How to work the Dining Plan

[PoohGal05]

This will be my family's first time to use the Dining Plan. When I booked our trip 6 months ago, I went online and made all of our reservations for dinings. We are doing all but two of our table services as buffet breakfasts. My mom seems to think that we don't need to be concerned about eating in the middle of the day and to save our counter services for a late lunch or an early dinner. I think we will need to have something to eat in the middle of the day, especially for my 3 year old son. Now we are taking stuff that we're bringing from home to snack on, so I think that will suffice for him. Wewill have snack credits to use, but I just don't think that a popsicle (as good as they are) is going to keep us full until dinnertime. I think we're going to end up paying for a mid day meal out of pocket, which is fine since 2 meals are already covered anyway.

Having said all of that, what has been everyone's experience with the Dining Plan? By the way, this is the regular dining plan.

 

[satorifound]

What about getting the breakfast buffet at a later time and bringing portable breakfast foods with you?

We did the dining plan a couple years ago and had a great experience with it overall. We did bring a few snacks like granola bars and pop tarts...

 

[Cafeen]

With your "plan" (that is, what you're planning to do, not the dining plan you picked), your mom is probably right.

Big buffet breakfasts will stick with you for awhile, add in the mid August heat and humidity and you're likely not going to want to eat that much. Since you're planning early CS dinners (or late lunches), you should be fine.

However, if you do find yourselves getting hungry by traditional lunch time, it may be worthwhile to pick up a small, cheaper meal and just pay out of pocket for it, saving the larger CS meals for the credits. Even splitting a few meals among the group could tide you over until later.

 

[julie4423]

I suppose it all evens out in the end hunger wise, but we did all but one of our TS meals as dinner. I either used my snack credit for breakfast, or paid oop. This is by far the cheapest CS meal of the day. I never spent more than $5-10, and got what I consider a big breakfast. We almost always used our CS at lunch, but there were times that we shared one because we just weren't hungry enough for 2. We always wanted to make sure we were starving for our TS.

Also, keep in mind that the snacks are way more than popsicles. You can get filling snacks quite often. We got some little sandwiches at Boulangerie Patisserie that we made lunch out of, soft pretzels...yum!, and smoothies when you're thirsty/hungry. There are tons of options out there. Check the thread up top

 

[Forensicmom]

This is our first trip as well and we're on the dining plan as well. After talking to many friends who have lots of Disney experience, we decided to order easy breakfast items (pop tarts, granola bars, bananas, etc) to eat at the hotel for breakfast. We're planning to use our CS meal for lunch and the TB for all but one dinners. We are planning to use the last TS credit for a breakfast.

We also wanted to be at the park at opening time and ready to ride rides, which we might not feel like doing with a huge full belly.

 

[Faldred]

Wewill have snack credits to use, but I just don't think that a popsicle (as good as they are) is going to keep us full until dinnertime.

Oh, there's so much more than popsicles or Mickey bars to choose from. There's a whole sticky topic devoted to the items you can get with a snack credit. Many of them are quite filling, even if you share only one or two among a group.

 

[EPCOTatNight]

It all depends on your touring style. If you get a lot done on a daily basis, you may get hungry early because you're expending more energy. Don't be fooled by the word snack. Some snacks are enough food for a whole meal. Colossal cinnamon rolls in MK, chicken fried rice in Ak, egg rolls, pretzels, and funnel cakes are a few snack options for the DDP

 

[Iwant2BAprincess]

Truthfully, at the age your son is, we stayed away from TS breakfast-wasnt worth it. I knew mine would be wanting to eat again in a couple hours anyway regardless so we found it a better use to pack breakfast for the room (granola bars, cereal, poptarts) and use the ddp credits later in the day

 

[3boys4me]

This will be my family's first time to use the Dining Plan. When I booked our trip 6 months ago, I went online and made all of our reservations for dinings. We are doing all but two of our table services as buffet breakfasts. My mom seems to think that we don't need to be concerned about eating in the middle of the day and to save our counter services for a late lunch or an early dinner. I think we will need to have something to eat in the middle of the day, especially for my 3 year old son. Now we are taking stuff that we're bringing from home to snack on, so I think that will suffice for him. Wewill have snack credits to use, but I just don't think that a popsicle (as good as they are) is going to keep us full until dinnertime. I think we're going to end up paying for a mid day meal out of pocket, which is fine since 2 meals are already covered anyway.

Having said all of that, what has been everyone's experience with the Dining Plan? By the way, this is the regular dining plan.

I would check to see if maybe you can change some of your breakfast ressies to lunch or dinner. For me, while the breakfast buffets are all different, they are also alot the same. Breakfast is probably the cheapest meal to buy. We would get one breakfast platter at the hotel for two of us. Also, a kids breakfast is about $5 and comes with a milk or juice. For me that was the perfect size meal. Another reason you might want to change, itis going to be HOT! Taking a nice sit down lunch in the AC might be a nice break in the 90+ degree weather. Also, dinners will get you the most for your money out of the dining plan. We don't worry about that, but some people do.
On a 10 day trip, we usually do 1 ts breakfast, and split up the rest between lunch and dinner. Also, if we had a cs dinner at the hotel we would get muffins or fruit for dessert and use that for the next days b-fast.

 

[HuskerFaninIL]

I think it's important to note what time your breakfast ADRs are. If they are at 8am, you might get hungry, if they are at 10:30 ( more of a brunch) then your plan is probably fine

 

[pooch]

the plan is never a consideration for us (we do get it during free dining) using all your TS credits for breakfast is a very poor use value-wise. Maybe that's how your family rolls but I would suggest changing at least a few to dinner buffets. As a PP said, getting out of the hot sun later in the day really helps with the heat.

We have done reg DDP 5 times (#6 coming up soon!) and we (adult DD and I) split a CS breakfast from the food court, split another CS meal at lunch then get our own TS dinner. CS meals are huge and splitting them gives us enough credits for BLD without being stuffed in the heat.

You know your family best but if breakfast is going to be your big meal of the day, I'd be sure to have late breakfast times or you probably will need to supplement OOP.

 

[nkereina]

A lot of the breakfast buffets have the same food. In fact, most do. And if they are character breakfasts, some have the same characters. If you are doing a non-buffet TS breakfast, you don't get a dessert so it's not the best value of credit usage in that instance. There are so many good places for dinner, it might really be worth it to mix it up. You could even use a snack credit for things like bagels, muffins, cinnamon buns, etc. for breakfast, QS mid-day and a TS for dinner.

 

[Granfan]

For us, we would never get our money's worth from the dining plan or be satisfied using all our TS for breakfast..We mostly eat muffins, fruit, pb crackers, juice, etc. brought from home for breakfast, CS for lunch and table service for dinner. That way eating doesn't interfere much with touring the parks and you get a better meal at dinner..But that's just what works best for us. Have a great trip!!

 

[hannahdrewmom]

I'd look at changing some of those breakfasts. The dining plan is costing $56. TS breakfasts are normally no more than $24. Add a snack for $4 and then a counter service for even $15 and you are still well below what you are paying for it.

A couple breakfasts might be good but I'd try to change some to other things for the sake of change as well.

 

[dskib]

Here's what we do - after learning from our mistakes.

On days without character breakfasts, we eat a quick breakfast in our room - cereal and fruit for DS3, maybe for us too. We do rope drop at the parks and stop for an early Counter Service lunch around 11:30. Then we have our TS meal for dinner.

On days with Character breakfasts, we make our ADR for before the park opens so we can still make rope drop. We'll probably have a snack in the afternoon and have a Counter service meal for dinner.

We'll stop as necessary for out little guy to eat something though.

I'll tell you what was really frustraing for me. By day 2 we realized that our DS3 was NOT going to nap in the stroller and was definitely going to require a break in the middle of the day if he was going to make it. Our days ended up going something like this:
Bfast in room, Rope Drop, CS lunch, Break/Nap, Dinner. I felt like we missed a LOT of park time by taking a break and then having ADRs for dinner every night! I swear I gained weight! It seemed like we were always either eating or napping..

This time I scheduled TWO character breakfasts and one TS meal on arrival night - a non-park day. I don't want to bog down too much park time with sit down dinners.

Good luck!

 

[luvsJack]

This is our third time on the ddp and what we find works for us:

1. Never, ever, ever make adr's by what is the best "value" for the plan. Pick the places you want to go. If you WANT a character breakfast everday--do so. If your family prefers a big breakfast everyday--go for it. If you think that you would really prefer something else, change it.

2. We split up the meals. So, if we have a TS for breakfast, we have CS for supper; if we have TS for lunch, CS is a late, late supper (sometimes when we get back to the room); if we have TS for dinner, we use our CS for breakfast. Whichever meal we don't have an actual "meal", we use snack credits. I always have extra snacks and quick breakfast stuff in the room but rarely use it.

We have never found that we needed 3 meals in one day. With a 3 year old, I would certainly keep cereal bars or some other quick snack with us; but still don't think we would find reason to plan a third meal.

 

[SPOERLX3]

This is our third time on the ddp and what we find works for us:

1. Never, ever, ever make adr's by what is the best "value" for the plan. Pick the places you want to go. If you WANT a character breakfast everday--do so. If your family prefers a big breakfast everyday--go for it. If you think that you would really prefer something else, change it.

2. We split up the meals. So, if we have a TS for breakfast, we have CS for supper; if we have TS for lunch, CS is a late, late supper (sometimes when we get back to the room); if we have TS for dinner, we use our CS for breakfast. Whichever meal we don't have an actual "meal", we use snack credits. I always have extra snacks and quick breakfast stuff in the room but rarely use it.

We have never found that we needed 3 meals in one day. With a 3 year old, I would certainly keep cereal bars or some other quick snack with us; but still don't think we would find reason to plan a third meal.

I agree 100%

My DH favorite meal is breakfast so he would be in heaven
Previously you could get a character breakfast for $18-22 (except Cinderella's castle) but now with the increase in pricing for the character Breakfast being $28-$35, it makes a character breakfast a huge dining plan "bang for your buck".

We have never done 3 meals in a day. if we have a TS breakfast, we do a CS dinner and use our SC for a mid-day filler. Like other posters, Pretzels (especially the sweet cream or jalepeno cheese), egg rolls, fried rice, popcorn, funnel cakes and the giant ice cream sandwich cookie or cinnamon roll from Main St bakery are more than enough to fill you up till dinner.

Enjoy your ressies and have fun

 

[DianeW]

Truthfully, at the age your son is, we stayed away from TS breakfast-wasnt worth it. I knew mine would be wanting to eat again in a couple hours anyway regardless so we found it a better use to pack breakfast for the room (granola bars, cereal, poptarts) and use the ddp credits later in the day

This. He most likely won't eat enough to stay full until dinnertime. We vary all of our TS meals on the dining plan. If anything, we probably have more lunch TS than anything else. We always get up early, have a quick breakfast in our room (I bring cold cereal, pop tarts, granola, etc. we supplement with milk from the resort dining hall we pay oop for), get to the park by rope drop and by lunch time, we're STARVING. We usually then have a late CS as dinner.

On the days we do a breakfast buffet for our TS, we (the olders, including my teens) are not hungry until 2 or 3 PM. However, my youngest (10 on our last trip in March) still wants lunch at the regular time. His super fast kid metabolism digests his breakfast at least five times as fast as the rest of us. We get a substantial snack for him (and sometimes use one of the adult's snack credits...we're never that hungry) to make sure he can hang on until dinner. Then we eat a CS dinner at the regular time.

 

[KorieDWnut]

Dh and I usually share our CS meals. Like, we will use his for breakfast and share that meal, and mine for lunch and then we go to TS for dinner, etc. We will usually pay OOP for a side of fruit, or extra fries, etc, but we share the CS meals to stretch them out and save money.
The first time we did the dining plan, we were always so full that when we went to our TS meal we were either not that hungry..or we would throw food away from our CS meals, or skip the desserts. We felt we weren't getting the most for our money to feel like that.
The kids share alot of their CS meals too. We are snackers I think. We enjoy our daily popcorns, candy and ice creams..so I think thats why we are just never that hungry at meal time.

 

[CaFeeney]

We have done a variety of TS meals but with a preschooler i found she ate very little at breakfast. We have done Chef Mickey's, Donald's @ AK, Princess breakfast in Norway, Cape May...at one of the breakfast buffets my DD (then 3) ate 2 strawberries and 1/2 a donut..the excitement of meeting the characters totally distracted her from eating anything.

Now we try to vary it up with one or 2 breakfasts, late lunches, early dinners, etc.

As one of the PP's said, the breakfast is the least expensive option for those paying OOP but on the dining plan it is not the most effective use of points. The other thing I always consider is that breakfast (unless you go before park opening) wastes some primo park opportunities for rope drop, collecting fast passes, lower crowds...if you are following any touring plans they typically suggest making the most of your morning times and not spending precious time in the restaurants.

Just some food for thought! Have a great time!