anyone else have this crazy fear?

[sunny_stace]

hey all!
ok, is anyone having this crazy fear that I'm suddenly having? Not only do I think I'm slowly becoming more insane but I'm having crazy guilty and greedy feelings!
Since I'm going during free dining, I have become terrified at the notion of paying for any of the food I eat during the trip! I'm worried about using up my TS credits too quick and having to pay for a meal! Please don't tell me I'm the only one! It's not that I can't afford it or don't want to give more of my money to Disney...I don't know what my problem is! There we go, worried feelings gotten off the chest to the only people who may understand such a silly idea! Thanks!

 

[melomouse]

yes, Stace -

you are not alone and I'm several months out. So I am going to post right now and have some pros check my ADR's/!!!
Hang in there! We'll be fine!!!

 

[WDisnut]

plan ahead, make ADR's, and understand whats 1 TS and whats 2 TS credits. BY doing this there should be no way to go over.

 

[yellowfish78]

I guess I'm just the opposite...I'm going during free dining, but I am also on planning on paying for some meals so I can eat at some of the 2TS places (and reverse). For example, we are paying for Hoop Dee Doo out of pocket because it actually "costs" less than 2TS (HDH at $56 per person vs. 2TS at $74 on the dining plan). We can eat more meals that way.
YES, I know it's technically FREE dining and doesn't cost anything anyways, but it's worth it to me knowing that I'm still getting my moneys worth and trying more TS than I normally would on a regular vacation.
But that's just me!

 

[COmomof2]

I know exactly what you mean! I'm trying to think of ways to use our snacks for breakfast, and feed our almost 3 year old by having him share with us vs. having to buy him something! Isn't that crazy? I don't think it's actually "sunk in" to my head that the dining is free....and it's not a big deal if we have to pay oop for things here and there!

You're not the only "crazy" out there!

 

[MickeyMonstersMom]

I've already made the ADR's for our Free Dining trip, but also printed out the menus for our meals and analyzed how much each meal is likely to cost given what we would order. I made sure we have some flexibility - if DD wants to share/split some meals, great! But if we each order our own meals throughout, I will end up paying OOP for our last meal - which would also be our cheapest, so I don't mind if it turns out that way.

OK, so I'm not exactly in a panic over it, but methinks I might have thought a little too much about it... I love having the DIS to validate my obsessiveness!!

 

[alite]

We had free dining last year. While most would probably disagree, we used most CS for breakfast, bought a small lunch or used a snack credit, and were ready for our TS in the evening. We learned early on about the too much food everyone writes about, and figured it would be best to get a nice start to the day and be ready for a big dinner. We plan on doing the same this year

 

[HayGan]

Before I book my ADRs, I create a spreadsheet which shows where we be on which days and what ADRs we want. It also keeps a running tally by day of what credits we will use and how many credits we have remaining. We plan our TS credits carefully but just go with the flow for the CS and Snack credits. During our Deccember trip, we ended up having a few CS and snack credits remaining our last evening so I made a run to Captain Cook's and used them on things we could take home with us or eat on the plane.

I personally think that it helps to have the plan set in place before you make your ADRs. That way you are not using too many or too few credits.

 

[kcashner]

We just returned from a 5/5-5/13 trip. OK, so the dining plan wasn't free, but it was the same thing with thinking about running out of credits, etc.

I did my advance planning carefully. However, when you travel with a teenager...well, you'd better allow some flexibility.

I started out being very careful (stingy) with credits. We shared a CS lunch a couple of times. I considered sharing dinners, but in the interest of family peace, decided to let each do whatever they wanted. The nice part was that when DD went to Disney Quest (I drop off and pick up, but no way I'm going there again!) I could be sure that she had her KTTW and tell her that she could "spend" one CS or one snack.

By the end of the trip, the only thing we'd bought OOP was one 1/2 gallon of milk (and we could have avoided that had I realized that quarts of milk were on the snack items). We had LOTS of snack and CS credits left. We got a full meal packed for the airport as well as several extra snacks.

Do some advance planning, make your ADRs, and have fun. DOn't sweat the plan--it works. As I said, we didn't spend OOP other than $3.08!

 

[schoen]

I am struggling because while I am going during free dining, I will have to pay for it because I am using DVC points (I just happen to be going at the same time as free dining). We LOVE to eat a lot on vacation (we diet the rest of the year so we can!). Vacations for us are very much about enjoying yummy food, and low stress, no dishes and/or cleaning. So... We think we will get the plan so that we can do a CS breakfest, maybe a TS lunch, and then a nice dinner. I know that we won't eat three meals a day everyday, but we might! The plan will give us some flexibility. We will still end up paying a lot for food though, in addition to the plan (or at least we will budget for it, and if we decide that is what we want to do then we will) I expect that once we get there and end up in the heat we won't eat as much as we are anticipating, but that is our plan. So, I understand your concern. Just plan and allow yourself to be flexible!

 

[CamColt]

I started out falling into the trap. I was trying to figure out exactly what we each would be having each day...do I want a muffin as a snack for breakfast on Tuesday, or a counter service meal? And should I pay for that CS meal, or use a credit.

Then after a while of trying to do this I realized that is crazy! Its free!!!! So what if we end up spending a couple hundred on food...we would usually spend around 1000.00 so we are still making out pretty good. I am going to eat what I want, when I want (my usual vacation rule) and if I have to pay for it, we can.