Regular Dining plan - how do YOU use your credits?

[jlk806]

Just wondering how everyone else uses their credits on the traditional dining plan. We do it all different ways - for our 9 night upcoming trip we have ADRs booked for 2 breakfasts, 3 lunches, and 4 dinners. On the days we have lunches booked we are planning to use a snack credit for a quick breakfast and do CS for dinner. On the days with the breakfasts, we plan to be full after that and CS dinner (although one of those days we have a dinner also.) And on the days with just a dinner booked, we usually have CS breakfast and a snack midday to hold us over. And we also just use snack credits as we go if we have them.

So just wondering what everyone else does - I have heard of some people who use all their TS for dinner. I like to mix it up! What do you do?

 

[Nadjalu]

We get the DDP and always use our TS credits for dinners.

We get lunch with our CS credit and if we want breakfast we pay out of pocket.
Sometimes we grab just a fruit or bagel for breakfast, but a couple times during the week we will get CS breakfasts.

All of our snack credits are used at DTD and we bring them back to the room to snack on during the vacation.

 

[mollymar]

Just wondering how everyone else uses their credits on the traditional dining plan. We do it all different ways - for our 9 night upcoming trip we have ADRs booked for 2 breakfasts, 3 lunches, and 4 dinners. On the days we have lunches booked we are planning to use a snack credit for a quick breakfast and do CS for dinner. On the days with the breakfasts, we plan to be full after that and CS dinner (although one of those days we have a dinner also.) And on the days with just a dinner booked, we usually have CS breakfast and a snack midday to hold us over. And we also just use snack credits as we go if we have them.

So just wondering what everyone else does - I have heard of some people who use all their TS for dinner. I like to mix it up! What do you do?

We pretty much do it the same way. We like to do a few breakfasts, a few lunches and the rest dinners.

 

[dancin Disney style]

Our new and improved plan, that we have tried and love, is to only have 2 meals per day and then use the snack credit in between if needed. We will have a late breakfast and then an early dinner. We like to vacation for 9-10 days so we will have usually 3 or 4 TS breakfasts and then the rest are dinner. We tend to have breakfast around 10am and then dinner around 5:30pm. Last year we tried this for the first time and it will forever be our approach to the DDP.

 

[ReneeA]

I place an order with gardengrocer.com for 2 cases of water, granola bars, breakfast bars, gatorade, and sometimes frappuchinos. We grab that for breakfasts on the way to the bus stop in the mornings. I don't like to use my snack credits on water.

Then we stop for an early CS lunch (around 11 - 11:30). It's a great time to stop because everyone's hungry by then, the restaurants are empty and there's no waiting in line or looking for a table.

We eat TS dinners at about 5:30, because that's what time we eat at home.

We grab snacks along the way during the day and into the evening.

 

[kat08]

Typically, we do breakfast in the room. We drive down so I bring granola bars, cereal bars, fresh fruit, etc. Last trip, DH spent some snack credits on things like 1/2 gallons of milk, donuts, etc at the food court. So, generally, breakfast is taken care of. My family really likes traditional breakfast food so we try to catch at least one of our character meals at breakfast but it's a whole lot cheaper to do it in the room and save our TS credits for the more expensive meals (lunch and dinner.) We tend to do a lighter lunch on those days...maybe a snack if we have early-ish dinner ressies. It depends on what we can get.

We keep cold water and maybe a soda or two with us in the parks so we don't have to spend snack credits on drinks.

During our last trip, I made most of our TS ressies for dinner. There was one lunch, though, and we had the BEST day that day...when we sat down, relaxed and ate our big meal in the middle of the day. It was GREAT!

This time, we booked less than 2 months before our trip, so we will work with what we can get.

 

[catne]

Typically, we do breakfast in the room. We drive down so I bring granola bars, cereal bars, fresh fruit, etc. Last trip, DH spent some snack credits on things like 1/2 gallons of milk, donuts, etc at the food court. So, generally, breakfast is taken care of.

QUOTE]

Just an FYI...you cannot get a 1/2 gallon of milk or a box of donuts with snack credits anymore...they discontinued those kinds of options in Jan. 2009. The rule now is it must be a "single serving item, intended as a snack". In general, priced under $4, but there are a few single serve snack items over $4 that are allowed here & there. But definitely cannot do the multi-serving milk or donuts, sorry to say.

As for the original question...when we do the regular dining plan, we always do snack for breakfast (usually something fabulous bought at park bakery the night before....like giant ooey-gooey cinnamon rolls from Main Street Bakery) Then we do park or resort counter service for lunch (and take an afternoon break at resort) Always table service dinner...we love the steak type entrees, so lunch table service is generally out since most restaurants lean towards the sandwiches for lunch. And, we don't need a big meal break mid-day since we're taking a rest break at the hotel anyway.

 

[somethingblue]

I'm not really a breakfast person. In my regular life I eat maybe two full meals a day and then snack the rest of the time. When I plan my ADRs I usually try to do one breakfast, and then rest either dinners or lunches depending on the day and what I want to do.

Last trip I did mostly lunches and that ended up working out really well because when it came time for us to eat dinner it was usually at a more off time than everyone else. This time around I have one late breakfast, one lunch, two early dinners, and one regularly timed dinner. My boyfriend liked to use his refillable mug for coffee in the morning and then use a snack credit for a light breakfast, like a croissant or a cinnamon roll. Since I'm not a breakfast person I usually used my snack credits for a sweet treat. I find that I am totally full with the one sit down meal and one counter service, so I don't feel the need to use my snack to make another meal.

I make sure to stay hydrated with free cups of ice water from all the counter service and snack stands too!

 

[mainegal]

To get the best value from DDP, you usually need to do TS as dinners.
I would prefer to eat larger meal in the middle of the day. My preference, then, is not to use DDP unless I am travelling with someone who insists on having it.

 

[MN_Cruz'n]

We always use our TS for dinners (usually buffet), or for a Buffet Character Breakfast. CS credits we usually try to split up as much as possible; for example, we use two CS to get two large breakfasts at the resort and split them between the 4 of us (2 adults/2 children), possibly supplementing with a Snack Credit. The other two CS will be used for lunch, again usually splitting portions between two adults/two kids, and supplimenting with Snack Credits when necessary. Our other options would be to eat Breakfast in the room at the resort with things brought from home/bought in Orlando.

 

[stepdisney]

I love this thread. It is something I've often wondered. This is how we do it. We stop at the store and purchase milk, cereal, poptarts/nutrigrain bars, a case of water & a few salty snacks and juices and fruit for the room. We grab a juice and bar or bowl of cereal in the morning. We have an early lunch (some may say a late breakfast) at around 11:00 using CS which is great because everyone is very ready to eat. We go back to the room around 2:00ish where we either swim, rest, or go to neighboring resorts and shop. We grab fruit and/or chips. I always use my TS for dinner which I try to schedule dinner between 5:30 and 6:30. This gives us plenty of time for food digestion. Our snack credits are usually for night treats during fireworks. One day during our trip we skip CS so that we can use 2 CS one day instead of TS. This is so that we can eat at Crystal Palace on the day we leave, either for dinner or breakfast. This year our flight isn't until after 8 p.m.

 

[mcd2745]

This will be my first go 'round with the DDP, so this thread is very helpful to me. For our nine TS credits, I have ressies for 3 character breakfasts and 6 dinners.

My own personal preference is to skip lunch - same goes for when I'm home. I love a big breakfast (I could eat breakfast foods for every meal I ever eat), then a snack during the day and a nice dinner. That said, the rest of my family (DW, DS 8, DD 5) are nowhere near the breakfast lovers that I am. So I have to consider maybe paying OOP or using snack credits or sharing CS credits for their breakfasts on the mornings we don't have TS character breakfasts planned (most likely to be spent at the food court in CBR). If I can save the kids CS credits and use them on lunches at the parks, that would probably work out best.

I wish they had a Dining Plan that consisted of two TS meals (brekafast and dinner) per day. The deluxe is way too much as we will not all eat 3 FULL meals per day.

 

[ncc1701]

DH and I had it for 5 days last year(free DDP) We split up our TS with our 5 ADRs 2 dinners,2 lunches and 1 breakfast (CP a must do each trip).
On the days you have no dinner ADR I suggest using CS credits at the Wolfgang Puck Express in DTD Marketplace.Really good food
We used 4 of ours there(2 lunch, 2 dinner) Our last CS was used at the food court in POFQ on our last day We had a 2:00pm flight and weren't sure if we would be able to any lunch.We paid OOP for breakfast the other 3 days as we usually are good to go with cereal or a muffin.We also paid OOP at ESPN Club 2xs

 

[stepdisney]

This will be my first go 'round with the DDP, so this thread is very helpful to me. For our nine TS credits, I have ressies for 3 character breakfasts and 6 dinners.


I wish they had a Dining Plan that consisted of two TS meals (brekafast and dinner) per day. The deluxe is way too much as we will not all eat 3 FULL meals per day.

What you could do with deluxe is have a TS breakfast and then have dinner at a 2TS signature dining like Jiko or Flying Fish. You can also use the TS for counter service by the way. I'm getting hungry....

 

[Luv2CtheMouse]

We just decide where we want to eat most based upon the menu and book it.