Can we "share" our credits??

[disneychick0412]

We are taking family members to Disney, staying in separate rooms. We will have the dining plan, they will not. We want to treat them to Ohana. Can we use our dining credits to pay for their meals? We have never had this situation, so I'm really not sure. I don't see why Disney would care.

Thanks!!

 

[TDC Nala]

No, you can't do this.

You'll be allowed to use the DDP to pay for as many meals as you have persons listed on your key card only. If the card says 2A 1C, that's how many meals you can get on DDP.

If you check the DDP brochure, it states specifically that you cannot redeem your dining credits to provide meals for guests who are not on your room reservation.

 

[tinkerpea]

Disney says you can not do this, you can not share credits with anybody that is not on your DDP,


Like you i cant see why Disney would care your still using the credit's that you have to use up i sooo dont see why this is an issue but oh well.

As for only being able to take off as many credits as persons stated on your KTTWC when on our last trip at nearly every meal the server took everybodys TS credits off of our card instead of asking for both mine and my mums card "who was in a seperate room so had her own alloted credits along with 2 of my childrens on there" it didnt cause any problems but if you saying that this cant happen I wonder what would have happened if the server had told us we had no credits left due to other servers takeing all of ours on the 1st load of meals

 

[tinkluvr23]

Say my boyfriend and I are on the dining plan and my friend is not. Can I take my friend out to dinner the two of us while my boyfriend does other things and use a credit? Do they have a way of checking to make sure that person is on the reservation?

 

[smiths02]

Why wouldn't Disney care? If you could just share credits with others, then they would make less profit.
Why should Disney care if I buy 10-day park hopper passes and use 5-days and then give the remaining 5 days to someone else? Because it cuts into their profits.

 

[smiths02]

Say my boyfriend and I are on the dining plan and my friend is not. Can I take my friend out to dinner the two of us while my boyfriend does other things and use a credit? Do they have a way of checking to make sure that person is on the reservation?

It is against Disney's written policy to do this, and you are not supposed to talk about ways to circumvent Disney policy on the DIS.

 

[TDC Nala]

All references to using the dining credits in ways Disney specifically says not to use them have been deleted, regardless of who said it could be done, per the policy of the Restaurant board. I left them on if the group is a family and they were all on DDP but in separate rooms.

Sorry, but it's Disney's rule that you aren't to redeem them to buy meals for your guests. It's been decided on this board that we're not going to allow talk on getting around the rule.

 

[tinkluvr23]

Oh I didn't know. It just seems silly since we would be buying the same amount of meals anyways. I think you should be able to use your meals how you see fit. I totally understand the ticket thing. I mean that is a significant price cut but meals seem like you should be able to redeem them as you please.

 

[smiths02]

Oh I didn't know. It just seems silly since we would be buying the same amount of meals anyways. I think you should be able to use your meals how you see fit. I totally understand the ticket thing. I mean that is a significant price cut but meals seem like you should be able to redeem them as you please.

How is it the same amount of meals or money for Disney?

The DDP is offered as a discount for pre-paying for your food (just as multi-day tickets are a discount for staying an extended period of time).

If you get 3 TS and you can only use them for people in your party, then Disney will either make money off of your guests paying OOP and/or on you leaving unused credits.

 

[havoc315]

Oh I didn't know. It just seems silly since we would be buying the same amount of meals anyways. I think you should be able to use your meals how you see fit. I totally understand the ticket thing. I mean that is a significant price cut but meals seem like you should be able to redeem them as you please.

But not all meals are the same price.
Some meals are $40 per credit, some meals are $20 per credit.

If people could share their credits as you suggest, it would give the customer an extra means to maximize the value of the plan, and reduce profits for Disney.
Take your scenario -- Imagine 2 families traveling together. You'd be able to say to that family, "1 of us will get the dining plan, 1 won't. We'll all use credits for the $40 meals, and we will all pay out of pocket for the $20 meals."

There are some credit maximization techniques that Disney does allow. (For example, you can use credits for an expensive entree, and pay OOP for a cheaper entree).

 

[vicki_c]

How is it the same amount of meals or money for Disney?

The DDP is offered as a discount for pre-paying for your food (just as multi-day tickets are a discount for staying an extended period of time).

If you get 3 TS and you can only use them for people in your party, then Disney will either make money off of your guests paying OOP and/or on you leaving unused credits.

Right. Unused credits are a moneymaker for Disney. They definitely don't want to make it easier for you to use extras that might have gone to waste.

 

[danceintherain]

The assumption that Disney is actually trying to save YOU money by offering the dining plan is the problem.
They're not. They realize that the majority of people who purchase the dining plan will not maximize the value, and even people who "save" the marketed 20% often do so by ordering everything included on the dining plan, even if they're not going to eat it. If you choose to only order what you're going to consume, then the chances of you losing and Disney gaining money go up.

For example, on my honeymoon, I calculated that we did "save" 20% by purchasing the dining plan, but those "savings" were largely made up of desserts and beverages that we may not have ordered had we not been on the plan. Oftentimes, we only took a bite of our dessert, or left food on our entree plates in order to "make room for dessert." Even though there was food wasted, Disney probably at least broke even with us as far as the dining plan went. The cost to actually produce the meals is a fraction of what they charge for them. They may have gained a little more than they would have had we not been on the dining plan, because I might have been less likely to book quite as many table service meals. I came from an off-property "sack lunch" family, so the use of the dining plan helped me see some of the finer elements of dining at Disney. Now I'm hooked, and we average a table service meal a day, even when we're not on the dining plan.
There's also the consideration that many of the desserts we ordered may have been given to us complimentary, since we were on our honeymoon. In that respect, we pretty much broke even.

"Free" Dining is even more of a money maker for Disney, because it's probably more likely that people won't be as concerned about not using all their credits if they haven't actually "paid" for them. In my mind, it's inflated savings that are only valid if there are no other discounts available at the time.

OP: Disney's policy does not permit you to do what you wish to do. If you want to "treat" your family, you should pay for them. If this bothers you, the Dining Plan probably isn't best suited for your needs, and you should forgo getting it altogether.

 

[purple figment]

As for only being able to take off as many credits as persons stated on your KTTWC when on our last trip at nearly every meal the server took everybodys TS credits off of our card instead of asking for both mine and my mums card "who was in a seperate room so had her own alloted credits along with 2 of my childrens on there" it didnt cause any problems but if you saying that this cant happen I wonder what would have happened if the server had told us we had no credits left due to other servers takeing all of ours on the 1st load of meals

Did you have 2 rooms, but 1 reservation number? That might be why you were able to do it almost every time.

If a server said there were no more credits left on one card you would have to go to the concierge at the resort and get the credits straightened out. In the end it would have been taken care of, but I'm pretty sure it would have taken quite a bit of time out of your day and that would not have been fun.

 

[TDC Nala]

The decided policy on this board is to delete ANY discussion of using your credits to "treat" guests who aren't on your reservation and didn't buy a dining plan, even if a CM said you could. (Disney phone reps often don't know the real deal anyway.)

The official printed brochure is very clear that it shouldn't be done.

Those planning to do so are quite likely to get to the restaurant and then find out they can't use DDP to pay for the extra meals, as the servers are supposed to go by how many guests are listed on the key card.

 

[elaine amj]

Say my boyfriend and I are on the dining plan and my friend is not. Can I take my friend out to dinner the two of us while my boyfriend does other things and use a credit? Do they have a way of checking to make sure that person is on the reservation?

I can't see how they would be able to check. Like others have pointed out though - this is not the place to ask or discuss this.

On the other hand, Disney does definitely allow sharing credits with other people on your reservation. Our family of 4 just went and had 12 days of DDP. We ate in 14 restaurants, 2 of which were signatures. If we had stuck to 1 TS places, we would have gone to 16 restaurants.

We shared most of our meals, except for buffets. We were stuffed everywhere! Our waitstaff were all incredibly gracious about our sharing meals and we tipped all of them as if we all ordered. The only place we were NOT allowed to share was at TRex. We ended up walking out of there mostly because we were not allowed to share. I'm glad we didn't stay - we really enjoyed all the other places we ate and it wouldn't have been worth it to us to stay and use up all 4 credits.