My Dining Plan Observations

[brymolmom]

I just got back last night - it was me, dh, dsister, ds4 and dd2. We didn't have credits for the 2 year old and even with sharing with her every time, we did not purchase one meal on the trip. Many times dh and I would split 2 CS meals with the kids, so it was 2 meals for 4 people, and we still had enough food.

I have to say the new snack options are a huge bonus. I went last year when you could basically get water and maybe one or two other things - so it was so nice this year to get so many options.

We ended up trading in 4 TS credits for CS meals plus 2 snacks (which we used to buy the Mickey oreo-type cookies to bring home for gifts for people).

We ended up using all credits, but only by fudging things a little. I wanted to use the snacks from the TS meal trade-in and tried buying meals for the people in front of me or behind me but that didn't work out - so the CM had me just get muffins for my 'meals' so that she could ring it up to do the exchange. also, we ended up getting meals for everyone (5) for lunch before leaving for the airport. I wouldn't do that again - WAY too much food, gave away desserts to those around us and just wasted (unfortunately). Luckily, I'm happy to say that this was the one time on the trip that I thought anything was really wasted. So, my advice is to SHARE, SHARE, SHARE - there is way too much if everyone gets their own meal.

I really like the flexibility of having the ability to trade-in the TS meals for CS instead. Obviously not the best value for your credits BUT, when the kids when down for a very late and much-needed nap and we knew we'd have no chance to make our reservation at Trail's End - at least I knew we had some other options instead of having to scramble to make a last minute reservation at whatever was available. In the end we used them as CS because making a new reservation would have meant two TS meals in one day - our last day there, and two long meals in one day is a little too much for the kids (get too antsy sitting still for that long) - SO we traded them in and liked having that option.

LOVED the free dining. Would we buy it next time? I'm really not sure - would likely depend on a lot of things (length of trip, who was coming with us, etc).

 

[Dizneydaz]

We too didn't buy a single meal while there (except the partial 2 days we were off property). We were there for 10 nights so we had 30 of each credit to use.

We also shared and had plenty of food. We were able to use all our TS though (by going to 3 signature restaurants-yummy) so we were mostly left with extra QS and SC. We sucessfully treated 3 different families to QS meals (for a total of 7 credits). Twice at AK and once at Gasparilla at GF. Everyone we treated were very appreciative and happy. One man even tried to slip my $5, but I said "no, it's my treat-use it on souvenirs (they had twin 5 y/o granddaughters with them). We were at Gasparilla's getting food for our plane trip home and I figured we were going to leaving with 2 QS left over. We had 6 left and were only using 4 ( I didn't want to carry 6 meals on the plane!) Well, the family in front of us were buying 3 QS meals and only had 1 QS left. The dad was all ready to pay for the 2 extras when I offered our last 2. They were very happy to do it especially after I convinced them that we weren't going to use them as we were leaving from there to the airport and they would just go to waste. I was going to have the cashier ring them up seperately (we had 2A, 1K on card) but the cashier was able to ring up all 6 (adult meals) at once with no problem. I loved spreading a little "magic" around.

But the best one was at Flametree BBQ where we treated a family of 4 from GA to 3 meals (2A, 1K) At first they couldn't believe it and then, after I gave them their lunches, the mom came back and gave me a hug! It made me feel great!

For our last 9 SC we made a very quick stop at DTD and I bought 9 boxes of cookies to take home as souvenirs. I had been meaning to do this before the last day but never got around to it so the cookies were the only thing I could find quickly. Next time (if there is one-free DDP Sept. 07?) I will make sure I don't wait to the last minute to use SC.

 

[martyk]

Hey. I'm going for the first time and staying on resort. My wife and two girls and myself. We purchased the dining plan and made our reservations. I'm confused because you both have said that you didn't need all of the meals but there are only one table, one counter and a snack. When I do the math, that leaves us a meal short each day. What am I missing here?
Would appreciate your help.
Thanks
Martin

 

[JzeroT1437]

Could you explain to me how one trades in TS meals for CS meals? I might purchase the dining plan if this turns out to be a good deal.

 

[martyk]

I don't know. Hoepfully someone will get back to us on this one.

 

[twinspluscade]

"Hey. I'm going for the first time and staying on resort. My wife and two girls and myself. We purchased the dining plan and made our reservations. I'm confused because you both have said that you didn't need all of the meals but there are only one table, one counter and a snack. When I do the math, that leaves us a meal short each day. What am I missing here?
Would appreciate your help.
Thanks
Martin"

We just got back from our trip a few weeks ago. We were also on the dining plan. It was me, dh, dd4,dd4, and ds2. What we did--and I'm sure many people do it differently--is eat a granola bar in our room for breakfast every morning. We're not big breakfast eaters--at home we just have cold cereal every day--so for us it worked. Then we'd use our counter service credit for lunch, and the table service credit for dinner. We'd use the snack credit on buying milk and pop at the food court, and a few other snacky things. I've also heard of a lot of people using their snack credits for donuts, muffins, etc. in the morning. We just never bothered since it was easier to grab something quick in the room.
It was a lot of food for us at lunch and dinner; several times we didn't finish our desserts at the counter service places.
I really liked the dining plan; we'll probably buy it again.

Kelly

 

[PeterPansMum]

I'd have to get out all the receipts to give you exactly how we used ours, but for the most part we shared 2-3 CS with our 2A 2C credits.
Breakfast at MK Bakery: bagel, apple charlotte, french toast, muffin and 2 drinks totals 2 CS We were more than full with that.
Pizza Planet: shared 3 pizzas, 3 salads, 3 drinks, 3 rice krispy treats. The kids didn't eat the salads, and the treats lasted til the next day!

We used snack credits for ice cream (DH never had one), fruit bowls that we shared- carried these around for most of the day, and then on our last day brought home 6 boxes of cookies and a bunch of fudge (dessert tonight!)

We ended up leaving I think 3 CS credits due to my poor time management.. I've heard you can trade 1 TS for a CS and 2 snacks or poster, or pin & laynard thing. We didn't do that.

The ONLY food item we bought was a drink at 9 Dragons. The kids had shared a TS meal and dessert and we bought one of their drinks.

Disclaimer: We did not break the TS rule to use a kids TS credit for adults, The adults ALSO split a TS credit in order to do 2 TS in one day. Why? Because we wanted to try different restaurants. And yes we did leavean extra tip for our waitresses.

 

[brymolmom]

First of all - there is SO MUCH food on the Dining plan that you may not be hungry for 3 meals a day (especially in the heat of September) - we had a couple breakfast buffets planned (CRT, Playhouse disney meal at MGM and Chef Mickey) - so on those days we would have a banana (or a couple donut holes - big box in the food court is one snack credit) - in the room in the morning - a late-ish breakfast (buffet - so a much bigger breakfast than usual) and then just the dinner meal for our real 'meals'. In between here we would have a frozen lemonade or other snack sometimes.

Other days we would have cereal in the room for breakfast and usually then we'd have all 3 meals during the day - CS for lunch and TS for dinner. However, we would share every CS meal - again - you don't know until you've used it - but it is TOO MUCH FOOD not to share. We also have a 2 year old so she didn't have any of her own credits (since she's free) - so we would split 2 CS meals between all 4 of us many days. Usually we'd get an extra snack of fruit or something.

Just imagine every time you make yourself a sandwich, instead getting an entree (personal pizza), side (salad), AND dessert (cookie or chocolate cake). It is a LOT of food. And if you do want to do 3 real meals a day - I would recommend splitting your CS meals. You will likely have almost enough credits to do CS for breakfast and lunch if you split them.

And - to who asked about how to 'trade in' your TS for a CS. You do it this way - go up to the register at the CS restaurant and BEFORE he/she rings up your order, tell the CM that you want to use a TS credit for this meal. He/she will ring you up and then deduct the TS credit and then give you a small paper form that says that you can redeem it for a lanyard OR a poster OR 2 snacks. I didn't see the lanyard or poster...just used it for snacks (you can just go do it right there in the same line). It was pretty easy - I did it at POP food court but I was behind someone who did it at one of the CS places in MGM.

Any other questions?

 

[bnorm27]

It is a large amount of food. We have receipts for just over $800 in meals for our 6 night stay. Had I purchased the dining plan, it would have cost me around $540 (me, DW, DD4. DD2 was free). In my opinion, it was an incredible value, and made this vacation affordable. I probably would have not eaten at CRTD, Crystal Palace, CM, Ohanas, and Akershus in one trip if I had to pay for it. Maybe one or two of those, but not all five. Heck, if there wasn't free dining, I probably would not have stayed on site.