When the DDP first started this was enforced. Right on your "key" it stated how many Adult Meals and how many Children's Meals, and the system worked.
Not sure why they let it get so out of control but it would have been irresponsible of Disney to not get this under control before bringing it back. They've had 3 years to fix it and from the sound of it they are.
The first time we had QS Free Dining, our then 7 yo was having a meltdown at a QS register because she didn't want anything on the kids menu, she wanted something on the adult menu. I was going to just order a kids meal that I wanted (because that's enough food for me anyway) and order whatever meal she wanted. Then the CM said (very quietly), "She can order whatever meal she wants. The system doesn't know the difference between kids meals and adult meals." And then the other time we had free dining, the system wouldn't allow you to order more meals than the number of people on the room reservation. In our case, that was 5 people (we were all Disney adults at that point). However, our son and his wife were traveling with us (separate room) and didn't have the dining plan. We knew we'd have meals leftover at the end of the week (because 2 of our kids at the time ate like birds so we'd often split 2 meals between me and those 2 kids) so we tried to order 6 meals at once so we could feed our son and his wife as well. The system wouldn't allow it. Again, a CM told us that if we just did 2 separate orders, we could order the 6 meals.
I think the first thing Disney might want to do is tell their CMs to stop telling guests how to "work" the system.
Why not just pay out of pocket? I have been saying for years that I don't think the dining plan is actually saving anyone any money and it's simply a matter of convenience or wanting it to feel like an all inclusive vacation. If you are not on the dining plan, you can be 40 years old and order a kids meals at every meal or some sides and snacks and do your meals however you want.
The Dining Plan is such a big money maker for Disney thanks to people who assume that it's going to save them money. *Some* people can (with careful planning) come out ahead on it but they are few and far between. I always track our dining expenses -- not for budgeting purposes, but out of curiosity just to see if the dining plan would have saved us money. It never would have saved us money even when our sons were teenagers and ate constantly (they are offset by their sisters who eat like birds). And we buy all of our snacks and water/drinks in the parks. We eat what we want, where we want, and when we want to. We'll book a TS meal here and there but eat mostly at QS restaurants because we prefer *not* to spend an hour+ at a meal (but if we decide we *want* to linger for an hour, we will sit and relax at a QS restaurant as long as there are empty tables). We have *never* even come close to spending what it would have cost us to pay for the Dining Plan on any trip. And that's mostly because of the way we eat -- it doesn't really fit the dining plan parameters. Even if we bought the dining plan, we'd have a bunch of extra snacks, drinks, and possibly a TS meal or two to pay for on top of the cost of the dining plan. Even the times we got free dining because it saved us more than the room/package discount, we always had to work/plan to make the right choices to get the best value out of the plan and we always left with bags full of snacks from being able to trade a QS meal for 3 snacks. I understand that many people like the feeling of knowing their food is paid for before they get there (we have friends and family members like that. My friend's husband is such a penny pincher that if she doesn't buy the dining plan for the trips, her husband will constantly be complaining about the food prices and will skip meals to save money. Fortunately he never runs the numbers on the dining plan or they'd be one of those families lugging a cooler around the parks with all of their food for the day.
). I always recommend they just take the amount of money they would pay for the dining plan, purchase Disney gift cards for that amount (or just put that money in a separate savings account), and enjoy the extra souvenirs they can buy at the end of the trip when they realize they have money left over. If people got home from their trips and added up what their food would have cost them if they *weren't* on the dining plan, they would understand how much money they wasted and not buy the dining plan on the next trip. But Disney knows most people won't do that and will simply keep buying the dining plan because they *think* it saves them money. And just to reiterate (before 10 people post their stories about how the dining plan saved them money), I know that *some* people by doing numerous character meals, ordering an alcoholic beverage at each meal, eating the most expensive menu items at the most expensive restaurants, etc. can come out ahead on the dining plan. But that's not most people.