Basic Dining plan -a few ??S

[minnie-mouse]

Help! I am jsut starting to learn about the dining plan. My main concern is if I am paying the money before my trip, I don't want to be having to pay out-of-pocket for any items. So if I were to use my "quick service points" for breakfast at Capt. Cooks, does that include a bottle of juice w my food? Or is that something that is not included? Also, for snacks, is a bottle of water or soda considered a snack? If i use my points for that, I will have to pay OOP for popcorn?

[McLiberal8]

Yes, with breakfast you will get a drink (at TS, this usually includes juice and coffee. At CS, it includes juice, coffee, tea, or pop).
With the DDP, anything under $4 is considered a snack. This includes drinks (but I wouldn't recommend wasting your precious snack credits on a bottle of water that you can bring to the parks yourself, when you can get dole whips or ice cream sandwiches with those credits)!

[minnie-mouse]

Thanks for the suggestions!

[BrerGnat]

Honestly, it's not realistic to expect to NEVER pay for anything OOP. The dining plan just doesn't cover every possibility. I'd think about budgeting some money for food OOP, even on the dining plan. One day, you might want two snacks, for example. Or, you might prefer to use a snack credit for a more substantial item, and pay out of pocket for a drink. What if you want coffee mid morning? Coffee is cheap (under $2). You'd be unwise to waste a snack credit on that, for example.

Also, stuff like pieces of fresh fruit...better to pay OOP for those, as they are under $2.

When we did the dining plan, I still spent close to $100 on food/drinks (for just ME) over the course of a week. Alcoholic drinks are not included in the plan, and TIPS are also not, so you have to budget for those anyway.

[ransam]

you will have to pay gratuity, apetizer, etc.....and you can use your snacks anyway you want to. You can use all of them at the same time if you want.

[jonahbear2006]

If you are asking about the quick service dining plan then you will have 2 snacks per day per person so if you want to get a drink and popcorn, you will be able to on your plan. Then on top of that you will have 2 meals that consist of a drink, entree, and dessert for an adult. .. . children dont get a dessert instead they get like a cookie or pudding.
Then you get a refillable mug.
I have never had to buy anything extra outside of our dining plan. As a matter of fact, on the last day we always have left overs that we have to purchase drinks and throw them in the car for the ride home bc we didnt use all of our snacks. This truly is A LOT of food!! We HAVE bought a popcorn bucket out of pocket, simply because we wanted the CONTAINER!! They are beautifuL! I would consider buying them bc they change every year and are neat to keep. If you get the Regular Dining plan and have a sit down dinner, a counter service, and a snack....you will find days where you dont want to use that snack bc you are already stuffed. We typically end up getting a soda anyways, on those days. So Get your soda and buy that COOL popcorn bucket to take home! We used to feel that way about not wasting precious snacks on drinks but we also found that when we got home, we had gained about 9lbs due to all the desserts we had eaten. Since then we have eased up on the food.

[Mitzie]

We have only ever done the basic dining plan. With it we find that using a snack credit for breakfast is a good option. This works if you are like DH who doesn't like to eat alot in the morning. What we did on the last trip is use the snack credit for a muffin or cinno. roll and buy the drinks or walk with my coffee I made myself in the room..we try not to use snack credits for drinks. Then we use the quick service credit for lunch and the sit down credit for diner.