Don't wait til the last minute to use up your snacks!

[briar_rose_59]

Just wanted to share what happened to me yesterday. I decided to "bank" my snack credits to use on some really cute boxes of candy and just buy them my last day at my hotel before I headed back to the airport. It was about 3:30 pm and my KTTW card wouldn't work. The cashier asked me if I had checked out that day, and I said yes, I had left a cc on file so I had express checkout. She then told me that snack credits expire at checkout, and that my card was invalid. I said that I was under the impression that all credits were good until midnight on the day of checkout, and had just used CS credits not even an hour earlier. She said that that was true, except for snack credits. I mentioned that I was in a hurry because I was trying to catch my bus to the airport and didn't really want to pay for a cab and her response was "well, it's not our fault you waited until the last minute". Had I known there was going to be an issue I would have just bought them earlier in the trip.
Just wanted to give a heads up to anyone that uses snack credits their last day for treats to bring home, give yourself some extra time in case something goes wrong.

ETA: forgot to mention that they did let me use the credits, but it was a much longer process than expected. A front desk manager had to be radioed to override the system to let me use them.

 

[SondraC]

Just wanted to share what happened to me yesterday. I decided to "bank" my snack credits to use on some really cute boxes of candy and just buy them my last day at my hotel before I headed back to the airport. It was about 3:30 pm and my KTTW card wouldn't work. The cashier asked me if I had checked out that day, and I said yes, I had left a cc on file so I had express checkout. She then told me that snack credits expire at checkout, and that my card was invalid. I said that I was under the impression that all credits were good until midnight on the day of checkout, and had just used CS credits not even an hour earlier. She said that that was true, except for snack credits. I mentioned that I was in a hurry because I was trying to catch my bus to the airport and didn't really want to pay for a cab and her response was "well, it's not our fault you waited until the last minute". Had I known there was going to be an issue I would have just bought them earlier in the trip.
Just wanted to give a heads up to anyone that uses snack credits their last day for treats to bring home, give yourself some extra time in case something goes wrong.

Hmmm..I would be po'd on this one. according to Disney's own website credits AND snacks don't expire until midnight on the day you checkout. I just went and looked it up again.

 

[briar_rose_59]

I was annoyed, they did end up letting me use them, but she had to radio for a front desk manager to come and override the system. Only took a couple minutes, but when a couple minutes can mean the difference between making your ME bus and paying for a cab, a couple minutes seems A LOT longer.

 

[brymolmom]

I totally agree about not waiting on them. Even if it wasn't for a mix up with the KTTW card (they SHOULD work I believe), there are a million other reasons something might have come up last minute - got back too late to wait in line to use them....they ran out of the cute candies...etc.

We used to 'save' our snack credits until we were getting anything $3.00 or over (about) - we would pay OOP for the banana or milk in the morning for breakfast or for a bottle of water here and there. NOT ANYMORE - our motto is 'use them as soon as we can on whatever we can'. We find that we don't often WANT snacks over $3.00 due to being too full on the DDP and with desserts for CS and TS meal (when we hardly ever get desserts otherwise), so we would end up with a ton at the end of the stay and with our luggage too crammed on the trip home.

Using them as soon as we're able has worked out much better - we always have a small handful left at the end of the week for snacks for the plane.

 

[vinotinto]

That is really strange. I know that I used up a whole bunch of snacks at the Confectionary after we checked out. We weren't "saving" them (we used up most of our snacks on beverages - water, soda, cappuccinos, basically whenever we felt like having something we would have it regardless of whether it was the best "value"), but being a family of 4 staying 8 nights with the deluxe plan meant 64 snack credits to use in a week, so even though we tried to use them throughout the week, we still had like 10 left on our last day.

So, I wonder if this "credit expiring" is a new thing. That would be a complete bummer.

 

[LIFERBABE]

I think you had an uninformed CM. It is wise to use them asap, because there are many more just like the 1 you had the misfortune to get.

When I have the DDP, I dont save credits either. My motto is "credits first, cash last". If I want a stick of gum, I will use a credit. I know that is considered to be a waste, but I got what I wanted when I wanted and that is the point of the plan imo.

I remember when anything $4 or less was a snack. Those were the good ole days!

 

[MSLRAC]

If snacks expire at check out that goes against Disney's own literature and must be a fairly recent change (within the last year). I know for a fact that in Feb 2010, we used at least 20 snack credits at the gift shop upstairs at Poly after we ate breakfast at Kona which was AFTER we had checked out of CSR.

 

[catne]

And if they changed the program they better put it in writing on new brochures & everywher else.

We just used up 14 snack credits AFTER check-out in January 2011...so this year. The last 6 wasn't even at our resort...we bought Minnie's Bake Shop cookies at a store in Animal Kingdom, no problem. That was after lunch on check-out day (which lunch on the DxDDP was after check-out that day too, at Yak & Yeti...Then we went shopping to use up snack credits. The only thing the clerk said was "oooh, that's all you have left...I guess your vacation is over. Come back soon!"

 

[LilyWDW]

I don't have time to do a search at this moment, but I remember situations similar to this when Disney switched to the newer system. For some reason, some people were losing access to their credits as soon as they checked out. This seemed to be totally random and was NOT intended.

So, I would think it would fall under this sort of situations and the CM wasn't sure WHY it was happening, so they said something that sounded logical.

 

[aubriee]

I go to WDW several times a year and not being a snacker always have almost all, if not all of our snack credits available on the last day. We've always made a trip to Goofy's, BW Confectionary, or Main Street Confectionary to use them up our last day. We've never had a problem. We did this this past Oct and also in Dec. In fact, in Dec I was solo on the DxDDP and had 18 snack credits to get rid of that day. Unless it's a very new rule and they haven't changed their brochures, I think you just had a misinformed CM. All credits are supposed to be able to be used until midnight of your check out day. For people that snack every day, what are they supposed to use for snacks that last day?

 

[2Tiggies]

I think you had an uninformed CM. It is wise to use them asap, because there are many more just like the 1 you had the misfortune to get.

I agree that this appears to be the case, but I still back the OP's recommendation for not leaving them to last for a practical reason. Firstly if I want to pack snacks to take home, I want to have them at least the nigth before we leave to pack into the bags.

The other reason is spending lots of credits under pressure can lead you to grab all kinds of things that may not have been your first choice.

When I have the DDP, I dont save credits either. My motto is "credits first, cash last"

Same as mine. Yes, bottled water is a great use of a credit if you are going to have to burn up unesed ones at the end of your stay - in my opinion anyway.

 

[nooneshome]

Another for the spend credits first then cash. Caught DW paying for water and told her to use SCs and I was keeping track of how many we had to use and we had plenty left.

 

[brockash]

That's weird. I wonder if it's a new policy, or if it was just a glitch and the CM just made something up. We always use snacks credits hrs. after we check-out. We always make a run to get the last min. snacks before we leave on the ME. I hope it was just glitch, otherwise we'll need to adjust our plans in the future

 

[julie4423]

I just got my info on this in the mail today. It says, "All unused meals and snacks expire at midnight on your package reservation checkout date."

It must have just been a glitch.

 

[MOM POPPINS]

We also had the glitch happen to us on check out day. We had quick service credits left. We went to Starlight Cafe in Magic Kingdom and it would not accept our credits. Disney sent over cash by a messenger to meet us at the front of the park to give us our money back. It seemed like a lot of trouble but that is how they choose to handle it.

They took the number of credits we had left and snacks....They gave us so much money value for each credit. The only issue was the meals at the Starlight where more than most quick service places. It ending up working out ok but it was a mess to get it all worked out. I am not sure why they closed out our cards when we checked out. We have not happen to us since then, but I am always worried it might.

 

[Wendy&Grumpy]

We checked out yesterday, also using Express Checkout.

We left our room at CBR at 11am and headed to AKL where we had a 4pm Boma ressie. We used snack credits first at Mara, then at the giftshop at Kidani, and finally used the rest at the giftshop at Jambo after our dinner at Boma - which was paid with a meal credit.

No issues for us! (Except of course that we came home completely stuffed, lugging leftovers from Yachtsman and more snacks than we need!)

 

[2Tiggies]

That's weird. I wonder if it's a new policy, or if it was just a glitch and the CM just made something up. We always use snacks credits hrs. after we check-out. We always make a run to get the last min. snacks before we leave on the ME. I hope it was just glitch, otherwise we'll need to adjust our plans in the future

Yes, we have also used the last few after check out on our way to ME and not had an issue with it.