? on dining plan

[bukosluvswdw]

We have been to Disney many times but for the first time we are looking on staying in Disney and gettting the dining plan. We are a family of four with two boys. I have some questions. When you are on the dining plan is there any out of poocket expenses like the tip? I saw where for each night stay each of us are given two meals and a snack and then it depends on what plan it is whether it is to QS or one QS and TS is that right? If you use the dining plan should you also be prepared for some out of pocket expensives for other food items and if so is it alot? Some of the meals are buffet style meals will we be able ti use them on the dining plna? When we have gone in the past we always eat at one TS a day and a light meal as well somewhere else such as a hot dog, or pizza. Any help or suggestions would be great!

 

[ml05ries]

Tip is not included in the DDP. But when you get your "bill" it does say how much the meal would have cost OOP and what the tip would be at 18% and 20%. Also if you are just doing the regular DDP, ordering an appetizer or alcoholic beverage is not included. They will separate that from your included items and tell you how much you owe. For the extras, you can either use cash, a credit card, or charge it to your room. We left our tips as cash.

We did the regular DDP so we got one QS meal (entree, drink and dessert), one TS meal(entree, drink and dessert), and one snack per person per night we were there. We used up all our credits by the end of the trip, but we did also buy many other random snacks (not that our diets needed it, but its Disney ). Snack credits go pretty quick when a water and popcorn = two credits. But you are pretty full from the meals so tons of snacks aren't really necessary. Most of the time I used a snack credit for a bagel or cereal in the morning. Some buffets are two TS credits while others are just one TS credit. The Garden Grill is a buffet but only one TS credit.

I always find these helpful (it is for the regular DDP but they have them for the other plans: http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/media/wdw_nextgen/CoreCatalog/WaltDisneyWorld/en_us/PDF/2010Dining.pdf


Hope this helps!!!

 

[disneyfanUSA]

We have been to Disney many times but for the first time we are looking on staying in Disney and getting the dining plan. We are a family of four with two boys. I have some questions. When you are on the dining plan is there any out of pocket expenses like the tip? I saw where for each night stay each of us are given two meals and a snack and then it depends on what plan it is whether it is to QS or one QS and TS is that right? If you use the dining plan should you also be prepared for some out of pocket expenses for other food items and if so is it alot? Some of the meals are buffet style meals will we be able ti use them on the dining plan? When we have gone in the past we always eat at one TS a day and a light meal as well somewhere else such as a hot dog, or pizza. Any help or suggestions would be great!

When are you going I am not sure if you have heard about the promotion disney is offering: free dinning plan!!!

Everything OP mentioned is correct.

On the regular dining plan you can eat pretty much anywhere you would like including buffets. At regular restaurants you are allowed to get a drink entree and dessert. Most places that offer milkshakes smooties will alow you to get those as your drink. Some people have been told no, but I think this rare. All restaurants are one credit except for a few that cost two credits. You can see a list of all participating restaurants here http://www.themagicforless.com/wdw/2010Dining.pdf. and how many credits they take. The credits are put right onto your room key. The credits are not per day, you can use them however you choose. For example some days you could use no credits other days you could use 4 if you choose. Also there are many snack options, Disney leads you to believe you can only get popcorn and simple items that is false. Here is a link to a post that lists many of your options http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2381706.

 

[Cafeen]

We have been to Disney many times but for the first time we are looking on staying in Disney and gettting the dining plan. We are a family of four with two boys. I have some questions. When you are on the dining plan is there any out of poocket expenses like the tip? I saw where for each night stay each of us are given two meals and a snack and then it depends on what plan it is whether it is to QS or one QS and TS is that right? If you use the dining plan should you also be prepared for some out of pocket expensives for other food items and if so is it alot? Some of the meals are buffet style meals will we be able ti use them on the dining plna? When we have gone in the past we always eat at one TS a day and a light meal as well somewhere else such as a hot dog, or pizza. Any help or suggestions would be great!

As mentioned, tips are not included in the DDP (except CRT and the dinner shows) nor are appetizers (unless on a Prix Fixe (Fixed Price) menu) or alcoholic drinks (though I think HDDR does include some), so all of those would be OOP. Snack-wise, with the normal plan (1 snack per night), you may end up picking some items up OOP. I would suggest that you save your credits for the items over 3$ or so, at least for the first couple of days. If you start to build up excess snack credits, burn them off as you see fit.

It depends on the plan what you will actually be allotted. For the normal plan, you will receive 1 TS, 1 CS, and 1 snack credit per person per night of your stay. These points will be pooled together for the room and all points will be available from the moment you check in until midnight following check-out. You can use these credits in any order and combination you wish. If you so desire, you could even use all of the credits in a single day (though, very highly suggest no one does that as it would literally be a physically dangerous amount of food.)

Buffets and family style are definitely able to be done on the DDP, in fact most of the character meals are one or the other. You'll want to look at the link in the previous poster's reply to see all the restaurants covered. Do note that there are a few locations that "charge" 2 credits per meal (CRT, dinner shows, and various signature restaurants). You'll want to keep that in mind once you start making your plans. The vast majority of locations are a single credit though, so that's easy enough to work around.

From what you mentioned about dining (you like 1 sit down dinner and a lighter lunch) it sounds as though it's a very good fit.

 

[squirrel]

Are you going with the Free Dining promotion? What ages are the boys?

It's worth upgrading your kids if they are close to 10 yrs old. The cost difference is only the price difference between an adult ticket and a child's ticket. They would be able to order off the adult menu instead of the child's.

 

[kerri0616]

We also have 2 boys and we've enjoyed using the regular DDP several times. I would say I'm fairly frugal, so here's what we do...we have granola bars or poptarts in the room for breakfast. We keep milk/juiceboxes in the fridge. This allows us to get out the door and into a park for EMH. Then we use our CS credits for a very early lunch. We try to arrive at lunch just when they start serving. (By the way...if none of the CS desserts appeal to you, you can get a bottle of water for "dessert". Wonderful in the summer!). Then we have an ADR for a TS dinner usually sort of early (5pm ish). So far, we've only done TS that use 1 credit and we've been happy with nearly all of our meals. If the kids are hungry later, that's a great time to use a snack credit--popcorn while waiting for a parade...)

Towards the end of a trip we will typically have too many snack credits left, so I'll trek down to the food court and get muffins or something for breakfast...granola bars don't keep us happy very long

Our only real OOP expense are the tips which I charge back to the room and then use my Disney Rewards Points to cover. I love never having to say no when someone wants a snack or a drink!

Happy Planning!
Kerri

 

[bukosluvswdw]

We also have 2 boys and we've enjoyed using the regular DDP several times. I would say I'm fairly frugal, so here's what we do...we have granola bars or poptarts in the room for breakfast. We keep milk/juiceboxes in the fridge. This allows us to get out the door and into a park for EMH. Then we use our CS credits for a very early lunch. We try to arrive at lunch just when they start serving. (By the way...if none of the CS desserts appeal to you, you can get a bottle of water for "dessert". Wonderful in the summer!). Then we have an ADR for a TS dinner usually sort of early (5pm ish). So far, we've only done TS that use 1 credit and we've been happy with nearly all of our meals. If the kids are hungry later, that's a great time to use a snack credit--popcorn while waiting for a parade...)

Towards the end of a trip we will typically have too many snack credits left, so I'll trek down to the food court and get muffins or something for breakfast...granola bars don't keep us happy very long

Our only real OOP expense are the tips which I charge back to the room and then use my Disney Rewards Points to cover. I love never having to say no when someone wants a snack or a drink!

Happy Planning!
Kerri

Thanks Kerri - great info. We decided to get the dining plan - we like the idea that the main meals are paid for and we do not have to worry about budgeting them!

 

[Bell30012]

Appetizers are included on the DxDP. The Deluxe Plan also gets three TS meal credits per day, two snack credits and an unlimited refill cup (only usable in YOUR resort on this trip).
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/media/wdw_nextgen/CoreCatalog/WaltDisneyWorld/en_us/PDF/2010DeluxeDining.pdf

Anyone else feel that the DDP is not enough meals and the DxDP is too many meals?