Dining plan - does everyone have to eat at the same place?

[ncbyrne]

How does the dining option work if everyone wants to eat at a different place? Does each person have their own dining card? How does the system work?

 

[WDWBetsy]

When you check-in, each person's meals will be pooled, and each person will receive a key card that they can use to charge meals to - just tell your server/cashier prior to ordering that you're on the dining plan. Anyone in your party can use meals from the pool at any time up until midnight on the day your check-out, so you could go back to the parks after checking out and still use remaining meals. Your receipt will show the remaining meal credits.

 

[funcinderella]

What if you go out to dinner with people who are not on the meal plan? Do their meals come off of your dining plan? Is it possible for their meals to come off of your dining plam?

 

[WDWBetsy]

What if you go out to dinner with people who are not on the meal plan? Do their meals come off of your dining plan? Is it possible for their meals to come off of your dining plam?

Yes, if you wanted to pay for them, you could technically do that since you would tell the server/cashier prior to ordering that you want to use a certain number of counter service or table service meals. At the end of your meal, you'd present your resort ID/key card to pay and they would deduct that amount.

As far as I know, they don't make each person show their resort ID/key card to make sure they're on the plan or are staying in your room(s). It's just a matter of deducting from the pooled meals off one card.

The same thing applies if you wanted to pay separately for certain people. Say you have 4 people and you want to use 3 meals, and pay separately for the 4th. Just make sure you check your receipts after paying so they deduct the proper amounts. You can always go to your resort's Guest Services desk to get it worked out.