Shring on Dining Plan

[saffy]

It does not say anywhere that sharing is not allowed, whether with people on the plan or not on the plan.

Actually, it does clearly state that credits are non-transferrable. Which means that you, and only you, are to eat your credits.

 

[bicker]

I think that folks disagree about what the non-transferable clause means. Many feel that it is clarified in the brochure by this Q&A:

That statement, however, leaves the door open for sharing between folks who ARE on the plan. Only verbal and email messages from Disney have seemed to clearly indicate that even that is not permitted.

 

[Pedler]

A few posts have asked why Disney would care about sharing. The one reason I could think would be to increase per seat revenue. If TS places are full you only have two options to increase your revenue. One is to raise menu prices. That doesn't impact DDP guests because they don't pay the full menu price. The second is to increase the amount of items ordered per seat. If they require a party of 4 to use 4 credits instead of 3 the benefits are that they will not be able to use that extra credit somewhere else. So if they do have another TS meal they either have to pay for it (more $$) or they don't have another TS meal and another paying customer gets the seat. Either way they get more revenue. Remember there is an opportunity cost associated with a seat at a table that doesn't order a meal. That is why many places will not seat a party of 2 at a larger table unless they absolutely have to. And in some cases even then they won't sit a party of two at a larger table. I totally understand why a restaurant would want to do this. Once you hit your limit regarding seating capacity you have to look for other ways in increase revenue.

As for enforcement I don't' think Disney has it in them to put in place any draconian rules regarding this. (i.e. no stomach pumps on hand to enforce no sharing.) The last thing they want is serious confrontation in a restaurant. I could see signature restaurants having a plate charge but for the most part they may be able to achieve the objective just by telling people that sharing isn't allowed. Probably the majority, non DIS people of course, would just follow the rule.

 

[Pumbaa_]

While dining last week we were not told no but told that it was strongly discouraged....after overhearing us talking about leaving we were then told it was discourage but if we were insistant they would allow us to. On the other hand while dining at DTD about two months ago there was no issue with sharing.

Interesting! Can you 'share' with us where this occurred?

I am still stuck on if I purchase a meal on the DDP, once it hits the table it is mine. I am not redeeming a meal FOR a friend or family, but sharing MY meal with them.

Good discussion folks

 

[bicker]

And I suspect that Disney will never really have a problem with sharing food from your plate with others -- the only thing I can imagine they would ever have a real interest in is, where the Dining Plan is used to "pay" for any of the meals at a table, making sure everyone (older than 10) seated at the table orders an adult meal (and every child 3 - 9 orders a child meal). Once everyone has ordered a meal, I cannot imagine any restaurant would care who eats what.

 

[ReallyFunMom]

A little OT, I'm just getting back to learning the DDP rules for this year....

If we need to use a TS credit each, I'm sure we'll go ahead and max out and all order the appet, entree and dessert but would certainly need to take all 4 desserts to go for later. Is that still allowed? I remember reading something last year about Olivia's or someplace requiring you to eat the dessert there on the plan. Any issues with taking leftovers and desserts with you? In theory they could discourage ordering too much with an "everyone at table uses a TS credit" by not allowing you to take food, a la buffets.

 

[Lewisc]

A related reason. Assume the restaurants are so over crowded guests can't get ADR's they want. Assume that is resulting in complaints, some off site guests deciding to eat off site and some Disney guests deciding to skip the dining plan.

Guests that stretch their credits by sharing, a couple that uses one credit per TS meal, has cut Disney's restaurant capacity in half. Further DDP is already discounted. The point could be made that the credits are priced per person, like a buffet, and not on the basis of food that's ordered.

I'm surprised Disney doesn't have some kind of minimum order requirement at CG.

A few posts have asked why Disney would care about sharing. The one reason I could think would be to increase per seat revenue. If TS places are full you only have two options to increase your revenue. One is to raise menu prices. That doesn't impact DDP guests because they don't pay the full menu price. The second is to increase the amount of items ordered per seat. If they require a party of 4 to use 4 credits instead of 3 the benefits are that they will not be able to use that extra credit somewhere else. So if they do have another TS meal they either have to pay for it (more $$) or they don't have another TS meal and another paying customer gets the seat. Either way they get more revenue. Remember there is an opportunity cost associated with a seat at a table that doesn't order a meal. That is why many places will not seat a party of 2 at a larger table unless they absolutely have to. And in some cases even then they won't sit a party of two at a larger table. I totally understand why a restaurant would want to do this. Once you hit your limit regarding seating capacity you have to look for other ways in increase revenue.

As for enforcement I don't' think Disney has it in them to put in place any draconian rules regarding this. (i.e. no stomach pumps on hand to enforce no sharing.) The last thing they want is serious confrontation in a restaurant. I could see signature restaurants having a plate charge but for the most part they may be able to achieve the objective just by telling people that sharing isn't allowed. Probably the majority, non DIS people of course, would just follow the rule.

 

[Katiebell]

This is starting to sound like a B Horror Movie -- "The DDP: The Monster That Ate WDW"

Disney successfully accomplished so many business objectives with the DDP. Restaurants that used to have empty tables are now booked months in advance. Guests that used to wander off to Universal or Sea World are now staying -- and spending -- on WDW property (also thanks to the free ME so they don't have a rental car to leave). Resorts that had empty rooms in hurricane season are now full. Guests who used to only eat at CS with maybe one character meal for their whole trip are being trained that a WDW vacation experience means having a TS every day. Guests that have always eaten in TS restaurants are being trained not to worry about the prices, and that each individual diner should have their own appetizer, entree, and dessert.

There have definitely been some bumps along the way. Restaurants are now over crowded, and people are grumbling because they have to reserve months in advance or risk getting turned away. Guests exploited loopholes, like banking kids' credits for adult meals. I'm sure Disney is still trying to figure out if it's worth the expense to reprogram everything to split the kids and adult CS meals too.

Disney kind of created this monster themselves by making some meals 2 credits -- and not necessarily based on price. I did the math for someone on here once, and the most expensive menu items at PT 50's would make a more costly meal than the lower priced menu items at California Grill! If you give people 1 TS credit per day and then price some meals at 2 TS credits, then you know folks are going to try to figure out where to get those credits from. Most people don't get the DDP for free, and even though $40 a day is a great deal for the amount and variety of food you can get, for a lot of vacationers it's just about breaking even because they'd normally order fewer and/or cheaper items. And $40 per day per adult is not free food, it's pre-paid food. So yes, if they've prepaid for their meals, they don't want to be dipping into their wallet to pay OOP for more.

Too much food + some meals costing 2 credits = guests wanting to share meals.

 

[Pumbaa_]

Nicely summarized Katiebell!

 

[bicker]

If we need to use a TS credit each, I'm sure we'll go ahead and max out and all order the appet, entree and dessert but would certainly need to take all 4 desserts to go for later. Is that still allowed?

I feel like the Magic 8 Ball: "Most signs are indicating YES."

I remember reading something last year about Olivia's or someplace requiring you to eat the dessert there on the plan.

I haven't read anything to indicate that Olivia's has changed its unique policy regarding this.

 

[Littlemotherhaywood]

This has been a long and interesting thread Thanks to everyone for digging up all of this information. We were considering another trip sometime in the future (ahh, who knows when) and neither of our dkids eat whole kids meals. The most logical thing for me to do would be to get a meal they could share, ts, cs, or otherwise, and use the other child's credit for say a breakfast they could split. We would seriously be paying for a child to eat with credits we would never use if no sharing was allowed. I'm not going to get a second meal that won't be eaten. That just seems wrong to me. If I had to substitue a couple of ts credits for cs that would be fine with me. I find it hard to believe that anyone could eat as much food as is offered on the plan. We rarely order apps or dessert when we dine out and we usually end up taking half our entree home as well. Perhaps the dining plan would be a bad value for my family if no sharing was allowed.

 

[Sammie]

You know not that it will make any difference in the big scheme of over analyzing every part of the plan, but I talked to someone high enough up in Dining management to know policy, heck they write the policy and they don't care if people share with others on the same plan.

As to credits being nontransferable, that means to others not on your personal plan. You can share with anyone on your plan.

And as LewisC pointed out, at this time there is no enforcement mode in affect to even keep people from sharing with those not on the plan.

But if you want to know what policy is, then Yes you can share with anyone on your personal plan.

Now you know the policy, does that mean that every server or even every manager will agree, no it does not.

But Disney Dining does not care if you share with others on your plan.

 

[bicker]

You know not that it will make any difference in the big scheme of over analyzing every part of the plan, but I talked to someone high enough up in Dining management to know policy, heck they write the policy and they don't care if people share with others on the same plan.

I wish there was some way of putting those folks in touch with the Guest Communications CMs that Katiebell and I have been in contact with.

 

[jodifla]

I wish there was some way of putting those folks in touch with the Guest Communications CMs that Katiebell and I have been in contact with.

Or the people in the restaurants who are starting to discourage it.

 

[pilferk]

OK, now here's another question.

Someone said earlier that at a CS place, you could only order the max # of credits on your room key at any given time....and that confuses me a bit.

Say that we have 6 CS meals, each (2 adults, 3 kids). We're only going to eat 4 CS meals in a given week for whatever reason. I decide I want to order an "extra" CS meal so the kids can share it because they're extra hungry that day and the kids meal isn't going to cut it.

I can't do that?

I mean, I know there's a way around it (2 trips to the counter because then, really, how would they know) but....it seems odd that I can't use the credits any way I want to. I suppose I see their point..they don't want you ordering "extra" food and feeding someone NOT on the plan....but still.

 

[bicker]

Or the people in the restaurants who are starting to discourage it.

Well, I'm not concerned about that as much, because the restaurants surely have the right to impose their own rules over-and-above those of the Dining Plan itself. (For example, Tangierine Cafe limits dessert to one of the available choices.)

 

[bicker]

Someone said earlier that at a CS place, you could only order the max # of credits on your room key....and that confuses me a bit. Say that we have 6 CS meals, each (2 adults, 3 kids). We're only going to eat 4 CS meals in a given week for whatever reason. I decide I want to order an "extra" CS meal so the kids can share it because they're extra hungry that day and the kids meal isn't going to cut it. I can't do that?

That's indeed what that would mean. It is similar to several other situations where it is in Disney's best interest to allow something (in this case, an additional child meal to be ordered), but it just opens the door to too many additional complexities and confusion that Disney will almost always stick with the simplest manner of enforcement (in this case, 2A3C means two adult meals and three child meals, maximum, no matter what).

This is one of those cases where past abuse by a few has caused the implementation of enforcement that inconveniences everyone. If you check the Community Board, there is a thread that lists quite a few instances of this happening, and it is one reason why so many folks encourage everyone to just play by the rules.

 

[pilferk]

That's indeed what that would mean. It is similar to several other situations where it is in Disney's best interest to allow something (in this case, an additional child meal to be ordered), but it just opens the door to too many additional complexities and confusion that Disney will almost always stick with the simplest manner of enforcement (in this case, 2A3C means two adult meals and three child meals, maximum, no matter what).

This is one of those cases where past abuse by a few has caused the implementation of enforcement that inconveniences everyone. If you check the Community Board, there is a thread that lists quite a few instances of this happening, and it is one reason why so many folks encourage everyone to just play by the rules.

See, my problem with the rule, itself, is that it's so easy to get around...just by making an extra trip to the counter and placing another order...that it almost seems worthless to have the rule.

I understand that Disney needs to prevent abuse of the plan....and I guess just placing a speed bump, in this case, is the best they can do on that front.

 

[bicker]

You've put it very well... they need to balance what they do with how expensive it is to implement and how much it will adversely impact folks trying to use the system honestly. They often err on the side of being too lenient (IMHO) thereby allowing people intent on abuse an avenue for doing so -- but when it becomes unacceptable to them, they do take action.

 

[Minnie1156]

I have always just shared the over the counter meals. My DH and I just get one lunch and split it up. No one can stop you from doing that. We also use snacks for breakfast. Fruit is a snack and bagels and cakes are too. Then we have room for a big dinner.