2 Rooms 2 Different Dining Plans- Family of 4

[Abharmagic]

Hello. Considering booking 2 rooms for an upcoming trip. Family of 4 going. Myself, Husband, -and two Disney Adults (ages 11 and 13). Can I book one room with DXDP and one without? Or one with DXDP and one with QS? My kids eat like birds and are not worth the adult price. Hubby and I enjoy nice meals and like to maximize our dining money.

Thoughts, opinions, experience with how to do this, etc. my kids eat cheap. Think Pasta with butter, grilled cheese, mozzarella sticks, appetizers...

Was running scenarios of two rooms at POP:
Think I could manage it with just 2 on DXDDP and two with nothing and share credits? It's a 5 night 6 day trip. That's 30 meal credits. 20 snack credits. I'd purchase 2 extra refillable mugs. If I roughly did the math: that means we'd use 25 credits for TS dinners. And it would leave us with one day of 4 more TS lunches/breakfast where all of us could eat together. Then 1 extra lone TS credit. My math may be off- I like numbers but I didn't say I was good at math. Then 20 snacks/4 people= 5 snacks each= one snack a day.

HELP! Anyone done this? Does Disney "allow this" I know I can book it but will I get pushback if/when we try to share credits across dining plans?

 

[sharonabe]

HELP! Anyone done this? Does Disney "allow this" I know I can book it but will I get pushback if/when we try to share credits across dining plans?

You can do it, but you really need to do the math. 5 nights even at POP is a considerable amount of money. Add that to the cost of the DxDDP, and you might be able to just pay OOP for all your meals and do better.

To know for sure, you need to decide where you're going to eat and what you're planning on the kids eating. It sounds like you'll pay OOP for their meals anyway. With a little more info, some of us can help with the math, but we don't have enough to give it justice at this point.

 

[DisneyFansInNYC]

All I can say is that we used the DDP once and it was a waste for us. We don't use it anymore. But I will say that when we used it we had 6 Disney adults and 2 Disney kids. Whenever we ate they didn't check who was there - sometimes my parents didn't come with us for dinner. But that was many many years ago and I don't know how things have changed.

On a side note - are you booking the two rooms just to do the dining plan separately or for the extra room? You know that they will not guarantee connecting rooms - so you might be separated and you can't put children only on the room. You can definitely book one with a dining plan and one without - but can people use the dining plan that didn't buy it - I can't answer that as it has been years since doing the DDP.

 

[Pumbaa_]

You can do it exactly as you laid it out

It's now a math exercise to see if the two rooms are worth it

 

[Faldred]

To factor into your decision, the extra space that comes with having two connecting rooms is a nice bonus. Last time we went, as a family of 5 (2 adults, 10, 8, and 8 at the time), we had a much better time with two rooms at All-Star Sports than we would have had we gotten one of the few 5-person rooms at POR or CBR. Plus, those rooms for 5 are usually excluded from special offers like free dining because they're already in high demand.

 

[Capang]

Can you have two kids in a room? Because I thought at least one person has to be over 18 on the reservation per room. If that's the case then no, it won't work because one adult and one child would be on the plan as opposed to the two adults only on the plan.

 

[PSULion]

Can you have two kids in a room? Because I thought at least one person has to be over 18 on the reservation per room. If that's the case then no, it won't work because one adult and one child would be on the plan as opposed to the two adults only on the plan.

The kids are Disney adults. So the kid in one room would technically have the plan, but they'd just use the credits for the adult from the non dining plan room. In our experience, the restaurants didn't really care who the credits were assigned to, as long as there were enough to cover the meal.

 

[DVC_Dad_Canada]

Personally, i gave up on the dining plan once my children turned 10. Just get one room and pay OOP for food. Much more flexible, and you'll save far more by eating only what you want.

 

[sharonabe]

To factor into your decision, the extra space that comes with having two connecting rooms is a nice bonus. Last time we went, as a family of 5 (2 adults, 10, 8, and 8 at the time), we had a much better time with two rooms at All-Star Sports than we would have had we gotten one of the few 5-person rooms at POR or CBR. Plus, those rooms for 5 are usually excluded from special offers like free dining because they're already in high demand.

But with just one adult and one Disney adult in each room, they probably won't get connecting rooms. They'll probably get adjacent rooms, but even that is not a guarantee. And, they aren't talking about free dining and upgrading, just buying the DxDDP outright for the one room. I just don't think the math works out for this one.

 

[Hopefully]

Can you have two kids in a room? Because I thought at least one person has to be over 18 on the reservation per room. If that's the case then no, it won't work because one adult and one child would be on the plan as opposed to the two adults only on the plan.

The kids are Disney adults. So the kid in one room would technically have the plan, but they'd just use the credits for the adult from the non dining plan room. In our experience, the restaurants didn't really care who the credits were assigned to, as long as there were enough to cover the meal.

Not talking about the DDP. Talking about booking a room with only a 13 and 11 year old in it. This is not allowed. And connecting rooms are NEVER guaranteed.
In order to do this, with or without a dining plan, you need to book one room in the fathers name and one room in the mothers name. They would have to stay in those rooms and be split up. And although the rooms may be near each other, they could also be very far apart.
If you booked 2 rooms with someone over 18 in each room, then they could definitely have DDP on one room and not the other and share the credits.

 

[Abharmagic]

I have a very deep discount on the two rooms at POP. I do not mind booking two rooms. One adult per room. I'm even ok if we aren't connecting or nearby each other. We are grown ups we have cell phones we can handle it. We will request connecting or adjacent rooms but if that doesn't happen our vacation will not be ruined.

Now that that's cleared up for all you worriers- my OP asked the question about two rooms, one with DXDDP one with nothing. I will book the one room with myself and one of my Disney adults (kids aged 11 and 13) and add the dining plan on that room only. The other room I'll book with my DH and one if my kids (again, a Disney Adult) and add no dining plan. I'm asking if anyone has ever done this/has any experience doing this on prior trips or even know anyone who has done this recently? Can credits be shared with people not on the Dining Plan as long as the people on the dining plan are present at the meal? Just playing around with numbers and scenarios. Stop worrying about who is staying in the rooms and if they will be connecting. That is not of any concern to me.

 

[Pumbaa_]

I thought I was clear, in 2017 this is done all the time. Is your trip this year?

 

[sharonabe]

I'm asking if anyone has ever done this/has any experience doing this on prior trips or even know anyone who has done this recently? Can credits be shared with people not on the Dining Plan as long as the people on the dining plan are present at the meal? Just playing around with numbers and scenarios. Stop worrying about who is staying in the rooms and if they will be connecting. That is not of any concern to me.

Well apparently you are the one who is making more of it than the rest of us are, because you missed the following replies that all said you could. We were just trying to help with the WHY and HOW:

You can do it, but you really need to do the math.

You can do it exactly as you laid it out

It's now a math exercise to see if the two rooms are worth it

In our experience, the restaurants didn't really care who the credits were assigned to, as long as there were enough to cover the meal.

If you booked 2 rooms with someone over 18 in each room, then they could definitely have DDP on one room and not the other and share the credits.

 

[Nancyg56]

I have a very deep discount on the two rooms at POP. I do not mind booking two rooms. One adult per room. I'm even ok if we aren't connecting or nearby each other. We are grown ups we have cell phones we can handle it. We will request connecting or adjacent rooms but if that doesn't happen our vacation will not be ruined.

Now that that's cleared up for all you worriers- my OP asked the question about two rooms, one with DXDDP one with nothing. I will book the one room with myself and one of my Disney adults (kids aged 11 and 13) and add the dining plan on that room only. The other room I'll book with my DH and one if my kids (again, a Disney Adult) and add no dining plan. I'm asking if anyone has ever done this/has any experience doing this on prior trips or even know anyone who has done this recently? Can credits be shared with people not on the Dining Plan as long as the people on the dining plan are present at the meal? Just playing around with numbers and scenarios. Stop worrying about who is staying in the rooms and if they will be connecting. That is not of any concern to me.

As others have pointed out....the math is the big deal here. I also want to point out that amy of us tend to add information when we answer because while YOU may be well aware of the logistical implications of two adults and two minors in two rooms, many people reading your post are not, and may use the information shared without understanding that there are consequences. You may be fine with two rooms on opposite ends of the resort, but others may not even know that can happen. There was no need to be snippy.

I will confirm what had already been answered. This year you can share your credits. No one knows about next year.

 

[kaytieeldr]

My kids eat like birds and

Just fyi, birds on average eat about 50% of their weight...every day

Can you have two kids in a room?

No. Physically doing that - which the OP is not doing - could get the whole party removed from the resort.

I just don't think the math works out for this one.

and
Yeah, I agree. Twelve credits per night, with two of the four diners not eating much at all? And multi-course meals each time? It might work if they do character breakfasts every morning (one credit per person no matter how little is eaten) and signature dinners every night. Not likely, but possible.