1st timer on the Dining Plan

Login to post comments
12 posts / 0 new
Offline
Joined: 04/14/2011
Posts: 12
1st timer on the Dining Plan

Hey everyone,

It's been awhile since I posted last, but i'm planning yet another Disney vacay! yay This time it's for my little cousin (who isn't so little) that's graduating from college. clapping She's never been to Disney so I'm excited to see her experience!

This is the 1st time I'm doing a dining plan & I'm trying to wrap my mind around it all & make sure we use every drop of the plan! So far I've got ADR's at Kona, Le Cellier, & Mama Melrose (Fantasmic! package)...

My question is, what are the best quick service spots & the best ways to do "snacks"? I don't want to get a water for a snack when I could be getting a sandwich or something...these are things I completely ignored before since I was paying out of pocket before, but it's front and center now!

coreyp's picture
Offline
Joined: 08/06/2012
Posts: 189

With the dining plan you'll be very full very often! You get a dessert with almost every meal, and more than enough food. When I went we planned all of our meals except one because we wanted to have some flexibilty with the last sit down service. The quick services also come with a dessert and a drink too, so you can usually treat the "treat" as a snack to eat later. I ALWAYS end up with a few snack credits left over at the end of the trip and load up on stuff for the flight home. Don't be afraid to use a snack on water if you need to, it's not always a waste. You can use a snack towards a coffee too (that's what my wife used the majority of hers on). Planning out our dining plan was one of the more fun parts of planning our trip. Also be sure to make note of which sit down services use two credits. You don't want to find yourself short a credit.

__________________

Follow along on our adventure as we make the move for a great life, and move to Orlando!

https://adventuresinears.wordpress.com/

1987(sort of)-Fariway Villas (I was not born yet, but could hear all the sounds of WDW)
1991-Fairway Villas (My first official trip to WDW)
2000-Fort Wilderness Campsites (last family trip before siblings got married and had kids)
2004-Caribbean Beach
2008-Pop Century
2012-Contemporary Resort (Honeymoon)
2015- Caribbean Beach (daughter's first trip)
2017- Cabins at Fort Wilderness

Offline
Joined: 04/14/2011
Posts: 12

Thanks a bunch! I didn't even think of the quick service having desserts as well! I've had a blast just doing ADR's & reading reviews of the restaurants. I booked Le Cellier & I know that's 2 credits so I counted that in my tally. I've heard great things about it, so I figured that will be our "fancy" celebration dinner.

andreas's picture
Offline
Joined: 08/20/2012
Posts: 83

Also, we used a couple of our snack creds for breakfasts...A couple mornings we just wanted a bagel or croissant, and used our snack credit. The snack credits came in handy for expensive waters too! Smile We had some left over too, since you get a drink, dessert, and meal with the quick service!

WDWfanatic's picture
Offline
Joined: 01/18/2013
Posts: 356

We also use some of our snack credits for breakfast. Especially if we have an ADR for an early lunch, a pastry snack for breakfast is perfect. If we have any left over, which we do on occasion, we also load up on snacks for the drive home.

I believe that you can get a water at no charge from the QS places. I have never tried it because we bring our own water into the parks. I know that I have read where people get their water free though. Which may not work out if you are thirsty at lunchtime and the lines are long.

__________________

Tammi

MrHub's picture
Offline
Joined: 10/29/2009
Posts: 9504

Hello Timber and welcome back. Which dinning plan did you get? We usually get the deluxe and that is a lot of food, but we also book a lot of signature restaurants also. If you go during the Food and Wine Festival you can use your snack credits at the kiosk's to get items.

Offline
Joined: 08/20/2011
Posts: 397

If you have the dining plan with the refillable mug and you eat at the quick serve at your resort, bring your mug and fill it but remember you also get a drink with your meal. Get a bottled juice or whatever to keep for later. That way you get the use out of your refillable mug and have a drink that you can have anytime. You can also get a snack item instead of a desert item. An example of this might be instead of a brownie or cookie you could get a bowl of soup or chilli. Look for the snack symbol beside items to help you decide or just ask a cast member. For desert we usually get a yogurt and save it for breakfast the next morning.

Offline
Joined: 04/14/2011
Posts: 12

This stuff is all wonderful! We're going May 20th-24th. MrHub, I got the "Dining Plus Plan" which is just the basic plan. Getting pastries/bagels for breakfast will probably be the way to go! Good tip nikamel on subbing out a QS dessert for a snack instead! The more I plan, the more excited I get about this trip! 1 of these years I'm going for food & wine festival! I'm a foodie in my mind & can't wait to put it to practice! silly But that's for another day. I think I did pretty good with my ADR's, trying restaurants I've never eaten at before & It'll be my 1st time seeing Fantasmic!

Chuckers's picture
Offline
Joined: 02/17/2012
Posts: 47

I've used the dining plan for the last 5 trips to WDW, it's awesome. As for water: I bring with me a collapsible cup that fits in my pocket (and now I'll bring a bottle of those concentrated flavor mixes). It's MUCH cheaper than buying water or soda every time I got thirsty.

link: collapsible cup

When I got the cups, I opened them up, washed them out and filled them with extremely hot water to let them stretch out.
The ones above are the type I got, but there are plenty of other styles.

__________________

DIStickers.com Ticker

Aliceacc's picture
Offline
Joined: 02/16/2013
Posts: 75

I love the DDP! We really missed it last year when we tried paying out of pocket for food!

As for water, I always get a delivery from www.gardengrocer.com . We get 2 cases of water (family of 5 in August!), breakfast foods and park snacks.

We tend to use a lot of our snacks on breakfast. I'm the early riser, so I'll head down to pick up bagels or croissants or whatever for everyone (as well as coffee and tea, of course!) We find that a breakfast of that sort keeps us pretty full until lunch. (And, if not, there are those park snacks we've ordered.)

One snack you will want to try is a Dole Whip. You can get it either at the Polynesian or in the Magic Kingdom. I forget exactly where, somewhere near Pirates of the Carribean. It's kind of like a pineapple Italian ice... delicious!

As far as Quick Service, my favorites are both in the Magic Kingdom: Columbia Harbor House and the place that has Taco Salads in Fronteirland.

__________________

August 2008 and August 2009: Polynesian. August 2012: Beach Club. We're returning to the Beach Club in July/August 2014.

MrHub's picture
Offline
Joined: 10/29/2009
Posts: 9504

Actually Dole Whip is more of a pineapple soft ice cream. Aloha Isle is where you can get it in the Magic Kingdom. It's on your right as soon as you go into Adventure Land.

Offline
Joined: 04/14/2011
Posts: 12

Thanks 4 the link chuckers! I'm gonna look into that! Aliceacc & MrHubb I've heard so much about these dole whips that it's on my to do list! As well as carrot cake cookies & 1 of the many giant cupcakes people talk about! Also putting Columbia harbor house on the list. I don't recall eating at any QS in MK the last few times I went, so this will be cool!