Am I getting this right? Dining Plan help!

[DisneyFanatik]

This whole dining plan is new to me, but if I am getting what I am reading here correctly this is what I can do: (this is only regarding TS meals)
Checking in on 5/19 with dh, ds(13) and ds(7) and staying 3 nights therefore getting 3 TS meals for each of us (total 9 adult TS credits and 3 child TS credits.
5/19 Dinner @ Spoodles - use 3 adult TS credits-pay oop for DS(7)
5/20 Dinner @ Chef Mickey's - use 3 adult TS credits-pay oop for DS (7)
5/21 Dinner @ Ohanas - use 3 adult TS credits-pay oop for DS (7)
So now all 9 adult credits have been used. From what I am understanding we can now go to Cape May Cafe for a character breakfast on 5/22 (check-out day) and use the remaining 3 TS credits (originally designated for my DS(7)'s child meals) for me, dh and ds(13) and just have to pay oop for ds(7)'s meal.
Is this correct?

 

[twinsmamma]

This whole dining plan is new to me, but if I am getting what I am reading here correctly this is what I can do: (this is only regarding TS meals)
Checking in on 5/19 with dh, ds(13) and ds(7) and staying 3 nights therefore getting 3 TS meals for each of us (total 9 adult TS credits and 3 child TS credits.
5/19 Dinner @ Spoodles - use 3 adult TS credits-pay oop for DS(7)
5/20 Dinner @ Chef Mickey's - use 3 adult TS credits-pay oop for DS (7)
5/21 Dinner @ Ohanas - use 3 adult TS credits-pay oop for DS (7)
So now all 9 adult credits have been used. From what I am understanding we can now go to Cape May Cafe for a character breakfast on 5/22 (check-out day) and use the remaining 3 TS credits (originally designated for my DS(7)'s child meals) for me, dh and ds(13) and just have to pay oop for ds(7)'s meal.
Is this correct?

i am not sure if they are still pooling the childs and adults meals but if they are then this could e done. check when yu arrive if the meals are pooled and not distinguished between adults and childs.

 

[LaLa]

Honestly, I think it all depends on whether the CM that is waiting on you will allow you to use child credits towards adult meals. Technically, you are not supposed to be able to, but it all falls on the shoulders of your waiter.

I would definitely have a back up plan just in case.

 

[pedro2112]

Honestly, I think it all depends on whether the CM that is waiting on you will allow you to use child credits towards adult meals. Technically, you are not supposed to be able to, but it all falls on the shoulders of your waiter.

Checking in on 5/19 with dh, ds(13) and ds(7) and staying 3 nights therefore getting 3 TS meals for each of us (total 9 adult TS credits and 3 child TS credits.

No need to worry, there is no such thing as a "child" credit.. just TS credits. As the Disney Dining Plan states, anyone in your party (adult or child) can use the TS credits at anytime they want, as long as you have TS credits left in your "bank." There is no indication that the plan is going to change at all in the near future regarding this policy. Therefore, you will have a total of 12 TS credits to use any way you want to.

Enjoy!

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) There are no child or adult credits.
2) A credit is a credit.
3) The difference is a child MUST order from a children's menu. *

 

[patsal]

Be prepared for an arguemnt with your server at Chef Mickey's and 'Ohana. Spoodles will be easier. As others have said credits are credits, but many are enforcing the plan in the spirit for which it was intended to be used.

 

[DisneyFreak35]

When we were there a few weeks ago, we saw a few incidents like this happening which led to embarassment and out of pocket expenses for the families involved. You come out way ahead without cheating the system anyways, I would use the plan the way it was intended and avoid the troubles that come with trying to pull one over.

 

[HayGan]

Just came back a few weeks ago and we had no problems using our credits for who we wanted in our party and paying out of pocket for others. Not one server hesitated when we told them how we were using our credits and paying.

There is no such thing as a child or adult credit. A credit is a credit! Disney has stated all along in their dining plan brochure that credits are pooled and can be used for any member of your party.

I can't believe that this debate continues

 

[DisneyFreak35]

Just came back a few weeks ago and we had no problems using our credits for who we wanted in our party and paying out of pocket for others. Not one server hesitated when we told them how we were using our credits and paying.

There is no such thing as a child or adult credit. A credit is a credit! Disney has stated all along in their dining plan brochure that credits are pooled and can be used for any member of your party.

I can't believe that this debate continues

If a credit is a credit, why on earth would they have different pricing for children and adults, and why would they specify how they are to be used? Can you please post the link of where at Disney's site they say "you can pay for a childs meal but take an adult instead"? Its each persons business how they use their credits and i wouldnt judge a person who takes something more than they are intended to have, but i wouldnt do it personally.

 

[HillPete]

I can't figure out how to copy and paste from the PDF file on the official website, but here's the text:

"Use your meals and snacks in any order and in any amount throughout your package stay until your total is depleted."

We were there in September and when we wanted to use a few credits and pay for the children OOP, all we said to the waiter was "We're going to use credits for the adult meals and pay for the children with cash". No one batted an eye and we used the remaining credits for breakfast on our last day. To be fair, we didn't eat at any of the restaurants you are planning, but still, no one was at all put out by our actions.

Have a great trip!
--H

 

[DisneyFreak35]

i apologize in advance, im not trying to be argumentative, I just dont see how you get "pay for a kid but eat an adult" out of "use your meals and snacks in any order and amount"...what that means to me is if you want to do two sit down meals a day and then two counter meals the next, or if you want to leave all the snacks till the last day etc...If you want 12 adult meals, pay for 12 adult meals..dont pay for 6 adult meals and 6 kids meals and then take 12 adult meals. If they were all priced the same, it wouldnt matter...it just doesnt seem ethical, but I guess if disney wants to ignore the loophole, they should expect it to be exploited.

 

[TLPL]

DisneyFreak35on't get too upset, you know something like that will happen eventually, some people cheat whenever they can. and the rule makers will suffer at first and learn from it and create more rules to protect themselves.

 

[pedro2112]

DisneyFreak35on't get too upset, you know something like that will happen eventually, some people cheat whenever they can. and the rule makers will suffer at first and learn from it and create more rules to protect themselves.

It is extremely rude to call people "cheaters" when they are using the plan in the manner in which it was intended. As the above poster indicated, Disney's own Dining Plan Brochure specifically states that anyone in your party can use any of the TS credits left in the bank, at any time, as long as there are TS credits left. In addition, the Front Desk CMs at the resort where told instructed by management to let guests know that they could use the system this way. Perhaps if you created the system, you would have done so differently, but Disney allows anyone to use the credits, and does not distinguish between a child credit and an adult credit.. a credit is a credit.

No one is "cheating" disney, they are doing what Disney intended. They are paying 10 bucks a day for their kid, and by saving TS credits for the adults, they still have to pay out of pocket for the kids, and they've guranteed that the party will eat at least one more TS meal in park (and not offsite with competitors) than they may not otherwise have. It's a win-win situation with Disney, which is why with all the changes to the DP for 2006 (CRT to 2 credits, no more dessert at breakfast, etc..) Disney decided not to distinguish between a child credit and an adult credit. They clearly want this practice to continue.

 

[LaLa]

No need to worry, there is no such thing as a "child" credit.. just TS credits. As the Disney Dining Plan states, anyone in your party (adult or child) can use the TS credits at anytime they want, as long as you have TS credits left in your "bank." There is no indication that the plan is going to change at all in the near future regarding this policy. Therefore, you will have a total of 12 TS credits to use any way you want to.

Enjoy!

I only post based on my own experiences. It may have changed since I was there in October, but we actually asked our server at Planet Hollywood about doing this exact thing and she said that no, we could not use the "child" credits that way. And she said it with a laugh at that. Granted, they were all pooled on one resort key, with no distinction, but there were clearly 2 kids in our party and 2 adults.

I'm not saying that every other CM working that night would have done the same thing, but that's why I said it really depends on the server you happen upon. Go for it if you want, but just be prepared to pay for the last meal OOP in case you get shot down, that's all I'm saying.

 

[pedro2112]

I only post based on my own experiences. It may have changed since I was there in October, but we actually asked our server at Planet Hollywood about doing this exact thing and she said that no, we could not use the "child" credits that way. And she said it with a laugh at that. Granted, they were all pooled on one resort key, with no distinction, but there were clearly 2 kids in our party and 2 adults.

LaLa, are we talking about the same thing? Are you referring to trying to use a TS credit for your child by ordering off the adult menu instead of the kids menu? If so, it is true that children must order off of the children's menu where available.

On the other hand, I am talking about using TS credits for adults. Since there is no breakdown of a child. vs. adult credit, your server couldn't have possibly denied you the use of your TS credits. All you do is tell the server you are using two TS credits for the adults, and that you will pay OOP for the kids.

 

[disneyjunkie]

If it doesn't matter who uses the credit, why is there an adult price and a child price? Why not just charge one flat rate for everyone in the party?

 

[TLPL]

Maybe from now on we all should have my 3 y.o niece call and book our WDW vacations with dining plan for us, and we just use her credits for our meals, we can pay her meals out of pocket…. Wait , I got a better idea… how about have my 3 months old nephew call and book our plans for us and we all use his dining plan credits, because he got even better rate. We can pay his meal out of our pocket.
It shouldn’t be consider cheating cause: Disney's own Dining Plan Brochure specifically states that anyone in your party can use any of the TS credits left in the bank, at any time, as long as there are TS credits left.

 

[LaLa]

LaLa, are we talking about the same thing? Are you referring to trying to use a TS credit for your child by ordering off the adult menu instead of the kids menu? If so, it is true that children must order off of the children's menu where available.

On the other hand, I am talking about using TS credits for adults. Since there is no breakdown of a child. vs. adult credit, your server couldn't have possibly denied you the use of your TS credits. All you do is tell the server you are using two TS credits for the adults, and that you will pay OOP for the kids.

Yes, we are talking about the same thing. This was our very first TS meal on the plan, and since I had read so much debate here on the DIS about this very thing, I asked her if it could be done...I explained to her that we wanted to pay OOP for the kids meals (thereby saving 2 TS credits) and then use those credits at a later date for an extra TS meal for all of us (actually we were planning on "saving them up" for CG one night. I am pretty sure she fully understood what I was talking about and she said that could not be done on the dining plan. In fact, she basically scoffed at the idea. We didn't bring it up again for the rest of the trip and we gladly paid OOP for some extra meals in order to have more TS meals, which DH and I both prefer over counter service anyway.

That was my experience and that was what I posted based upon. We did notice that within the dining plan perameters, different servers would give us different answers as far as whether the kids could order an appetizer off the adult menu when there weren't any listed on the child's menu, what was considered a snack or an applicable dessert, etc. That's why I say another server may have given us a different answer, but we didn't bring it up anymore and it really didn't bother us or anything. Just be prepared is my message here.

 

[ashresiren]

I think this is just terrible! Don't do it! Disney will go broke because of this gross injustice. After all, they did have to pay $756 per unit of mashed potatoes! If Disney doesn't want it to be used this way, they would close the loophole. The fact is that they get tons of people staying at the resorts without a discount, buying tickets without a discount, eating every meal on site--many of them with alcoholic drinks, which aren't on the plan, and which people otherwise would not order--so they don't really care that people save an extra $20 - $30 on the meals that Disney paid super bulk prices for in the first place. The OP had a simple question. I agree with LaLa, the poster should be prepared to deal with uncooperative servers, but her "ethics" should not be in question.

 

[Hanover]

We had no problem paying out of pocket for our boys at a few TS restaurants (CM being one) in August and plan to do the same next week. We ended up only having 2 TS left our last day on our August trip and we specifically told the server they were child credits and HE suggested we use them for us and pay for the boys OOP. My husband asked if that was allowed and he said yes. For our trip next week, we have more TS ADR's planned than what we will have TS credits and plan to pay OOP for the cheapest ones.