disney deluxe dining child vs adult credit

[otterpop]

I don’t think they will. I think they feel in the long run, it would cost them more if they change it.

Totally agree...I could see it costing them more money for two reasons based on my career experiences:

1. I used to work in IT for a Fortune 500 company and to change something that you would think is so simple, always ended up being so complex and expensive...upgrading software, computers, networking, the cloud, training the appropriate people all the way from upper management to costumer service...on and on; that’s one of the reasons I left and got into advertising and sales. And so from that experience, I know it is not a cheap and easy change on Disneys end to do and not worth the trouble.

2. Now in advert and sales, I now know how not-so-smart many people are and if you word it just right, you can get them to buy anything. How many times do you see posts here about people having extra snack or dining credits left over??? Are they really saving the 10-20% that Disney claims??? I bet more than 75% of people who purchase these plans have credits left over. By altering the dining plans, people will no longer purchase them and, like the above, Disney will take a huge financial hit.

Disney knows what they’re doing and they do it very well!

On a side note...I thought this thread was deleted/locked, like so many others lately; good to see it back from the dead! I always find these types of discussions on how Disney operates interesting.

 

[Pumbaa_]

The ts credits are split for ddp. So the code is partially there

 

[sharonabe]

1. I used to work in IT for a Fortune 500 company and to change something that you would think is so simple, always ended up being so complex and expensive...upgrading software, computers, networking, the cloud, training the appropriate people all the way from upper management to costumer service...on and on; that’s one of the reasons I left and got into advertising and sales. And so from that experience, I know it is not a cheap and easy change on Disneys end to do and not worth the trouble.

The problem with this argument is that the possibility of using child credits to buy adult meals on this plan is not widely known, nor is it policy with Disney. It does happen and many servers do encourage people to do it. So the only training that has to be done is telling servers that all children must order from the child's menu, no exceptions. You wouldn't even have to change anything in the coding for when children are at the table ordering meals.

There would need to be a change in the coding if you don't want guests using child credits to buy an adult not on the plan an adult meal. But as Pumbaa said, the coding is already there for DDP credits, so I don't think it would be that difficult.

 

[bwbuddy5]

There would need to be a change in the coding if you don't want guests using child credits to buy an adult not on the plan an adult meal. But as Pumbaa said, the coding is already there for DDP credits, so I don't think it would be that difficult.

Interesting, didn't realize you were IT as well. So, as an IT person, since you are saying it would be easy to code, do you also think it would increase cost in the long run? Otherwise, they would have changed it already - the only reason they change anything anymore is to reduce cost or add revenue.

 

[sharonabe]

Interesting, didn't realize you were IT as well. So, as an IT person, since you are saying it would be easy to code, do you also think it would increase cost in the long run? Otherwise, they would have changed it already - the only reason they change anything anymore is to reduce cost or add revenue.

No, I'm not an IT person, but I know enough to know that since the coding is already there for one plan, it wouldn't be that difficult to do it for the other plans.

This didn't really become an issue until they removed the wording that prohibited using your credits for someone else not on the plan. That's when people started using kid credits for adults. My GUESS is it's either not happening enough to make it noticeable or the loss of revenue isn't enough to make them change it.

 

[eeyoresmom]

I'm not convinced they're even losing revenue when guests use kid's credits for adults. In some case yes but definitely not all. When I bring the whole family, 8-10 people, I have in the past and will continue to buy the DXDDP for one room and share the credits with other family members. If this wasn't an option I would pay for one big 'Ohana type meal and the rest would be quick service. Everyone in our family drinks water so the average qs meal would be $12 or so. We have vegetarians and some of the adults would buy kid's meals. Buying the DXDDP and sharing is significantly more money than I would spend OOP, especially with tips, but we get a better dining experience and Disney gets more money from us. If this goes away we will be fine with it. In fact, I still go back and forth because having no ADR's to get to is so relaxing and the qs is quite good.

 

[supersnoop]

I’ve spend half of my life in “application systems.” I guess some folks refer to that as IT. In my view, this is not a programming issue. The issue is with counter service restaurants that don’t serve kids meals. They need to add kids meal options to the system and train staff to ring up the correct one at the point of sale. That’s where it gets expensive and increases risk.

Imagine a family with two kids orders four meals at Casey’s. Dad is the only one at the counter. Does the CM ring it up as all adult meals? Do they look at the plan details and match the party? Do they ask, “how many kids?” Will they honor it if dad says all four meals are kids meals? And, what happens when they get it wrong but you don’t find out until three days later when they’re standing at a register arguing that they should have more adult credits available?

It’s an easy “IT” problem to solve. It’s much more difficult outside of that vacuum.

 

[12disneybee]

With the deluxe plan, you likely aren't saving any money. Which is probably why Disney has chosen not to divide the credits by adults versus child. They divide them on all of the other plans, but the deluxe plan really isn't designed to save money. My kids (ages 4, 4, and 5) on the deluxe plan eat 1 TS breakfast and 1 TS dinner each day. So that 3rd credit, which we paid for, gets used by one of the other adults staying in our room. I see no harm in that. We just paid $3000 for 4 nights on a deluxe dining plan. Disney isn't losing money. If they were, they would divide the meals just like on all the other plans.

They are losing money when i get the QS free dining then upgrade to DxDp and use the kids credits on adults, oop for kids to share

 

[eeyoresmom]

They are losing money when i get the QS free dining then upgrade to DxDp and use the kids credits on adults, oop for kids to share

They're probably still not losing money though. Room is occupied, you are tied to dining on property , servers are getting tipped..... I remember the days before free dining. The parks were empty. We used to pay $59 a night to stay at a value in the fall. Disney isn't making as much money on people who maximize the plan like you do but they're not losing money.

 

[bwbuddy5]

Since you guys are playing the IT card, I’ll play the financial analysis card, which I’ve done for 38 years. The only way Disney is making less money (as opposed to losing money) is in the short term — in the long term, Disney is looking at the total vacation package and must have determined that if they changed it, people would spend less overall. Otherwise, since it’s so “easy” to re-program, as you guys say, they would have changed it by now.

 

[otterpop]

Since you guys are playing the IT card, I’ll play the financial analysis card, which I’ve done for 38 years. The only way Disney is making less money (as opposed to losing money) is in the short term — in the long term, Disney is looking at the total vacation package and must have determined that if they changed it, people would spend less overall. Otherwise, since it’s so “easy” to re-program, as you guys say, they would have changed it by now.

I have to disagree somewhat...I can see where you are coming from and you are probably partially right, but with my experience in computer programming, this is definitely something on the IT side. For whatever reasons, Disney's system has limitations and for them to incorporate these aspects, they would most likely need to upgrade their whole system. Which leads to an aspect of what you mentioned...$$$$

 

[bwbuddy5]

I have to disagree somewhat...I can see where you are coming from and you are probably partially right, but with my experience in computer programming, this is definitely something on the IT side. For whatever reasons, Disney's system has limitations and for them to incorporate these aspects, they would most likely need to upgrade their whole system. Which leads to an aspect of what you mentioned...$$$$

Now, that's interesting - apparently IT people disagree with each other as often as financial people (and Disney fans).

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

[hawaiilife]

Has anyone been to Disney recently and can comment on how this worked? I would like to share some credits with a local Florida resident friend but we have 2 adults and 3 kids (incl one infant) in our party. My 4 year old doesn’t eat much so she can easily share. Could I use one or two of her deluxe credits to invite our friend to dinner on a night or two? Thanks!

 

[12disneybee]

Has anyone been to Disney recently and can comment on how this worked? I would like to share some credits with a local Florida resident friend but we have 2 adults and 3 kids (incl one infant) in our party. My 4 year old doesn’t eat much so she can easily share. Could I use one or two of her deluxe credits to invite our friend to dinner on a night or two? Thanks!

Yes

 

[Janet McDonald]

Has anyone been to Disney recently and can comment on how this worked? I would like to share some credits with a local Florida resident friend but we have 2 adults and 3 kids (incl one infant) in our party. My 4 year old doesn’t eat much so she can easily share. Could I use one or two of her deluxe credits to invite our friend to dinner on a night or two? Thanks!

We did this in June with no problem at several restaurants.

 

[Kevlar10]

I just had an interesting thought. How would the servers know if a child is on the plan as a child or adult? My two sons are about the same size. One is 11 and the other is 9. Most of my reservations just say 4 guests, not 3 adults and one child.

 

[sharonabe]

I just had an interesting thought. How would the servers know if a child is on the plan as a child or adult? My two sons are about the same size. One is 11 and the other is 9. Most of my reservations just say 4 guests, not 3 adults and one child.

Theoretically, when they scan your MB, that information would be there since you've listed your childs' ages on your resort reservation, etc. I don't know if they can actually see all of that or not, but it is there.

 

[BuzzyBelle]

I just had an interesting thought. How would the servers know if a child is on the plan as a child or adult? My two sons are about the same size. One is 11 and the other is 9. Most of my reservations just say 4 guests, not 3 adults and one child.

Theoretically, when they scan your MB, that information would be there since you've listed your childs' ages on your resort reservation, etc. I don't know if they can actually see all of that or not, but it is there.

I also noticed on our trip in July that the hostess was asking for the ages of our children when we checked in. I don’t remember them doing that in the past. They may have and I just don’t remember, but they definitely made a point of asking at almost all, if not every, restaurant.

However, DD8 was encouraged to order off the adult menu at every restaurant we ate at except Yachtsman so I don’t know what the ages are used for at check-in. Maybe it’s to ensure the regular DP credits are used properly

 

[disneygirly]

Credits are pooled on the Dxddp and the servers generally inform us that the children can order items from either the adult or child menus. This has been a great option because our son usually likes to have an adult appetizer rather than just the tiny one offered on the kids menu. But he usually gets a child entree and always gets the super cute child desserts.

 

[DisBuckMan]

Quite honestly, I don't think it's an IT coding issue at all. I've heard all the explanations as to why it's an IT issue, and I don't buy any of them.

They already have the coding for kid/adult differentiation in the system for the standard dining plan.

QS meals are not differentiated on ANY plan...not sure why that would be a barrier to correcting this issue. Using a DxDDP credit for a QS meal would be no different than using a DDP TS credit for a QS meal. Already happens every day at WDW.

I believe it's simply a loophole that servers have learned to navigate to increase their tips, and guest have learned to get something they didn't pay for.

Management is either (1) oblivious (doubtful), or (2) not affected enough to care....yet. I'd say that option 2 is much more likely.