Finagling the Meal Plan

[shawn2ca]

Hi All,

In the fall, I'm going to the Parks with 5 other family members. Our first night, we are staying in standard rooms at OKW, and then we transfer into a Grand Villa. On our list of restaurants for the first couple days are Ohana and Boma so in total that equates to 12 table service meals we'd like to do before cooking in our villa. Rather than getting the deluxe dining plan for all six of us I was considering just getting it for four of us (2 each for two rooms, 0 for the third room).

Is this do-able? I know that technically, dining plans aren't transferrable but do they even check to see if everyone in your party is on the plan? What would have to happen is that for the first meal, all six people are paid for by maxing out the whole 3 meal allocation from two individuals. On the next day, the same thing would have to happen.

Thoughts? Thanks in advance for all of your help.

Shawn

 

[Missytara]

As Jiminy Cricket would say, Let your conscience be your guide.......I love Disney and I would never begin to tell someone if they could do something to get around the system.

You already said you know the credits are not transferable, so you answered your own question.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Everyone on the room reservation has to buy the same dining plan. Your KTTW card will be marked with how many adults and how many children are on the plan in that room. So it won't let you apply the DP credits for more adults at a meal than what is on the card, meaning that you can't use the dining plan for three adults at one meal if only two adults are on the plan.

Does that help?

 

[maxiesmom]

Won't work. If you have 4 adults on the dining plan you can only order 4 dining plan meals at a sitting.

 

[lanejudy]

The dining plan isn't always the best bang for your buck, depending on what meals (B-L-D), which restaurants, and which entrees you order. In all honesty, other than the convenience of having it prepaid, the DDP isn't worth it for our family unless it's free. Just put that amount of $$ onto a gift card and consider it your "dining plan" money. You may find you don't spend it all.

Enjoy your vacation!

 

[cvjw]

Won't work. If you have 4 adults on the dining plan you can only order 4 dining plan meals at a sitting.

This. Your KTTK card will state that you are DVC members, which dining plan you have, and how many children and adults are in the room. If your card says deluxe dining plan with 4 adults in the room, then that is how many dining credits you can use at one sitting.

The servers check this. Every single time we tried to charge a meal to the dining plan last year, they verified the number of occupants versus the number of meals charged.

Look into the Tables in Wonderland card. We swear by it now.

 

[4under4]

Tables in Wonderland will almost certainly save you more, even after you add in the cost of the card itself, especially if you wish to partake in adult beverages. As an added bonus, you can use it throughout your stay for TS, lounges, & even some QS locations. The only downside is that the SINGLE person purchasing the TIW card must be the one paying, which means that if your group splits up for some of your visit, it will only be helpful for the one holding the card.

 

[ksmummee]

I got married in January 2013 at Disney. We only had 4 adults in our room. The night before the wedding, we had a family dinner scheduled at Boma. There were about 20 of us. We had about 12 table services left. We had every intention of paying oop for everyone but ourselves. Our waiter told us he could use all of our remaining ddp table credits on the bill. We did not expect that, but it was great! So, I wouldn't go with the intention of messing with the system, but in some cases I guess it's allowed.

 

[Lynne M]

Moving to the Dining Plan board...

 

[MHSweb79]

Our waiter told us he could use all of our remaining ddp table credits on the bill.

I think you got pixie dusted! Which was a nice wedding gift, right?

Back in the olden days, you could use extra meal credits to pay for people outside your party - we had my parents visit us for a few days (they live in FL) and we had no problem paying for their TS meals with our credits. But that loophole has been closed for a while now. We have tried, and as others have said, they know how many people are in your party and you'll only be allowed to use that many credits.

You could probably come up with some way to "finagle" the system, but that would be cheating and won't be allowed to be posted here.

 

[HopperFan]

Won't work. If you have 4 adults on the dining plan you can only order 4 dining plan meals at a sitting.

Agree. Have seen people try, even at Counter Service and be turned down. Right on the card it usually says something like "DDP A02" which would at a glance tell them you have the regular DDP for 2 Adults.

 

[GayeofPA]

May I ask if you can do it the other way around?

2 of us have the dining plan; we go and order one meal and share and use 1 credit?

I suspect the answer is no?

 

[maxiesmom]

May I ask if you can do it the other way around?

2 of us have the dining plan; we go and order one meal and share and use 1 credit?

I suspect the answer is no?

That you can do. As long as it is not a buffet or a restaurant that serves food family-style (big platters of food brought to the table).