Paying OOP while on free dining plan - am I crazy?

[Angela&Kayla]

I don't know if anyone else is having a hard time with scheduling "just enough" ts credits, but my daughter and I (we're going for 10 days in a little over a week), will have 9 ts credits and as of now, am scheduled for 13. Is anyone else having a problem cutting things out? I guess my situation is...this will be our first and quite possibly last (we love to travel to new places) to Disney, and want to make the most of it. Here are my adr's as of now...if you were me, would you keep them all? get rid of some? change some? any suggestions/ideas would be helpful as I am still overwhelmed by all the dining choices.

Arrival (4:05 pm) Monday - 8:10 pm at Princess Storybook Dining - Norway
Tuesday - 5:30 pm at Yachtsman Steakhouse
Wednesday - 12:15 pm at CRT
Thursday - 8:30 pm at Boma
Friday - 9:15 pm at Wolfgang Puck Cafe after La Nouba
Saturday - 4 pm at LeCellier
Sunday - 7:15 pm at Hoop Dee Doo
Monday - 4 pm at Coral Reef
Tuesday - 7 pm at Ohana
Departure (3:22 pm) Wednesday - 8:05 am at Crystal Palace

 

[Amyrlin]

We like TS meals, for the 7 nights we have the equivlent of 11 credtis booked, including a 2 credit restruant and two breakfasts, but we like to have breakfast and dinner, but no lunch.

We will probably have some CS left at the end, but will have to pay OOP for some meals. We have DDE so that is not an issue and will pay for the breakfasts and one of the lower cost meals.

 

[kaw1218]

We have 12 credits booked with only 9 in our plan.... I think we will cut one and pay oop for HDDR.

I noticed you have both the princess storybook breakfast and CRT...maybe cut one of those?

 

[NC State]

I see that you do have Hoop Dee Doo which is 2TS per person and your departure day you have a TS too. That could be your problem there.

If you really wanted to fit them into your schedule then yes pay out of pocket. Go to the menu page and see which meals would be the cheapest and then OOP for them only.

I wish you a magical trip, I wish I could go for 10 days.

 

[gurleym]

This may be just us be we find that we can't eat that many big meals in a weeks time. We usually allow for a day or too of just simple counter service meals where we can just grab and go. I believe the problem you are having is that some of your choices take 2 of your ps's for the 1 meals. My suggestion is that you check the menues and the prices to find out if you actually like the items that will be served in each place. If all else use your ps's for the more expensive places and pay for the least expensive from your pocket. All in all with the free dining they are offering during that time it is still a win win situation.

Have a great time.

 

[kaw1218]

I see that you do have Hoop Dee Doo which is 2TS per person and your departure day you have a TS too. That could be your problem there.

If you really wanted to fit them into your schedule then yes pay out of pocket. Go to the menu page and see which meals would be the cheapest and then OOP for them only.

I wish you a magical trip, I wish I could go for 10 days.

CRT is 2 credits also, isn't it?

 

[wasabi girl]

I have a similar situation in Sept. I have scheduled 10 TS credits and only have 7. I'm going to just pay OOP for the Brown Derby Fantasmic Dinner Package (uses 2) and is a fixed price meal, and OOP for the Crystal Palace as it is a buffet and fixed price. Seems to be the easiest thing to do. We didn't want to give up on any of the signature dining that use 2 TS.
So we are just taking advantage of the free dining plan and paying out of pocket for what isn't included.
If you don't mind paying out of pocket for some of your meals, then do so. I'd suggest paying out of pocket for the buffets.
You may want to check the menus on allearsnet.com , you can choose which would be the best meals to pay for.
I'm sure there are others who are experts on the Dining Plan who can advise you better. I'm new also. If you are like me though, this won't be your last trip!

 

[DVCisME]

I don't know how old your daughter is out the Steakhouse might just be a waste. I think it is two table service meals. That is alot where you can get steak almost anywhere and something else your daughter might enjoy more.

 

[NC State]

CRT is 2 credits also, isn't it?

Yes, you're right, I forgot that last year (Sept '05) when I last visited it was 1 TS and now it's 2TS per person.

 

[JimMIA]

I don't think anyone is crazy for paying OOP on DDP...especially in a situation like OP's where they think this might be their only trip to WDW. Use the DDP to maximize your enjoyment of this trip.

As a general rule, all things being equal, I would consider paying OOP for the character meals because regular TS dinners tend to cost more.

All you guys have a great trip!

 

[Tink_Or_Belle]

we will be paying OOP for one meal because we have all one TS credits but we have one planned on the last day when we don't get them. As of now we are planning to pay OOP for the breakfast at 1900 Park fare however if we get to one of our non Buffet meals that is on teh days before we do that breakfast (day 5) and we are all too stuffed to order appetizer entree and dessert we will just order entrees and pay oop for that. When we went on the silver plan after the 1st couple days we were so full we started ordering less and less. the difference there was it was 2 TS a day if we wanted it to be.

 

[thunderbird1]

Seriously, just because you have the dining plan doesn't mean your dining is limited only to what the plan provides. If you want more than one TS meal per day, or some signature dining experiences, you should do that. It's your vacation--enjoy it! Will you have too much food if you do this? Maybe--but you don't have to finish everything, and isn't trying new dining experiences part of the fun of vacation?

I won't make specific recommendations on your ADR's, partly because we've only tried a couple of the places you mentioned and partly because everyone's opinions are subjective. But I will say that if all of the places you listed sound interesting to you, keep all the ADR's for now. You can always change your mind when you get there. Maybe one of the restaurants you had planned won't look as great in person, or you'll decide you don't want to take the time for a sit down meal every day. Or maybe you'll see someplace you really want to try and add even another meal. Or maybe you'll decide you just want appetizers or desserts for one of your TS's. As long as you don't mind paying for a couple of extra meals, you can decide which meals you want to use the plan for once you get down there.

Have fun!

 

[disneyjunkie]

Seriously, just because you have the dining plan doesn't mean your dining is limited only to what the plan provides. If you want more than one TS meal per day, or some signature dining experiences, you should do that. It's your vacation--enjoy it! Will you have too much food if you do this? Maybe--but you don't have to finish everything, and isn't trying new dining experiences part of the fun of vacation?

I agree.

I'm paying for the dining plan during our next trip and will have to pay OOP for a few of our meals.

Some may think it's crazy, but as long as we enjoy our trip, I'm happy.

 

[Windy City Heather]

I always over book and pay out of pocket. I love the sit down restaurants.

 

[F1Julie]

We use the DDP and frequently pay OOP for additional TS restaurants. We often eat at 2 TS's a day, so we pay OOP for the least expensive meals and us DDP for the more expensive meals. We have free dining coming up for our trip in September. We are only staying 3 nights and I have 6 TS meals scheduled.

 

[PaulaSB12]

I am paying OOP for 4 meals Boma, and 1900 Park Fare for breakfast. CRt for lunch and Victoria & Alberts for dinner.

 

[aubriee]

We're there for eight nights and have fifteen TS ADRs. We'll probably have a few CS credits left, but we prefer TS and book accordingly. We're paying OOP for Sci Fi, Chef Mickey's, Konas, Hoop de Doo, Rainforest Cafe, Spirit of Aloha Luau, and Donald's Breakfastsaurus. That's what works for us. We may try to share a few meals and if we do, then we'll of course pay for less OOP, but if we can't (or don't want to), it won't be a problem and we'll be extremely happy with the meals we do get for free..

Do what works for you.

 

[iluvepcot]

We are 3 adults and will be sharring some meals to stretch out our TS budget and also to keep trim our tummies.

DD (24) and I will share some meals to help keep our waistline trim. DH will not.. As you can see this will give us extra ts... What to do. we will use them for some of our 2 credit meals. You could share at a couple meals and use those credits for the signiture. You save both credits and calories that way.