Difficulty with DxDP credit pooling at CBR, resolved after several phone calls

[hodad]

I stayed at Caribbean Beach Resort with my kids and nephews recently, while the kids' other parents stayed off-site, in order to get access to the pool and utilize the versatile dining credits of the deluxe dining plan. I've always been a proponent of getting the dining plan for some of your party for some of your visit, in order to maximize savings, and I expected this iteration to go off without a hitch just like previous visits.

After checking in online in advance, I knew something was amiss when I couldn't use the dining plan on our arrival day for a snack at MK. The same thing happened for lunch at Skipper Canteen, but the amazing cast members there were able to call CBR and get things settled, or so I thought.

At the same time that I was eating at Skipper Canteen, my nephews were at Be Our Guest with their parents and were not able to use their magic bands to redeem dining credits. I told them to get a receipt and take it to CBR to get things straightened out.

That evening at dinner at Narcoossee's, the restaurant manager refused to accept dining credits, saying that as the sole adult on the room reservation, I needed to be present at the meal.

By this time I had to fly suddently to California for a family medical emergency, cutting my vacation short (long story), so I wasn't in Orlando any more. I told my nephews' parents to take the Narcoossee's and BoG receipts to the CBR concierge or front desk to get things settled, and they did so unsuccessfully! Needless to say, they were worried about their upcoming reservations at Boma and Tusker House, which they couldn't afford to pay for out of pocket on top of already paying for the dining plan.

I ended up calling a cast member on the phone once I arrived at LAX, and that person reassured me that we did nothing wrong, and that my nephews should return to the CBR desk, and if they needed to speak to me, have them call me on their cell and hand it to the cast member there. I conveyed that info to my nephews before they woke up in the morning, and they returned to the CBR desk and had everything settled.

tl;dr: was told you can't use pooled deluxe dining credits unless one of the adult resort guests is present at the meal. this is not true, and Disney ultimately sorted things out.

 

[LovesTimone]

My friends had this happen a while back, the adults where at Tiffins and the "kids"( 21 to 14) were eating at Flame Tree, They were not going to let them use the credits with out an adult from the room. But said they could charge the meals to the room as they had charging privileges. So they could charge to the room but not use the ddp entitlements. My Friends husband had to get up from his meal and walk across the park to get it straighten out. He was not happy... So when they went back to the resort they had to deal with this same problem, but they did get everything straighten out but it took sometime and they did not have anymore issues.

 

[DisBuckMan]

Could be the beginning of Disney closing that loophole of more than one room's worth of folks using credits from the same DxDDP.

 

[sharonabe]

Could be the beginning of Disney closing that loophole of more than one room's worth of folks using credits from the same DxDDP.

OR trying to clamp down on adults using kids' credits. That's gotta be a HUGE money loss for Disney.

 

[Lisa F]

OR trying to clamp down on adults using kids' credits. That's gotta be a HUGE money loss for Disney.

That doesn't make a lot of sense. They can differentiate adult vs. kid TS on the regular DDP. If they wanted to on the DxDDP why not just deal with it on the software end? If the credits came up as kids vs. adults that would solve the problem with no fuss whatsoever, you can either charge an adult TS or a kid TS.

 

[supersnoop]

That doesn't make a lot of sense. They can differentiate adult vs. kid TS on the regular DDP. If they wanted to on the DxDDP why not just deal with it on the software end? If the credits came up as kids vs. adults that would solve the problem with no fuss whatsoever, you can either charge an adult TS or a kid TS.

They can't differentiate on the credit side because there are some quick service restaurants without kids menus. Disney has a habit of favoring humans over technology when it comes to guest interaction.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Simple solutions: make Casey's have a children's menu. It should not be hard.

(There are only a handful of QS without children's options. Require it for reimbursement. Boom. And I say this exploiting the QS loophole a lot because kid QS is such garbage.)

 

[bumbershoot]

Could be the beginning of Disney closing that loophole of more than one room's worth of folks using credits from the same DxDDP.

I would behave sworn that this was something new that they had added on purpose; the ability to pay for others using your credits? That it's not a loophole at all?

 

[supersnoop]

I would behave sworn that this was something new that they had added on purpose; the ability to pay for others using your credits? That it's not a loophole at all?

Some websites announced it as if it were an official policy, but Disney never actually announced it. They did remove one line from the dining plan brochure, but that was far from a clear endorsement of the practice.

 

[senadler]

This sounds like it was a pretty specific issue, that an adult on the plan was not present. While my kids have not had a problem charging snacks, etc. on the plan, for meals we have always had one adult on the reservation present and have never had an issue. I don't know that this is change in how it is being handled, I think typically an adult on the reservation with the dining plan is present at the meal.

We have shared the deluxe plan with others over two trips so far, and have not had issues anywhere. I understand there are no guarantees, but I think OP experience was unusual and not the norm.

 

[hodad]

For future trips, we're planning on using dining credits only when one of the adults on the reservation is present because correcting things was such a pain in the butt and a waste of time. It's still a great deal!