First-timer DDP users just returned......

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TJA

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We've been to disney many times (AP holders), but this was the first trip using the DDP. We are 2 adults and 2 kids. Overall, we liked the DDP. But we did run into some "issues" which I'd like to write about. Perhaps someone who reads this has experienced similar issues.

First: we had a very hard time with CS meals. We rarely sat down and got 2 child and 2 adult CS meals all in one sitting -- it was more like whenever someone was hungry we'd get 1 or 2 CS meals and some snacks and split among us. Well, the receipts did not let us know how many child and how many adult meals we had left -- it's just a merged number of total CS meals. We asked at several CS locations if they could tell us our balance of child versus adult, but they just read basically what the receipt said of a merged total. So by mid to end of our trip, we gave up trying to keep track (child versus adult). So in conclusion, I have NO idea if this part of the DDP was a value to us because I have NO clue how many child and how many adult CS meals we used. I wish the receipts would show the break-down between child and adult because it took away from our trip trying to keep track and eventually we just gave up.

Second: we ended up charging the tip to our room by using our room key. Well, at the end of the package part of our stay, we got our room charge print-out and I pulled out all of our receipts to compare and 4 out of the 7 TS meals were wrong! However it happened, a higher tip amount was taken off than what we wrote in and was on each receipt (we tipped $15 at every TS restaurant to keep things simple, and our room print-out showed $25 at some and $20 at others, and 3 were correct at the $15). Luckily I had all the receipts to show an error was made at the various restaurants. Long story short, the resort CM credited my account statement for all of the restaurant errors. The CM gave me advice for next time to write in big bold letters CASH in the tip section. He didn't say this, but he sort of gave me the impression that it's a common problem. Anyone else experience this? I was disappointed that it happened and I hope deep-down that people simply made mistakes but I don't understand how when the receipts have the correct tip amounts...?

Third: we just did the basic DDP, but gosh it seemed like a lot of food for us. We did like the psychological aspect that we could "order whatever we wanted," but by mid to end of the package, we were all burned out from all the desserts (!).

I *think* we'd do the DDP again in the future -- we really did like it overall. Anyone have any similar experiences as what we had? How do you keep track of CS meals (child vs. adult)? And I know there is a separate tipping thread, but I thought our issues would be well suited in this thread as it was a major part of our first experience using DDP.
 
I agree with you on most of your points. I wouldn't be disappointed if Disney eliminated those desserts with the CS meals and maybe gave us an extra snack a day or a resort mug on the regular DDP.
We only had adult CS credits our last trip, but we will be going back in December and taking DD4 so thanks for this advice about keeping track of the child credits.
I have quit using the room charging priviledge because of stories like yours and worse. We got a disney gift card and used it for tips and this was a great way to keep track of tip spending.
I feel like you do about the DDP. When we first got back I thought I would never use it again. But I am considering it again for the convienence and I love being able to order what I want without thinking about the cost. As far as saving that much money for us it was nominal because my family loves to eat breakfast and I have a picky son who uses adult TS credits.
I hope you had a good vacation.
 
I just wanted to comment on the tips charged to the room. Since the DDP changed to not include gratuities, we have always used cash as a tip (and written CASH on the tip line). Except this last March vacation, I decided to charge all the tips to the room. I have an itemized list of what the room charge should be and when we receive the statement, I check each one. I will admit that in the past, there were a few problems with the room charging. However, this last vacation, the only things I charged there was the tips. And surprisingly, everything was correct.

:confused3 However, in your situation, I don't understand why the receipts (ones that show that they have been charged to your room and not the ones you have hand written the amount) shows an amount different than the one that's on the room account. I can understand if the CM made a mistake and keyed in the wrong amount, but that would show on your receipt. I could understand being charged twice for the same amount. Maybe the CM mistakenly did it twice on the system:confused3. But I don't understand why the amounts are different when you have a printed receipt showing exactly what was charged. :confused: Something is really wrong there. Hopefully someone could chime in and let us know. Now if there is some systems glitch, that could be the explanation. And maybe, all other guest had similar problems at that time.
 
Let me chime in. I'm not 100% sure but I do believe that the CS credits are not broken down by adult and child. From what I understand they're sort of like the snack credits so you can get any CS meal and use the credit - regardless if it's for an adult or child.
 

CS credits have always been pooled when we have used them, no seperation from adult and child like in TS, I tip cash so I have never had a problem with the room charge amount but sometimes there is a suggested tip amount maybe something happened with that I wonder:confused3 We love the dining plan tip or no tip included, it definitley used to be easier but we still always tipped a little more added onto what the plan tipped our servers. We share all of CS so the dessert always gets shared amongst us but if one person ate the whole thing that would be alot I guess, dh usually gets his meal and me and 2 oldest dd share something else, dd's get the desserts!
 
Thanks to all who have posted. I'm glad to hear there is not a clear way to keep track of adult and child CS credits so I know I didn't miss something obvious. This was a bit frustrating, but in the end at least we used all of our credits and enjoyed our food. It was really fun, actually!

Yes, our printed final receipts from the servers read that we tipped $15 and it was charged to our room. I have every single one of them, and I showed them to the resort CM and he clearly wasn't surprised this happened, which is bothersome. I didn't get into the "how" with him (because we had to catch our Mears shuttle to the airport....), but I've contemplated a phone call just to help me understand what went wrong. I initially thought maybe the server ran our card twice by mistake, but the room charge shows up as one tip charge, not two. So strange!
 
CS are NOT divided by adults/kids, BUT if your key card had 2ACS and 2KCS, you can order no more than 2 ACS at a time.
If they can separate TS, they certainly could separate CS; we gave up worrying about it as well.

I am glad everyone is bringing up the tip issue. I sure hate to carry cash, but guess it seems to be the simplest way....

(I agree w/ the dessert issue...blechh to most of them...)
 
Thanks to all who have posted. I'm glad to hear there is not a clear way to keep track of adult and child CS credits so I know I didn't miss something obvious. This was a bit frustrating, but in the end at least we used all of our credits and enjoyed our food. It was really fun, actually!

Yes, our printed final receipts from the servers read that we tipped $15 and it was charged to our room. I have every single one of them, and I showed them to the resort CM and he clearly wasn't surprised this happened, which is bothersome. I didn't get into the "how" with him (because we had to catch our Mears shuttle to the airport....), but I've contemplated a phone call just to help me understand what went wrong. I initially thought maybe the server ran our card twice by mistake, but the room charge shows up as one tip charge, not two. So strange!
This, as you describe it, cannot be an error. I would complain, because someone tried to steal from you. My bet is that they are stealing from many people...
 
I agree with you on most of your points. I wouldn't be disappointed if Disney eliminated those desserts with the CS meals and maybe gave us an extra snack a day or a resort mug on the regular DDP.
We only had adult CS credits our last trip, but we will be going back in December and taking DD4 so thanks for this advice about keeping track of the child credits.
I have quit using the room charging priviledge because of stories like yours and worse. We got a disney gift card and used it for tips and this was a great way to keep track of tip spending.
I feel like you do about the DDP. When we first got back I thought I would never use it again. But I am considering it again for the convienence and I love being able to order what I want without thinking about the cost. As far as saving that much money for us it was nominal because my family loves to eat breakfast and I have a picky son who uses adult TS credits.
I hope you had a good vacation.


How does that work - paying for your tips with a gift card? Does it just deduct from the total amount on the card for each tip? I like that idea! How much should I put on for at least 15 or so TS meals?
 
This, as you describe it, cannot be an error. I would complain, because someone tried to steal from you. My bet is that they are stealing from many people...

I know, that's what I'm worried about. I am really disappointed this happened. We did tip under the recommended 18-20%, but not by much. We just thought a straight $15 tip would be easist to remember and recognize on our statement. We almost missed our magical express shuttle back to the airport, in fact, because I wanted to straighten this issue out at the concierge desk before leaving.
 
How does that work - paying for your tips with a gift card? Does it just deduct from the total amount on the card for each tip? I like that idea! How much should I put on for at least 15 or so TS meals?

I had 1 $100 and a $200 gift card that was included with the 4/3 package when we went. I told the server I wanted to tip with the gift card and they ran it like a credit card and it showed my balance at the bottom of the receipt after each transaction. For how much you would need I would just estimate how much you are going to spend with the AllEars menus and take about 15-20% of that.

Honestly if I wouldn't have had the gift cards I think I would have just used my credit card for tipping instead of my room key. I think it is easier to sort out if there is a mistake when you're sitting at your desk at home with your receipts as opposed to working it out at the front desk when you're stressed you're going to miss the Magical Express ride back to the airport.
 
I am glad to have clarification on how the CS credits work.

I have not yet decided if we will travel with enough cash to cover TS meals but it sounds like it could avoid a lot of hassle when it comes time to check out.

Food for thought: did you realize that the servers at the TS restaurants are taxed on income that includes 18% of their reciepts? Anytime that we tip less than the 18% we are hurting them financially.
 
I just had to comment on this:

We just returned last month from a trip and we told ALL the waiters/waitresses that we would be tipping in CASH and even wrote in CASH on the receipt.

When we got our printed out receipt at check-out 7 of the 12 sit down restaurants we patronized had charged our room key for tip AND out of pocket items that we had paid for in CASH!!!:mad::mad:

Boy, I was mad and freaked out! The manager credited my card immediately and didn't even ask to see receipts but it left a mighty damn bad taste in my mouth.

We are going next month and I will only use my 6 year old's KTTW card, which has no charging privileges, to give the waiter/waitress at the restaurant for the DDP. I suggest everyone do this, it will keep the thieves from stealing from you.
 
Neither of our granddaughter's will have charging priviledges. (I know that I have to specify that for the 10 year-old.) Thanks for the head's up. I'll use one of their cards for the TS meals where I tip in cash.
 
No tipping discussions are permitted on the main restaurant or dining plan board. All tipping discussion must be carried out on the Tipping Information Thread at

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2056032

Please see the first post of this thread for the policy of the Restaurant forum regarding tipping discussions.

Because this thread has become mainly a discussion about tipping methods, it is now closed.
 
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