Tip Tuesday: Disney Dining Plan Secrets

In last week's Tip Tuesday, I talked about how to make the best out of those Advance Dining Reservations, or ADR's. That tip goes hand-in-hand with this week's topic -- the Disney Dining Plan.

First of all, just what is the Disney Dining Plan, or DDP? The DDP is an add-on to a Magic Your Way Package in which you can pre-pay for dining options at a considerable savings.

There are several versions of the Disney Dining Plan (these are 2008 prices):
Quick Service Dining Plan ($30 per adult/$9 per child ages 3-9): This option gives guests two quick-service meals and two snacks per day, plus a resort refillable mug.

Standard Dining Plan ($40 per adult/$11 per child ages 3-9): This option gives guests one table service meal, one quick service meal and one snack per day.

Deluxe Dining Plan ($72 per adult/$21 per child ages 3-9): This option gives guests three table service or quick-service meals and two snacks per day.

First I'll explain what each option is.

A quick-service meal can be used at any counter-service restaurant (such as Columbia Harbour House in Liberty Square). These meals come with an entree, side, drink and dessert.

A table service meal can be used at any full-service restaurant (such as Le Cellier in Epcot). These meals come with entree, drink and dessert. Note that tips are not included.

A snack can be any single item from a counter-service restaurant (not including entrees), snack stand or resort store. Things like drinks, ice cream, pretzels, dole whips, etc. are snacks.

The Disney Dining Plan is a must, especially for families. You would spend that much ($40 per adult/$11 per child) at one table service meal alone. I haven't tried the counter-service plan, but it's also worth considering. Personally, I like having the option to sit down at a nice restaurant.

Now for a few secrets
As I mentioned earlier, those table service meals generally require an ADR. Also, when you dine, especially with children, the kids HAVE to order from the children's menu (adults may order from the kids menu, but not the reverse). That's not the case with counter-service meals.

Let's say you're dining at Cosmic Ray's. There are two adults and two children in your family. One child wants something from the kids menu, one from the regular menu. If all four go up and order at once, the clerks will allow two adult and two kids meals to be ordered. However, if you only order the two adult meals and a kids meal and then GO BACK and order the adult meal in a separate order, you will be able to get an adult item for a child. The dining plan doens't keep track of adult vs. child counter service meal credits. They are all lumped into one category, like the snacks. I've used this trick several times when my 9 year old son was at WDW and the kids meal was too small (or too kiddie in nature). Again, this will not work for table service credits -- those ARE tracked separately.

Now for the next secret. With all these credits -- that a LOT of food for one day. It's not unusual to not use counter service credits, especially if you have table-service dinners. What are you to do with some of those unused counter service credits? Well they're worth two snacks. That's right, you can exchange a counter-service credit for two snacks.

Understand you're not getting the same value, but if you're on the last day of your trip and you still have a few counter-service credits left over, you can hop over to your resort store and grab some snacks to take home. I used this trick on the last day of our visit in March and wound up bringing ten Mickey Rice Krispy treats home for friends and family. Those credits would have been wasted otherwise.

And for the last secret -- many of the character dining experiences only require ONE table service credit. Only a handful of restaurants require two -- Cinderella's Royal Table is one of those that takes two credits. In my opinion, Akershus is a better option and it's only one credit. The famous Le Cellier at Epcot is only one credit as well. One of these days I'll actually get an ADR there.

For a complete list of participating restaurants and which ones require two credits, see the 2008 Disney Dining Plan brochure.

Happy eating everyone!