Disney Dining Pan Questions

[Buried20KLeague]

no-- the points aren't divided into CHILD/ADULT -- they are just group points -- so if you don't want to get hot dogs as the counter meal -- your son could get full counter meals like adults -- and same with sit down meals -- including app and tasty treat afterwards. My kids were done with chicken fingers by day 3 and we asked and the CM said as long as the points were there, adults can order kid meals and kids can get adult meals. they are interchangable. When we went to the luau -- they actually gave us a kid menu buffet mac and cheese/ hot dog/ chicken -- quite a meal.

This actually is NOT CORRECT... They ARE broken down into child's vs. adult meals in a sense. If you look at your room key, at the bottom right you'll see an "A" and a "C" with numbers behind them. In my case, we had two adults and two kids, so it said "AO2 CO2" in the corner. We had been rolling along our whole trip getting 3 adult counter meals at a time, then the kids would split one and we'd basically be conserving 1 counter service meal per day that way. Till I went to AK. I tried to do the same thing... The lady looked at my family and asked how many adults there were... I said 2. She showed me the card with the code on it and told me I was only supposed to be getting two adult and 2 kids meals at a time. (As a side note... It was clear this lady was training someone, so she was well versed in what was SUPPOSED to be the plan.)

So from them on, my wife would take a room key and I would take a room key... I'd get two adult meals, and she'd get 1, and then there was no way for them to track the usage between adult and child.

But apparently to be technical, the register operator is SUPPOSED to look at that corner of the room key and make sure they food plan isn't being abused.

It IS true, however, that the actual "count" of meals you get back after every purchase isn't broken down into adult and kids. It's only if you run across a cashier that's really paying attention that you'd have this issue come up.

In the same vein, it was hit or miss at table service meals. Some waiters would allow the kids to order off the adult menus... Others would NOT. Technically they're not supposed to... Kids are SUPPOSED to order off the kids menu, and that's that. Which was bad for us because my kids are into different foods... Mac & Cheese drives them nuts.

So the moral of the story is... Don't go to a cashier that is training someone. The rest of the time it worked out fine.

As a side note... There's another angle on conserving meals. If you use a counter service meal to get a DOUBLE cheeseburger, you can BUY a second bun with cheese on it for like $1ish... Then you take one patty off, you have a second burger, you split the fries, and you split the dessert and drink... VOILA! Two BIG meals by using 1 counter service meal.

We just got back from an 8 night trip. We conserved credits using the above techniques, and then by the end we found ourselves using counter service credits and snack credits on the last couple days just TRYING to get rid of them. TONS of food. But I don't think we'll ever go again without the dining plan.

I'd also put money on it that they'll figure out a way to solve this "adult vs. kids" meal situation. It won't stay like it is for long.

 

[Rogue71371]

Here's another question.

Obviously you cannot use a counter service credit for a table service, but a lot of times I find it easier for son to sit for counter service instead of table service. So evem though it does not make financial sense, can you use a TABLE SERVICE for a COUNTER SERVICE meal???

 

[shoppingnut]

Here's another question.

Obviously you cannot use a counter service credit for a table service, but a lot of times I find it easier for son to sit for counter service instead of table service. So evem though it does not make financial sense, can you use a TABLE SERVICE for a COUNTER SERVICE meal???

I heard folks asking this at Pop and they were told to ask the manager. Somehow I think they would since it costs them less money. My suggestion for table service would be to do the character dinners at Chef Mickey's, Crystal Palace and Liberty Tree Tavern. This way you have entertainment while eating and he won't get bored and you will be able to have a decent meal.

 

[MichWolv]

My wife and I just finished a week at the All Star Sports with the Dining Plan (free Dining Plan promotion). Overall, we got over $800 in value from our 14 counter, 14 table, and 14 snacks. It covered all of our food for the week, except for about $100, and we even bought a couple of meals for my parents with the Plan. Durign the week, we found out a few non-obvious things about the Plan, some of which have been asked about in this thread...

1. Because my 2 year old doesn't always like to sit through a table service meal, we asked if we could use table credits for counter service, and were told we could. We didn't wind up trying it in the end, because...

2. You can use your Plan to pay for other people. My parents came up from South Florida for a couple days, staying off-site. One night, we all went to Cape May Cafe and I used 4 table credits to pay for all of us.

3. Another night at Concourse Steakhouse, I asked if we could use 3 table service meals, and share the 3 appetizers, 3 entrees, and a 3 desserts amongst the four of us. They let us do that, and it was more than enough food.

4. During food and wine festival, snacks can be use for any food (but not wine) item. One afternoon, we skipped lunch and just used a bunch of snacks as we walked around world showcase.

5. Depending upon where you go and what you order, a side item may be available with counter service entrees. For example, at Columbia Harbor House, I ordered a chicken salad entree, and the cashier told me I could get a side (fries, chips, or cole slaw) along with the salad, dessert and drink. I'm not sure if this applies anytime your choose a salad as the entree or not. The odd thing is that the salad cost the same as a burger and fries, which did not come with an additional side.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Why is it bad for DVC members? We were thinking about getting it for next summer. Is it just because we get breakfast in the villa, so it's not really cheaper?

DVC members are not eligible for the Disney Dining Plan. It must be added onto a 'Magic Your Way' package. So, since DVC members use points and don't purchase packages, DVC members are not eligible. We have the Disney Dining Experience, at the discounted $50 rate available to the DVC. But it's not nearly the deal that the DDP is.

 

[DisneyDavO]

I don't understand how this plan could be a good value. It would have cost us 140.00 per day for me, my wife, and 2 kids over 10. We have never spent more than 100.00 per day on food in the 4 week long vacations we have taken in the past.

 

[JimboJones123]

I don't understand how this plan could be a good value. It would have cost us 140.00 per day for me, my wife, and 2 kids over 10. We have never spent more than 100.00 per day on food in the 4 week long vacations we have taken in the past.

it is a good value IF you have EXPENSIVE DINNERS -- for breakfasts you may actually lose money and lunches break even since table meals are based on $25 per person. as for counters -- burgers and chix baskets may lose you money too -- and do you really want choc cake with every lunch??? You can do really good on some of the counter meals (ribs and half chicken combos that usually cost 14 bucks -- plus drink -- plus dessert). but be choosie -- or you could lose LOTS of money. I wonder if they let you add just half of your party -- or just partial days for your stay???

 

[BeachClubVillas]

DVC members are not eligible for the Disney Dining Plan. It must be added onto a 'Magic Your Way' package. So, since DVC members use points and don't purchase packages, DVC members are not eligible. We have the Disney Dining Experience, at the discounted $50 rate available to the DVC. But it's not nearly the deal that the DDP is.

:hammer: DOH! Sorry, I had a blonde moment.

 

[shoppingnut]

I don't understand how this plan could be a good value. It would have cost us 140.00 per day for me, my wife, and 2 kids over 10. We have never spent more than 100.00 per day on food in the 4 week long vacations we have taken in the past.

The plan doesn't work for everyone. While it may be a good value for others, it might not be for your group. You have to look at your group's eating habits, what the plan costs, where you'd be eating and do a little math. While this plan would be good if you have teenagers that do eat full adult meals, it isn't good if you have ones that still eat kids meals.

When they did offer the meal plan for free it was a good value for everyone no matter what or where they ate or didn't eat.

 

[Laura]

Flame me if you must, but I'm buying the dining plan for myself and my 4 year old son. My son hardly eats anything, so I'm just going to have my Grandma (in another room, not using the dining plan) use all of my son's credits to purchase adult meals, and then she can just pay a couple bucks for his meals each time. All the credits are pooled and they have no way to tell if the credits are for adults or children.

 

[JimboJones123]

Flame me if you must, but I'm buying the dining plan for myself and my 4 year old son. My son hardly eats anything, so I'm just going to have my Grandma (in another room, not using the dining plan) use all of my son's credits to purchase adult meals, and then she can just pay a couple bucks for his meals each time. All the credits are pooled and they have no way to tell if the credits are for adults or children.

YOU ARE THE SMARTEST PERSON ON THIS BOARD. We finally started paying for the kids meal and using their sit downs for an extra "getaway" for ourselves as well on our trip. BTW the italian rest was awesome, and would definatly want to go back, but something i couldn't afford to "just try" if footing the full bill.

 

[hcswingfield]

Flame me if you must, but I'm buying the dining plan for myself and my 4 year old son. My son hardly eats anything, so I'm just going to have my Grandma (in another room, not using the dining plan) use all of my son's credits to purchase adult meals, and then she can just pay a couple bucks for his meals each time. All the credits are pooled and they have no way to tell if the credits are for adults or children.

Who would flame you for being smart and thrifty? Sounds like a good plan to me.

 

[shoppingnut]

Hey, if Disney has the loop in their dining plan, I say go for it. However, don't expect that loop to be open forever. Sooner or later they will figure out the dining plan loop and close it. Just like everything that is new, it takes time to shake all the bugs out.

 

[Peters_Shadow]

My wife and I just got back from our 7 day trip (Oct 4th thru 11th). We took advantage of the free dining plan promotion as well. We kept track of everything we got. We ended up eating $780 worth of food, if we would have bought the plan it would have cost $419ish. So, it would have been a great deal for us. Some of our TS meals came to just over $100 which would have never happend if we were paying out of pocket for it. It was pretty cool to not have to worry about how much food was going to cost. You could relax and order anything you wanted.

The plan was pretty easy to use, some places were more flexible than others. For instance at Sunshine Seasons (Land Pavillion at Epcot) we could get a sandwich, side, desert and drink with a CS credit. The only problem we ran into was at the Pepper Market our hotel (Coronado Springs). We kept running into issues with eligible desserts. At Sunshine Seasons you could get any dessert, even the fancy ones.. but at the Pepper Market we tried to get a key lime pie as our dessert and they said it wasn't eligible cause it was a "Bakery III" item. They let it slide that time, then the next day we tried to get a pastry as our dessert. It was a "Bakery II", which also turned out to not be eligible. That checkout clerk wasn't going to let it slide and was trying to force us to pay the difference for that item. My wife held her ground and told them that we were told that just "Bakery III" items weren't eligible and there aren't signs anywhere saying what was eligible and what wasn't. They kept saying that it should say in the information we were given about the Dining Plan, but all it said was we get a dessert nothing specific. She had to talk to a manager and finally was about to get them the waive it. So at the Pepper Market, be careful as only "Bakery I" items are eligible... which are things like cookies. We had no other issues though.

We too ran into the problem of getting rid of some of the credits towards the end. We tried to conserve them, at first we were probably a bit more conservative than we should have been. We did use all the credits though.

So overall I loved the Dining Plan, and would actually pay for it next time.

 

[JimboJones123]

My wife and I just got back from our 7 day trip (Oct 4th thru 11th). We took advantage of the free dining plan promotion as well. We kept track of everything we got. We ended up eating $780 worth of food, if we would have bought the plan it would have cost $419ish. So, it would have been a great deal for us. Some of our TS meals came to just over $100 which would have never happend if we were paying out of pocket for it. It was pretty cool to not have to worry about how much food was going to cost. You could relax and order anything you wanted.

The plan was pretty easy to use, some places were more flexible than others. For instance at Sunshine Seasons (Land Pavillion at Epcot) we could get a sandwich, side, desert and drink with a CS credit. The only problem we ran into was at the Pepper Market our hotel (Coronado Springs). We kept running into issues with eligible desserts. At Sunshine Seasons you could get any dessert, even the fancy ones.. but at the Pepper Market we tried to get a key lime pie as our dessert and they said it wasn't eligible cause it was a "Bakery III" item. They let it slide that time, then the next day we tried to get a pastry as our dessert. It was a "Bakery II", which also turned out to not be eligible. That checkout clerk wasn't going to let it slide and was trying to force us to pay the difference for that item. My wife held her ground and told them that we were told that just "Bakery III" items weren't eligible and there aren't signs anywhere saying what was eligible and what wasn't. They kept saying that it should say in the information we were given about the Dining Plan, but all it said was we get a dessert nothing specific. She had to talk to a manager and finally was about to get them the waive it. So at the Pepper Market, be careful as only "Bakery I" items are eligible... which are things like cookies. We had no other issues though.

We too ran into the problem of getting rid of some of the credits towards the end. We tried to conserve them, at first we were probably a bit more conservative than we should have been. We did use all the credits though.

So overall I loved the Dining Plan, and would actually pay for it next time.

we got bit on the side items for the counter orders. you can get one side unless the entre you are getting doesn't include side (see fancy salads or pastas) then you pay extra. We got some really awesome desserts with the table meal though -- at 50's prime cafe it was called "Dad's dessert" or something and featured 10 scoops massive toppings and tons of cream.. all for 1 dessert.

 

[DisneyDavO]

My wife and I just got back from our 7 day trip (Oct 4th thru 11th). We took advantage of the free dining plan promotion as well.

When was this offered free????

 

[JimboJones123]

My wife and I just got back from our 7 day trip (Oct 4th thru 11th). We took advantage of the free dining plan promotion as well.

When was this offered free????

back in may / june or so it was free for trips after july 4thish and up until mnsshp began..

 

[JimboJones123]

it was very limited and places were PACKED!

 

[DisneyDavO]

Well then I guess it wouldnt have applied to me as we are going in the begining of Nov.

 

[Laura]

Hey, if Disney has the loop in their dining plan, I say go for it. However, don't expect that loop to be open forever. Sooner or later they will figure out the dining plan loop and close it. Just like everything that is new, it takes time to shake all the bugs out.

Not necessarily. From what I've heard this same loop existed in the pre-2005 packages as well. Disney knows about it, they don't care. They probably assume most people won't figure it out.