What was your experience with sharing at TS restaurants?

[eeyoresmom]

There are 6 of us going to WDW in August. We are DVC members and will be staying in 2 studios. It is 1 adult, 3 teens and 2 preteens.( we all are light eaters.) I was thinking of purchasing the DDP for the studio that will have 4 people in it. Will we be able to share 4 credits between 6 people at TS restaurants? I don't want to be embarassed, but really hate to be wasteful at the same time

 

[NMW]

I doubt this would work at most table service places. The dining plan is non-transferrable. Meaning you can't "treat" others NOT on the plan. Your KTTW cards will clearly state someting like "4Adults", so when the server sees 6 adults they will immediatly know you are trying to share the plan with them.

A couple years ago Disney was much less strict on this matter and you had people paying cash OOP for their kids and treating Uncle Bill and Aunt Joan visiting from Tampa with the DDP. Disney now makes that immpossible. Credits are seperated into adult/child, they look at your card before you order, servers have posted that they will get in a lot of trouble for breaking the rules of the DDP.

Your situation is slightly different because you don't want to actually use credits to treat these other two people, you just want to share the 4 credits between 6 people (2 of them not on the plan). At CS places you would be fine just ordering 4 meals. At TS locations though...it's not really allowed by the plan and servers/managers may enforce it. If all 6 of you were on the plan and you only wanted to use 4 credits, that would be totally different, as you are not transfering the plan to anyone not on it.

 

[JimMIA]

No, you can't feed six people while paying for only four.

 

[Matt71]

If all six of you are on the DDP it makes sense to me that you would be able to do that. It would be no different than 4 of you showing up to eat and bringing all of your leftovers back to your room for the other two. It's just the difference of the two extra chairs you'll be taking up.

Buffets, I'm pretty sure, would not allow this at all.

If you find out officially that it is ok, I think it would be a fine way to squeeze an extra TS meal or two out of your DDP.

 

[NMW]

If all six of you are on the DDP it makes sense to me that you would be able to do that. It would be no different than 4 of you showing up to eat and bringing all of your leftovers back to your room for the other two. It's just the difference of the two extra chairs you'll be taking up.

Buffets, I'm pretty sure, would not allow this at all.

If you find out officially that it is ok, I think it would be a fine way to squeeze an extra TS meal or two out of your DDP.

Yes, I agree it would be fine if all 6 of them were on the meal plan (except at buffets). However, the OP only wants to pay to have 4 of the 6 on the dining plan and then share the food with two others NOT on the plan. This I'm fairly certain is not allowed.

 

[flipflop]

Yes, I agree it would be fine if all 6 of them were on the meal plan (except at buffets). However, the OP only wants to pay to have 4 of the 6 on the dining plan and then share the food with two others NOT on the plan. This I'm fairly certain is not allowed.

You are right - as is your explanation about the difference between paying for 6 people and sharing 4 credits -- rather than paying for 4 people and feeding six.

 

[LSchrow]

simply, DDP credits are non-transferrable, so the answer is no.

however.....if you, or anyone in your party, has an AP, you might be better off purchasing the DDE which you could then use for everyone in your party.
hth

 

[ssaa]

Technically you are NOT supposed to share any of your credits with anyone else. Obviously you can share CS and snack credits. TS is different. They check and we were told that we had to use 2 child+2adult credits are every TS meal.

What if the OP were to say that they are 2 parties eating together...4 on DDP and 2 OOP? The other 2 would have to order something else, but could still 'help' the others eat? I've never done this so I've no idea if it would work. I imagine there are people on the DDP that meet up with folks not on the DDP to eat? How do they handle that?

 

[shortypots]

I would agree with the poster that said get the DDE instead. Get one annual pass then get the DDE, if you share meals, you will probably come out better on the TS's.

 

[traveladdiction]

I actually shared twice w/ my DH... we were both on the DDP but wanted to use 2 TS credits one day, so we split a meal at SciFi (burger and fries were HUGE) and one other similar place. They were fine w/ that! I would probably have the 2 NOT on the DDP order something small like a salad or a soup. At buffets, you cannot do this though (obviously).

For example, let's say you were having dinner at Mama Melrose and two of your party NOT on the dining plan could order a bowl of minestrone for $5.49, then sample everyone else's plate to fill up. Or two not using the dining plan could order this to share - Grilled Pepperoni Flatbread - with bell peppers and sweet onions $11.99 - and share w/ you guys as well. You'll get 4 desserts and honestly, what's the big deal w/ 6 people sharing that? How many times do you go to a restaurant and order one dessert and everyone shares??

 

[traveladdiction]

oops double post

 

[JimMIA]

I imagine there are people on the DDP that meet up with folks not on the DDP to eat? How do they handle that?

It's pretty straightforward -- you handle it the same way you do at home. You ask for separate checks. I pay for my dinner however I choose, and you pay for yours.

There are a lot of new people here on the DIS DDP board, and this might be a good time to point out that many of the changes people don't like in DDP 2008 were in direct response to abuse by patrons "working the system to obtain maximum value" in previous years. One of the biggest abuses was treating or "sharing with" people who had not paid a penny...sometimes people who weren't even staying onsite.

Disney has put systems in place to stop that abuse. Anyone who asks to work the system is likely to be told no politely. But they might also get embarrassed. Or further cutbacks could occur -- abuse by DVC members could eventually result in DVC losing the ability to get DDP (we didn't have it at first), abuse during free dining could eventually lead to the elimination of free dining. For every significant level of abuse, Disney will take corrective measures.

And if someone succeeds in bypassing those controls, they might be costing some server their job. That has happened over this issue already. I'm sure some guests wouldn't care, but I wouldn't want to cause someone to lose their livelihood.

The best thing to do is go to Disney, have a great time, pay your bills. This is not rocket science.

 

[Tricia1972]

I agree with the PP's that is you share meals DDE is probably the best way for you to go.

Technically you aren't supposed to share your meal with someone not on the plan, even if they ordered something small.