Few questions about meal plan...

[brown1442]

Please excuse my ignorance... I wish I was a Disney pro (hope to be in the years to come) but this is our first time ;)

Does getting the meal plan cover you for the day or should we plan on needing to buy some food still?? Like if we used our meal for the day for a big breakfast with characters would the snack and quick service meal get us through the day??

Do you have to enter Epcot to go to the countries restaurants or can you access those without park addmission??

Can you use 2 table service one day and then 2 sit downs another or do they have to be 1 sit down and 1 table service a day??

How big are the kids meals?? My second son will be 2.5 so will not be getting a meal plan... will we be able to feed both children off of the almost 5 year old's meals or will we have to be buying him food (or worry about getting stuff of our own that he will like)???

I am sure I have more but thats a good start... Thank you SOOOOOOOO much for all your help!!

[Figment!]

Does getting the meal plan cover you for the day or should we plan on needing to buy some food still?? Like if we used our meal for the day for a big breakfast with characters would the snack and quick service meal get us through the day?? Most find the plan allows for much food. The guidelines for what each credit are redeemable for can be found in the Disney Dining Plan (http://www.intercot.com/infocentral/dining/diningplan/default.asp) section of INTERCOT info Central.


Do you have to enter Epcot to go to the countries restaurants or can you access those without park addmission?? All of the World Showcase restaurants require park admission, there is no out-of-park access.


Can you use 2 table service one day and then 2 sit downs another or do they have to be 1 sit down and 1 table service a day??Table Service and Sit Downs are synonymous. Although credits are distributed by night, Guests may redeem them in any combination.


How big are the kids meals?? My second son will be 2.5 so will not be getting a meal plan... will we be able to feed both children off of the almost 5 year old's meals or will we have to be buying him food (or worry about getting stuff of our own that he will like)??? Most Kids meals now include multiple courses, like the adult meals on the Dining Plan, but the proportions are considerably smaller. Most Guests feel that they are able to feed a child under 3 off of one of the adult meals. Most locations will also provide small complimentary meals for Guests under 3.

For more information on Disney Dining please see the section linked above as well as the following:

Disney Dining Plan FAQ (http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=91180)
Walt Disney World Dining Guide (http://www.intercot.com/infocentral/dining/diningguide/default.asp)
Advanced Dining Reservations (http://www.intercot.com/infocentral/dining/pss.asp)
Character Meals (http://www.intercot.com/infocentral/characters/charactermeals.asp)
Walt Disney World Food Photos (http://www.intercot.com/infocentral/dining/foodphotos/default.asp)
Menus (http://www.intercot.com/infocentral/dining/menus/default.asp)Happy Planning! :balloon:

[Bruegge]

And remember .....

Average breakdown...

Table service menu item runs you $24.50
Counter service $11.00
Snack credit is $2.50

(thank Jym for the numbers)

Any meal you are considering buying should be over that amount (remember tax and tip are included) if you want to MAKE money.

That's why you will hear people say pay oop for breakfast cause you can SAVE MORE eating a $39.00 dinner on one TS rather than a $18.99 buffet Breakfast...See??

but also Remember...

It's not a race or game to see who can save the most..

It's important to stay within your means.. but if Dining out is as important to you as it is to us.... Splurge a little.

Eat at a 2ts restaurant you'll love it.
If you want to burn a TS for Breakfast you can.... The DDP will (90% of the time) save you money.

Have fun .... but don't do a bookkeeper holiday ..

Scott

[sleepingbooty]

I also wanted to add that children under three eat free at buffets and family-style restaurants, so he can have his own plate and not have to worry about sharing yours.

Don't forget to make ADR (advanced dining reservations)!

....and, Welcome to Intercot!

[Disneyfun]

In addition to Figment!'s comments above, be strategic with the meals that you choose to use your Table Service credits for. Check out the menu sections of Intercot and look at the prices.

My wife and I would use our Table Service credits mostly for dinner as that is the most expensive meal of the day. We would use Counter service for lunch and redeem a snack credit every other morning or so for a box of doughnuts at the food court at POP! Century (that way we would have snack credits left for Premium Mickey ice cream bars in the park!).

This may not be the exact way to do this with children in tow, but it saved us over $500 with the plan by using our credits on the most expensive meals!

Also be aware that some of the signature (aka high demand) restaurants like Cinderella's Royal Table inside the castle at the Magic Kingdom use 2 Table Service Credits per person.

I do not have personal knowledge on how the plan works with children (still waiting for that blessing :fingers:), but I understand that all people on the reservation that are of an age that require admission tickets to the parks will be on the dinning plan - 2 adults + 2 kids = 4 TS/CS/Snack credits each day.

Please feel free to send me a PM if you have any questions!

[disneynarula]

I do not think that you are allowed to use children's credits for adult dining.

But to answer your question about if it is enough food....

I can not imagine that it would not be. Think about it. At TS restaurants you get appetizer, dinner and dessert. Even at CS you get entree and dessert.

We are just going to bring things like cereal bars and juice boxes for breakfast. Our kids would never eat enough at breakfast to justify using a credit.

[Rick Blaine]

...Most find the plan allows for much food...

I think this is true and I started a thread about this a few days ago. I think the problem comes in with people who expect to eat three meals a day. Unless you use the snack credit for breakfast each day it is hard to eat three meals a day on the DDP. I know some people have posted that they save their dessert from the night before and eat it for breakfast the next morning. It is not that the food it not enough, it is that it comes in 1 very small portion (snack), one nice size portion (for most people) and one humongous portion (for many people). For me it is not a problem as I don’t usually eat breakfast, but for those that do….

[wendy*darling]

You've gotten a number of good responses already, but I thought I'd throw my responses into the mix as well.


Does getting the meal plan cover you for the day or should we plan on needing to buy some food still??
My family eats 3 meals a day. We do enjoy the DDP, but do supplement with an out-of-pocket character breakfast or 2 during our trip. We do try to use our TS credits at dinner. If we start the day a little later than the crack of dawn, we might get by on the DDP allowance alone.


Can you use 2 table service one day and then 2 sit downs another or do they have to be 1 sit down and 1 table service a day??
The abbreviations on INTERCOT can be confusing. Check out this (http://www.intercot.com/infocentral/abbreviations/default.asp)link to InfoCentral to sort them all out.
But, a TS (table service) credit is used at a "sit down" restaurant. The CS (counter service) credits are for "fast food." You get one of each (plus a snack credit) per person per night of your stay.
You do not have to use one of each on each day. You can do a signature meal (2TS) and another TS on the same day, do all CS on another day, whatever works for your schedule. It's pretty flexible.

Hope that helps - have fun reading about other people's experiences, and post as many questions as you want. :mickey:

[wdw_bound]

Thought I'd add my experience with a toddler.

The child CS meal was definitely NOT enough to split between our 2 yo and our 7 yo - think Happy Meal portions. However, We found for the most part that we could give DS his sister's CS meal and DD and I would split my CS meal and that would be enough. For example, at Pecos Bill in MK, DS ate the kids meal - franks & Beans, carrots and applesauce, while DD and I shared my double burger (bacon cheeseburger hold the bacon and cheese). I don't eat fries (or try not to anyway :blush: ), so the one of the burger patties was plenty for me, especially once we added the mushrooms, lettuce and tomato.

Another CS tip is to select fruit salad for dessert at places that have that option, then save it for a mid afternoon snack (we carry a 6-pack soft cooler in the stroller basket for water) - it is wonderfully refreshing!

When we have done TS breakfasts, we have tried to get the latest seating possible so that it is more like a brunch - then the meal definitely tides us over until a counter service supper.

I did go to SuperTarget once we got to WDW to get diapers, water and other supplies for the room. While there, I purchased cereal bars and fruit which we often used for breakfast. We stayed at WL, and because it is a DVC location, the gift shop had quart size milk and other foods for sale - at that time anything under $4 counted as a snack, so that took care of several breakfasts as well.

Bottom line for us - we probably spent under $35 oop to supplement DDP for an entire week between Target purchases and the extra kids meal here and there. We had some food and some snack credits left over at the end of the trip, so I definitely wouldn't say we had to supplement - it just suited us too. The DDP can be overwhelming at first, but with a little planning it is a tremendous value - we LOVE it!

Have a great first trip!

[brown1442]

Thank you all so much for the answers and suggestions!!

I did mean counter service and table meals in that one question... oops... thanks for knowing what I meant anyway ;)

[PAYROLL PRINCESS]

They have changed the plan so that you can no longer use the kids credits to pay for adults meals. That was a loop hole that was caught and closed.

[Disneyfun]

They have changed the plan so that you can no longer use the kids credits to pay for adults meals. That was a loop hole that was caught and closed.

Absolutely correct Payroll Princess! I stand corrected! (Figment! told me in a seperate post :blush: )