A few dining plan questions:
(1) On the regular dining plan, can a child’s table service credit be converted to 3 snacks?
(2) On the deluxe dining plan, at a table service meal, can a child order off of the adult menu and have that count as a kids meal? How are the table service meals calculated? Is it like the quick service meals where there is no differentiation between adults and kids?
Does TP have any other more detailed article about the dining plan and children credits? I had read that article before and it didn’t seem to answer my questions. If anyone is currently on the deluxe dining plan and can tell me what their receipt says regarding entitlements used and remaining after they redeem a kids table service meal vs. an adult meal, that would be great!
I am not sure of your first question but on the deluxe plan all credits are “pooled” you get three credits for each person. There are not child/adult credits so - yes.
According to this, you can exchange a Quick Service credit for 3 snacks. Nothing about a TS credit.
Actually, according to the same article, on the Deluxe plan a child can order an adult meal. That shocks me.
Deluxe dining plan meal credits are not differentiated in Disney’s system between children and adults (as of mid-2016), so you can order an adult meal for your child if you wish, if you are on the Deluxe Dining Plan. At some locations, they may ask that you order for children from the children’s menu, but lately they seem to have relaxed that requirement. Note that this will not work with the regular Dining Plan – their table-service credits for children and adults are tracked separately, and children have to order from the children’s menu.
It seems to be part of the rules of the deluxe dining plan because of how expensive it is. I’ve only ever done the standard plan, which I know you can’t mix child and adult for table service credits, but you can for quick service. Just trying to figure out if the deluxe works differently since the language seems to indicate that the credits are pooled for kids and adults.
Thanks! That is good to know because I want to do some calculations if we would book a deluxe on one room reservation with kids,and share with another room that didn’t have kids. If all the table service credits are pooled, it would seem like we could maximize the kids credits by using their credits for adults in another room without the dining plan. Still don’t know if it would be worth it though because of how expensive the deluxe plan is!
The topic of value has been discussed a ziilion times and everyone has their own opinion on what makes most sense. I’ll just say this much about my experience… the last time my family of four was there (13yo and 6yo kids) we did not use the DP and just ate and drank whatever/wherever we wanted for a week. Including alchhol and tips, we did not spend as much as the DP would have cost (which would not have included alcohol and tips).
So, try to crunch those numbers before you purchase the DP. You don’t want to spend more than you have to! Keep this in mind - if Disney consistently lost money on the DP, they wouldn’t offer it! :“The Mouse always wins!”
I’m big on doing exact numbers in advance, too. I calculated it last time and it paid off so well because we purchased one standard plan and shared it between two rooms. Half of a dining plan is the perfect amount of food and works well when you have little ones who love character meals. I personally don’t think the dining plan pays off if you buy it just for your own room - it is just too much food. However, I know some people like to do it so it is all paid off in advance.
Yes, that strategy would work well. Remember, that deluxe meals also come with an appetizer. If you share the credits with another room and purchase some as child credits you will save a lot. The Backside of Magic did an update on their podcast recently (part of my email- Mary- was read). They figured you could drop the cost of a TS meal to under $20- appetizer, entree, dessert and drink.
Thanks so much! I will check out that podcast.
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The discussion started two weeks ago but they answered wrong so they got a Facebook message and my email and addressed it again as an update. They may hear some more and if they do they will discuss it again.