Which meals do you use your DP credits on?

[pluto77]

I've heard quite a few people say that they prefer to use their dining plan credits on Dinners because they are getting the most for their money that way. That totally makes sense, but for my trip in August we are only doing 2 dinners (both in the parks). Our others are 3 lunches and 2 breakfasts. Other than character breakfasts, I prefer to sit down for lunch because it is a nice break in the middle of the day, and it feels like it takes up the least amount of time. We can go to one park in the morning, eat lunch at a resort, and then go to another park for the afternoon/evening (with maybe a little swimming beforehand). Even though lunches are usually cheaper than dinners, I feel like dinner really breaks into your time at the parks in the evening.

What do you guys think? Do you prefer to use your credits for dinner to get the most bang for your buck? Do you prefer to use them for character breakfasts? Or maybe do you sit down in between meals?

 

[EvilQueen-T]

we go back and forth depending on our plans for the day. we also like a mid day break, especially if we go when it's hotter out. we often do a 2pm-ish lunch/dinner then just do a snack or something small later in the evening. at a lot of the venues you can eat the same thing for lunch as you do for dinner w/ fairly similar pricing so you can break even. this is what we do a lot of the time basically having dinner around 2pm then something more like a lunch later at night. a lot of places offer lighter lunch options but still include their main entrees that they use for dinner time.

 

[wizards8507]

I stick with all dinners except for one breakfast at the Crystal Palace on the first day. I like to see the Magic Kingdom first but I'm not a fan of the Monday crowds, so I schedule early breakfast at the Crystal Palace before MK opens to get my Main Street jitters out of the way, then get out with enough time (usually) to get to Epcot for opening.

 

[lilclerk]

If I'm on the dining plan, I'll use them mostly for dinners with the occasional lunch thrown in. But if I'm paying out of pocket, it's lunch all the way. It's cheaper and I also like that mid-day break.

 

[muteki]

Depends on the location. Certain restaurants have better breakfasts IMO (Tusker House), or different experiences at different meals of the day (Ohana). While there is some benefit to trying to get the most out of your money with the DDP, we generally look at it as a way to not have to think about things so much.

 

[CaptainJackNO]

I've heard quite a few people say that they prefer to use their dining plan credits on Dinners because they are getting the most for their money that way. That totally makes sense, but for my trip in August we are only doing 2 dinners (both in the parks). Our others are 3 lunches and 2 breakfasts. Other than character breakfasts, I prefer to sit down for lunch because it is a nice break in the middle of the day, and it feels like it takes up the least amount of time. We can go to one park in the morning, eat lunch at a resort, and then go to another park for the afternoon/evening (with maybe a little swimming beforehand). Even though lunches are usually cheaper than dinners, I feel like dinner really breaks into your time at the parks in the evening.

What do you guys think? Do you prefer to use your credits for dinner to get the most bang for your buck? Do you prefer to use them for character breakfasts? Or maybe do you sit down in between meals?

You do make good points about the benefits of using the credits for lunch and breakfast. We are going in November and are using them, mostly, for dinner, save for one character breakfast. There are two primary reasons I like to use my credits for dinner.

1.) Selection. The selection offered and quality of selection is much wider and of better quality than typically offered for lunch. Now, if you are not a foodie, this may not matter to you. But, I am from New Orleans and I like variety and a little more flair. So I opt for dinner.

2.) Value. Lunches are, typically, much less expensive than Dinner. So, if you are paying for the dining plan, you get much more value for you money if you opt for dinner as you will be offered more expensive entree options at much higher prices. So, you get a much more costly meal for your dining plan than you would for lunch.

However, this is all up to your personal preferences, as well. If you like lunch, go for it. You certainly give great reasons why lunch is a good choice for using Dining Credits. Some of us think differently, that's all. Most important, I hope you have a great trip. The dining plan is great. If this is your first time using it, you will never want to go back again without it. It is an awesome deal.

 

[mom2boys]

Depends on the location. Certain restaurants have better breakfasts IMO (Tusker House), or different experiences at different meals of the day (Ohana). While there is some benefit to trying to get the most out of your money with the DDP, we generally look at it as a way to not have to think about things so much.

I totally AGREE with Tusker House, great breakfast! You will probably get the most bang for your buck by booking the dinners, but I also agree that the dining plan is a great way not to think about things so much as well. During our trip in May I loved going into the restaurant and just ordering, not worrying about prices, etc. We are headed to Tusker House for Donald's Safari Breakfast again in January. This time I think we will pay for that meal because I booked so many other dinner reservations! :slurp:

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I'm using my credits based on which meals will cost the most per credit...since we're doing more TS meals than we have DDP credits.

For example- we're doing CRT for lunch...it's around $50.96 per adult OR 2 DDP credits...which works out to $25.48 per credit. We're also doing Akershus for lunch which is $35.13 and only 1 credit. Clearly Akershus is a better deal for me using my DDP credit.

For things that are not a flat price (i.e traditional menu vs. buffet/family style)- I've reviewed the menus and added up our orders based on what I think everyone would order and added them to the pricing ranks to determine if they're worth burning a credit or paying out of pocket based on the number of overall credits we have per person.

It sounds a little complicated, but it only took me about 30 minutes to determine which meals are the best to pay out of pocket. I used the menus and pricing on Allears.net to help figure out the $.

 

[disneygirl1]

We typically do dinners... On our up coming trip we are there for 9 days and have 2 breakfasts planned and 5 dinners. We are doing Hoop Dee Doo for the first time this year which requires 2 TS credits! Honestly though, I think it all depends on the family... We are not huge breakfast eaters as we tend to like to wake up and hit the parks first thing, but we do have our staple character breakfast that we love to go to year after year!

 

[Disneykidder]

We do pretty much all dinners as our TS. But not because you'd get the most from it, but because we are usually late risers. We will eat 1-2 breakfasts and the rest dinners. We eat all but maybe 1 or 2 of the quick services on lunch. For breakfast we usually will eat cereal, muffins or something small in our rooms. I take along snacks for the kids so that holds everyone along the day, too.

 

[Mstr Gra-c]

All of them...:lookaroun

 

[staceycrouton]

We always use most of our table service credits for dinner. Except for an occasional character breakfast. Part of the reason is to get the most bang for our buck but, also because we like to take our time and unwind at the end of the day with a wonderful meal. We find quick service lunches work better for us and we still have a great dinner to look forward to. Also, the menus are different for lunch and dinner at many of the restaurants.

 

[stefan74]

I like to use most of my credits for dinners. I will occasionally use them for character breakfasts but never for lunch. I always use my counter service for lunch.

Have a Magical Day!

 

[EvilQueen-T]

for the past few years we mainly do wdw in early december when the parks close earlier and when we use the dp we usually do the deluxe plan and mainly do signature dinners that take 2 credits each. we schedule a dinner each night usually around 9 or 930pm and use the rest of our credits for character breakfasts. we use our snack credits to ...well snack...through the middle part of the day instead of stopping for a lunch. when we go in the summer we do all dinners and a few lunches as the parks are open so much later we split it more like an 11a-2p lunch and dinner around 7pm.

 

[harveyt0206]

We do a mixture of both dinner and breakfast. It really just depends on what park we are going be in on what day. For example, we prefer breakfast as our sit down meal on our MK days. Primarily because once inside MK we don't like to stop and eat anything more than a counter service. So, we typically book ourselves a breakfast at Kona on that day. When in Epcot, it's dinner all the way. They have way too many great restaurants to choose from to not take advantage of their dinner menus.

 

[pluto77]

However, this is all up to your personal preferences, as well. If you like lunch, go for it. You certainly give great reasons why lunch is a good choice for using Dining Credits. Some of us think differently, that's all. Most important, I hope you have a great trip. The dining plan is great. If this is your first time using it, you will never want to go back again without it. It is an awesome deal.

Thank you! This is the first trip I am going on that I am actually planning. So I guess it is the first time I am using the dining plan (I used it once before, but my aunt paid for a lot of that trip). I agree, I probably won't ever want to go back to not having it. It's a big load off not having to worry about paying for meals when we're down there, and getting to eat at table service restaurants is definitely a plus.

I ended up changing one of my lunches to a dinner, but I changed one of the restaurants I was planning dinner for to breakfast. I now have 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, and 3 dinners. All of our lunches and dinners are in the parks, and both of our breakfasts are at hotels. I'm just thinking WAY too much about how each meal is going to affect our days lol. I'm sure it will all work out though, and I'm happy with the choices we ended up with. Thanks for all the responses! It's always interesting reading everyone's opinions.