DQOD - March 27th More Food For Thought - the Dining Plan

This isn't a trivia question -- it is a primer on our dining plan.

With the package that we got we signed up for the QUICK SERVICE DINING PLAN (There are several other versions of the dining plan, so it is probably good to remember in case someone asks).

With the Quick Service Dining Plan, for each night you stay you get:
2 - Quick Service meals
2 - Snacks
Refillable mug (refillable at your Resort)



More Details:
- Quick service meals - these are from counter service restaurants. You can generally order 1 Entree (or Combo Meal), 1 Dessert, 1 non alcoholic drink.
For breakfast the Dessert can be a Juice instead.

- Snacks - Lots of things qualify as snacks. On menu boards snack items will have a little DDP icon next to them. Snacks can be water, fruit, chips, boxes of cookies, muffin, popcorn, ice cream bars etc.

- If there is a children's menu available, Jo, Peter and Abby will have to order off of it because they will be listed as children...however, there are a couple of work arounds if Jo wants to eat off the main menus instead. :)

- The Dining card information is accessed through your room key, which for the Jehns and Stokes will also be your Ticket to the World and used to get Fasspasses.

TIPS:

*** Most important tip about using the plan is to tell the person who is taking your order before they start ringing up ***
*** Ask questions if you aren't sure what is included and what is isn't, also ask for substitutions if you see something on the menu that you'd rather have***

- The credits are all active when you check in, so if you are staying 4 nights and you want to use all 8 counter services and all 8 snacks in the first hour, they don't care. They expire midnight of the day you check out (so you can check out and still use them up until midnight).

- Lots of people choose their 'dessert' so that it can be part of breakfast in the morning. Ditto with Snack credits. Main Street Bakery has some giant cinnamon buns that we could pick up on the way out the door and have for breakfast the next day!

- Be strategic with your snack credits - it might be better to spend a dollar out of pocket for an apple and use your snack credit for a $3.50 Dole Whip (general rule of thumb is that the 'street value' of your snack credit is $4).

- If you end up with a lot of snack credits in the end, you can pick up treats for the trip home...rice crispie bars, boxes of cookies, chips etc. Some resorts MAY convert unused meal credits into snack credits on your last day. Some of the gift stores have bundles of lollypops or boxes of Minnie cookies that you can use the snack credit on...and then you have instant gifts for friends at home!


Post any questions you have about the Dining Plan in the comments - or if you've used it, any tips or thoughts.

Here is a link to the Menu's for the counter services at our resorts:
All Star Music - Intermission: Breakfast
All Star Music - Intermission: Lunch/Dinner
Caribbean Beach - Old Port Royale: Breakfast
Caribbean Beach - Old Port Royale: Lunch/Dinner