Giving away dining credits

[BingoJoe]

Just coming to the end of our break in Wilderness lodge and have 7 quick service dining credits left (from uk so free dining plan with every booking if you book early enough).

Tried to give them away to people getting quick services at Roaring Fork but no one wanted them. Everyone said they were happy to pay. One lady took two snacks from my mum in the shop but that’s it!!!

It this a cultural thing in America where people don’t take gifts from strangers?

In England when people give away excess parking tickets or other extra tickets people just take them.

I thought it was really weird people wanted to pay for a meal when they didn’t need to. Maybe they thought I was scamming them!

 

[Lynne M]

Moving this to the Dining Plan board.

 

[Pkltm]

We have given away credits, at POR and POP, we did not have an issue. People may be skeptical. I would of taken them lol

We are from Canada and big "pay it forward" people

 

[BingoJoe]

We have given away credits, at POR and POP, we did not have an issue. People may be skeptical. I would of taken them lol

We are from Canada and big "pay it forward" people

It makes no sense for me not to buy people their dinners with those credits but you would have thought I was offering to eat their first born children! They looked terrified!!!

 

[caylene44]

I'm American, I'd probably be confused at first but would accept after you explained why you were giving them away. Haha.

 

[Mamabun]

I think you are very kind to offer, but we would have been some of the folks who politely declined. We don't do the dining plan because we rarely eat in that structure (ordering a meal for each person), some only get sides, we split things, get kids meals as a small portion adult meal, etc. So at Disney I wouldn't have wanted to waste the time and hassle to figure out how to order to properly use the credits - easier just to pay for my own stuff, and order whatever we want.

Also, I'd wager a large percentage of the folks at WDW on a given day have no idea what the dining plan and its credit are, so it may just have been confusion.

 

[BingoJoe]

I think you are very kind to offer, but we would have been some of the folks who politely declined. We don't do the dining plan because we rarely eat in that structure (ordering a meal for each person), some only get sides, we split things, get kids meals as a small portion adult meal, etc. So at Disney I wouldn't have wanted to waste the time and hassle to figure out how to order to properly use the credits - easier just to pay for my own stuff, and order whatever we want.

Also, I'd wager a large percentage of the folks at WDW on a given day have no idea what the dining plan and its credit are, so it may just have been confusion.

I think you are right that people didn’t know what a credit was.

But eating a random assortment of items is no problem, you don’t have to work out the credit assignment, the person at the till will do that for you. You can just say what you want.

 

[Moliphino]

Or they have the dining plan themselves and are already drowning in their own credits.

 

[starry_solo]

Just coming to the end of our break in Wilderness lodge and have 7 quick service dining credits left (from uk so free dining plan with every booking if you book early enough).

Tried to give them away to people getting quick services at Roaring Fork but no one wanted them. Everyone said they were happy to pay. One lady took two snacks from my mum in the shop but that’s it!!!

It this a cultural thing in America where people don’t take gifts from strangers?

In England when people give away excess parking tickets or other extra tickets people just take them.

I thought it was really weird people wanted to pay for a meal when they didn’t need to. Maybe they thought I was scamming them!

No idea, but if I were there, I'd gladly take them. When we were at BLT one night (Contempo Cafe), a family came and paid for two of our meals with leftover credits!

 

[Christine]

No, it's not cultural. I would have gladly taken them but then maybe felt a little odd that I couldn't do something nice for you. The people you approached may not have been familiar with or just couldn't think fast enough.

 

[sharonabe]

Tried to give them away to people getting quick services at Roaring Fork but no one wanted them. Everyone said they were happy to pay. One lady took two snacks from my mum in the shop but that’s it!!!

I don't know if you still have time, but you may have better luck if you just do it for someone. When you're in line, tell the cashier you'd like to share some pixie dust and "pay" for the people behind you with your credits. They will probably join in and explain it to the guests behind you in line in a way you wouldn't be able to. Now, if they also have the DDP, they may still decline, but chances are they won't and you'll be able to gift them in this way.

 

[MelanieRI]

I was dining at Cape May Cafe one night for dinner when a stranger came to our table to ask if we were on the dining plan. I thought at first, he was going to ask a question about the plan but no, he had come over to give away his credits that he didn't need! When the waitress came over, she kinda gave they guy a hard time but in the end took his credits. I'm not sure if she thought I wasn't going to tip her or what. I was happy to take them if the guy and his wife couldn't use something they'd already paid for. I thought it was super generous!

 

[writerguyfl]

Also, I'd wager a large percentage of the folks at WDW on a given day have no idea what the dining plan and its credit are, so it may just have been confusion.

I think you are right that people didn’t know what a credit was

I agree that this is probably the reason for the quizzical looks.

I used to work at the Disney Reservations Center. Back when I was there, the overwhelming majority of guests were not on the Dining Plan. Two of Walt Disney World's biggest markets are Annual Passholders and Florida Residents. Neither of those groups would have much knowledge about the Dining Plan.