Heads Up! on free DP and resort check-in; read FYI

[Disneyhappy]

It boggles my mind that people would go to that extreme and pay for an extra ticket to get additional free dining. We've done the dining plan and I can't imagine the need for any more food. The dining plan provdes an obscene amount of food for a guest. Do people take the food home with them or what? Oh, maybe they use them for the 2 TS restaurants and shows. That is quite devious!

Edited for all of my stupid typos! Sorry!

 

[gigi1313]

hmmmm... i wonder if after i create fictional disney children, if i can get deductions for them on my income tax...

 

[wdwobsessed]

One could always ask to borrow a random child from the lobby during check-in.

WDWO

 

[Mariposa]

One could always ask to borrow a random child from the lobby during check-in.

WDWO

Heh, now I'm just picturing people waving to random kids (you know, kids will wave and smile at anyone)- all the while telling the desk CM that the kid is theirs.

I know this is serious fraud and whatnot, but it just cracks me up that people would go to that much trouble to get an even more obscenely large amount of food. Apperently, having to waddle home from WDW (which'll be me in September) isn't good enough, these people feel the need to be carried out in wheelbarrows.

 

[GeologyRocks]

Wow, now I'm feeling sort of guilty and confused. My husband and I were planning a trip for the last weekend of September. We were planning on checking in Thursday and having my little brothers (10/14/14) arrive on Friday, to give us a night to ourselves before spending 72 hours with teen/preteen boys. Now I'm suddenly aware of how/why this might be a problem.

Should I call Disney? It hadn't even occured to me that they'd care when the kids arrived, but I guess it makes sense during the dining promotion. I don't want to get there and have them change us to two people - I'd rather check in a day later, or pull the boys out of school for a day rather than lose the extra meals for the weekend. I'd just rebook the days separately except we don't want to have to get two sets of tickets - we are all passholders, so we still have to figure out what to do with the $300 worth of tickets we already bought.

I'm feeling guilty because I planned our reservations for the weekend based on having 15/15/15 - i guess I was getting so excited about getting to take them to a few really nice dinners that i didn't think about the fact that we only 'deserve' 12/12/12 =(

 

[mlwear]

this is the wording on my reservation confirmation that came last week:

Please note: Your reservation includes Disney Dining Plan components. In order to claim these components, all members of your party must be present at check-in or your reservation will be modified.

Just received my revised confirmation and it said the same thing.
Here's my situation, if it makes any difference. We decided to invite MIL to spend a couple of nights with us. Our room will accomodate 5 and we planned to pay $25/night for the two that she stayed. We did not want her on the dining plan. We did not want to have to buy her the same type of ticket as us. I wasn't going to add her officially to her ressie as she may well change her mind at the very last minute, but something in the back of my head told me to add her...glad I did because according to the CM, had she stayed with us using my idea we would not have received free dining for our family. BUT, so that she could stay with us we had to pay for her to stay 4 nights when she is only staying 2 (believe me, she is only staying 2 --i can't find an icon for fierce determination, but if there was one I would insert it) and we had to buy her a one day base ticket, which I suppose we will upgrade at the front desk to a 2 day park hopper. What a mess! We planned to buy her the 3 day Florida resident ticket deal. She is on the free dining plan now, too, for four days. If we had known all of this beforehand (my fault for not checking carefully, we wouldn't have invited her, but we already did...) we wouldn't have extended the offer. I told the CM that she is leaving after 2 days. CM explained that we could use her remaining dining credits even though she checked out.
OK--So today I get my revised confirmation. I can sort of understand Disney sending out the included notice in a case particular to mine where a guest has been added later, that should be a red flag in their system. I know it is being sent to everyone and we aren't being "picked on", but even if MIL were a phantom guest (I swear she is not, she is all too real), how would it pay off for us to spend $100 extra for nightly charge plus ticket, not sure how much that even is but a little more than $60 ($160 at least for MIL's share) to get free dining for one person. Dining plan is less than $40 for an adult (4 nights x 40 = $160), MIL's stay is more than $160. Am I missing something?

Now my vent about checking in--I am not pleased! MIL is notorious is being extremely late and making everyone wait hours for her. She loves it. Even if she calls us from the lobby to say she is there she will scatter off somewhere to look around and make us take an hour to find her Oh, the examples I could give! I was really hoping we could just let her check in on her own.

 

[kaysmommie]

NO WAY!?! That is so outrageous... I'm not generally the moral police, but I think I'd draw the line at that one Unbelievable....

I agree! This is way beyond refiilable mugs.

 

[Mariposa]

OK--So today I get my revised confirmation. I can sort of understand Disney sending out the included notice in a case particular to mine where a guest has been added later, that should be a red flag in their system. I know it is being sent to everyone and we aren't being "picked on", but even if MIL were a phantom guest (I swear she is not, she is all too real), how would it pay off for us to spend $100 extra for nightly charge plus ticket, not sure how much that even is but a little more than $60 ($160 at least for MIL's share) to get free dining for one person. Dining plan is less than $40 for an adult (4 nights x 40 = $160), MIL's stay is more than $160. Am I missing something?

Well, it wouldn't pay off for you to have a phantom MIL (although, phantom relatives are probably easier to deal with than MILs). BUT, if you had a phantom 10 year old? The room would cost nothing extra, the ticket would only be $60 or so, and you'd get almost $160 of credits. And you can imagine how that phantom kid would be more useful the longer the trip.

And no, I don't condone making up random kids. However, if anyone wants to borrow my DD8 in September to get extra credits, that's fine with me- you just have to keep her for a day or two. I can see it now, brings a whole new level to the baby swap!

 

[scoutsmom99]

However, staying in any Disney resort you pay just $10.00 extra per adult per night in your room... so if you add two adults to your reservation that don't exist, you get two more additional adult free dining packages... It only costs you $20.00 per night & two one day tickets that you have to buy under the free dining package...

I agree with you and wanted to add that the extra adult fee is as follows:

$10 Value
$15 Moderate
$25 Deluxe

 

[nowellsl]

Wow, now I'm feeling sort of guilty and confused. My husband and I were planning a trip for the last weekend of September. We were planning on checking in Thursday and having my little brothers (10/14/14) arrive on Friday, to give us a night to ourselves before spending 72 hours with teen/preteen boys. Now I'm suddenly aware of how/why this might be a problem.

Should I call Disney? It hadn't even occured to me that they'd care when the kids arrived, but I guess it makes sense during the dining promotion. I don't want to get there and have them change us to two people - I'd rather check in a day later, or pull the boys out of school for a day rather than lose the extra meals for the weekend. I'd just rebook the days separately except we don't want to have to get two sets of tickets - we are all passholders, so we still have to figure out what to do with the $300 worth of tickets we already bought.

You can upgrade the one day tickets to a 3 day play pass or a seasonal pass when you get there. Hang on to the others and when you are ready to renew your pass or buy a new one you can use them to upgrade then.

 

[mlwear]

You can upgrade the one day tickets to a 3 day play pass or a seasonal pass when you get there. Hang on to the others and when you are ready to renew your pass or buy a new one you can use them to upgrade then.

Is "3 day play pass" what they call the special for Florida residents? This is what I wanted to buy MIL in the first place, but had to get the one day base ticket to match ours. I'm really confused by the upgrade prices, esp. when you figure in the FL resident discount part (she is a resident, we are not). She really only needs a two day park hopper? What would be least expensive: upgrading from one day base ticket to two day hopper OR upgrading to FL resident 3 day hopper (assuming the FL resident ticket is an option)? Sorry, I know I am totally OT.

 

[nowellsl]

Is "3 day play pass" what they call the special for Florida residents? This is what I wanted to buy MIL in the first place, but had to get the one day base ticket to match ours. I'm really confused by the upgrade prices, esp. when you figure in the FL resident discount part (she is a resident, we are not). She really only needs a two day park hopper? What would be least expensive: upgrading from one day base ticket to two day hopper OR upgrading to FL resident 3 day hopper (assuming the FL resident ticket is an option)? Sorry, I know I am totally OT.

Yes, the 3 day play pass is for FL residents. The cost is $120 plus tax. I don't think they make a 2 day pass but if you had to buy another 1 day pass for her it would cost $56.70 plus tax (FL resident). You couldn't exchange the one day pass you already purchased for a one day FL residents pass - they won't let you downgrade a ticket. The cost of the 3 day would be almost the same. They will credit the cost of the ticket you already purchased towards the cost of the 3 day pass. You have to do this at one of the parks or at DTD, they can't do it at the hotel. Your mom will need to bring proof of FL residency.

 

[p2oh]

I am soooo confused! My DF are arriving three days apart. He has a class he can't miss and I wanted a few days by myself. Our AAA TA tried all sorts of combinations and it was just cheaper to have one reservation and pay for the nine-day hoppers for both of us than splitting the reservation. Now I am worried that I won't be able to get my tickets and credits! I am hoping that since we have the multi-day day passes I will be able to check in without him. What do you guys think?

 

[mlwear]

I am soooo confused! My DF are arriving three days apart. He has a class he can't miss and I wanted a few days by myself. Our AAA TA tried all sorts of combinations and it was just cheaper to have one reservation and pay for the nine-day hoppers for both of us than splitting the reservation. Now I am worried that I won't be able to get my tickets and credits! I am hoping that since we have the multi-day day passes I will be able to check in without him. What do you guys think?

I don't see how they can do this to pre-existing reservations. How can they make a rule retroactive?
I'm sure someone will know of a clause that says that they can, but hey guests have to abide by the agreed to terms, it doesn't seem right.

Now, for my particular case, I changed the ressie and added MIL then got the confirmation letter that made the statement we must all check in together. Although, I hate it, I can understand that they are able to do this in my case.
It just stinks that people have decided to cheat the system and now the rest of us are faced with the consequence.
Maybe if Disney would tie up the loophole allowing child credits to be used for adult meals there would be less temptation to add the phantom child and some of the cheating would stop. I know, I know, some are adding an extra adult, but seems to me that the phantom child would be the bigger culprit.

I'm just annoyed because I know MIL will mess up our check in, esp. if she knows how important it is that shebe on time so we are together...I sound like a nasty DIL. Just too many negative experiences with this sort of thing. Actually, looking in from the outside, it could be a sitcom now that "Everybody Loves Raymond" is off the air

 

[CherylA]

I really think people are worrying over nothing. Disclosures are put in the small print to give Disney some power. If someone is being obnoxious and obviously trying to get an extra set of credits then they have something to fall back on. Also the people at reservations make things up and use their own interpretations of rules. Some reservationists think it would be obnoxious to make everyone be present, others may be getting very upset thinking someone is taking advantage of Disney and they try to do whatever they can in their power to stop it. Just like on these boards! Most of the time when you talk to a Disney employee you get their personal opinion on how things should be, not how things are. I don't think there is such a thing as an official policy at WDW. It seems every employee has their own spin on things! If you're legit you have nothing to worry about. Even if you're not legit you probably won't be bothered. Don't worry guys!

 

[gigi1313]

I really think people are worrying over nothing. Disclosures are put in the small print to give Disney some power. If someone is being obnoxious and obviously trying to get an extra set of credits then they have something to fall back on. Also the people at reservations make things up and use their own interpretations of rules. Some reservationists think it would be obnoxious to make everyone be present, others may be getting very upset thinking someone is taking advantage of Disney and they try to do whatever they can in their power to stop it. Just like on these boards! Most of the time when you talk to a Disney employee you get their personal opinion on how things should be, not how things are. I don't think there is such a thing as an official policy at WDW. It seems every employee has their own spin on things! If you're legit you have nothing to worry about. Even if you're not legit you probably won't be bothered. Don't worry guys!

i concur completely... well said and so true! much ado about nothing, imo...

 

[Zoemakes5]

It wouldn't be a terrible deal for the OP to have to deal with this, as his friends are coming in same day. BUT, I can foreses many problems. We had looked at a vacation recently, but we were going to get two rooms at a value for the five of us with my Mom and step dad joining us for the last three days of the trip. (We'd then have 7 people total in two rooms, not an issue.) But, to get the dining plan (whether it's free or not) you have to get it for all in the party for the entire time. Since my parents weren't coming with for the beginning of the trip, we couldn't get two separate ressies with two separate dining plans and tickets. So, our plan had been to purchase the DDP for the entire stay (and pay for it, mind you, no free dining at the time) and get the 7 day hoppers w/out expir. for everyone. Our plan actually included using some of "their" extra TS points toward a character breakfast one of the mornings they were there, and the rest of the extra over the time before they came.
With the "all checking in at one time" requirement with the free program, we'd be in trouble. What we were planning isn't all that unusual, and by Disney's insistance that everyone have the same dining plan and the same tickets, they kind of push us into getting more than what we need to get what we want.
I'd have thought that the ticket purchasing requirement would have eliminated most of the concerns about this? Seriously, how many people out there would purchase even the one day ticket to take advantage of the free dining for an extended period? One day ticket=63, that's almost two days of DDP. So, it would have to be someone paying for a one day ticket not only for the non-existant person, but also for themselves ('cause it's gotta be the same) and then they'd basically have to be staying for 3 days or longer to truly "take advantage" of the DDP,and even then, they would not have access to the parks on day 2-3. If a family was staying longer than 3 days, then it would be likely they'd be wanting tickets longer than just 1 day, and would be purchasing more tickets. If they are purchasing through disney, they'd have to purchase tickets for their non-existant person for the longer duration. If they are purchasing them outside of disney, they still will have paid disney $63 for each person they have on the trip, and to "break even" you have to be there for quite a few days. We priced it out once and it had to be something like 7 days or more when we added in the extra $63 for one day. The other scenarios that someone could truly take advantage, I suppose, is if someone had annual passes or leftover tickets, I suppose.
I guess what I'm saying is that it seems a bit of over-kill for Disney to respond so harshly to a situation that is possible, but really how probable?

 

[Sammie]

I really think people are worrying over nothing. Disclosures are put in the small print to give Disney some power. If someone is being obnoxious and obviously trying to get an extra set of credits then they have something to fall back on. Also the people at reservations make things up and use their own interpretations of rules. Some reservationists think it would be obnoxious to make everyone be present, others may be getting very upset thinking someone is taking advantage of Disney and they try to do whatever they can in their power to stop it. Just like on these boards! Most of the time when you talk to a Disney employee you get their personal opinion on how things should be, not how things are. I don't think there is such a thing as an official policy at WDW. It seems every employee has their own spin on things! If you're legit you have nothing to worry about. Even if you're not legit you probably won't be bothered. Don't worry guys!

Very well said. However there is official Disney policy. The problem is the majority of CMs the guest actually comes in contact with either on the phone or in person, don't actually know the official policy and are doing exactly what you said, giving their personal opinion.

It causes major headaches for upper management. So is the nature of the beast when you have 55,000 plus employees.

 

[gigi1313]

It wouldn't be a terrible deal for the OP to have to deal with this, as his friends are coming in same day. BUT, I can foreses many problems. We had looked at a vacation recently, but we were going to get two rooms at a value for the five of us with my Mom and step dad joining us for the last three days of the trip. (We'd then have 7 people total in two rooms, not an issue.) But, to get the dining plan (whether it's free or not) you have to get it for all in the party for the entire time. Since my parents weren't coming with for the beginning of the trip, we couldn't get two separate ressies with two separate dining plans and tickets. So, our plan had been to purchase the DDP for the entire stay (and pay for it, mind you, no free dining at the time) and get the 7 day hoppers w/out expir. for everyone. Our plan actually included using some of "their" extra TS points toward a character breakfast one of the mornings they were there, and the rest of the extra over the time before they came.
With the "all checking in at one time" requirement with the free program, we'd be in trouble. What we were planning isn't all that unusual, and by Disney's insistance that everyone have the same dining plan and the same tickets, they kind of push us into getting more than what we need to get what we want.
I'd have thought that the ticket purchasing requirement would have eliminated most of the concerns about this? Seriously, how many people out there would purchase even the one day ticket to take advantage of the free dining for an extended period? One day ticket=63, that's almost two days of DDP. So, it would have to be someone paying for a one day ticket not only for the non-existant person, but also for themselves ('cause it's gotta be the same) and then they'd basically have to be staying for 3 days or longer to truly "take advantage" of the DDP,and even then, they would not have access to the parks on day 2-3. If a family was staying longer than 3 days, then it would be likely they'd be wanting tickets longer than just 1 day, and would be purchasing more tickets. If they are purchasing through disney, they'd have to purchase tickets for their non-existant person for the longer duration. If they are purchasing them outside of disney, they still will have paid disney $63 for each person they have on the trip, and to "break even" you have to be there for quite a few days. We priced it out once and it had to be something like 7 days or more when we added in the extra $63 for one day. The other scenarios that someone could truly take advantage, I suppose, is if someone had annual passes or leftover tickets, I suppose.
I guess what I'm saying is that it seems a bit of over-kill for Disney to respond so harshly to a situation that is possible, but really how probable?

the component that you are missing, which was pointed out numerous times in this thread, is that everyone in the party can purchase the one day base ticket, to keep everything "even" as policy dictates, then only those that are actually there can upgrade their tickets (tix do not have to be upgraded "evenly")... also, since one day base tix sell for a pretty penny on ebay, that would be the 'what to do w/the extra ticket' answer for those who are being dishonest/taking advantage... another option for those schemers would be to actually USE the one day tix w/another person's name printed on them 'cause what is the likelihood of actually being asked to show id when using a one day ticket, and upgrade their ticket for one less day...

sigh... figuring out how to take advantage and rip off disney is a lot of work... glad i'm happy w/the free dining that i am getting and not doing this much work to get more more more!

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

I am soooo confused! My DF are arriving three days apart. He has a class he can't miss and I wanted a few days by myself. Our AAA TA tried all sorts of combinations and it was just cheaper to have one reservation and pay for the nine-day hoppers for both of us than splitting the reservation. Now I am worried that I won't be able to get my tickets and credits! I am hoping that since we have the multi-day day passes I will be able to check in without him. What do you guys think?

I think since you got 9 day hoppers for the both of you, that they're not going to think it's a fakie. I think you'll be fine.