DxDDP Questions for the Disney Police

[ianhead]

Just scored two rooms with Free Dining. Bully for me. There are five people in Room One (3 adults, 2 kids), three in Room Two (2 adults, 1 kid). We will be eating all of our meals together. If we upgrade Room Two to a Deluxe dining plan, but Room One stays on the Quick Service plan, can we:

A.) Pay for our Table Service meals on a Room Two Magic Band, and our Quick Service meals on a Room One Magic Band?
B.) Pay for our kids out-of-pocket at Table Service restaurants (non-fixed price), then use those credits later for some Signature Dining?

Are both of these no-nos? Am I a bad boy for even thinking of these things?

Number Crunching: It would cost (roughly) $700 to upgrade both of our rooms to standard dining. It would cost $938 to upgrade Room Two to deluxe. If we upgrade one room to deluxe and pool all of our credits we'll end up with one additional TS meal and 1.5 additional QS meals per person. Not to mention the appetizers.

I'll probably end up just upgrading to standard DDP thus alleviating my guilt. But the appetizers are tempting.

 

[bizeemom4]

I'm scheming er planning to do the same thing. I have two rooms with 2 each and one room with 1. All staying for 14 nights. One room with deluxe dining provides 42 table service credits. With 112 quick service meals, 112 snacks and 42 table service meals that include appetizers, that will be so much food! Now the question is am I allowed to use 42 table service credits to pay for my other parties?

 

[ianhead]

The dark underbelly of Walt Disney World: People trying to maximize their Dining Plan Credits. =)

 

[Nancyg56]

If it was me I would put all the children and two adults in the room that I wanted to upgrade to the DxDDP. I would add an adult from each party to that room so that snacks could be accessed. If you are all dining together you can share the credits. Right now this is allowed so go for it.

 

[sharonabe]

I'm going to add a word of caution on using child's credits for adult meals. This is the first year I've actually looked at the details of free dining, so perhaps it's always been there, but the line "kid's must order from a kid's menu" was very prominent in the details. Disney could finally be cracking down on this particular loop hole they created. Until they do something in their system to track them, there will be ways to still use those kid's credits for adults, but if you're all at the table, I have a feeling kid's may not be able to order an adult meal using credits. Just my two cents' of a warning.

 

[Nancyg56]

I'm going to add a word of caution on using child's credits for adult meals. This is the first year I've actually looked at the details of free dining, so perhaps it's always been there, but the line "kid's must order from a kid's menu" was very prominent in the details. Disney could finally be cracking down on this particular loop hole they created. Until they do something in their system to track them, there will be ways to still use those kid's credits for adults, but if you're all at the table, I have a feeling kid's may not be able to order an adult meal using credits. Just my two cents' of a warning.

Kids may or may not be able to order from the adult menu, so I agree, be prepared. What did change in the brousures is the verbiage that indicates there is no sharing od credits. That is gone. The first year we got the plan (many years ago) my son surprised us and he was allowed to use a credit for dinner. YAY! It seemed like there were really no rules. The following year there was no sharing allowed and CM's were reprimanded if they went outside of the plan provisions. Folks here were always cautioning posters to please stop placing servers in the awkward position of having to say no. WHen DIsney brings the hammer down, there are no deviations. Two years ago the language regarding sharing was removed, and unless you are in a non disney owned restaurant, they allow credits to be used for the entire party.

I honestly think that for many families, the DDP is a gamble, but for Disney it is one more "perk" that locks guests into an onsite, all money in, commitment from those guests. In order to continue to promote an "all inclusive" feel DIsney had to allow a little leeway to the plan provision. If you can at least share credits that might go unused, a family may be more likely to book a package rather than RO and then buy all their groceries from Garden Grocer, have a few meals onsite, and then travel to any offsite restaurant that is less expensive.