[kizzmitt]

Soundgood, have you looked into the premium dining plan?

[Cavey]

Hey all, I've been doing some research into making an affordable trip, and I was wondering if this "loop hole" is still open.

You've already heard me whine about my light eaters. So...what if I went ahead and got 2 adult plans and 2 childrens plans. The plans are pooled together, and so we use our 4 daily CS vouchers for a quick breakfast. Then we use 2 FS vouchers at lunch, with the kids sharing with us, and 2 FS vouchers at dinner doing the same.

I know Character Meals would through the system off, but would this work?

[BuzzLightyear]

Originally Posted by Cavey

Hey all, I've been doing some research into making an affordable trip, and I was wondering if this "loop hole" is still open.

You've already heard me whine about my light eaters. So...what if I went ahead and got 2 adult plans and 2 childrens plans. The plans are pooled together, and so we use our 4 daily CS vouchers for a quick breakfast. Then we use 2 FS vouchers at lunch, with the kids sharing with us, and 2 FS vouchers at dinner doing the same.

I know Character Meals would through the system off, but would this work?

From what I understand the loophole is still working.
I know someone who just came back from Disney and used this a lot since their litttle one was a very light eater.

[lovemysons]

This is a stupid question, but I just assumed you were charged for each person's meal at the table. I thought you were not allowed to opt out of the meal, once the child was over 2. They always ask age of children when making reservations, and then when you arrive for your ps, the children are listed then as well. I thought you had to pay for everyone's meal, regardless of whether they eat one green bean, or three platefuls from the buffet. Is that not the case? Have I missed something?

[Allyson]

Originally Posted by lovemysons

This is a stupid question, but I just assumed you were charged for each person's meal at the table. I thought you were not allowed to opt out of the meal, once the child was over 2. They always ask age of children when making reservations, and then when you arrive for your ps, the children are listed then as well. I thought you had to pay for everyone's meal, regardless of whether they eat one green bean, or three platefuls from the buffet. Is that not the case? Have I missed something?

I'd be interested to know too...I **think** that at buffet restaurants you're probably right, but at places where you actually order off a menu then the plans discussed could work. Can anyone who has actually done this clue us in???

[WishUponAStar]

I just used the Disney Dining plan but I have NO children. It was GREAT for the two of us; we were eating lobster, filet mignon, and creme brulee nearly every night and it was wonderful! It definately ADDED to our vacation experience. I normally wouldn't have eaten those counter service meals everyday for lunch but with some good menu changes throughout the parks I was fine with it. As far as the loophole, ugh, it seems like too much to think about while on vacation.

[mickey]

Originally Posted by lovemysons

This is a stupid question, but I just assumed you were charged for each person's meal at the table. I thought you were not allowed to opt out of the meal, once the child was over 2. They always ask age of children when making reservations, and then when you arrive for your ps, the children are listed then as well. I thought you had to pay for everyone's meal, regardless of whether they eat one green bean, or three platefuls from the buffet. Is that not the case? Have I missed something?

You are never forced to pay for someone. If you are at a buffet restaurant, most likely you will have to pay for everyone, unless it is a child that is asleep or something. At any other restaurant, you are charged for what you purchase.

The loophole in question concerns using the dining plan to pay for the 3 adult meals, and paying cash for the child. Disney doesn't care how you pay for it, as long as it is paid. Personally, I think you are cheating the system. Disney will eventually figure out a way to indicate whether a meal credit is for a child or an adult.

[inluvwithdisney]

I ran across this on another board! It explains how disney handles the dining credits......




Dinning Plan Credits

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hesitate to post this but as there was a big and heated discussion before I left about how credits were allocated and such I thought I should report my experiences with the plan.

Just to confirm there are not such things as adult or child credits. I asked at the desk when we checked in and at a few places we ate at. Everything is lumped together and as I was told I could use them anyway we wanted to do. I could for example go over to the Whispering Canyon Cafe and buy dinner for 28 new friends (We had 28 Table Service Credits) or buy meals one at a time at 28 different places. The only restrictions were that they be used by midnight of departure day. No where on any reciept or any report I asked for from the front desk did the word adult or child get mentioned.

Now as to why Disney lets this "loophole" exist I have a theory. In our case we were there for 7 days and we maximized the use of the plan. Not so much with kids meals but with sharing counter service, getting refillable mugs at WL to use for lunch drinks at the resort so we could get bottled water for the parks with those meals, saving lunch snacks for later ect. Part of that was due to the heat and the need for water the other part was that there was so much food and a desire to maintain weight with eating 8 sit down meals. (We paid for one out of pocket and yes, we did maintain weight). It got to the point that we would order 2 CS meals for lunch and 1-2 for breakfast to split. The breakfast platter was huge at WL. We ended up spending less on food at Disney than we did at the Orlando and Philly airports on our way back.

At the same time some other people joined us for two three nights. They arrived late on the first night and left early on the last day. So in essence they had only two days to use three days worth of credits. They had no clue and not much was explained to them on how the plan worked. Until I talked to them about it they would have been content using only 2 TS credits, 2 CS credits and no snacks. (They didn't like the snacks on the plan and didn't grasp the concept of getting bottled water as a snack. Instead they bought it.) They didn't understand that you didn't loose them each day. So for every overly analytical person that uses the plan to its max I am sure that there are several that don't. Heck, I couldn't believe that they didn't understand it. Of course they also didn't join us in being at the parks when they opened. Sadly I am related to them.

So anywho credits are just that credits. Child and Adult credits only exist on the pages of the National Inquirer with Big foot and I do not see Disney changing the plan to over complicate it when most likely for the small percentage that use the loophole there are most likely more that don't use the plan well. Even with the Internet I knwo a few people going to Disney, some well educated computer literate people, that would never think of using the Internet to plan a vacation. For that matter DW as asked me not to talk too much about how I planned our our trip. Something about geek and over planning as if that is possible


As I said this was on another board and I thought some of you might want this info!!

[Cavey]

Interesting. Thank you.

[Handicap18]

Great information. We are still deciding on what we are going to do with the dining plan. This thread has been the best I've found so far in explaining the plan. AAA wasn't all that helpful and the info in the cataloge doesn't say much. Even the link on Disney's site doesn't go into much detail.

Thanks again for the information.

[tinkerbelle24]

I personally think this is a bit confusing. So with the dining plan they pool all the "coupons" together??? So what you are saying that when u go to pay they just will take 2 adults off and pay your $$ for the kids?? Now when u have the kids "coupons" xtra and use them as adults wont they know they are for kids meals and not for adults??? I really dont get how they do this.. I never used the dining plan before.. just pd out of pocket.

[tinkerbelle24]

inluvwithdisney-----Got ya!!!! Now i get it. SO everything is pooled together so if i want to get dinner for 2 adults and have the kids with us i just pay for 2 kids and we will have 2 extra "dinner" credits left no kids and no adults just "credits" right???

[Dana]

Originally Posted by tinkerbelle24

I personally think this is a bit confusing. So with the dining plan they pool all the "coupons" together??? So what you are saying that when u go to pay they just will take 2 adults off and pay your $$ for the kids?? Now when u have the kids "coupons" xtra and use them as adults wont they know they are for kids meals and not for adults??? I really dont get how they do this.. I never used the dining plan before.. just pd out of pocket.

No, they won't know if the meals are for kids or adults. They are pooled together as just meals...not adult or child specific. If your children are under nine, then this works in your favor because they are still able to order from the kids menu. If not, it doesn't apply. I can't see any CM not letting your children order from the children's menu regardless of age, but stranger things have happened.

[tinkerbelle24]

Thanks for making sense for me. I called WDW dine a little while ago and was asking questions.. of course she didnt tell me what i wanted to hear lol.... i asked if all the credits are pooled together.. she said yes.. then i asked will the cast members know what to take from my pool when its time to pay and she said that they take 2 from the adults since there are 2 of us and 2 from the kids since there are 2 of them. I know i can probally do what is in the post but since its already done and pd for i guess i dont care anymore.. my plan is to wing it as i go with the dining plan cause if my 3 year old doesnt eat a kids meal like i know she probally wont(she barely eats alot) i will pay out of pocket for her and save it for my 7 year old who eats like a cow lol... thanks for the post.. it really gave me some good ideas...

[Maria]

My neighbor just got back and she had the FREE dinning and for her DS(4) she ordered for him at the counter service meals from the ADULT menue...this is a loop hole that Should be fixed IMHO. I believe she said she did this at all their CS meals too...he did share it with his sister who is two.