Would they let you pay for one with 2 of your credits and cash for the other? We often split entrees and my son and daughter in law used to use two credits at a signature and then split a one credit dinner a few meals. Is that blocked?
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When my kids were smaller and we did a lot of character dining and we had free dining, we would get the dining plan. The last time we had it was 2019 for a December trip. We had 2 snacks each and used them at the festival booths at Epcot, breakfast items, or bags of gummies. We used every credit and would take bags of gummies home.
I just got back from a trip with DD who is now 22. We arrived on a Wednesday night and left Sunday night. I had discounted Disney gift cards to use for food. For a 5 day, 4 night trip we spent $422.94 on food and alcohol. I had budgeted $500. Thatâs $52.87 per person. We did one TS for breakfast, Steakhouse 71 lounge, split some QS meals, and got snacks at the Christmas party and snacks and cookies at the Holiday food booths at Epcot.
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I finally listened to the episode this morning. After listening to it I looked up the cost of the blueberry cheese cake at Satuâli Canteen ($5.79) and then looked at the Festival of the Holidays menus (in the food and wine app). Multiple booths have snack items for $8.75 and the filet is $10 (DDP).
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You know, my wife and I always work out what we plan to eat ahead of trips, and generally have a list of snacks a mile long we want to try.
Then we get there, and by day 2, we are cutting more than half of those snacks off our plans. 
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We checked several snacks off our list for the Christmas party and the holiday food booths but there were a few that we never got around to getting because we were full.
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SameâŚor, just kind of âtiredâ of eating unhealthy foods.
(At MVMCP, we had planned to eat cookies as the night progressed, but we never came across any of the cookie stations, except one! And that one, at Tortuga Tavern, wasnât even giving out cookies, but Dove chocolates, so we skipped it.)
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Really??
We had looked online before to know where they were and used the map. The big candy canes signaled where they were. Some stations gave out more than one cookie at a time. We brought a gallon zip lock bag for the park to put them in and a tupperware cookie container to bring them home in our luggage.
The Tortuga Tavern had a hot cocoa cookie with Dove chocolate in it. You must have misunderstood what they were giving out.
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I should have done that. Ironically, we HAD been in every one of the areas where the cookies were, but always just BEFORE the party officially started, so the candy canes were not inflated and thus, unnoticed. Last time we were at the party, we couldnât help but run into them. This time, we were looking for them (again, without having the sense to consult the map) and never found them.
I guess I must have. I read the sign, and it said (to me) they were giving out Dove chocolate, so we skipped it. I didnât see a cookie listed on the sign, so I assumed that they were literally giving out a Dove chocolate along with the drink. 
ETA: Oh. So, I missed the word âcookieâ in the description, so thought it was Hot cocoa with Dove Chocolate!!!
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Like a lot of responses, I got tired of trying to âmaximize value.â
I ate meals that were often my âsecondâ choice if I had been paying out of pocket. I was buying the most expensive items and juggling to keep my family of picky eaters happy too.
I havenât used it since 2015.
FYI - I am one of the few people that ever bought Universalâs dining plan back in 2013!! 
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Iâve only used the DDP in the before times of 2018-19 and even then I know we âwastedâ several snack credits buying rice Krissy treats and things like that in the way out of MK. What we liked about it then was having it all paid for up front and not having to care about just grabbing a Mickey bar or pretzel whenever.
Since itâs returned the amount of work to get value out of it combined with it encouraging gluttony has made the DDP a non-starter the last few trips. Also the âlossâ of the ability to get room-only deals and use convention tickets etc makes it an even worse deal.
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I used the DDP a couple of times pre-pandemic. For me the âvalueâ was more about not stressing about bills throughout the vacation, and being able to say yes to the kids. You want a $6 ice cream bar? Sure, letâs do it. So I tried not to do the math up front and instead just enjoy having Disney basically be an all inclusive. That being said, we definitely ended up with credits that we used to buy bags of candy on the last day, but that was kind of nice because it let us take them back home and stretch out the magic a little bit.
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Yep. DD and I gave up trying to eat even the small list of things we could eat from F&W in October. Just too much food.
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Only used DDP once and it stressed me out trying to max the snack credits. I donât use them at the beginning I donât think the snack cost enough so in the end we wasted them on lollipops. DDP is too stressful to make it worth the $.
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I almost get the feeling Disney actually doesnât WANT people to use the DDP, but have it around because people will complain otherwise. But the way it is priced and laid out, I donât get the impression they even WANT to sell it!
I suppose keeping it around does give them the option of offering a free dining plan incentive every once in a while.
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They made sure to price it at a premium. Disney probably wins over all.
And the DP gets more people in the TS restaurants. The mark up there is 
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DW eats so little, that the DDP is a complete waste for her. We hardly drink alcohol, so thereâs more value wasted. Itâs just easier for me to have the money on gift cards.
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If they didnât want people using the DDP, then they should bring back Tables in Wonderland. Now that was a true money saver.
People love having that âall inclusiveâ feel, even if it âwastesâ money. I donât get why, but thatâs them.
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Disney doesnât actually want you to save money. Thatâs not being cynical, just true. I donât see any reason they would ever bring back TiW.
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Oh Iâm fully aware. But it was great while it lasted.
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I donât even drink tea or soda, so itâs definitely not worth it for me.
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