Sharing Credits in our family

[gonzo138]

On our trip in February, there will be DH, Me, DD3, DS 10 months in one room and MIL and her sister in another.

We are all on the free DDP, but we are considering upgrading to the Deluxe plan.


EDITED:

Sorry if I have been unclear.

We are all on the same reservations.

We are doing the following ADRs. I realize it is a lot of character meals, but we have determined with our group (due to ages and mobility issues) that is the best way our family to see the characters. Boma is somewhere I wanted to go and 50s is somewhere MIL and Aunt want to go.

Arrival evening - Sunday
Boma

Monday
CRT
1900 PF Dinner

Tuesday
Tusker House breakfast


Wednesday
Hollywood and Vine breakfast
50s Prime Time

Thursday
Akershus
California Grill (Just DH and I)

Friday
1900 PF Breakfast
Crystal Palace Lunch
... then headed out late afternoon

My Aunt is paying for her room with the free dining and my MIL will chip in whatever she is able. Any meals beyond that we are covering. We are already 5 Table Service credits above what is covered on the basic dining plan. (With each of those meals around 30 dollars - the deluxe plan upgrade is $31/day.) The deluxe plan would also offer an additional meal and snack. CS in AK and dinners at the resort two nights.

My husband and I are booked (just the two of us) for California Grill late one evening. We are also considering Jiko because the menu looks awesome. This is time for just us - we don't have grandma to watch the kids often and she really wants us to go out. We think it would be fun and our kids will most likely be in bed already.

MIL and Aunt will have an extra two meal credits most likely if we upgrade them and DH and I would be two short if we do signatures on our nights out. We just wanted to know if we can use credits from MIL and aunt at other meals to make up the difference. Example: during counter service at our resort, have our meals come off their cards. I understand if this is not workable - just thought I would check on it before considering paying out of pocket.

Thanks ~
Stacey

 

[bdoyledimou]

You can use the DDP at the Character meals (TS).. so i am wondering how you would have too many TS credits?

We had two rooms last year and we just gave them one card from each room and told them how to divy the credits.

you can only use 1 credit for each person listed (so if your card had 2 adults 2 children, your transaction can only be 2 adults and 2 children.. or 1 adult and 2 children, or 1 child and 2 adults, or you get the idea.. you cannot do 3 adults though)

 

[gonzo138]

Edited original message for clarity.

Thanks again.

 

[sharonabe]

If you're all eating together, you give your card for your meals and they give their card for their meals.

As PP said, you can't take 4 adults off of one card at one time. The card won't allow it.

 

[hotcarib]

OP,
Do you mean your first meal at CRT all adults and your child will be eating?
That would mean 8 adult TS and the corresponding number of TS for each child.
However, if you are asking about date nites (just you and your DH) with mom and auntie watching the children whilst eating at a non sig rest.. Then you and DH can dine at a sig. and each 1 of you can use the entitlements (each using a separate room card) Do you see what I mean? It would be the same as if mom & auntie were dining at a sig with you, DH and DD/DS dining elsewhere. In essence you are swapping cards.
At least I think that's where you were going with your query

 

[Bete]

Sometimes, it's better to pay for some meals out of pocket and not upgrade to a higher plan. There may be some meals that are cheaper and going during lunchtime is cheaper; so, you use your credits wisely and use them for the more expensive meals. If you want to go to a signature restaurant as a couple; it would be less expensive for two then for the entire family; so, even then, it could be better to pay for that meal out of pocket.

Also, unless you are paying for the upgrade yourself for your mom and aunt's share I don't think it's fair to them to upgrade and charge them when they wouldn't receive the full benefit, here. If you are paying for their trip; then bless you.

Another consideration is that it's very time consuming to do table service meals. Signature restaurants take even longer in my opinion. This all takes time away from parks and doing rides and shows and so forth.

 

[ccgirl]

On our trip in February, there will be DH, Me, DD3, DS 10 months in one room and MIL and her sister in another.

We are all on the free DDP, but we are considering upgrading to the Deluxe plan.

We are doing several character meals and so we will have too many table service meals. If we upgrade our plan AND my MIL and Aunt's plan, can we (DH & I) use some of their meal credits? We are looking to have a couple of date nights at signature restaurants.

If we can, should we just have meal credits for our meals come off of their card for meals when we eat together?

Not having been to Disney before (so obviously never having used DDP) I am unsure of logistics.

Thanks!
Stacey

MiL and her sister are in another room, correct? Are they on the same reservation? Don't forget, the Deluxe DDP is 3 TS credits per night. So, it really is a lot of food. You have the snack for breakfast, a QS lunch and Signature dinner and you don't need to "borrow" anything.

 

[gonzo138]

Edited original message for clarity.

 

[vicki_c]

I'm not really sure I still understand the whole situation, but the bottom line is this:

If you and DH go out to dinner, you will only be able to use 2 or 4 TS credits (depending on whether a signature meal or not) from your card at that meal.

Whether that answers what you are asking, I don't know.

 

[LilyWDW]

The credits are broken up by ROOM, not by reservation. As such, your room card will say 2A and 1C (youngest is not on the plan at 10months). The other room card will say 2A. You can NOT share credits with anyone not in the same room (and thus on the same plan). As such, you will not be able to use extra credits from either room to pay for meals for anyone in the other room. The number of people in the room (aka 2A and 1C or 2A) dictates how many meals of which can be ordered and payed for at the time.

 

[ccgirl]

On our trip in February, there will be DH, Me, DD3, DS 10 months in one room and MIL and her sister in another.

We are all on the free DDP, but we are considering upgrading to the Deluxe plan.


EDITED:

Sorry if I have been unclear.

We are all on the same reservations.

We are doing the following ADRs. I realize it is a lot of character meals, but we have determined with our group (due to ages and mobility issues) that is the best way our family to see the characters. Boma is somewhere I wanted to go and 50s is somewhere MIL and Aunt want to go.

Arrival evening - Sunday
Boma

Monday
CRT
1900 PF Dinner

Tuesday
Tusker House breakfast


Wednesday
Hollywood and Vine breakfast
50s Prime Time

Thursday
Akershus
California Grill (Just DH and I)

Friday
1900 PF Breakfast
Crystal Palace Lunch
... then headed out late afternoon

My Aunt is paying for her room with the free dining and my MIL will chip in whatever she is able. Any meals beyond that we are covering. We are already 5 Table Service credits above what is covered on the basic dining plan. (With each of those meals around 30 dollars - the deluxe plan upgrade is $31/day.) The deluxe plan would also offer an additional meal and snack. CS in AK and dinners at the resort two nights.

My husband and I are booked (just the two of us) for California Grill late one evening. We are also considering Jiko because the menu looks awesome. This is time for just us - we don't have grandma to watch the kids often and she really wants us to go out. We think it would be fun and our kids will most likely be in bed already.

MIL and Aunt will have an extra two meal credits most likely if we upgrade them and DH and I would be two short if we do signatures on our nights out. We just wanted to know if we can use credits from MIL and aunt at other meals to make up the difference. Example: during counter service at our resort, have our meals come off their cards. I understand if this is not workable - just thought I would check on it before considering paying out of pocket.

Thanks ~
Stacey

Thanks for the clarifications. It looks like you are going for 8 nights. If you upgrade to the DxDDP, you will have 24 credits. You only have 12 listed (CRT and Cali Grill being 2 TS each) so you have another 12 for counter service. You would have plenty of your own credits without needing to share. Hope this helps.

 

[sharonabe]

Thanks for the clarifications. It looks like you are going for 8 nights. If you upgrade to the DxDDP, you will have 24 credits. You only have 12 listed (CRT and Cali Grill being 2 TS each) so you have another 12 for counter service. You would have plenty of your own credits without needing to share. Hope this helps.

I only count 5 nights, but it is very late here, so I could be missing something.

If it is 5 nights, you have 15 credits each, and you're only using 12. The only place I even see you needing one is on your Tusker House day. You'll need something that evening.

You and DH should have no problem. The others in your party, however, are going to have several meals leftover unless you give them a night out at a signature (maybe on the Tusker night??). They will have to eat on your date nights, so maybe make an ADR for them somewhere close by or they could do room service/resort meal those nights.

Since you're only paying to upgrade, you don't have to worry as much about getting the value out of the plan. You'll more than get that with just what you have.

 

[disneyholic family]

The credits are broken up by ROOM, not by reservation. As such, your room card will say 2A and 1C (youngest is not on the plan at 10months). The other room card will say 2A. You can NOT share credits with anyone not in the same room (and thus on the same plan). As such, you will not be able to use extra credits from either room to pay for meals for anyone in the other room. The number of people in the room (aka 2A and 1C or 2A) dictates how many meals of which can be ordered and payed for at the time.

are you sure about that?

we were just there and towards the end, when it was clear we had unused credits, rather than hand them 2 key cards, i just had all 4 meals taken off my card.

 

[Dean]

On our trip in February, there will be DH, Me, DD3, DS 10 months in one room and MIL and her sister in another.

We are all on the free DDP, but we are considering upgrading to the Deluxe plan.


EDITED:

Sorry if I have been unclear.

We are all on the same reservations.

We are doing the following ADRs. I realize it is a lot of character meals, but we have determined with our group (due to ages and mobility issues) that is the best way our family to see the characters. Boma is somewhere I wanted to go and 50s is somewhere MIL and Aunt want to go.

Arrival evening - Sunday
Boma

Monday
CRT
1900 PF Dinner

Tuesday
Tusker House breakfast


Wednesday
Hollywood and Vine breakfast
50s Prime Time

Thursday
Akershus
California Grill (Just DH and I)

Friday
1900 PF Breakfast
Crystal Palace Lunch
... then headed out late afternoon

My Aunt is paying for her room with the free dining and my MIL will chip in whatever she is able. Any meals beyond that we are covering. We are already 5 Table Service credits above what is covered on the basic dining plan. (With each of those meals around 30 dollars - the deluxe plan upgrade is $31/day.) The deluxe plan would also offer an additional meal and snack. CS in AK and dinners at the resort two nights.

My husband and I are booked (just the two of us) for California Grill late one evening. We are also considering Jiko because the menu looks awesome. This is time for just us - we don't have grandma to watch the kids often and she really wants us to go out. We think it would be fun and our kids will most likely be in bed already.

MIL and Aunt will have an extra two meal credits most likely if we upgrade them and DH and I would be two short if we do signatures on our nights out. We just wanted to know if we can use credits from MIL and aunt at other meals to make up the difference. Example: during counter service at our resort, have our meals come off their cards. I understand if this is not workable - just thought I would check on it before considering paying out of pocket.

Thanks ~
Stacey

I'm not sure about whether 2 rooms on 1 reservation can have different plans, my guess is no. You need to call and see and and you need to do the Math accordinly. Remember that a TS credit at a buffet is the same from either the basic DP or the Dx plan. The problem, as I see your reservations, is that you only need the basic plan TS credits but need more credits and less CS credits and that you may not be able to use the QS options of the basic DDP. My guess is that your best bet is to shift your plans slightly to either a little less TS to use the CS credits (cheapest options) or a little more and use the appropriate plan for that change (basic for less, Dx for more) and add a couple additional TS meals, possibly a signature Tuesday. If you stay with the basic plan, I only see 2 meals when you're likely to get good use of QS options, the rest of the family while you're at CG and Tuesday afternoon, evening. 50's PT is a good one to pay OOP as the signatures often are as well. Another consideration is you do not have to use a credit for every person for every meal. One way to stretch the plan in this situation is to only use TS credits for part of the people for a non buffet meal. That way you can get Dessert's for more meals but less per meal.

As PP said, you can't take 4 adults off of one card at one time. The card won't allow it.

That's not quite accurate, they can use a card for more people than the card states. The rules say they are not supposed to be they can and often do.

 

[boufa]

This is when a Mod will jump in (I'm not a mod, and do not even play one on TV) and remind everyone that credits are only for use by those named on the plan. I suspect that they are not broken up by room because it would get really confusing with larger family groups staying in adjoining rooms, etc.

Now if you got 1 room and got the deluxe plan on that reservation and got a second room on a different reservation with the QS plan (or any other plan that is different) you would not be able to share credits. 2 reservations = 2 different sets of named guests on the plans... each guest, per Disney, would only be allowed to dine from the credits assigned to their room/reservation. You would not be able to use 1 rooms TS credits to pay for meals from people staying in the other room.

 

[Cafeen]

There's a few confusing responses here... which are confusing me with what the question is, so I'm going to start at the beginning (which is often a good place to do that ).

(snipped original response and placed it below, it talks about deciding on DxDDP or DDP... told you I was confused )

AHH! All the way at the bottom I see the issue that's confusing me. Regarding using your MIL and Aunt's left overs on DDP to cover sigs for you and DH. Now I see

I don't know the real answer, unfortunately, as it all depends on how credits are pooled for a single reservation, but multiple room thing. If they are separated out by room (which, I have a feeling is the case), then unfortunately no, you can't do it. If they are indeed pooled together (which, I have a feeling is not the case), then you'll be able to just fine.

(Original Response is below, all about choosing DxDDP or DDP... because I fail at reading the whole post!)
First off, you'll be there 5 nights, giving you each 15 credits. You have 10 "spent" for the family, with an additional 2 for you and DH. So, right now we're sitting at 12/10 used.

Typically, for DxDDP, I recommend spending at least 3/4 of your total credits, if all used at TS. If all credits are used, this can drop down to about 2/3 at TS with 1/3 at CS. So for you, that would be 10 credits at TS with 5 left over to CS.

To make sure that you get on the good side of things, would it be possible (and would they be willing) for Aunt and MIL to take the kids out on the night(s) you go to CG (and potentially Jiko). It doesn't have to be anywhere super special, but a TS meal here would help solidify them into the "black". You also have that open meal on your AK day that you could fit another whole family TS into (unless that's your Jiko day, then the above still applies ).

Overall, I'd say you're right on the edge of DxDDP being a better deal, depending on what you actually order, it could easily go either way (assuming you fill with CS and resort meals as you indicated).

 

[poison ivy]

you will need to use some tool to map this out

At the end of the day, the goal is to have 2 remaining TS credits on each room in order to use them at Cali Grill.

the answer to your question is - yes, you will be able to use the credits from both rooms for the cali grill. Just remember to hand the proper room keys over to cover the meals with the understanding that 2 credits will be deducted from each key. In other words you can't split it 3 on one key / 1 on the other. They must take two off each.

keep it simple 5 nt trip - 4 ad = 60 TS as you mentioned or 30/room

You are all planning to use a combined total of 56 if I am reading this correctly while dining together, leaving 2 per card available for cali grill.
this will work out fine. I'd upgrade. The cost should beat the out of pocket price for all the meals you have. it's a good plan.

 

[Dean]

This is when a Mod will jump in (I'm not a mod, and do not even play one on TV) and remind everyone that credits are only for use by those named on the plan. I suspect that they are not broken up by room because it would get really confusing with larger family groups staying in adjoining rooms, etc.

Now if you got 1 room and got the deluxe plan on that reservation and got a second room on a different reservation with the QS plan (or any other plan that is different) you would not be able to share credits. 2 reservations = 2 different sets of named guests on the plans... each guest, per Disney, would only be allowed to dine from the credits assigned to their room/reservation. You would not be able to use 1 rooms TS credits to pay for meals from people staying in the other room.

There's no reason to. I acknowledged the rules and stated correctly that they have the ability to use more than the card states.