Overlapping dining plan

[tinka-belle]

We have a split stay, booked FD for 3 weeks at the same resort. On check out/check in day mid stay we will have a CS credit left for lunch and a TS left for dinner that has to be used by midnight.

With both our stays showing on my MDE (haven't added the second part of the trip to my account yet, pending the answers I get here) is there a way to assure that the old DDP credits are used first? I know park tickets can be prioritized at Guest Services at the parks, and we are planning to save the 2 day FD ticket for use and upgrade at a later date, but can our resort prioritize the remaining DDP credits? We usually do our check out/check in early in the day, and once that second res is activated those new DDP credits will be in our account too.

Don't want new DDP credits used while the old ones remain. My only other thought was to create another MDE account for the second reservation, but that will mess up FP+ reservations we already have, and we'd like to use the same set of MBs for all 3 weeks if we can.

We can check the dining plan credits used and remaining at our resort and get them corrected, but most likely will be in the parks or in transit and miss the midnight cut off. I have visions of us spending a lot of time at Guest Services getting this straightened out, want to avoid any mess with credits in the first place.

Thanks in advance for any insight from my fellow DISers!

 

[lroger01]

That sounds really complicated and messy. Unfortunately I don't have an answer for your exact problem. But, would it be easier to just use the extra credits before check out? Maybe add a two credit dinner? Then have a counter-service breakfast instead of eating in the room? Just a thought.

 

[danny1649]

I think this question can best be answered by our Dining Board experts.We have great bunch of excellent Dis folks and moderators that will be able to help you. Danny

 

[POOHsie]

We have a split stay, booked FD for 3 weeks at the same resort. On check out/check in day mid stay we will have a CS credit left for lunch and a TS left for dinner that has to be used by midnight.

With both our stays showing on my MDE (haven't added the second part of the trip to my account yet, pending the answers I get here) is there a way to assure that the old DDP credits are used first? I know park tickets can be prioritized at Guest Services at the parks, and we are planning to save the 2 day FD ticket for use and upgrade at a later date, but can our resort prioritize the remaining DDP credits? We usually do our check out/check in early in the day, and once that second res is activated those new DDP credits will be in our account too.

Don't want new DDP credits used while the old ones remain. My only other thought was to create another MDE account for the second reservation, but that will mess up FP+ reservations we already have, and we'd like to use the same set of MBs for all 3 weeks if we can.

We can check the dining plan credits used and remaining at our resort and get them corrected, but most likely will be in the parks or in transit and miss the midnight cut off. I have visions of us spending a lot of time at Guest Services getting this straightened out, want to avoid any mess with credits in the first place.

Thanks in advance for any insight from my fellow DISers!

The Disney Dining Plan is flexible, and guests arriving at a second resort with leftover dining credits is not uncommon. You should mention it when checking-in to the second resort. Disney gives first priority to the first dining credits. You might mention to your server (that day) that you are using first dining credits, to be certain the situation is acknowledged at the point-of-sale.

One thing you could NOT do on check-out/check-in day is combine 1-TS credit from first dining plan with 1-TS credit from the second dining plan to pay for a single 2-TS meal. The workaround: If there's two of you, then there's 2 TS credits left in the first dining credit pool. For a 2-TS meal that day, one diner would use the 2 credits from the first dining plan, the other diner would be charged 2 credits from the second dining plan. (The credits are pooled, not allocated per person.)

Here's my experience last fall. We had DDP with leftover credits when we left resort #1. Checking in to Resort #2, the check-in CM printed out a report of first dining plan credits (used and remaining), and went over the list with us. We used our first dining credits that day. We didn't mention anything to the cashier or server, but the first dining credits had been used. We checked with the front desk the next morning. The first dining credits had been deducted as planned, and our second dining credits were untouched. If you think there's been an error, the second resort front desk could assist you in correcting your dining credit situation. No need to visit any other Disney facility.

Hope this helps ease your concerns. Have a good trip!

 

[tinka-belle]

Thanks for the info POOHsie! Were both your reservations linked to the same MDE account? We've done this in the past but with two different resorts linked to two separate MDE accounts and kept them separate that way. No intermingling of credits on MDE, and used our 1st resort MBs for the meals, 2nd resort MBs for everything else just on that overlap day.

My concern is that now it's the same resort and same MDE account. We will make sure to mention at point of sale when they take the credits. I'm assuming that the older credits would get used first, BUT it's just a logical assumption. Would the resort be able to make any corrections after the midnight expiration of the old credits the next day? Perhaps I'm overthinking this, but we all know how smoothly Disney tech operates!

 

[POOHsie]

Thanks for the info POOHsie! Were both your reservations linked to the same MDE account? We've done this in the past but with two different resorts linked to two separate MDE accounts and kept them separate that way. No intermingling of credits on MDE, and used our 1st resort MBs for the meals, 2nd resort MBs for everything else just on that overlap day.

My concern is that now it's the same resort and same MDE account. We will make sure to mention at point of sale when they take the credits. I'm assuming that the older credits would get used first, BUT it's just a logical assumption. Would the resort be able to make any corrections after the midnight expiration of the old credits the next day? Perhaps I'm overthinking this, but we all know how smoothly Disney tech operates!

Both our reservations were on one MDE account. But dining credits don't have anything to do with MDE (that I know of).

On MDE, you can see your ADRs, hotel(s), ticket(s), FP+. But the info you see on MDE is just a small portion of the info Disney actually has for those items. You would need access to multiple internal Disney computer systems to get the entire info available. For instance, Disney Resorts computers are specifically about guest stays (guest folios). Disney Parks Ticketing Operations computers hold great detailed info about tickets and their history. Disney Food Service computers will show entire meal transactions. Disney Dining Plan credits (don't know what computer system) have been computed and tracked since the program started, long before MDE came along. In essence, MDE is an guest interface showing useful info -- a quick glimpse to keep guests up-to-date. But it isn't where Disney info is computed and stored.

Regarding dining credit errors -- there's been human error that I've read thru posts on the DisBoards. Such as charging credits twice, wrong credits, charging credits when also paying out-of-pocket. These situations were promptly fixed. Could be fixed at the restaurant, could be fixed by Disney Resort lobby staff, could be fixed by Disney Guest services after a guest has returned home. If you discover a problem, either right away, or long after your stay, you can get it fixed pretty quickly.

In terms of Disney tech -- the problems we talk about are with MDE and FP+, which are new computer systems. As stated, they get info from other Disney computers which are running somewhere else and have been running for decades. There's so much info MDE tries to collect from so many places, that a colossal monster was created. And it isn't perfected at this time and maybe never will be.

 

[tinka-belle]

Thanks for the re-assurance! DH is convinced that I'm making this more complicated than it needs to be, he might be right.