The dining plan worked for us because we did alot of character meals and Hoop-dee-doo. It just came out that if we were doing those anyway, lunch and snack for the day were free. (Plan cost same as character meal a day, so with plan, lunch and snack were thrown in.) I do agree that you get more than you would normally buy. My kids rarely touched their CS desserts. Sometimes I would throw them in the stoller and they would eat them later as a snack. Some went to waste. If we were not doing the character meals, i don't think the plan would have been a good choice for us.
The routine we got into was waking up and having a HUGE breakfast at food court in the resort with our CS credits. We like to sleep in on vacation so by the time we got the 6 of us out the door this was around 10:30-11:00. This would last the kids through late afternnon to get their snack, then we would have a nice huge TS dinner late. We like to stay in the parks late when the crowds are light. Then we would let the kids sleep in since we had been out late the night before....I know this routine would not work at all for most, but it was perfect for us. If we were morning people, I think we would have had a light cereal breakfast in the room early, then used the CS credit at lunch, then had dinner earlier and used the snack credit as a late dessert.....(Or maybe the snack credit could cover your light breakfast now that they have opened up the choiced covered by the snack credit.
The routine we got into was waking up and having a HUGE breakfast at food court in the resort with our CS credits. We like to sleep in on vacation so by the time we got the 6 of us out the door this was around 10:30-11:00. This would last the kids through late afternnon to get their snack, then we would have a nice huge TS dinner late. We like to stay in the parks late when the crowds are light. Then we would let the kids sleep in since we had been out late the night before....I know this routine would not work at all for most, but it was perfect for us. If we were morning people, I think we would have had a light cereal breakfast in the room early, then used the CS credit at lunch, then had dinner earlier and used the snack credit as a late dessert.....(Or maybe the snack credit could cover your light breakfast now that they have opened up the choiced covered by the snack credit.