Deluxe Dining questions for newbie

[Flintlockwood]

We are planning a surprise trip for my Mom who has always been the planner in our family. It is a milestone birthday for her and we haven't been as a family for 3 years. Traveling on this trip would be my Mom, Dad, myself, and my 2 daughters, 17 and 8.

I have saved and have the money stuffed away but just want to double check some things. We would have 2 rooms, one for my parents and one for my daughters and I. I have been reading here for a long time and have some questions before I pull the trigger on dining.

My Mom doesn't need a ticket since she travels to Orlando often and has an annual pass. I was thinking I would put the girls, myself and my Dad in one room and buy 10 day hoppers and deluxe dining. A separate room reservation for just Mom with a request for the rooms to be close. Not worrying about Dads MB not unlocking his door since they will always be together and Mom has many MBs tied to her account we could use if needed for Dad to get in their room.

I am fairly sure with deluxe dining we can use the credits for all 5 of us. Is this correct? Sometimes we wouldn't even need 5 meals with appetizers and dessert because we would share meals. This is allowed, correct? I know for the character buffets we couldn't share and everyone must pay. Thinking some 2 credit meals also. I sort of have a plan devised but need to be sure. I want this totally paid for since it is our gift to Mom.

Is it correct that under deluxe dining there are no child credits, just credits?

Also, I am a water only drinker mostly. Could I order a glass of wine and let my Mom have it in addition to hers? Thanks so much in advance. Looking so forward to this trip

 

[RossK]

Basically everything you’ve said will work okay.

All the server sees is the total number of TS/CS credits on your band and what level of plan you have. You can use your credits how you wish. They are not a discount or special offer, so you can share meals etc how you like, just as if you were paying cash. The one issue is over child credits - as far as I know, the servers have no way to distingish these. There have been reports of children being asked to order a child’s meal - but an adult using a child credit seems to be fine (as there is nothing to indicate its a child credit when the child is absent...). I think technically speaking you’re not supposed to pay for other peoples meals - but there is simply no way to police it.

 

[senadler]

I agree that what you have said will work. However, I would add up the credits you think you will need. You may find that just getting the plan for the three of you would be enough without putting your father in the room too. Especially on the deluxe plan, we find that we usually only do two meals a day, so over a longer trip, you may be ahead even if you pay for a few meals OOP. We also will sometimes pay for a kids meal for our youngest and save his credits to use for the adults.

 

[eeyoresmom]

I would buy the DXDDP for just yourself and the 2 kids and share those credits amongst the five of you. I bet you will have plenty of credits. 3 ts credits with apps and desserts is plenty shared amongst 5. Or you could just pay oop for all of your kids meals since they are much cheaper. Theres a lot of flexibility with the Dx plan now that sharing is allowed.

 

[GillianP1301]

Everything you said will work and a good way to spread your deluxe dining credits out for your entire family. The pooling of TS credits (no adult vs child credits) is where a lot of value can be found in the deluxe plan for sure. If your kids actually want to order a kids meal and not an adult meal, you could even pay OOP for them and spread your credits out even more. Doing that may only require you to have 3 people on the dining plan instead of 4.

 

[Disneyliscious]

Interesting.

So large groups can split up like this and only part of them buy the DDP which is then spread out to the entire group.

We have a group of 5 adults. So if I bought the DDP for 3 of us (only have 3 on the reservation, we are staying off site and using a dummy reservation for the perks) that is 9 total TS credits per day. We wont be eating breakfast at the parks so this equates to 1.8 TS meals per day per person. Am I understanding this right?

 

[Disneyliscious]

So I did some research and the plan above is correct. You can use your dining credits on anyone you like, whether or not they are in your party on the reservation.

What this means is...

Our 1 night dummy reservation stay is $749 without the dining plan (3 people plus three 2 day tickets which we'd be buying anyway). It's $1098 with the DDDP. That is a difference of $349 for the DDDP (9 TS credits, 6 snack credits). There are a total of 5 in our party. $349/5=$69.80/2 days = $34.90 per day for EACH person getting 1.8 TS meals, 1 snack each, plus 1 snack left over.

If I change that same stay to 5 people instead of 3....its $1197 without DP but with 2 day tickets. With the DDP its $1778 for a difference of $581. $581/5=$116.20/2 days = $58.10 per day for EACH person getting 1 TS, 1 CS, 2 snacks. This was the closest I could compare to the DDDP above because of how the credits are spread out in that one.

If my math is right, what it basically boils down to is we can have 2 TS meals per day for $35 each or 1 TS and 1 CS meal per day for $58 each. You do get 4 more snacks on the 2nd plan so its more food but less environment.

So if you are meeting up with others or using a dummy stay, gifting your dining credits is the way to go.