sharing dining credits

[bcsmom]

I just talked to someone in reservations, was told that the only person that can use the dining plan was the names on the card. I asked if you could let someone else in your family use a credit if they were dining with you, & he said no. I know we used the card before, & this was not a problem. I was just wondering if they had changed things. I am bringing my parents, & I was going to give them 2 credits to eat with us for one dinner. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[kcashner]

It becomes a matter of semantics. The person who is named on the card is the only person who can use the card. However, you can use the card to buy food for another person (whether with cash or credits).

You cannot give your card to your family member and allow them to eat. You can go to any TS/CS outlet and use your credits as you see fit. They might be a little stricter during the free dining periods, but I had no problem buying an "extra" meal during purchased dining.

There were some changes to the plan as of May 1 (expansion of snacks allowed). If we become aware of any other changes during our upcoming vacation, I'll let you know when we get back.

 

[GeologyRocks]

hmmm, this makes me think: can I use the credits for more people than are listed on my room card? We will have 2A, 3YA (I know disney doesn't make the distinction) but it would be AWESOME to save a couple extra table service credits and take my parents out to dinner at Wolfgang Pucks or something on Sunday when they come to pick up the boys.

 

[bcsmom]

Great thanks for the info. We are going during the free dining period. I would be there to use the card, we just wanted to use two of our credits to pay for my parents meal.

 

[GeologyRocks]

lol - I'm so dumb sometimes. Didn't realize you'd just described that bright idea of mine =)

 

[bcsmom]

Hey great minds think alike

 

[Dcanoli]

We are in the midst of planning our trip too, and I'm trying to take "Grandmom" along. Since she lives in FL, we are trying to either buy her a FL Resident ticket and/or get her a free ticket with my husband's Marriott points.

However, as you all know, this would mean she wouldn't have a KTTW and couldn't eat with us "FOR FREE." I was planning on using the card like we have always done in the past--since they just take one card when you go to "pay" for the meal, we were going to let our little (one who never eats anything) eat off all our plates. That way, we wouldn't order for him and they would just deduct the TOTAL number of TS or CS meals off the one card we give them.

They are still doing the "total" thing, right? Just deducting the total number of meals off the card....they haven't changed it since last year and seperated out the Adults' and Kids' meals have they?

 

[wendylovesdisney]

I called Disney and the cast member on the phone very emphatically stated more then once that I could not share with my daughter, paying oop, etc, most of the questions everyone asks about the Dining Plan.
I finally insisted that they talk to someone in "Dining" ITSELF (don't understand who Dining really is, it just came out) and she came back on and said that actually the only rule I needed to worry about was use my credits by Midnight of my last day and Disney did not care how else I used my credits. So there!
-Wendy

 

[Dcanoli]

Thank you! So, they haven't changed it.

Every time we've used the plan, they've just taken my husband's card and deducted our total number of meals.

...and that makes perfectly good sense because if you search these boards, you will see that they waitstaff make mistakes all the time, and you have to carefully check your receipt when they bring it back to make sure they did it correctly.

Thanks! That puts my mind at ease--still no differentiating between adults' and kids' meals--all in one pot!

 

[Tinkerbelle32]

So, if I understand this correctly all of the credits are together in one pot, so to speak. There is not x amount of adult table service, and x amount of childs table service credits. So, for example if I order two adult hamburger meals and two childs hamburger meals, four would be deducted from the "pot". How do they prevent people from ordering an extra adult meal for 1 cs credit and splitting it between the two kids, thus saving 1 cs credit for later. Or, is this allowed? No flames please, I'm not saying that I'm doing this. Just want to know the facts for our upcoming trip.

 

[Dcanoli]

Yes, you are correct. You can search these boards or even www.mousesavers.com for dining plan tips and tricks, and they will tell you exactly what you just said.

All meals are in the "pot." For instance if a family of four goes to Disney for five nights (the dining plan is tied to the number of nights you stay in a Disney resort), the total number of table-service meals would be 20, the counter-service meals would be 20, and the snack totals would be 20.

Then, when you go to eat, you just order what you think your family will eat. If that means the kids split a meal or Mom and "Susie" share a meal, than that's what you order. When you go to pay, they take one of your party's cards and run it through the register.

You will then see the total number of TS, CS, and snacks left. BUT, always check your totals because waitstaff have been to known to commonly make mistakes in the totals. Don't be afraid to tell them what you ordered and to correct the totals. They will be happy to correct them for you.

We went last year with some friends, and the Mom constantly shared meals with her children. They had two less meals than we did, and we all wanted to do the Hoop Dee Doo Revue, which is 2 TS credits. For the two less meals they ended up having, they shared meals and even bought a meal one time.

The only place you cannot share meals are the buffets and the shows. Each person attending those shows/meals must have their own meal plan/KTTW card.

 

[bicker]

There have been reports of CMs enforcing the limits on the card (2A2C), and there have also been reports of CMs not enforcing those limits. Just be prepared for either experience, and you'll be okay.

 

[Tinkerbelle32]

Technically, how could they enforce this if all the credits are thrown together in one big "pot" so to speak?

 

[Dcanoli]

I guess they could stand there and argue with you while looking at the plates on your table...

But, the servers don't STAND at your table and watch you eat! So, how do they know who ate what?

Personally (and this is just my opinion), but I don't think the servers really CARE who eats what. They are so busy serving, they just bring the food and then the check!

 

[Melrosgirl]

We traveled with friends last year. They had the (free) dining plan and we did not. They left a day before we did and left really early in the morning. They still had 12 credits on their cards (mostly for snacks). We took their card and had no problem using all those 12 credits that day (had to be used by midnight of their check out day). No problem using it. No one asked for i.d. either.

 

[Dcanoli]

That's about what I remember from our last trip too. The waiter (or waitress) just takes it like a credit card and deducts how many dinners you had.

If you're eating dinner, your receipt will come back as (let's say you are a family of four with 20 TS credits) 16 TS credits.

Like I wrote above, always make sure you check the total on your receipt when the waiter or waitress brings it back because sometimes they take out too many credits and sometimes they take out too little credits.

They took out too little on us once, and my husband went back and had them fix it.

 

[n2mm]

There have been reports of CMs enforcing the limits on the card (2A2C), and there have also been reports of CMs not enforcing those limits. Just be prepared for either experience, and you'll be okay.

I absolutely agree with bicker on this. I JUST returned last night and this is how it went for us:

In September we shared our credits with other family members and it was not a problem.

NOW: We took 2 family members with us to Coral Reef. On our card it says 02A (means 2 adults on the dining plan). When the server arrived he asked if we were on the dining plan (which is something you are asked before EVERY meal now). We were honest and told him we were on the plan, but was treating our 2 other members with our credits. HE absolutely said no this can't be done. We told him we had done this before....he insisted that this is NEW policy and it can't be done. So I pulled out my card and said, then bill 2 TS credits on my card and 2 TS credits on hubby's card. HE again said he doubted this would work and would have to clear it with his manager. He came back after the meal, took our 2 cards and charged each of them. He said it was alot of work on his part and he was not too happy at all. YES, it all worked out....but did I enjoy my meal, absolutely NOT, because the whole time I kept wondering how the bill was going to work out.

We took the same 2 family members to Kona's the next night and told the server we again were paying for their meals. We asked if she wanted to ring each of the cards and she said no, she could ring the bill (all 4 TS credits) on one bill. She did the bill correctly and it went smoothly this time. Again, this time the server looked PO'd.

Third night....again, the same 2 family members to LeCellier. We had 4 TS credits to use and told the server what we were doing and asked it we needed to use 2 cards or 1. She said one.

Keep in mind we were doing nothing wrong. It actually says in the brochure, you can use your credits anyway you want! I even carried the brochure around with me after the hassle at the Coral Reef.

We paid for a couple of dinners OOP earlier because we ate at Prime Time and the Plaza and had small meals each time. (plus we have the DDE card too.)

We paid alot of money for the DDP since we were there 12 nights, and had to share our credits with our family that arrived on our last 5 nights. We could barely get through them ourselves. We had 14 snack credits on the last 2 days to use up because with deserts for lunch and deserts for dinner, we just were never hungary.

Normally I would post, this is not a problem. But as Bicker said, this MAY be a problem and your server may get their panties in a bunch. But I still don't believe we were doing anything wrong. The brochure says several times, you use them the way you want, and that's what we did.

 

[ROSR]

Can someone please help me? I'm thinking of going to WDW for a week to take advantage of the free dining plan. We are a family of 5, husband, myself, DD 17, DD 14 and DD 2 ( oops). We already have 2 7-day MYW tickets. First question: Would I be able to buy 4 2-day MYW tickets and have the 2 kids use these for the 4 days we will be going to the parks?
Second question: Would we get the dining for the full 7 days even though we are in only buying 2-day tickets? TIA Rose

 

[Pedler]

I called Disney and the cast member on the phone very emphatically stated more then once that I could not share with my daughter, paying oop, etc, most of the questions everyone asks about the Dining Plan.
I finally insisted that they talk to someone in "Dining" ITSELF (don't understand who Dining really is, it just came out) and she came back on and said that actually the only rule I needed to worry about was use my credits by Midnight of my last day and Disney did not care how else I used my credits. So there!
-Wendy

I sometimes wonder if the CM's on the phone go through much training at all or any refresher training. It appears at times that if they don't know an answer to a question they just wing it rather than go check what the answer is.

 

[Pedler]

There have been reports of CMs enforcing the limits on the card (2A2C), and there have also been reports of CMs not enforcing those limits. Just be prepared for either experience, and you'll be okay.

I sometimes wonder if this is a case of CM's enforcing a Disney rule or just winging it? It seems that any type of official answer seems to be that the whole 2A2C doesn't matter yet there are repeat instances of CM's that do hold to that. Time to get Scully and Mulder on the case!