2006 Disney Dining Plan FAQ

[kaylie&laurensmom]

I'm going with 2 kids, my husband may join us for 2 nights in the middle of our 7 night stay. We are on the free dining plan package. I read that every guest in the room must be on the same package. So he cannot just "sneak" into our room and spend the night with us? He has to purchase a 7 day package in order to get into our hotel?????

I am sure your husband will be able to stay in your room, he just may not have any dining credits (although he could use yours really). That just seems silly that he could not stay with you in the hotel! That's still a total of 4 people so it's not like you're going over room capacity; and who would know anyway? I don't know if it's technically against some "rule" - I would call Disney and ask to speak to a supervisor and explain your special situation if it will bother you.

 

[macraven]

I am sure your husband will be able to stay in your room, he just may not have any dining credits (although he could use yours really). That just seems silly that he could not stay with you in the hotel! That's still a total of 4 people so it's not like you're going over room capacity; and who would know anyway? I don't know if it's technically against some "rule" - I would call Disney and ask to speak to a supervisor and explain your special situation if it will bother you.

yes, what she said........

technically you can have 2 adults and 2 kids in the room without an increase of room charge.

the one thing that disney will say is only registered guests can use the transportation system.
i have been going to disney since 1975 and once the hotel system went up and transportation developed, i have never seen or heard a bus driver, monorail driver ask to see a guests card to show they are registered at a hotel.

you will have to buy park admission tickets. that is the only thing i can think of that you need.

have the hubby come and stay a few days and have a wonderful vacation at the motherland.
disney is a happy place for families !!

 

[Bmwdsny]

I'm going with 2 kids, my husband may join us for 2 nights in the middle of our 7 night stay. We are on the free dining plan package. I read that every guest in the room must be on the same package. So he cannot just "sneak" into our room and spend the night with us? He has to purchase a 7 day package in order to get into our hotel?????

Ok, my husband is doing the same thing in Aug. we be staying 6 nights and my DH is not coming til the 4th night. here is your choice... take him off the package and any meals he goes to you will have to pay out of pocket, but the room charge will be the same. OR leave him on the package and utilize extra dining meals for breakfast for you guys until he comes.
What i did was got a package for 4 of us with one day pass (since we have passes at home) and i will use my DH meals option for breakfasts til he comes. The night he comes, we are going to HDD show since it takes 2 tableservices and we be able to catch up.

The only down side is that if you get a exceed number of park tickets, you may wnat to add the "non expire option" so that you can keep the tickets that your DH don't use.

 

[First timer]

o As an added benefit, you may exchange 2 table-service meals for either 1 Signature Dining Experience at one of our finest restaurants, such as the acclaimed Citricos at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, or for 1 Disney Dinner Show, such as Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue.
o Select Downtown Disney® restaurants may require a surcharge for certain entree items.


Wow - thanks for this. Will definitely take into account next trip. We just returned and left behind 20 counter service meals! 4 of us traveling - one child. There was so much food that we could not use all the counter service meals. Was told on the last day that we could have used for snacks and just told the vendor to forego everything else. Tried to give away but we did not know how to do this beside standing in front of a counter service restaurant and acoste people to ask them if we could by them lunch!

 

[diswheels]

Hi! Is fulton's crab house concidered Signature dinning? Is it even on the list for the dinning plan? What restuarants would you reccommend on dinning plan that are not Signature dining?

Thanks,

Ashley

 

[jjohnson]

Fulton's does not participate in the dining plan.

My family takes a vote after each trip whether a restaurant is a "keeper" the only ones that have stayed are:

Kona Cafe
LeCellier
Spoodles

We also really enjoyed Ragland Road in DTD (dining plan) but were outvoted by the kids.

 

[Ms. WDW]

I have a question about "swapping". I know you can exchange 2 TS credits for a "signature dining" meal.

But...can you exchange any "counter" credits for table service credits?

I'm headed down Saturday and we still are toying around with "should we or shouldn't we" purchase the Dining Plan?

 

[macraven]

I have a question about "swapping". I know you can exchange 2 TS credits for a "signature dining" meal.

But...can you exchange any "counter" credits for table service credits?

I'm headed down Saturday and we still are toying around with "should we or shouldn't we" purchase the Dining Plan?

disney won't let you swap counter service credits to table service.

i wish they would.

 

[Ms. WDW]

Thanks macraven - that's kinda what I thought. Oh well.....

 

[jjohnson]

Thanks macraven - that's kinda what I thought. Oh well.....

I don't know if Disney's policy has changed since last year but the DP needs to be booked 5 days before arrival which would be tomorrow. Where are your ADR's?

 

[Ms. WDW]

I don't know if Disney's policy has changed since last year but the DP needs to be booked 5 days before arrival which would be tomorrow. Where are your ADR's?

When I first heard about the plan back in March, I was told that you had to book the plan before you checked in; even the day before was ok.

But I booked it about an hour ago and all my ADR's were made at participating restaurants! So I am all set!!!

 

[jjohnson]

I just noticed you are a DVC member. The rules are different for us. We can book the day before arrival. Enjoy & let us know when you return your thoughts on the plan.

 

[Ms. WDW]

Thank you! I'll be sure to give a full report on how the plan worked for us!

 

[bicker]

i have been going to disney since 1975 and once the hotel system went up and transportation developed, i have never seen or heard a bus driver, monorail driver ask to see a guests card to show they are registered at a hotel.

I've only been ID's twice in about 20 trips. Both times were prime travel times. It so rare that folks really don't need to worry much about it happening to them.

can you exchange any "counter" credits for table service credits?

No, but even if you could, it would likely not be worth it. I figure it would be a 5CS to 1TS exchange rate.

 

[robinb]

can you exchange any "counter" credits for table service credits?

No, but even if you could, it would likely not be worth it. I figure it would be a 5CS to 1TS exchange rate.

I "value" a CS credit ar about $11-12 and a TS credit at about $35-40, so I would say it's closer to 3-4 CS credits per TS. Even so, I agree that I don't think it's worth it to trade 3-4 meals for one meal. Plus, it would be a pain in the butt for Disney to program and guests to keep track of.

 

[bicker]

3-4 CS per TS sounds okay.

I do agree that it would be a significant amount of extra work (and therefore extra cost) to facilitate exchanges. If they intended the system to work that way, then they would have just made a meal-agnostic points system: 1 point for snacks, 4 or 5 points for CS, and say 12 or 15 points for TS. That type of system could even better handle things like the Plaza Restaurant at MK, which shouldn't be a full TS IMHO, and Le Cellier and Chefs de France, which perhaps should be 1.3 TS credits today, based on their relative demand. However, a system like that ends up with fewer credits unused, and therefore never appears to guests to be as valueable as a system structured like the Dining Plan is currently structured.

 

[Lewisc]

Last year CS meals were valued at $8-$9, my receipt at EOS actually showed a dininng discount that brought the bill down to the amount Disney was paying them. The TS meals were valued at around $22, I think that may have been before tip and/or tax. I saw them ring up my meal at Chefs de France and I could see the computer discounting my meal down to what Disney was paying them.

I agree with Bicker, Disney doesn't want to reduce unused credits. My guess is we wouldn't do as well as the more expensive restaurants would be able to charge something in between regular TS and Signature credits.

If Disney made that type of change I think they'd just back to a prior plan, an adult gets around $50 worth of meal credits and a child around $16. This represents around a 25% discount. Guests could then use their credits however they wanted.

 

[disfountainofyouth]

Is payment required up front for DVC members or upon check-in???
Doing the math to see if this is worth it for my family.

 

[Bmwdsny]

Is payment required up front for DVC members or upon check-in???

YES!!

 

[jjohnson]

Is payment required up front for DVC members or upon check-in???
Doing the math to see if this is worth it for my family.

DVC members need to add the plan before check-in but pay for the plan AT check-in