2018 Disney Dining Plan Prices & General Discussion

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I agree, speculation only at this point. I don't see the alcoholic beverage inclusion as a driver for this change though since the adult dining credit starts at age 10, which is obviously well below the drinking age. If they do stop the pooling, it will be to address the "loophole" of children being able to order off of an adult menu.

But that's why some of us think they will stop the pooling. People are using kids' credits to purchase adult meals for adults, so they would also get the alcoholic drink. That kid's TS credit only cost the user about $10. At some point, the bean counters are going to catch on to this humongous loss for Disney.
 
I'm not sure I see the logic behind the speculation... Do we really think the occasional use of a kids' credit to buy a meal for an over-21 who orders an alcoholic drink will be a significant loss when the new plan pricing has all those 10-to-20 year olds paying more for an inclusion that they cannot use? My gut tells me this gives them even more reason to leave well enough alone, to boost the perceived value of the plan and keep people from thinking too hard about the price hike that came with the beverage change and how all Disney adults are now paying for something that many can't or won't use. But I suppose only time will tell.
 
Personally, I think that Disney will allow more pooling, rather than less. It seems to me that Disney has been trying to steer more families into packages that include a dining plan but IMO, they have not been as successful as they may have hoped to be. The past two years have seen revisions in the brochure language that seems to make using it more flexible. While some are seeing the alcohol addition as a means to control how the credits are used, I see the specialty drinks addition as the equalizer for those who will not be indulging.

The value of these plans is pretty subjective, so in order for Disney to use them as a tool to first, bring folks onsite, and second to get them to allocate all of their food money to Disney, it looks like this may be trying to get people to feel as if hey are enjoying an all inclusive experience. You cannot accomplish this if the first thing you do is bicker over who uses a credit to be sure the glass of wine is sitting in front of the right person.
 


I wonder if they will allow the ordering of a child meal with a spare :drinking1for said child's responsible adult?

I wondered about that too, but I'm guessing the youngsters can have the NA version of the drink, or an artisan shake, perhaps.
 
I believe that the speculation that the pooling of credits will be ending is also overblown. One possibility is that the alcohol will be handled the same as snack credits and simply enumerated in the same fashion. This would also give flexibility to have more than one drink at a meal if desired. At a given meal, mom and dad have 2 drinks, then two alcoholic drink credits will be used. If they opt for 4 drinks, then 4 credits will be used. ID can be checked at the table accordingly to eliminate all the worries of 10 year olds ordering a beer. I believe the pooling of meal credits will be unaffected. We shall see......
 
One possibility is that the alcohol will be handled the same as snack credits and simply enumerated in the same fashion.

I seriously doubt that is even a spark in Disney's collective brain. The alcoholic drink is a part of the meal; it's not separate in any way. The drink portion of a meal has never been separate. Why would they suddenly separate it out?
 


I seriously doubt that is even a spark in Disney's collective brain. The alcoholic drink is a part of the meal; it's not separate in any way. The drink portion of a meal has never been separate. Why would they suddenly separate it out?

me too.
Nothing in the discussions of the 2018 plan suggests that the drink allocation will be divisible.
 
The only problem you'd have with this (assuming the standard DDP with 1 TS + 1 CS / night) is that you'd accumulate a large number of child TS credits unused. A couple of options there:

  1. Order 2 adult and 1 child meal at some places, sharing the three meals four ways
  2. "Age up" you daughter by calling her 10, and then all your TS credits would be adult credits, and you can use 3 at a time
The only issue with #2 is you'd pay the extra cost of turning her tickets from child to adult, which isn't a whole lot.

Actually DD will be 11. It's DS who will be 9.

I was thinking we'd order 2 adult and one child meal at most places, so we'd have extra adult credits to use.

I hadn't considered upgrading all of us to adults for dining purposes, though.... Hmmm, I wonder if that would be worth it?

Does anyone know if they would charge me the approximately $50 extra per day that makes up the difference between the two? I don't know that it would be worth it but I'm going to look into it further.

My understanding between the two is that any restaurant with a child's menu REQUIRES the child pick a meal off the child's menu, right?
 
I wondered about that too, but I'm guessing the youngsters can have the NA version of the drink, or an artisan shake, perhaps.

That's what the marketing material seems to suggest - that there will be an expansion of the available drinks beyond the standard milk/juice/soda, even though kids obviously won't be able to order alcoholic drinks. And as a parent who has paid extra for smoothies, virgin daiquiris, and other fancy drinks in the past, that sounds like a good change to me even if it isn't worth as much in dollars and cents as my glass of wine.
 
I seriously doubt that is even a spark in Disney's collective brain. The alcoholic drink is a part of the meal; it's not separate in any way. The drink portion of a meal has never been separate. Why would they suddenly separate it out?

Yeah, that seems extremely unlikely. As much as I'd love to be able to drink water with my dinner and then go for a margarita at La Cava later, that adds a whole new layer of complexity that could only represent a loss for Disney. The logical outcome would be people paying OOP for their non-alcoholic drinks, including for their kids, to save the drink entitlements to use only on alcohol.
 
I hadn't considered upgrading all of us to adults for dining purposes, though.... Hmmm, I wonder if that would be worth it?

Does anyone know if they would charge me the approximately $50 extra per day that makes up the difference between the two? I don't know that it would be worth it but I'm going to look into it further.

My understanding between the two is that any restaurant with a child's menu REQUIRES the child pick a meal off the child's menu, right?

If you age them up, you pay for an adult ticket AND you pay the approx. $45/night difference between the child and adult plan. Currently, at QS restaurants you can order whatever you want; they do not distinguish between child/adult. At TS, you must order a kid's meal with a kid's credit. I just don't see how it could be worth $45/night for you. Most people do this when they have free dining, because then all they have to pay is the adult ticket cost instead of the child ticket cost.
 
Actually DD will be 11. It's DS who will be 9.

I was thinking we'd order 2 adult and one child meal at most places, so we'd have extra adult credits to use.

I hadn't considered upgrading all of us to adults for dining purposes, though.... Hmmm, I wonder if that would be worth it?

Does anyone know if they would charge me the approximately $50 extra per day that makes up the difference between the two? I don't know that it would be worth it but I'm going to look into it further.

My understanding between the two is that any restaurant with a child's menu REQUIRES the child pick a meal off the child's menu, right?
"Aging up" is only cost effective when you are on a free dining promotion.
 
that adds a whole new layer of complexity that could only represent a loss for Disney

Yep.
  • Makes it more likely people order water at meal and drink later, rather than passing up an upgraded drink at a meal because they aren't in a drinky mood.
  • Requires an IT change to both dining plans AND at POS.
  • Requires an accounting change when negotiating reimbursements with third-party/non-Disney owned providers (like La Cava!).
The moment you bring in "IT change," assume it's a "ha ha no way."
 
Yep.
  • Makes it more likely people order water at meal and drink later, rather than passing up an upgraded drink at a meal because they aren't in a drinky mood.
  • Requires an IT change to both dining plans AND at POS.
  • Requires an accounting change when negotiating reimbursements with third-party/non-Disney owned providers (like La Cava!).
The moment you bring in "IT change," assume it's a "ha ha no way."

And it encourages drinking to excess. One drink with a meal has a minimal effect on most people; allowing them to separate out that entitlement creates the potential for using several meals worth of drinks in quick succession, leading people to get drunk when the cost would deter them if they were paying cash.
 
Merging w the main Q&A thread

just as you can't swap out a soda for later, an alcoholic beverage should not be expected to be swapped out either

the beverage is part of the meal. If you don't want booze at 7am, then you get something you do want

same for children. When ordering for anyone under 21, if they don't have ID they can't get alcohol. Very interested to see how this plays out in reality.
 
Just to be clear TS credits do not pool between adults and kids. This has left us with 3 extra kids credits, can we convert them to QS credits???
 
Just to be clear TS credits do not pool between adults and kids. This has left us with 3 extra kids credits, can we convert them to QS credits???

You should be able to use a TS credit (even a kids' credit) at a CS location. As to whether that would allow for an alcoholic beverage with that CS is something we can only guess at right now.
 
Just to be clear TS credits do not pool between adults and kids. This has left us with 3 extra kids credits, can we convert them to QS credits???

Are your referring to regular or deluxe?
 
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