What to pay for OOP? Need advice

[1hero2princesses]

Ok Free dining. Planned to pay for CRT out of pocket and then the prices have gone way way up. Now I am thinking it might make more sense to pay for two of our other meals out of pocket.

We have:
CRT Breakfast
Sci Fi Dinner
Biergarten Dinner
Coral Reef Dinner
Primetime Dinner
Le Cellier lunch
Chef Mickey lunch
Ohana Dinner
Tusker House breakfast

I have 8 credits. What would you recommend? Pay Sci Fi and Tusker House out of pocket is what I am thinking. The other problem is that DD2 is going to want her own meal so I am thinking I will have to order her a meal at the non-buffet places.

 

[MichaelColey]

Check the prices for all of them. (You can find menus and prices at AllEars.) Odds are, you'll be better off doing a different OOP for the adults than for the kids. Without looking at the prices (but going off of my past experiences), I would bet that CRT would be the cheapest 2 credits for the adults while Coral Reef and Sci Fi would be the cheapest 2 credits for the kids.

FWIW, we always book more meals than the DDP covers and pay OOP for the cheapest ones. This year, we're going for 14 days and will be paying out of pocket for five additional ones. Only one of those five is the cheapest for both adults and kids.

 

[mchelle77]

Keep in mind that CRT includes the tax and tip (I think? I know the luau does) so you may be better off just paying for that OOP. We booked the luau and paid OOP and are using the rest for single credit meals.

 

[MichaelColey]

CRT for breakfast is $31.99 for adults or $21.99 for kids. That's $16 per adult credit and $11 per child credit. Most adult table service meals are $30+, so this is an excellent choice for paying out of pocket for adults. Many kids table service meals (excluding buffets and character meals) are $7.49, so it's usually better to pay CRT (and buffets and character meals) with credits and do some of the $7.49 kids meals (like Sci Fi Dine-In and Coral Reef) out of pocket.

 

[kt_mom]

Do you have to use your credits at the same time? Or can the kids use their TS credits for the meals that are more expensive for them and the adults use the TS credits for the meals that are more expensive for them.

 

[Crystal_27]

I'd still pay OOP for CRT. When all is said and done, I think that you'd end up paying more for 2 of your 1-credit restaurants, even if you went with the 2 least expensive ones.

 

[1hero2princesses]

I never even thought of the idea of using credits for some of us and paying for others. Can that even be done? I haven't found time to call disney about CRT current pricing. I will try to get that done tomorrow!

 

[PoohHappens]

Just a suggestion, but with your kids only being 2 and 3 couldn you just request and extra plate and split the 3yr olds meal between the 2 of them and maybe supplement with a little of yours. I found the kid meals to be big at most TS and even CS for kids that age.

 

[MichaelColey]

I never even thought of the idea of using credits for some of us and paying for others. Can that even be done?

Absolutely. We do it this way every year. This year, we will have 7 out of 16 table service meals where we pay out of pocket for either the adults or kids and use credits for the others.

You would think that the cheapest ones for adults would also be the cheapest for kids and the most expensive for adults would be the most expensive for kids, but it's frequently not the case.

By booking more than the dining plan covers and paying out of pocket for the cheapest ones, we truly maximize the value of the dining plan AND get to eat everywhere we want. We're staying 14 nights and have 19 credits worth of table service meals scheduled this year.

 

[ann1985]

Keep in mind that CRT includes the tax and tip (I think? I know the luau does) so you may be better off just paying for that OOP. We booked the luau and paid OOP and are using the rest for single credit meals.