Help please!!!! saving dining credits?

[kutchyone]

SB in KY,

Thanks, it is always good to hear from someone with first hand experience who recently has done what you plan on doing. May I ask what location you used the extra TS credits for your Mom and Sister?


We are going to be visiting at the same time that my daughters HS Band. For one of the meals, LeCellier, the two of us Majorette Moms would like to treat our daughters and two of their friends to a meal. So for that meal instead of using the two credits we will be using 6 total. I was a bit concerned because I have been told that both our cards will say 2A meaning 2 adults on the dining plan and that would be the maximum that I could charge on the card at that meal. It would not be a problem if it were not the last full day of our stay, I just don't want to have 4 TS credits left in the end. Since we are all eating together two days earlier at Tony's in MK I may try to charge 2 additional meals to our plan on that day and then 2 additional at LeCellier. This way if one or the other won't allow us to it we would only have 2 TS credits left over. I just wanted to use the TS at the location that gives you the biggest bang for the buck and that seemed to be LeCellier.

One additional question, do you need to have separate checks if charging some of the dinners to the dining plan and paying OOP at the same sitting? If so or not can you tell the CM which meal you want charged to the meal plan?

 

[wdwobsessed]

Did anyone ever think that they might tell you that your credits are not pooled to just try to discourage you from using child credits for adult meals?

For example ... for YEARS they have let people in early for MVMCP but many times if you ask a CM on the phone about it ... they have no clue and tell you no ... you can't get in early.

I would have a big problem with "having" to pay for my kids meals with a credit if I didn't want to. What if I had plans to use thier credits for them at a more expensive meal?? I just don't see how they can enforce this. Even if you use ALL your child credits for child meals you may still have to pay for one or two OOP and it should be your choice what meals you use your credits for! I'm not even talking about getting around the system or anything. Just does not make sense.

I would wonder if people who were told no in real life ... not over the phone ...questioned it?

WDWO

 

[robinm1215]

I used the dining plan last week and we didn't encounter any problems. The credits were pooled and we had to only use one card per room, not one card per person. No problems with sharing either or paying out of pocket for specific meals. We ate at 50s Prime Time for lunch one day and ordered 2 TS and 2 kids meals and it fed 8 of us! The desserts were huge and the food was great -- there was no problem with sharing and paying out of pocket for the meals we wanted to pay for.

I was on the dining plan for 6 days and then switched over to Carribean Beach and did not have the dining plan for the remainder of my stay. I dined with friends who were on the dining plan and I just paid for my meals. The only issue we had was at Chef Mickey's. The CM told us we would have to pay for one adult meal since the card said 3A1C, which was no big deal since that's what we had planned to do anyway.

So I'm not sure about treating people to meals who are not on the dining plan. It seems like they do look at the card and how many adults and kids per party. I'm not sure if they'd allow you to put more meals than number of people on the card. This was okay for counter service though. My card had 4 people on it and we had 5 CS left so I treated my friends to dinner since my CS would expire at midnight that night. I used all 5 CS at once and it was no problem.

 

[kutchyone]

Yur explanation about what happened to you at Chef Mickeys is what I am concerned about. I think I will try using 4 TS credits at Tony's on our second full day and then try the same thing again on the last full day.

 

[honeymo78]

Just remember that many of the CMs making the dining reservations have never actually been to any of those restaurants and may not have seen first hand how the plan operates. I know that is not an excuse for the differences in explanations and how the dining plan is treated at the restaurant. I don't know the specific info they are given about the dining plan so maybe they are winging it or even a supervisor doesn't know how it operates in reality.
I do know that the way the computer system is currently set up, they only need to swipe 1 card and then enter in the number of credits/diners for the meal. Unless they change the computers (or make CMs swipe each card and enter 1) I don't think things will change.

 

[LeesyUD]

The info you are getting from alot of people on these boards are people that were just recently at Disney and the credits have been pooled....from what I've heard, bc people have been abusing the credits like using child credits for adult meals and paying for kids out of pockets, Disney may be changing the system so that only child credits can be used for children and adult credits for adults. So the CM's may have been giving you correct information as far as when you go, it just may be that they have changed things but it hasn't taken effect at the restaurants yet.

 

[adrock1976]

Did anyone ever think that they might tell you that your credits are not pooled to just try to discourage you from using child credits for adult meals?

For example ... for YEARS they have let people in early for MVMCP but many times if you ask a CM on the phone about it ... they have no clue and tell you no ... you can't get in early.

WDWO

wdwobsessed, you hit the nail on the head. There is a big difference between policy, and what the recommendation is. This is a loophole that is technically allowed, but Disney sure doesn't want to advertise it. Unless people are doing extensive research, the average person would probably use credit for credit adults and children.

 

[Sophierella]

This is a loophole that is technically allowed, but Disney sure doesn't want to advertise it. Unless people are doing extensive research, the average person would probably use credit for credit adults and children.

I knew nothing about this until I made my reservations last year and this year and both times was told by a Disney employee how to use the plan to its best advantage.

Otherwise, I would have used the adult credits for an adult meal and the child credits for a child meal and never thought to pay out of pocket at some meals and use credits at other meals. I didn't do extensive research, I was told how to do it. I would have never come up with that idea on my own.

If there is a certain way Disney wants this plan to be used, then they need to have one set of rules. I will follow them...I just need to know what they are.

 

[skent10]

The info you are getting from alot of people on these boards are people that were just recently at Disney and the credits have been pooled....from what I've heard, bc people have been abusing the credits like using child credits for adult meals and paying for kids out of pockets, Disney may be changing the system so that only child credits can be used for children and adult credits for adults. So the CM's may have been giving you correct information as far as when you go, it just may be that they have changed things but it hasn't taken effect at the restaurants yet.

I agree--there are always changes going on at Disney, and what worked or didn't work for some people on their trip last week may not be the same for your trip a few months in the future.

While I'm reading this thread with interest, I won't take any policy seriously until we hit June--the month we're going.