sharing the dining plan

[thecajunmouse]

ok, so for our first trip home to SSR, 3 families will be going...us, husband's parents, and husband's sister/family. we have a 2BR and a studio. we went this past january and got the meal plan but found it was way too much food (we each gained about 8 pounds!!) since we feel the need to eat every bite served to us. anyway we vowed never to get it again. but now i'm thinking if it will work maybe we could split the cost with my DMIL/DFIL and that would give us a perfect meal plan.
has anyone ever "paid" for someone else's meal who is not on the meal plan with their own card?
i was thinking that everyone in the room must be on the meal plan, right? but is that for the whole ressie (would we have to buy for all 3 families) or could my family just buy the meal plan since we will be staying in separate rooms? how does that work?
so if DH and i bought the meal plan & went out to eat with in-laws, instead of paying for 2TS + cash for the in-laws' meal could we just pay using 4TS?
am i being confusing or do y'all know what i'm trying to ask?
thanks soooo much!

 

[jekjones1558]

We asked about this because we always book 2 - 1 bedroom units when traveling with other couples. Yes, you can buy the plan for just one room and share the credits. You can also buy an extra item or 2 with cash to supplement the food you get on the dining plan, if you want.

 

[thecajunmouse]

can you share the credits at the same restaurant or would you have to use them one day and the other couple use them at a separate time? if you used them all at one time at the same restaurant, did any CM say anything about it? or is that something they have no way of knowing...who's on the meal plan...do they just know how many TS you have left?
thanks

 

[Deb & Bill]

There was a post on the Restaurants Board under the dining plan sub-board where someone tried to use the dining plan for a friend who was not on the plan. They were not allowed to use it that way.

I wouldn't plan on sharing a dining plan with people not on the plan. It is supposed to be purchased for all guests staying on the reservation for the entire trip. Kids get kid meals, adults get adult meals.

For a two bedroom, all guests in the two bedroom would have to purchase the dining plan.

 

[jekjones1558]

There was a post on the Restaurants Board under the dining plan sub-board where someone tried to use the dining plan for a friend who was not on the plan. They were not allowed to use it that way.

Wonder if the policy has changed or if this is another case of a CM giving incorrect info. I posed this question several months ago, so maybe times have changed. I was assured that it was okay to use credits with others. We had to buy the plan for everyone in a room but if we had more than one room, we could buy for just one room.
We ended up having to reschedule our vacation with our friends so never got to try this out first hand.
Have you asked about this when calling to get the dining plan? I'd be interested to know what the response is now.

 

[Tink10]

There was a post on the Restaurants Board under the dining plan sub-board where someone tried to use the dining plan for a friend who was not on the plan. They were not allowed to use it that way.

I wouldn't plan on sharing a dining plan with people not on the plan. It is supposed to be purchased for all guests staying on the reservation for the entire trip. Kids get kid meals, adults get adult meals.

For a two bedroom, all guests in the two bedroom would have to purchase the dining plan.

The OP in the discussion that you're referring to was dining with 4 adults & 1 child, but the child wasn't eating. Their room key only listed 3 adults & 1 child & the manager at the YS wouldn't allow them to feed someone who wasn't on the card. To the manager, I'm sure that it appeared that the 4th adult was trying to use the child's credits (which the OP says wasn't the case).

Regardless, the info that I've gotten from a higher-up CM who's very much "in the know" is that the technical whatnot is nearly in place to prevent adults from using child's credits. In the meantime, managers have supposedly been given new instruction as to who can dine on the DDP credits.

I'm sure that there will be many places who allow people to share, but there will be some that won't. It's at the manager's discretion.....

I Hope This Helps!

 

[*elaine*]

I have to also share that at counter service, no one checked if our kids ate kids meals. My 4 & 6 year olds eat adult sized portions and prefer adult foods. So, at the Tusker House, for example, one child ate the rotisserie chicken and the other ate the grilled salmon, and they finished every bite. No one ever said anything when we ordered 4 adult counter meals even though we have 2 kids. At sit down restaurants, yes, they ordered off the kids menus (I usually had the kid meal and ordered an adult meal for one of them).

I don't feel too guilty about it all, because since we had late check-in our first night and the Caribbean Beach Resort where we were staying didn't have sit-down breakfast, we ended up leaving with one whole sit down meal unused!!!

It still was worth every single penny - we ate better than we ever have on a vacation and came home with a bag full of mickey rice krispy treats.

 

[LoveWDW]

When we were there in December we treated guests (who were not staying at WDW) by using two of our credits for them. We didn't have any trouble, but that has been 6 months ago.

 

[ceejay13]

Just returned 2 weeks ago from a 6 night stay with the meal plan. On one day my BIL and 2 nieces drove up from Vero Beach and spent the day at the AK with us. We used the meal plan and snacks with them. Before we did it my DH went to the OKW front desk to ask and they said we could use our meal credits any way we liked including treating others. When we handed them the card for both lunch and the snacks there were no questions asked.

 

[thecajunmouse]

sounds like i shouldn't get the DDP if i intend on sharing. too iffy. i will call MS probably tomorrow & let you all know what they have to say about "treating" others not on the plan.

 

[JimMIA]

sounds like i shouldn't get the DDP if i intend on sharing. too iffy. i will call MS probably tomorrow & let you all know what they have to say about "treating" others not on the plan.

I agree. To me, sharing would be one of those nice things if it happens, but I certainly wouldn't build any plans about being able to do it.

 

[kathleena]

First, I'm glad to hear they are resolving the child vs adult dining issue. That whole deal with paying for a child but using the credit to buy an adult meal really irritates me.

But - if you buy adult meals, I don't understand the issue with using them to treat another adult you are dining with. I buy dinner for family all the time, and they for me. As long as I purchase the meals for everyone in my room - which is all Disney requires - I would think I could feed anyone I want with them.

Does Disney make you sign an agreement that you can only use the credit for meals for the people who are staying in the room? I don't think so. And if they don't, then I would say that after you have bought them, you can spend them anyway you like (except the adult for a child thing, which is just theft to me - sorry to offend anyone with that - just my opinion).

 

[lisaviolet]

No matter what any higher up says about the DDP I still wouldn't bank on it. We used the dining plan last year and at many establishments there were "different rules".

I know this has nothing to do with sharing a meal or vouchers or is a biggie but here is an example. Disney states that you can order a non-alcoholic beverage with the plan. In one establishment I heard I could order neither milk nor bottled water nor juice. Water!!! Soft drinks only. I phoned the Dining line beforehand and they said, "that's impossible....milk and water are definitely on the plan". ( I don't like drinking pop)

Well it was true. No milk and no water and the dining line soon realized that some restaurants can make this change because they are not Disney owned. I don't think any restaurant should be able to limit you to only soft drinks Disney owned or not. Follow the plan or simply don't sign your restaurant up for it. I just chose not to eat there. But it was one of my former favourites. Hopefully they have changed.

This is just one example but quite a few times I found the "rules" changed from one restaurant to another. So consider that and it won't be a surprise if it happens.

Have fun. I don't think I'll get the plan again because now that we have the DVC I enjoy not eating out as much. But it's a great plan. And the majority of restaurants are very generous with their options. I remember thinking "wow I can get this or that!!!". We also shared a meal (1 voucher) at many restaurants without a problem.

 

[ceejay13]

First, I'm glad to hear they are resolving the child vs adult dining issue. That whole deal with paying for a child but using the credit to buy an adult meal really irritates me.

But - if you buy adult meals, I don't understand the issue with using them to treat another adult you are dining with. I buy dinner for family all the time, and they for me. As long as I purchase the meals for everyone in my room - which is all Disney requires - I would think I could feed anyone I want with them.

Does Disney make you sign an agreement that you can only use the credit for meals for the people who are staying in the room? I don't think so. And if they don't, then I would say that after you have bought them, you can spend them anyway you like (except the adult for a child thing, which is just theft to me - sorry to offend anyone with that - just my opinion).

As I stated in my post above, we had absolutely no problem 2 weeks ago. It was just my DH and I but my in-laws came for the day. I ordered and paid for 5 meals at lunch and all of us were there when we ordered 5 snacks. No where on your room key does it say meal plan for 2, which is what we had. It only says meal plan. The cast members even said the meals we paid for were ours to do as we pleased. On night my DH and I even shared a meal as neither of us were that hungry, so in that case we only used one instead of two. I so think there were many more questions and inconsistencies early on but it seems like all the CMs we encountered were very well versed on the plan now.