Question about CS credits

[A&Bmama]

It always amazes me that this is such a hot topic.

"Use your meals and snack in any order throughout your package stay until your total is depleted." This is quoted from the disney brochure so I can't imagine why anyone couldn't order every last one of their meals all in the same transaction if for some strange reason they actually wanted to.

My question is whose meals are they anyway? Mine or Disney's? I bought the package, paid for it in full so as far as I am concerned I OWN those meals. If I want to order a kids meal for myself I will. If I want to order an adult meal for my child, so be it. Quite frankly, if I have some extra QSDP credits and want to order a meal for someone else in our travel party I fully intend to do so. I don't see how Disney can dictate how I use my meals.

 

[MakinMagicforBunky]

My question is whose meals are they anyway? Mine or Disney's? I bought the package, paid for it in full so as far as I am concerned I OWN those meals. If I want to order a kids meal for myself I will. If I want to order an adult meal for my child, so be it. Quite frankly, if I have some extra QSDP credits and want to order a meal for someone else in our travel party I fully intend to do so. I don't see how Disney can dictate how I use my meals.[/QUOTE]


Couldn't agree more. I've paid for the food, it shouldn't be up to them to decide how/when I'm using MY food. What if we go to say, Pizza Planet, and we're THAT hungry that we want two regular sized meals instead of a kids and an adult. We should absolutely have the right to order two adult meals and then eat kids meals later somewhere else.

But I can sort of see how Disney has to put some sort of rule on it, b/c if the credits are pooled, going by the amount of adult/children on the card would be the ONLY way they could make sure that someone didn't order ALL adults meals for the entire trip, despite paying for an adult and a child. Because theoretically, pooled credits would be very easy to use on all adult meals, esp. if you have more than one adult in your party.

In about 36 hours we'll be there so I'll finally be able to stop thinking about this, lol!

I just know that if come our last day, I'm stuck with kiddie crap food b/c someone screws up, I won't be a happy camper, that's for sure.

 

[MakinMagicforBunky]

Oh and another thought. It's been almost 3 yrs. since I was down there, but I KNOW we used more then one CS credit each on more than one occasion. My son loved a certain meal in the Pop cafe and we'd often grab it as a late night meal on an early dinner night. And on our last day, we ended up with several unused credits that they let us cash out all at once, we ate lunch and had meals to eat at the airport that evening.

 

[A&Bmama]

But I can sort of see how Disney has to put some sort of rule on it, b/c if the credits are pooled, going by the amount of adult/children on the card would be the ONLY way they could make sure that someone didn't order ALL adults meals for the entire trip, despite paying for an adult and a child. Because theoretically, pooled credits would be very easy to use on all adult meals, esp. if you have more than one adult in your party.

In about 36 hours we'll be there so I'll finally be able to stop thinking about this, lol!

I just know that if come our last day, I'm stuck with kiddie crap food b/c someone screws up, I won't be a happy camper, that's for sure.[/QUOTE]




You know I find it funny that as innovative and technologically advanced as Disney is they can't proper divide meal credits on a receipt? I will be interested to see what I find out when I get there. On my second or third meal I am going to ask a CM to tell me how many child vs. adult credits I have. If I find out they are still pooled I am going to have to wonder if Disney really cares what you order?? They have no problem dividing TS meals, thereby, enforcing their policy. I'm sure it is simple enough to apply the same procedure to the CS credits. But yet....

BTW have a great trip! It is officially 1 month today until the Day we get there. Woohoo

 

[MakinMagicforBunky]

I totally agree. They figured out how to do it for TS, why not for CS? Or is it like you say, maybe they just don't care?

I too will be watching them closely, what a shame we have to so closely monitor the part that was supposed to make our trips easier and more carefree.

 

[millerjmls]

I guess the best way to make sure that the deduction is correct is to clearly state what to deduct and call from your room each night to check the balance. My concern isn't so much about the deduction of the childs credit or the adult, but of the limited selection on the kids menus at most of the counter service restaurants. My son will tire quickly of chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese. I have made ADR's for the TS meals at some buffets so he will at least have more options there, but lunches may be a problem. Any suggestions?

 

[dvcdisney]

He said that on your KTTK card that is says (for my family) 4 adult/2 child. He said that on the receipt the credits for CS meals are pooled. He said that the CMs working at the registers are supposed to look at the card and see what it says. He said that they are told not to allow more adult meals than what is said on the card. He said that the dining plan is a per day allotment. Since we all went through the lines separately there was no reason to question what we were getting.

I still was kind of confused, but he said that credits are pooled. He told me that the only time they are separated is when actually ordering between a adult meal and a kids meal. He said that it is possible like we had done to order 6 adult meals at lunch because CS credits aren't separated in the system.

He said that the KTTK card is the only thing stating how many adult credits you have an how many child credits you have. He said they don't want you going up and ordering more adult meals than what your card says. He said that at places that don't have kids meals it doesn't matter because the credits are pooled.

This is how it's always been in the past. We are now getting some probably information that it is no longer pooled together or if it is shown as pooled on the receipt, it's not on their computer system . So it may be possible to not be aware of the total number of adult and child CS credits, if all is shown is a pooled total. This is what I don't understand. If they are separating it in the computer system, why isn't separated in the receipts.

This is driving me nuts because this is a simple question. I called Disney dining again and was told it was pooled together like it's always been. But they were so confused as to why I am even asking the question since it has not changed.

So hopefully, someone can come back and tell us. Otherwise, I'll let you know when I come back in March.

 

[disneyvacalover]

This is how it's always been in the past. We are now getting some probably information that it is no longer pooled together or if it is shown as pooled on the receipt, it's not on their computer system . So it may be possible to not be aware of the total number of adult and child CS credits, if all is shown is a pooled total. This is what I don't understand. If they are separating it in the computer system, why isn't separated in the receipts.

This is driving me nuts because this is a simple question. I called Disney dining again and was told it was pooled together like it's always been. But they were so confused as to why I am even asking the question since it has not changed.

So hopefully, someone can come back and tell us. Otherwise, I'll let you know when I come back in March.

I too want to know. My question is if it's separated in the system then why do you still have to purchase the way your KTTW states (ie 2 adult 2 children-you can only purchase 2 adult and 2 children at a time.) If its separated in their system you should be able to purchase meals any way you want 4 adults or 4 children at a time.

We are not big breakfast eaters so I'd prefer one day to use the childrens credits at breakfast and then another day skip breakfast and use the adult credits for lunch/dinner. Personally i hope they keep it like it always was so I don't have to worry about mistakes and keeping track.

 

[susianew]

We just got back from 6 days at WDW. We were on the regular DDP, and all of our counter service meals were pooled together on the receipts. We were a party of 2 adults and 2 children. (I didn't even realize that was on the front of our KTTW card.) We were 'creative' with our ordering...adults eating kids meals and kids splitting adult meals, so some times our orders didn't fit the 2A+2C formula. No one ever questioned us or required us to pay cash. I am also pretty sure, (at least as of as of 1-22-9), the credits are pooled in the computer too. (I was pretty diligent about using the correct number of child/adult credits, but the last breakfast order got messed up while I was off checking in with the airlines, so we probably used 2 adult credits we didn't actually have.)

 

[dvcdisney]

We just got back from 6 days at WDW. We were on the regular DDP, and all of our counter service meals were pooled together on the receipts. We were a party of 2 adults and 2 children. (I didn't even realize that was on the front of our KTTW card.) We were 'creative' with our ordering...adults eating kids meals and kids splitting adult meals, so some times our orders didn't fit the 2A+2C formula. No one ever questioned us or required us to pay cash. I am also pretty sure, (at least as of as of 1-22-9), the credits are pooled in the computer too. (I was pretty diligent about using the correct number of child/adult credits, but the last breakfast order got messed up while I was off checking in with the airlines, so we probably used 2 adult credits we didn't actually have.)

Thank you very much for the information. I'm glad I won't have to worry about it. We also tend to use the exact amount of adults and children's credits each day. However, I do have a sheet to track the credits and snacks in case of changes. I was not worried about not being able to track the CS credits, I was mostly worried that when my husband goes to the Fish and Chips place (with no child's menu), he can just order as usual and not have to worry about telling them that one is a child's credit. I'm glad they haven't changed that. I don't see how this is a big problem with Disney since there is very few restaurants that have no child's menu. I can't imagine it being such a big issue.

I do agree that the children's menu is awful so they shouldn't be surprised that many are creative about what meals they do get. For instance, we do tend to go to two different places, sometimes the child's meal is much better in one and we get the two children's meals there. Sometimes we just share it and then later, in a few hours, we go to another place and split the adult meals. I don't think this is wrong. In order for my children to eat what they would like, this is what we have to do.

Disney should offer every adult meal in a child's portion. That way, we can all be happy.

For instance, the Salmon dish at the Sunshine seasons, my son loves it. What is wrong with giving them a smaller portion and provide the same side dishes (applesauce or grapes). It is far more healthy, in my opinion, than a hamburger or chicken nuggets. If Disney is so health conscious, then this would be the best alternative.

 

[vs1023]

We just got back from our 7 day trip. We stayed on site. We had no isses with this. We handed our KTTW card for each peron and would state what we wanted and what meal it was. We never had an issue with a screw up of credits. We ended up having CS and snack credits leftover and running out of table service ones.

Most of the menus at CS places do have a kids menu (at least from where we ate at).

As far as splitting meals and all that, we didn't separate like ok, we have X amt of kids and X amt of adults. We totaled our credits as in we have X amt of TS total, X amt of CS total and X amt of snacks total. I don't think it matters how you use the plan really as long as you specify the kids meals if you have a kid.

 

[DisDarling]

I literally just got off the phone with CRO and my gal said she recently used the Quick Service plan and all of the credits were pooled with her kids. So if I am there for 7 nights, 3 adults and one kid, we will have 2 meals per person per day, so 56 meals will be the starting number. So how does it know from adults and kid meals? Still confused.

 

[kami2199]

I literally just got off the phone with CRO and my gal said she recently used the Quick Service plan and all of the credits were pooled with her kids. So if I am there for 7 nights, 3 adults and one kid, we will have 2 meals per person per day, so 56 meals will be the starting number. So how does it know from adults and kid meals? Still confused.

LOL - I think Disney wants to keep everyone confused. I'm going to go out on a limb and say this. Most likely the credits are pooled. So, in reality those people who want to order an adult meal for their child can and they are not going to get caught - not that they aren't doing something wrong - but just are not going to get caught. I think Disney isn't giving anyone a straight answer on this because by telling people that they are separated in the system they are leading people to believe that they will basically be left with all child credits if they choose to try to cheat the system. Or, very possibly, they are just stating the rules and really don't know themselves.

NOW, with that said, I in NO WAY support cheating the system and ordering adult meals. As it's been discussed on here, most just want to know that the meals are being deducted correctly when eating at places without childrens menus so we don't have a big suprise at the end of the trip of "hey, you only have children's credits left" because they haven't bothered to separate them out on the reciept yet. My best guess is that if they have them separated in the system, they can be separated on the reciept just like they do the TS meals.

Just my two cents, FWIW.

 

[thunderbird1]

Disney should offer every adult meal in a child's portion. That way, we can all be happy.

For instance, the Salmon dish at the Sunshine seasons, my son loves it. What is wrong with giving them a smaller portion and provide the same side dishes (applesauce or grapes). It is far more healthy, in my opinion, than a hamburger or chicken nuggets. If Disney is so health conscious, then this would be the best alternative.

I agree 100% that Disney should offer kids' meals that are smaller versions of the adult meals, particularly if they would add more kid-friendly sides. In fact, they used to have such options at most CS places, but have been phasing them out over the last few years. Probably because there were a lot of adults ordering kids' meals for themselves.

Why would Disney care about this, especially if, as you pointed out, they have this new "health conscious" push (aren't smaller portions better for your health)? I've seen a lot of speculation about this, and IMHO, the most likely reason is the cost. Disney tries to keep the kids' meals cheap so they're more affordable, and may even have been losing money on some of them (individual pizzas, for example--they're all the same size). They make up for the cheap kids' meals when the parents purchase adult meals, but if too many adults are ordering the kids' meals, they never recoup those losses.

I don't have a solution, but I think it's pretty clear that making the kids' meals as unappetizing as possible to adults has made them unappetizing to many kids, too. You can't expect kids to enjoy eating cold, cubed chicken or an uncrustable when the rest of the family is eating burgers and fries or pizza.

LOL - I think Disney wants to keep everyone confused. I'm going to go out on a limb and say this. Most likely the credits are pooled. So, in reality those people who want to order an adult meal for their child can and they are not going to get caught - not that they aren't doing something wrong - but just are not going to get caught. I think Disney isn't giving anyone a straight answer on this because by telling people that they are separated in the system they are leading people to believe that they will basically be left with all child credits if they choose to try to cheat the system. Or, very possibly, they are just stating the rules and really don't know themselves.

NOW, with that said, I in NO WAY support cheating the system and ordering adult meals. As it's been discussed on here, most just want to know that the meals are being deducted correctly when eating at places without childrens menus so we don't have a big suprise at the end of the trip of "hey, you only have children's credits left" because they haven't bothered to separate them out on the reciept yet. My best guess is that if they have them separated in the system, they can be separated on the reciept just like they do the TS meals.

Just my two cents, FWIW.

FWIW, I think you're right--credits are still pooled, and they only way they "track" what you're using is by limited what you can buy to the max # of kids and adults listed on your KTTW--and even that doesn't always work. Like you said, if the credits were separated, you'd get separate receipts.

Again, not that I'm advocating cheating, or am planning to do so myself--frankly, my 5 year old is perfectly happy with and usually even prefers the kids meals. But while it was easy for us to keep track of what we used at TS meals (since the 4 of us always ate together), the same can't be said for CS meals. My dh often uses a CS credit for a leisurely breakfast while the kids and I grab snacks and race to rope drop. When we're strolling around World Showcase, we'll stop at several different places and share 1 CS meal at each to sample different things. In the end, we probably come out about even, but I don't want to have to carry around a spreadsheet or punch card to make absolutely sure we're using the credits exactly right.

 

[maigheann]

They have no problem dividing TS meals, thereby, enforcing their policy.

Is adult and child TS separation really separate? To answer this question, if anyone has ever had to pay cash OOP at a TS restaurant because, before they sat down, they unknowingly only had child_TSs remaining on their KTTW card, then this would say to me TSs are really separate.

More general question, is it true that the only way to see tallies of adult_CS and child_CS is to ask your hotel desk to provide with a paper printout? There is no card swiper thing or phone # you can call that can tell you? Do you have to ask the hotel to provide this, or do they give you an itemized tally each night with very streamlined delivery (e.g. automatically slipped under your door)? Not sure how WDW expects families (esp big ones) to keep track of all these separated creds without occassional reminders. Honest people make arithmetic mistakes, forget stuff, etc.


M

 

[dvcdisney]

Is adult and child TS separation really separate? Maybe the line between them is fuzzy too like with these CSs. To answer this question, if anyone has ever had to pay cash OOP at a TS restaurant because, before they sat down, they unknowingly only had child_TSs remaining on their KTTW card, then this would say to me TSs are really separate.

More general question, is it true that the only way to see tallies of adult_CS and child_CS is to ask your hotel desk to provide with a paper printout? There is no card swiper thing or phone # you can call that can tell you? Do you have to ask the hotel to provide this, or do they give you a itemized tally each night with very streamlined delivery (e.g. automatically slipped under your door)?


M

Yes, the TS credits are really separated. It is shown clearly on the receipts.

I don't personally know if the printouts are available, but someone had mentioned that they were told that they can do this. I have not tried this yet.

The problems we have encountered in the past with DDP had always shown on our CS receipts. For instance, they charged us 3 adults when it should have been 2 adults. I don't really know how this was possible and they themselves attribute it to problems in the system. But clearly, the receipt shows 2 adult meals being purchased, but 3 were deducted.

So, although sometimes I don't look over the receipts until the end of the day, I cannot stress enough the importance of checking and ensuring that your receipts are accurate.

 

[kami2199]

I KNOW I read a thread earlier that a poster who just came back had a long conversation with a manager regarding the separation of the credits. The CM/Manager basically told them the only way they are tracking the credits now is at the counter by looking at your card' child vs adult numbers - they are pooled in the system as they always have been and they don't track it nor can they tell you how many of each are left. The CM was from one of the All Stars I think. Now, if I could only find that thread, lol. I'm going to die if it was this thread and I've somehow missed it!

So, I'm not going to worry anymore about calling to find out - if they charge us an "adult" credit at Casey's, it won't matter! Oh - usual disclaimer - not trying to cheat the system, lol. My dd actually PREFERS the childrens menu, silly child.

 

[tnmomof4]

I KNOW I read a thread earlier that a poster who just came back had a long conversation with a manager regarding the separation of the credits. The CM/Manager basically told them the only way they are tracking the credits now is at the counter by looking at your card' child vs adult numbers - they are pooled in the system as they always have been and they don't track it nor can they tell you how many of each are left. The CM was from one of the All Stars I think. Now, if I could only find that thread, lol. I'm going to die if it was this thread and I've somehow missed it!

So, I'm not going to worry anymore about calling to find out - if they charge us an "adult" credit at Casey's, it won't matter! Oh - usual disclaimer - not trying to cheat the system, lol. My dd actually PREFERS the childrens menu, silly child.

That was my post. I know I posted it on this thread, I even got the e-mail where someone quoted me, but I guess it just disappeared.

Anyway.... you are right to not worry about the credits.

 

[Annabelleasb]

That was my post. I know I posted it on this thread, I even got the e-mail where someone quoted me, but I guess it just disappeared.

Anyway.... you are right to not worry about the credits.

Your post is post #40, pg. 3....

 

[kami2199]

Your post is post #40, pg. 3....

That is strange...I must have skipped that page when looking for it- oops...

We leave tomorrow, I'll be sure to report back!