Stretch our TS credits?

[jennifer6800]

We love great food, but have recently been hitting the gym and watching what we eat . I don't want to throw it away by overeating, but the dining plan is hard to resist. Can we use credits for one of us, and pay cash for the second entree? How do we do this?

Thanks for the help.

 

[mcco5543]

I don't know the answer to that question (i'm leaning towards "no" you can't do that, I think everyone must be on the dining plan. ...Can anyone confirm or refute?...

Anyway, I know the dining plan is hard to resist but if you're not going to end up eating an apetizer,entree and dessert at each meal. I say don't go with the DDP. You won't have to worry about "resisting temptation" as much if you only order what you really want to eat (healthy food in good size portions). Disney portions are HUGE so that'll be a hurtle in and of itself. Ordering what you want and paying for it might actually waste less money for you...just a thought.
Are you staying somewhere that you can utilize a gym as well so you will not have to worry so much?

 

[LarryKeith]

Last November, my nephew joined us for a few meals. They did let us pay out of pocket for him. At a couple of meals, we were able to share food. 4 appetizers, entrees and desserts were more than enough for 5 people.

 

[bicker]

Unfortunately there is no longer a clear answer to this question. If you ask Disney, they'll tell you very clearly that sharing is not permitted on the Dining Plan, but the brochure doesn't say it, and most restaurants seem to offer a waiver from the rule that Guest Services communicates so consistently. Having said that, if your partner is going to order a separate entree, so you're only sharing the appetizer and dessert, I would be suprised if you encounter any trouble whatsoever with that approach. By the same token, I don't think you're saving yourself anything. The Dining Plan is roughly the same price as just the entrees.

Regarding portion sizes. Yes, some places the portion sizes are too big, but Disney's making many of the portion sizes more reasonable (smaller) over time, so don't expect that every meals is big enough to share any longer.

 

[Katiebell]

The email response I received from Disney stated that guests on the dining plan are not required to use their dining credits for the meal, and may pay for the meal at the time of dining. They also said, "If one Guest wishes to use a dining credit and the other Guest in the party wishes to order food and beverage and pay for it instead of using their dining credit, that is permitted. However, ordering one meal and sharing is not permitted with the dining plan."

But that's just an email I received, it's not in a brochure or anywhere else I've seen in writing. You can always try emailing Guest Services to see what they tell you. If they are just cutting and pasting a generic answer, you'll get the same answer I did, verbatim.

DH and I wanted to share meals for exactly the same reason you stated: portion control, not wanting to waste food, we usually share appetizers and desserts anyway, if we even order them. However, after doing the math -- ordering a second beverage and entree at lunch, and ordering a second beverage and just a second appetizer or dessert at dinner, it looked like it would cost us an additional $20-$25 per day, in addition to the cost of the plan, and we might end up with unused credits at the end of our trip. Not financially sound. It makes more sense for us to just use our full credits, eat whatever we want of the meal, and leave the rest on the table, even if it is a waste. We figure if the dessert we order is reasonable to carry-out, we might ask for it to go, so we can actually enjoy it later instead of taking 2 bites and leaving the rest. Other than that, it's not really practical to try to carry leftovers around the parks, have no way to reheat them in our room, and I'm sure not taking them home as souvenirs

 

[bicker]

This raises an interesting question in my mind... Creating a poll: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1418218

 

[jennifer6800]

We were talking about it yesterday and considering doing it at one of the signature restaurants Flying Fish Cafe. That way we don't have any extra credits at the end of the trip.

We go up a few times a year, and we usually eat at just one or two TS restaurant, but we make it a great one. We would like to take advantage of the opportunity to try more restaurants we would normally shy away from.

 

[jpmom]

This is what we have done - without any problems...

Use 1 of our TS credits -
Share the appy & Dessert

Other person orders main course off the menu --

I think this works well and it stretches your TS meals.

Of course, we don't do this at every meal, but all that food is WAAAAY too much for us.

 

[4mcbjCtr]

The problem with stretching out your TS credits to watch what you eat is that you will end up eating at twice as many TS restaurants. You will end up with too much food in the end anyway. I would just order using TS credits and just eat what you can and leave the rest.

 

[Praying Colonel]

Vegas oddsmakers have the set the over/under for number of pages in this thread at 5 1/2.

 

[bicker]

Gosh, that's too low. I'd bet on 7 or 8 pages.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Nobody's posted for several hours. I'm going with the Colonel - and the oddsmakers - this time. Sorry, bicker!

 

[bicker]

Yeah, things aren't looking good. That's why I steer clear of Las Vegas.