Can anyone clarify this situation?

[sazzifrazz]

My family (3 adults and 1 child)booked a reservation for 5 nights at POR with free dining. Last week I called and extended that stay for 7 nights. My husband is still only staying the 5 nights. The CM couldn't change just 3 of us and keep it as one reservation. The CM said although he is leaving we will still get his free dining credits for the days he is not there. We are paying $15 a night to have the 3rd adult in the room...even on the 2 nights he is not there. The CM said she would keep our 5 days hopper passes for all of us, and then the 3 of us who are staying can just upgrade ours to a 7 day when we arrive. My DH will be taking a different magical express back to the airport when he leaves 2 days before us. My sister is arguing that this isn't going to work. She believes:
1) We can only have free dining on the nights we have a park pass (so if DH only has a 5 day park pass he will only be allowed 5 days of free dining.)
2) If dh leaves early and has a different magical express the hotel will "know" and not give us his dining credits for the 2 days he's not with us.

 

[Hemlock]

I am no expert, but I would say that;

1) incorrect - you only need to purchase 2 day of park passes to qualify for free dining.

2) possible - but highly unlikely.

 

[TDC Nala]

We can only have free dining on the nights we have a park pass (so if DH only has a 5 day park pass he will only be allowed 5 days of free dining.)

This is not correct. Your dining plan is tied to your resort stay, not your park tickets. For free dining you must buy at least two day tickets but you do not have to buy tickets for your length of stay.

If dh leaves early and has a different magical express the hotel will "know" and not give us his dining credits for the 2 days he's not with us.

Also incorrect. Everyone (age 3 or over) registered on your reservation will have dining plan credits for all nights of your stay regardless of how long they actually stay.

 

[Colleen27]

She's wrong on both counts.

1) The number of ticket-days has nothing to do with the number of dining plan credits, aside from the minimum 2 day ticket purchase for the free dining promotion. Dining credits are allocated strictly based on the number of nights of your package stay. We always have fewer ticket-days than nights of our trip, because we don't do parks on arrival/departure days and on longer trips plan some downtime mid-trip as well.

2) Your DH is on the reservation for the duration of the trip because as you've discovered Disney doesn't allow for the party makeup to change mid-stay without separating the reservations. As such, he's registered to the room for every night of your trip and you'll have his dining credits to use as you please.

 

[sazzifrazz]

OK great...thank you all for proving my sister wrong hehehe
So now my next question...do you think it will be a problem for DH to take a separate magical express than the rest of our party?

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

OK great...thank you all for proving my sister wrong hehehe
So now my next question...do you think it will be a problem for DH to take a separate magical express than the rest of our party?

I don't think so. I know others that have left at different times and there doesn't seem to be a problem. Just make sure it's all squared away with DME before you leave.

 

[Sandisw]

OK great...thank you all for proving my sister wrong hehehe
So now my next question...do you think it will be a problem for DH to take a separate magical express than the rest of our party?

While this wasn't during a free dining time, my DD and I came in differently than my Dh and other DD a few years ago. IT was no problem setting up ME different from them.

 

[CathieArms]

My family (3 adults and 1 child)booked a reservation for 5 nights at POR with free dining. Last week I called and extended that stay for 7 nights. My husband is still only staying the 5 nights. The CM couldn't change just 3 of us and keep it as one reservation. The CM said although he is leaving we will still get his free dining credits for the days he is not there. We are paying $15 a night to have the 3rd adult in the room...even on the 2 nights he is not there. The CM said she would keep our 5 days hopper passes for all of us, and then the 3 of us who are staying can just upgrade ours to a 7 day when we arrive. My DH will be taking a different magical express back to the airport when he leaves 2 days before us. My sister is arguing that this isn't going to work. She believes:
1) We can only have free dining on the nights we have a park pass (so if DH only has a 5 day park pass he will only be allowed 5 days of free dining.)
2) If dh leaves early and has a different magical express the hotel will "know" and not give us his dining credits for the 2 days he's not with us.

If memory serves, the park passes have NOTHING to do with the DDP. The DDP (free or otherwise) is directly connected to the hotel reservation. You are paying for 7 days whether your dh leaves early or not and, therefore, you get his extra days of DDP credits. If he stayed only one day, you're still paying for him rolled into that hotel room, so you'd get the remaining 6 days of his DDP.