Please tell me where to go!

[truegirl]

After quite a bit of frustration, we think we've decided to do a few table service meals. (5-6 for a 6 day stay.) Most of these, except House of Blues, are on a Dining Plan.

This is where we're thinking of going:
House of Blues (not on plan)
Rose & Crown (Dinner)
Akershus Character (breakfast)
Liberty Tree Character (Dinner)
Tony's Town Square (Lunch)

I've read a lot here on the Dining plans, but I'm still concerned about credits.

I was wondering if someone would be so kind as to either explain them to me (use small words and assume I know no existing information), or post a link to wherever it is on the main site that provides this information.

We don't want to use up all of any credits we may get on one meal, and we don't know how or if we could transfer say, snack/other credits toward table service. I'm so confused!

We also don't want to drop a bunch of cash for something we won't use up.

We want to make the best financial choice for our family, and we were wondering if any of the dining plans would save us cash.

Please point me in the direction I need to go! Thanks! true

 

[Jletendre]

Hi,

I'm no experct and know all the in's and out's but its like this:

Each person gets credit for the following for each day of your trip:

1 table service (sit down)
1 counter service (walk up / think fast food)
1 snack

Now the TS gets tricky if you decide to use it for lunch or breakfast so then one of your meals later in the day is going to be counter (be it in the park or your resort food court). We usually pay OOP for breakfast stuff, CS for lunch and have a nice TS at night.

It gets tougher if you throw in a signature dining and we weigh if it's cheaper to pay OOP for special meals like that vs. losing two TS.

Remember on every day to use your snack credit on small things (huge list of eligible items on here) or you'll wind up with a bunch and loading up prior to leaving at your resort food court / gift shop.

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

The regular dining plan allows for 1TS, 1CS and one snack per day. There are some signature dining restaurants that "cost" 2 TS credits but none of the ones on your list would be 2 credit restaurants. They are each 1TS credit (except House of Blues which as you said is not on the plan so it would have to be paid out of pocket). Credits are based on the number of nights you are staying. You mention a 6 day stay so I am guessing that is 5 nights. Each of you would then have 5 TS, 5 CS and 5 snack credits for your trip that can be used any way you wish. You could eat 2 TS meals one day and 2 CS meals the next. Credits expire at midnight on the day you check out. I hope this helps clear up some of the confusion.

As for your choices, we have eaten at Rose & Crown and it was just Ok for us. We love the Liberty Tree Tavern dinner, the character interaction is terrific! Tony's is also ok for lunch, didn't really love it for dinner. I haven't eaten at your other choices.

To get the most bang for your buck so to speak, you probably should consider using your TS credits for dinner. Only you can decide if the plan is worth it. The cost is $38.99 per day for adults and $9.99 for children. Looking at various menus, would you spend more than $87.97 per day on food? The dining plan is definitely worth it for our family of 3. In fact we are upgrading to the deluxe plan this year. Allears.net has menus listed so you can get an idea of costs, etc.

 

[truegirl]

You were really helpful in figuring things out. One more question:

I've seen mention that there is more than one plan. What are the plans and what are the main differences?

 

[catho72]

We really enjoy using the DDP. It saves us money. We are also able to eat at nicer restaurants and enjoy a variety of food than we would had we not used the DDP. You get 1TS, 1CS and 1 snack per night (which for each person in your family, based on 5 nights, would translate to 5TS, 5CS and 5 snacks) but you are free to use them however you please. If you want to have 2 TS on day one, that's fine...you would then have 3Ts, 5CS and 5 snacks left to use for the remaining days.

We were able to convert our leftover meals (we were on DxDDP so we had 3 meals per day and it didn't matter if they were TS or CS) into snacks....we received 3 Mickey Rice Krispie treats for one meal credit. We had leftover credits because my husband got sick and had to spend two days in bed while the rest of us were in the parks.

Hope this helps! I would recommend using the DDP to anyone who asks!

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

After quite a bit of frustration, we think we've decided to do a few table service meals. (5-6 for a 6 day stay.) Most of these, except House of Blues, are on a Dining Plan.

This is where we're thinking of going:
House of Blues (not on plan)
Rose & Crown (Dinner)
Akershus Character (breakfast)
Liberty Tree Character (Dinner)
Tony's Town Square (Lunch)

I've read a lot here on the Dining plans, but I'm still concerned about credits.

I was wondering if someone would be so kind as to either explain them to me (use small words and assume I know no existing information), or post a link to wherever it is on the main site that provides this information.

We don't want to use up all of any credits we may get on one meal, and we don't know how or if we could transfer say, snack/other credits toward table service. I'm so confused!

We also don't want to drop a bunch of cash for something we won't use up.

We want to make the best financial choice for our family, and we were wondering if any of the dining plans would save us cash.

Please point me in the direction I need to go! Thanks! true

You don't say how many people are going to be on the plan so I will do a family of 4 because that is how my family would be.....

5 nights 6 days...

1 CS per day
1 TS per day
1 snack per day

Multiply by 5 days and 4 people for your total credits

20 CS
20 TS
20 Snacks

The meals you have planned are 1 TS (table service) per person per meal or a total of 16:

Rose & Crown (Dinner)
Akershus Character (breakfast)
Liberty Tree Character (Dinner)
Tony's Town Square (Lunch)

You would have 4 TS left, 20 CS, and 20 snacks that you could use.

Now you have to determine if the rest of the food would be used...

So would your family have a 1 snack each day and would you eat (2) of these: breakfast, lunch or dinner each day? If you do not eat 2 meals per day then the dining plan would not be for you. If you do eat and plan to eat more often you should consider it and go into more detail.

 

[truegirl]

I am so glad that everyone here is so generous with their information.

There will be 3 of us going. Hubby, DD7 (8 when the trip will be planned) and myself.

I wasn't quite sure what to do about the remainder of the meals, short of what I've already posted. I know what TS meals we're considering, (for making ADR's), and the rest I suppose we would play by ear.

I'm not really sure what the snack plan or counter service meals entail. I guess herein lies my problem. While I don't mind the occasional stop for frivolous junk food, I don't want my family to load up on boxes of donuts and Dole Whips exclusively.

Ugh. I don't know what to do.

Have any of you been really disappointed in any of the Dining plans and regretted it? true

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

We love the dining plan. As I said, we upgraded to the deluxe this year. That is 3 meal credits per day (either CS or TS) and 2 snacks per day per person. Yes, a ton of food. But for us, part of the Disney experience are the restaurants. I know the Deluxe is $69.99 per day for each adult and I think maybe $19.99 for children. Not 100% sure on that as DS is considered an adult. We are only paying $32 per person per day though because we are going during free dining and did the upgrade.

There are definitely healthier CS and snack options. Snack credits can also be used for bottled water. But there are fruit cups or yummy apple slices with caramel dip that are considered a snack credit. Definitely don't have to eat junk if you don't want to.

Again, check out the menus on this set or allears.net. Both TS and CS restaurants are listed.

 

[JSJR514]

After quite a bit of frustration, we think we've decided to do a few table service meals. (5-6 for a 6 day stay.) Most of these, except House of Blues, are on a Dining Plan.

This is where we're thinking of going:
House of Blues (not on plan)
Rose & Crown (Dinner)
Akershus Character (breakfast)
Liberty Tree Character (Dinner)
Tony's Town Square (Lunch)

I've read a lot here on the Dining plans, but I'm still concerned about credits.

I was wondering if someone would be so kind as to either explain them to me (use small words and assume I know no existing information), or post a link to wherever it is on the main site that provides this information.

We don't want to use up all of any credits we may get on one meal, and we don't know how or if we could transfer say, snack/other credits toward table service. I'm so confused!

We also don't want to drop a bunch of cash for something we won't use up.

We want to make the best financial choice for our family, and we were wondering if any of the dining plans would save us cash.

Please point me in the direction I need to go! Thanks! true

Just make sure you use up all of you credits. Remember they are already paid for. We just got back from WDW on 6/17, we went back and forth with the dining plan. I have a 11 year old that still eats off the kids menu, but with the dining plan he is considered an adult and he never orders off an adult menu, so for us, the dining plan did not work. We drove to WDW from Delaware and we packed our water, snacks and also a loaf of bread and PB&J mixed in the jar (does not need to be in the refrid). Due to the warm weather, we(.DH-42,DW-39, DS-15, DS-11) tend not to eat a lot, so for lunch, we purchased 2 combo meals and shared them, it worked better that way, instead of buying 4 meals and throwing 1/2 of each meal away, we got the two meals and if we were still hungery, we would buy a side order of something.