Dining Plan and my 16 yr old's friends

[TeamMMouse]

Our 16 year old is bringing a couple of friends along for our DW trip this summer. Can we include them on the dining plan (which will help us manage costs) without giving them charging privileges on their cards? I want to have predictable costs with the plan, but am afraid that they may unknowingly add things that aren't covered and then I'll have a surprise extra $200 at the end of the trip? Is that possible? also, any other advice for this situation appreciated!

 

[Katiebell]

If they are staying in the room/suite with your group (part of your package) they would have to be included on the dining plan with everyone else in your party. My understanding is that you can specify no charging privileges on the cards so they can't make cash charges to the room. But make sure they understand they are not to use the DDP credits (or more than the agreed upon # of credits) if your group splits up, so you don't find out you have no snack credits left! (If they are staying together as a group, you might want to give the only room key to your child so they are the only one who could use DDP credits for the three of them). I would tell my 16 year old if he used more than his one snack credit per day, he'd have to pay OOP for my Dole Whips! I would also stress to them they must keep receipts for any purchases they make on the plan, to better help you keep track of the credits used, and to make sure none of your credits "disappear" accidentally due to being incorrectly rung up.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Abso-LUTE-ly! You don't have to allow charging privileges on any room card, or you can designate which cards have such privileges.

 

[castleri]

You can designate which cards have chargin privileges when you check in. I would make certain that they all understand the way the plan works and maybe make ADRs for the TS meals so that you all meet for those meals if you think they will be going off on their own each day. This way you can all spend some time together each day. This way they can use the CS and S credits as they please and you will be sure they use the TS as intended so it is worth the cost of the plan. You could of course make them their own resrvations for TS as long as they understand the importance of keeping them. My DS and his DGF did Teppanyaki or maybe it was the tempura restaurant there on their own and had a great time without the parents around. The families just happened to be there at the same time which worked out well for everyone. They alternted which family they humg out with for the parks etc. The time we went with our teenagers and their friends we thought they would be excited to be off on their own and instead they stuck with us most of the time except for some trips off to DQ for them.

 

[bicker]

Abso-LUTE-ly! You don't have to allow charging privileges on any room card, or you can designate which cards have such privileges.

As a matter of fact, we found the whole Dining Plan experience was a lot more error-free once we removed charging privileges from ALL our room keys.

 

[TeamMMouse]

Can you explain? Did the lack of charging privileges prevent other errors?

 

[bicker]

Yup. We had one case where a CM inadvertantly charged snacks to our room (cash) instead of using snack credits. Taking the charging privileges off the room key fixed that right up... didn't happen again all week.