When to use credits, Royal Table or Jiko

[MinnieMallons]

My wife and I are visiting WDW 1-15th May.

We have the Standard Dining Plan, so one Quick Service, One Table Service and one Snack per day.

We've made a lot of dining reservations and will be exceeding the 14 table service meals included by 4-5 meals.

I may choose to pay for both the Signature meals we've booked, CRT and Jiko.

1) Am I right in thinking it is more cost effective to pay for Signature dining rather than using two TS credits?

2) If I only need to pay for one of the two, which one should it be, Royal Table or Jiko?


For further info, the table service meals we've booked which are:

Coral Reef
Donald's Safari Breakfast
Sci-fi Diner
Boma (breakfast)
Marrakesh
Cinderella's Royal Table
Jiko
Be Our Guest
T-Rex
Garden Tea Room
Prime Time Cafe
Ohana
Via Napoli
San Angel Inn
Kona (breakfast, no yet booked)

Thanks

 

[MinnieMallons]

Looked further into this and discovered something.

It might not be the best use of a table service credit getting breakfasts.

I'd have the Tonga Toast and coffee at Kona, only $16.74.
So would be a waste of a credit.

3) Can anyone confirm the current cost of the breakfast buffet at Boma?

 

[figment_jii]

In the end, it really depends on what you order. I generally assume that a QS meal costs about $17.50 and a snack costs $4, which leaves about $39.50 (after tax) for the TS credit (assuming March 2014 pricing). So, to be "economically" efficient, your entree, dessert, and drink must be $37 (before tax). For a Signature (2TS) meal, the cost needs to be about $74 (pre-tax).

Overall, breakfasts are rarely a good use of a TS credit. Partially because breakfasts lose out on the dessert portion of the credit (entree and drink only). So unless it's a pretty expensive breakfast (like Akershus), it's probably not a good use of a credit.

It's also worth noting that not everyone at the table has to use the DDP. You can mix payment methods depending on what folks order. For example, let's say at 50PT, one person wants the pork ($22) and another wants the meatloaf ($16). It might be better to pay OOP for the meatloaf and use a DDP credit for the pork. It really depends on what people order and if everyone wants their own desserts.

Of the places on your list, I would consider paying OOP or using a mixture of OOP/DDP at Donald's Safari Breakfast, Sci-fi Diner, Boma (breakfast), Jiko, Prime Time Cafe, Kona (breakfast). All of these have some fairly inexpensive options that might not be efficient on the DDP.

1) Am I right in thinking it is more cost effective to pay for Signature dining rather than using two TS credits?

This is generally true, but it depends on what you're planning on ordering. There are some items that can make it cost effective to use the DDP. In general though, it's tough because 2TS credit meals need to have a pre-tax sub-total of around $74 to break even on the DDP.

2) If I only need to pay for one of the two, which one should it be, Royal Table or Jiko?

I would probably use the credits for CRT and pay OOP for Jiko. Mostly because Jiko doesn't have a lot of really expensive entrees and CRT cost includes gratuity.

 

[jezebel73]

Boma breakfast costs about $21-24 for an adult and $12-13 for a child, depending on the season.