20 adult diners sharing dxdp credits from one room

[Nancyg56]

I understand your points and generally agree. I regularly take a "Don't hate the player, hate the game" stance around here. Except that the OP is not merely sharing credits. They are buying significantly less expensive children's credits with the intent of using them for real adults' meals, probably including pricey alcoholic drinks. This isn't using two kids' credits for four kids, or letting a light-eating 13yo use a child's credit. The goal is to pay children's prices for meal credits they have no intent of using for children and instead having a large NYE dinner party for adults.
Because of the lack of children at the table and because no manager is going to want to lose out on the big money NYE should pull in, I do not believe this plan will succeed. Even if a server (or servers as I think is likely for such a large group) is excited by the large tip the bill would generate. It's just too many people not on the plan vs. number (and type) of people actually listed.
I agree that they should definitely be prepared to pay OOP if they want to try and see if it works.
[/QUO

The way this plan works now, and the way Disney has implemented its provisions at most Disney owned restaurants, is that all credits are pooled, and no credits are designated as childrens or adults, much like the CS credits in the standard plan. That means that in theory, the OP's plan to use all the credits at once on 20 adults should work, however becuase of the size of the group the logistics of seating that group together on NYE, and he fact that the restaurant is not Disney owned is heissue. It really has nothing to do with the number of kids in the room who "own" the credits other thatn the night they choose is NYE and no kids are present. The server may want the gratuity, however isn't really is not the CM's decision It falls on management, and in this scenario, I think it is going to be an epic fail.

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

Sure, @Nancyg56 , it's fine to say the plan is in line with the letter of the law. My points were intended to highlight how far such an idea is from the spirit of the law. My intent was to help the OP understand just how motivated a manager (and possibly a server worried about getting into trouble with management) would be to push back.
It does not sound like a plan leading to a fun, easygoing NYE. Or possibly extending into a non-fun New Year's Day if one tried to take it up with Guest Services to get the money back in trade for the credits, as some have done after disputed uses of the plan.

ETA: Per my comment about a manager being motivated to push back, I am motivated to provide some math, so we all have the kind of dollar figures in our head that a manager might.
Adult DDxP: $116.25 for three TS credits, or $38.75 per credit.
Child DDxP: $43.49, or $14.50 per credit.
Adult credit costs 2.67x what a child's credit costs.
Flip the fraction, and you get that a child's credit only costs 37.4% of the cost of an adult's.
With the room being stacked with kids and only one adult, the 20 adults would be using approx. 15 children's credits and 5 adult ones.
It's hard to imagine this plan not encountering obstacles.
It may well be that the OP has given up on the plan already. But I figure if one person is here asking about, contemplating an idea like this, then others are, too.

 

[Pumbaa_]

You know the old line I’ll give you a million dollars to sleep with you ......
Ok!
I’ll guve you $5
What kind of girl do you think I am!??
We already know, now we are just negotiating

I find it almost comical that what the OP is proposing is fine when it’s a small group doing this. Family of 4 in one room sharing w relatives in second room. But in an uproar over this

Everything is the same, we are just negotiating

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

You know the old line I’ll give you a million dollars to sleep with you ......
Ok!
I’ll guve you $5
What kind of girl do you think I am!??
We already know, now we are just negotiating

I find it almost comical that what the OP is proposing is fine when it’s a small group doing this. Family of 4 in one room sharing w relatives in second room. But in an uproar over this

Everything is the same, we are just negotiating

I take your point, but disagree that the scale here doesn't matter.
1) This plan is predicated on stacking a bunch of kids in one room so as to only purchase mostly inexpensive kid credits while intending them almost exclusively for adults. There are plenty of people (like me) who see a difference between sharing an adult credit with another adult and using child TS credits for adults, even before adults started being able to order alcohol.
Child credits cost less for a reason, including the amount and types of foods children will order. So this idea is about more than a general "Is sharing credits OK?"
2) The scale here affects the odds of success. That is not a morality debate, like your argument suggests. The loss facing the restaurant is likely to affect how willing employees are to accept a bunch of children's credits for 20 adults from a plan that lists only one adult in the room with the plan. The OP wanted to know if the idea would pan out, and some respondents like me feel that the scale affects that likelihood. Significantly.

 

[Pumbaa_]

The restaurant loses nothing. They are reimbursed accordingly. There are no child credits or adult credits, just credits

Disney is not blind to this issue. Unless and until they choose to close this loophole, it exists. Disney encourages folks to share credits w others. Which was a huge paradigm shift

You can enjoy the ride on the high horse or not. But no one gets to attack other posters. That is not how this works.

 

[Nancyg56]

I take your point, but disagree that the scale here doesn't matter.
1) This plan is predicated on stacking a bunch of kids in one room so as to only purchase mostly inexpensive kid credits while intending them almost exclusively for adults. There are plenty of people (like me) who see a difference between sharing an adult credit with another adult and using child TS credits for adults, even before adults started being able to order alcohol.
Child credits cost less for a reason, including the amount and types of foods children will order. So this idea is about more than a general "Is sharing credits OK?"
2) The scale here affects the odds of success. That is not a morality debate, like your argument suggests. The loss facing the restaurant is likely to affect how willing employees are to accept a bunch of children's credits for 20 adults from a plan that lists only one adult in the room with the plan. The OP wanted to know if the idea would pan out, and some respondents like me feel that the scale affects that likelihood. Significantly.

It is only the number of guests that is the issue here, and only due to the logistics of managing the guests who may be at any number of tables in a busy non Disney owned restaurant. Individual restaurants are in charge of how they honor credits so this is why we all are worrying the plan my not work.

DIsney changed how they allow sharing and how they enforce ordering. They had been very strict and no server would go against the policy, however Disney has since made changes to credits, sharing and how children order on the DxDDP. There are NO childrens credits to restrict the menu.

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

The restaurant loses nothing. They are reimbursed accordingly. There are no child credits or adult credits, just credits

Disney is not blind to this issue. Unless and until they choose to close this loophole, it exists. Disney encourages folks to share credits w others. Which was a huge paradigm shift

You can enjoy the ride on the high horse or not. But no one gets to attack other posters. That is not how this works.

I did not attack anyone. I pointed out why employees might object.
So, genuine curiosity here: a restaurant gets reimbursed for the price of the meal, no matter what kind of credits are used? Because part of my line of thinking on why, say, a manager might not want to accept this type of usage is because I believe (rightly or wrongly) they receive less for "children's" meals (meaning a child's credit used to pay for a meal) than an adult credit. Instead they just say a meal cost $100, and they get a $100? So a dozen kid credits being used for adults on one tab presents no possibility of a loss for the restaurant?
Again, genuine curiosity here, how and where does Disney encourage you to share credits with people who are not on a dining plan? My impression was that this thread and other threads seeking to hear people's experiences trying to share are because the sharing is a loophole created by not making credits a daily "use it or lose it" proposition, so one can use as many or as few as one chooses in a day. If they have no problem with sharing, why do people sometimes report having issues doing so or getting warnings that such attempts might not work other times or at other restaurants? I'm seriously confused.

 

[Pumbaa_]

There are no child credits on the dxdp

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

It is only the number of guests that is the issue here, and only due to the logistics of managing the guests who may be at any number of tables in a busy non Disney owned restaurant. Individual restaurants are in charge of how they honor credits so this is why we all are worrying the plan my not work.

DIsney changed how they allow sharing and how they enforce ordering. They had been very strict and no server would go against the policy, however Disney has since made changes to credits, sharing and how children order on the DxDDP. There are NO childrens credits to restrict the menu.

As I asked above, I'm trying to understand why there are any issues, why these threads even exist, if it is fully accepted that credits assigned to people X in room Y can be used for meals of anyone at all.
So, you think this is mainly a problem with employee knowledge/understanding of the program as it currently stands? Perhaps with more misunderstandings at non-Disney restaurants?
Could some of the push back be because children's TS credits on the DDP might be different to ones on the DxDP in some manner relevant to the restaurant's bottom line?
Was enforcement of the earlier rules so draconian that employees still fear being in any kind of violation?
If using credits for anyone is firmly in accordance with the letter and the spirit of the plan, and restaurants have no reason to fear that they will get too little in reimbursement for child credits being used on adult meals... I don't see why multiple tables or anything else would be an issue.
So do you think that if the OP wasn't allowed to use the credits and had to pay OOP on that night, s/he should feel confident that taking the issue up with Guest Services would result in Disney agreeing that the restaurant doesn't understand the plan properly? That the money would be refunded and credits taken in exchange instead?

 

[Nancyg56]

As I asked above, I'm trying to understand why there are any issues, why these threads even exist, if it is fully accepted that credits assigned to people X in room Y can be used for meals of anyone at all.
So, you think this is mainly a problem with employee knowledge/understanding of the program as it currently stands? Perhaps with more misunderstandings at non-Disney restaurants?
Could some of the push back be because children's TS credits on the DDP might be different to ones on the DxDP in some manner relevant to the restaurant's bottom line?
Was enforcement of the earlier rules so draconian that employees still fear being in any kind of violation?
If using credits for anyone is firmly in accordance with the letter and the spirit of the plan, and restaurants have no reason to fear that they will get too little in reimbursement for child credits being used on adult meals... I don't see why multiple tables or anything else would be an issue.
So do you think that if the OP wasn't allowed to use the credits and had to pay OOP on that night, s/he should feel confident that taking the issue up with Guest Services would result in Disney agreeing that the restaurant doesn't understand the plan properly? That the money would be refunded and credits taken in exchange instead?

The issue is that there is no policy that is consistant throughout every WDW restaurant. I am not saying ther it is a certainty that the OP will have a problem, but if I was a gambler I would bet that this ois going to be problematic.

 

[MickeyWaffles]

I guess I don't get it. You have 20 adults and 4 kids staying in three rooms?

They are staying at Beach Club villas.

I believe each dedicated 2 bedroom villa there can sleep 8 and lockoffs can sleep 9.

 

[Welsh_Dragon]

Disney is not blind to this issue. Unless and until they choose to close this loophole, it exists.

This is almost exactly what was said on the latest DFB vlog about dining plans.

 

[Pumbaa_]

I’ve been saying it for years!

 

[Bronte]

Sorry I was away for a bit with the storm coming in and I am sorry to stir the pot on this issue I was just not sure what was "official" and what might be just a "loophole."
We have 20 adults (technically 19 but I rounded up for the post)
We have five rooms total (three studios at BCV, one BC room with three adults and one room at CCS with four adults but they will have/use their own dining plan)
So actually I would have been using 15 credits for 15 adults on New Years Eve.

However, now that there is clarification that Disney actually does not allow this and it would be "stealing" plus I might get a CM fired there is no way I will go forward with using the deluxe dining plan.
As far as sitting at different tables I know that we will because of our group size and I also know Disney will force the servers to split the table and the tip regardless if it is one check or many. I think at this point we will just split the party up by major groups (there are four groups) and pay with cash separately which is perfectly fine with everyone. I seriously thought I was making it easier for the servers and saving a little money for the group.

Thanks for the clarification and sorry for stirring the pot

 

[Nancyg56]

Sorry I was away for a bit with the storm coming in and I am sorry to stir the pot on this issue I was just not sure what was "official" and what might be just a "loophole."
We have 20 adults (technically 19 but I rounded up for the post)
We have five rooms total (three studios at BCV, one BC room with three adults and one room at CCS with four adults but they will have/use their own dining plan)
So actually I would have been using 15 credits for 15 adults on New Years Eve.

However, now that there is clarification that Disney actually does not allow this and it would be "stealing" plus I might get a CM fired there is no way I will go forward with using the deluxe dining plan.
As far as sitting at different tables I know that we will because of our group size and I also know Disney will force the servers to split the table and the tip regardless if it is one check or many. I think at this point we will just split the party up by major groups (there are four groups) and pay with cash separately which is perfectly fine with everyone. I seriously thought I was making it easier for the servers and saving a little money for the group.

Thanks for the clarification and sorry for stirring the pot

The issue is that Disey does not really have a policy in terms of how to use DxDDP credits. SOme restaurnats will make kids order off of teh childrens menu, others will encourage the children to get what they want. A few non disney owned restaurants will not let you share credits for more than the guests on the band, others will. I really do nto thin you were violating anything becasue DIsney removed the language that prohibits using credits for those not on the plan.

My concern was because you were going to a non disney owned restaurant on a night when it is very unlikely you all will be seated together, so logistically you were looking at a nightmare. On NYE your chances of success are dramatically reduced, but that does not mean you should not go ahead with your plan. I would simply have a back up plan for paying tables not with the person holding the magic band. You did not stir up any pot.

 

[DISNEY1975]

I don’t want to be embarrassed if there are any issues ...
I thought it would save me some money but also make it easier for the server (the Ards where hard to sort out for the large party and we already know we will probably have to sit at separate tables)

Bad idea. Restaurants were all over the map with this one. I will say, you will have issues...but where and when is unknown as each restaurant (we did 25TS) had its own rules.

I would say with confidence, your idea is not ideal and will cause extra stress during your vacation when you start getting hit with extremely large bills at the end of your meals....not all of them, but enough. There is zero constancy with what can and cant be done with the DxDDP.

 

[Bronte]

My dh said why not just put me back into the room with him and only three kids

 

[piccolopat]

Sooner or later Disney will require the servers at sit down restaurants to scan the Magic Bands of all diners and only allow credits to be used for people actually on the dining plan. Restaurants lose money whenever people on the DxDP use credits for adults when those credits really belong to kids. Heck I think some of them are barely making money now because of the lower reimbursement they get from the plan. I know Disney allows pooled credits now, but I see that changing in the future. At the very least, I can see them allowing the separate pooling of child and adult credits so child credits can only be used for child menu items. I also think that they may have to move to a more limited, prix fixe menu for dining plan customers so restaurants aren't losing money when people only order the most expensive items to maximize the value of the plan.

 

[TwoMisfits]

A separate poster mentioned in their August trip that their server did say it was against the rules to use credits for more adults in the party than the room had (they didn't care about the kids...but op was treating 2 extra adults at a meal...and it got mentioned, but still put through). I agree that regardless of the morality and ethics of the plan, scale and timing matter when it comes to this plan succeeding. In the dead of middle August, that separate poster still got the extra adults covered...on New Years Eve (aka the priciest day in the restaurant year), with the sheer scale of extra adults, I'd think there's no way and it would only lead to bad feelings and outcomes all around.

Since the OP has abandoned the plan, this doesn't matter much...but I figured I'd share recent board experience and my thoughts...

 

[Pumbaa_]

Disney has had years to undo pooling of credits. Do you really think they are losing money? Lol, I am sure they are not

In order to separate credits to child and adult they first have to update the qs credits. This is, I believe, the driver to shared credits. Adult ts meals are already child and adukt

But think about it, what is their motivation? When folks buy the dxdp every single morsel if food and drink is now dedicated to onsite Disney expenditures. Every single one. Which is the ideal Disney goal. Stay onsite, use our transportation m buy our food, drink our drinks.

There are tons of credits left on the table every day. For every expert, there are more novices. That don’t know how to maximize the plan. That knows you can downgrade qs to snacks. That you can load up and take things hime

What the OO planned is done every single day. She was just planning it on a larger scale and at one meal. Let’s face it, every judgy mcjudgeface woukdnt blink and eye if they planned to include mom or dad or cousin boufus in their dinner plans.

With the price of food in the world, guests should find every loophole and exploit it to the fullest. No 10 yo should be charged $50 for a meal they will pick at. Yeah yeah, it’s their choice blah blah. It’s still expats all get out and many aren’t worth it.

Ymmv