2018 Disney Dining Plan Prices & General Discussion

[Amy M]

Unfortunately, no. If you want to save some of her credits to do signature dining, you'll have to pay OOP for a kid's meal for her.

That is kind of what I figured and am planning to do.

 

[MommyBG]

Forgive me if this has already been covered. Does the alcoholic drink with a QS meal have to opened/consumed at time of purchase? For example, if I were to purchase a meal at a resort QS food court, could I get a can of beer (or whatever they have in the cooler) and take it back to my room for later. I would have my refillable mug that I would use for a beverage. I enjoy an alcoholic drink for dinner, not so much at lunch. A nightcap is more enjoyable.

 

[Colleen27]

Forgive me if this has already been covered. Does the alcoholic drink with a QS meal have to opened/consumed at time of purchase? For example, if I were to purchase a meal at a resort QS food court, could I get a can of beer (or whatever they have in the cooler) and take it back to my room for later. I would have my refillable mug that I would use for a beverage. I enjoy an alcoholic drink for dinner, not so much at lunch. A nightcap is more enjoyable.

I don't think there's any way they could create a policy requiring the drink to be consumed immediately at the resort food courts. People get meals to take back to their rooms all the time, with and without beer/wine. It would be ridiculous and unenforceable to try to prevent people who are using their alcoholic drink entitlement from doing the same.

 

[megs1313]

this is probably a dumb question, but if I purchased my tickets through UT and then linked them, can I still add the dining plan or did I need to purchase park tickets through Disney?

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

I don't think there's any way they could create a policy requiring the drink to be consumed immediately at the resort food courts. People get meals to take back to their rooms all the time, with and without beer/wine. It would be ridiculous and unenforceable to try to prevent people who are using their alcoholic drink entitlement from doing the same.

All they have to do is open them. Pop the top.

I'm trying to remember where I was that did that. Maybe a major league baseball game? You could only purchase so many drinks and they were opened at the register.

 

[Colleen27]

All they have to do is open them. Pop the top.

I'm trying to remember where I was that did that. Maybe a major league baseball game? You could only purchase so many drinks and they were opened at the register.

Yeah, I've been places that do that too... but those are places that don't allow "take out" alcohol. Bars, concerts, sporting events. Our MLB stadium doesn't even serve beers in the cans - they pour everything, even canned and bottled beers, into cups because cans are more easily thrown than those flimsy solo cups. Disney, on the other hand, allows people to purchase beer and wine at the food court (and the gift shop - we picked up a pint of rum at the POP gift shop once to go with our refillable mug Cokes ) to take back to the room. And they're pretty careful about not giving DDP guests a "lesser" experience than cash-pay diners, so a policy of popping the top on DDP beverages while allowing cash guests to continue to take theirs to go seems very unlikely.

Of course, this is all specific to the resort QS. In the parks I'd expect a "pop the top" policy similar to other gated venues, though for the life of me I can't think of a time when we've had a canned or bottled beer in the parks so it might just be irrelevant. Or I might just not be very observant, since I prefer wine or cocktails over beer anyway.

 

[MommyBG]

Yeah, I've been places that do that too... but those are places that don't allow "take out" alcohol. Bars, concerts, sporting events. Our MLB stadium doesn't even serve beers in the cans - they pour everything, even canned and bottled beers, into cups because cans are more easily thrown than those flimsy solo cups. Disney, on the other hand, allows people to purchase beer and wine at the food court (and the gift shop - we picked up a pint of rum at the POP gift shop once to go with our refillable mug Cokes ) to take back to the room. And they're pretty careful about not giving DDP guests a "lesser" experience than cash-pay diners, so a policy of popping the top on DDP beverages while allowing cash guests to continue to take theirs to go seems very unlikely.

Of course, this is all specific to the resort QS. In the parks I'd expect a "pop the top" policy similar to other gated venues, though for the life of me I can't think of a time when we've had a canned or bottled beer in the parks so it might just be irrelevant. Or I might just not be very observant, since I prefer wine or cocktails over beer anyway.

Thanks. I guess my question was whether they would allow "take out" alcohol with my QS meal - I could save it for later . Seems like it would be the same as if you were paying OOP. I wouldn't expect it in the parks, but I like the option at the resort.

 

[Faldred]

this is probably a dumb question, but if I purchased my tickets through UT and then linked them, can I still add the dining plan or did I need to purchase park tickets through Disney?

You used to have to book the entire room/tickets/dining plan as a package through Disney, but that changed a few years ago, I believe. You will need to do it over the phone, however, it's not available (last I heard) to book just room/dining plan via the website.

 

[sharonabe]

this is probably a dumb question, but if I purchased my tickets through UT and then linked them, can I still add the dining plan or did I need to purchase park tickets through Disney?

As long as you are staying at a Disney resort, then, yes, you can. You need to call and ask for a ticketless package to add the dining plan to your room. It then becomes a package and all package rules apply.

 

[megs1313]

You used to have to book the entire room/tickets/dining plan as a package through Disney, but that changed a few years ago, I believe. You will need to do it over the phone, however, it's not available (last I heard) to book just room/dining plan via the website.

As long as you are staying at a Disney resort, then, yes, you can. You need to call and ask for a ticketless package to add the dining plan to your room. It then becomes a package and all package rules apply.

Thank you!!!

 

[Ferrentinos]

We have our 4 TS picked out - we have the regular DP - so we have 1900 Park Fare dinner, Akershus breakfast, Tusker House dinner, and Crystal Palace lunch. With all of these being character dining I thought we were doing good with our picks. But now, I'm wondering, with character buffets and the DP, will I still be able to get a glass of wine with my meal included or will that not be included in the buffet price? Doesn't the standard price for a buffet only include one non-alcoholic drink? Is that just because I'm looking at 2017 menus? I'm just curious if that will just be different for DP people or if it will exclude them from the alcohol. Does that make sense? I'm not sure if I'm explaining it correctly.

 

[sharonabe]

We have our 4 TS picked out - we have the regular DP - so we have 1900 Park Fare dinner, Akershus breakfast, Tusker House dinner, and Crystal Palace lunch. With all of these being character dining I thought we were doing good with our picks. But now, I'm wondering, with character buffets and the DP, will I still be able to get a glass of wine with my meal included or will that not be included in the buffet price? Doesn't the standard price for a buffet only include one non-alcoholic drink? Is that just because I'm looking at 2017 menus? I'm just curious if that will just be different for DP people or if it will exclude them from the alcohol. Does that make sense? I'm not sure if I'm explaining it correctly.

We don't know yet how they will handle the alcohol at buffets. Sorry, but you're going to have to wait until January reports start coming in to know for sure.

 

[Ferrentinos]

We don't know yet how they will handle the alcohol at buffets. Sorry, but you're going to have to wait until January reports start coming in to know for sure.

Very true - so hard to wait! LOL!

 

[tonyhb12]

That FAQ is definitely wrong. Even at Via Napoli, infamous for not allowing sharing, you can mix payment types.

I have a follow up question about this. We are 2 adults, 1 child (age 3). We have character breakfasts at Ohana, Crystal Palace, and Garden Grill. We also have a dinner at BOG. We will need to pay OOP for 2 TS since we have a lot of breakfast, but we love them. From my calculations, including alcohol, it is better for us to pay OOP for character breakfasts for adults. But if we can use a TS credit for the kids price at the buffets, we will be even more ahead.

At BOG, a child's meal is $10 and comes with a drink and desert. Therefore, the cost of our child would only be $10 (excluding tax). Can we use out adult TS Credits at BOG and pay OOP for our daugher? This would save money on the character breakfast as we can then use her TS credit ($19-$20 cost for kids = $ savings over BOG OOP). Hopefully this makes sense.

 

[Faldred]

We have our 4 TS picked out - we have the regular DP - so we have 1900 Park Fare dinner, Akershus breakfast, Tusker House dinner, and Crystal Palace lunch. With all of these being character dining I thought we were doing good with our picks. But now, I'm wondering, with character buffets and the DP, will I still be able to get a glass of wine with my meal included or will that not be included in the buffet price? Doesn't the standard price for a buffet only include one non-alcoholic drink? Is that just because I'm looking at 2017 menus? I'm just curious if that will just be different for DP people or if it will exclude them from the alcohol. Does that make sense? I'm not sure if I'm explaining it correctly.

No one knows for sure yet. My guess is that you will be able to get a single speciality beverage at a buffet. That would be consistent. But its just a guess.

 

[Faldred]

I have a follow up question about this. We are 2 adults, 1 child (age 3). We have character breakfasts at Ohana, Crystal Palace, and Garden Grill. We also have a dinner at BOG. We will need to pay OOP for 2 TS since we have a lot of breakfast, but we love them. From my calculations, including alcohol, it is better for us to pay OOP for character breakfasts for adults. But if we can use a TS credit for the kids price at the buffets, we will be even more ahead.

At BOG, a child's meal is $10 and comes with a drink and desert. Therefore, the cost of our child would only be $10 (excluding tax). Can we use out adult TS Credits at BOG and pay OOP for our daugher? This would save money on the character breakfast as we can then use her TS credit ($19-$20 cost for kids = $ savings over BOG OOP). Hopefully this makes sense.

You can mix cash and credits at the same meal. By all means, save the credits to pay for the more expensive meals, even if that's different for the adults and the kids.

 

[tonyhb12]

You can mix cash and credits at the same meal. By all means, save the credits to pay for the more expensive meals, even if that's different for the adults and the kids.

That's great. It certainly adds a wrinkle into the calculations, but for the better. Thanks!

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

Not if you're on the Deluxe plan. Regular TS is still separated and enforced, but DxDDP is not.

Anyone want to take bets on how long it will take Disney to figure out people are paying child DxDDP prices and getting adult meals and alcohol with them? For people who need two rooms or can afford two value rooms and put mostly kids in the one with the plan, this is the cheapest way to eat at Disney restaurants.

We just got back last month and we had the regular dining plan. They did not enforce the kids meals. Many many times when we ate we would use 2 credits for us and pay for our kids. Example: we ate at Sci-Fi and our meals would have been around $30-35 each and the kids were around $15 each with a drink. So instead of wasting a meal credit for a lower price meal we just paid for our kids. We did that a lot so we ate TS usually 2 times a day, breakfast and dinner then ate QS for lunch and other times they let our kids order anything from the menu, not just kids meals if we used the plan for them and we traded a lot of snacks at F&W. But on our last day we had a ton of snack credits and our meal plan wouldn't work. Long story. Short version, we booked another night to use one days worth of our tickets we were going to lose due to being in the CR during Irma. the new reservation took over and our meals disappeared even though they were good until 11:00 pm on day of checkout of original reservation. The resort made it right in the end. But bottom line, use the TS for adults and pay for your kids if they are under 9 and you will save a ton of $$$

 

[sharonabe]

We just got back last month and we had the regular dining plan. They did not enforce the kids meals. Many many times when we ate we would use 2 credits for us and pay for our kids. Example: we ate at Sci-Fi and our meals would have been around $30-35 each and the kids were around $15 each with a drink. So instead of wasting a meal credit for a lower price meal we just paid for our kids. We did that a lot so we ate TS usually 2 times a day, breakfast and dinner then ate QS for lunch and other times they let our kids order anything from the menu, not just kids meals if we used the plan for them and we traded a lot of snacks at F&W. But on our last day we had a ton of snack credits and our meal plan wouldn't work. Long story. Short version, we booked another night to use one days worth of our tickets we were going to lose due to being in the CR during Irma. the new reservation took over and our meals disappeared even though they were good until 11:00 pm on day of checkout of original reservation. The resort made it right in the end. But bottom line, use the TS for adults and pay for your kids if they are under 9 and you will save a ton of $$$

You are the first person to come back and say they could do this with the REGULAR 1 TS, 1 QS, 2 snacks per night plan. Did you ever check your receipts and see if they said x adult, x child credits used or remaining? Would love to see a screen shot of some of your receipts.

 

[Pumbaa_]

Ever, in the history of the plan, literally

I don't know why this was allowed, but no one should rely on this experience