfast.

 

[Trev's mom]

We will end up with two or three out of pocket meals during our christmas trip. We have planned a meal at California Grill which is 2 points so our first night was going to be a counter service but I reserved the CP at Garden Grill. Also, since the parks are so busy on Christmas Eve and Christmas day we've planned a character breakfast both mornings so we can get in early and out early and then spend the rest of the time touring the resorts. My husband thinks I'm a little nutty for paying OOP because we are already paying for the DDP.

 

[sillypiggi]

you may want to consider the possibility of splitting one TS meal with 2 people. For my upcoming trip, I have 3 signature restaurants on my list, but I am spliting the meal with my DH for 2 of them. Knowing how much DH and I eat, we'll be rolling on the floor in pain with 2 TS meals!! It is always possible to order an extra appetizer/entree if there is not enough food too.

 

[ntsammy5]

I know other people who eat 2 and even 3 table service meals a day. For the most part these are people who have been to the parks many, many times and who do not have children with them.

That pretty much describes us, but if I ate any more with DDP, I'd explode! There's too much food. Nothing OOP except alcohol!

​

 

[jgreen]

We were at WDW last summer for 9 days of free dining and did not pay OOP for anything except alcoholic beverages. There were four of us, and in most cases not every person ordered either an appetizer or dessert, or sometimes both, and it was still more than enough food. In fact, I think we ended up with two unused CS credits.

I could see maybe paying for some meals OOP if you dined at one or more signature restaurants during the stay.

 

[tinkamom]

I end up paying OOP for a few meals because we go to a couple of signature restaurants and at least one character breakfast per trip. Last year on Mother's Day we went to CRT for breakfast and then California Grill for dinner using 3 TS credits in 1 day! We also went to Narcoosees on another night, therefore using 5 TS credits for 2 days! We could have used CS for the other nights but we enjoy having a sit down meal each night. I paid OOP for the least expensive meals and they were not as elaborate as the ones included on the DP!