This was our first trip using the dining plan, and while it SHOULD be great and most of the time worked well, I honestly must admit that it made my trip less enjoyable. While most CMs seemed familiar with it and handled it fine, there were a few times when it was a hassle, and on one occasion led to me being as aggravated and frustrated with Disney as I have ever been in many, many trips.
For instance, I would ask before ordering what was available on CS menus if using the dining plan. Twice I got "anything" then when I pushed for specifics was told that I could get ONE "anything" but no side item, no matter that it wasn't a combo. This is clearly wrong, but who wants to carry the full plan specs and have to get a manager to clear it up. It doesn't make you the most popular person in line, trust me. Second, there were times when one or two of us used the dining plan for TS and we got the feeling like we were doing something wrong. I got the impression that there is some vague perception among cast members that some people are trying to cheat the system, so if you do anything other than EVERY PERSON in the party using the plan it freaks them out. As we were all adults and using adult credits there really wasn't anything wrong with what we were doing, but a few meals we all definitely got the feeling that our server was, well, suspicious or something.
The incident that STILL infuriates me is this: I called Disney prior to our trip and asked about treating other adults to our adult credits. I was told that the problem was trying to use child credits for adults. After I explained that we were all adults I was given the spiel of "well, then, they are your credits to use as you want. Use all TS the first day, use them the last day, treat people, whatever; just remember that once you run out, you run out." Makes sense, fine. We went to the Turf Club at SSR on its second or third open day. At the beginning of the meal I explained to our (obviously new) server that two of our party weren't on the dining plan, but we were using two of our (all adult) credits for them. Okay. Meal is over (and of course everyone ordered appetizer, dessert, etc. even though we were stuffed, but hey, it's paid for and you want to try it, right?) and suddenly "there is a problem" using credits for someone not on the plan. Um, didn't we just discuss this? I talk to the manager who keeps telling me that "people are breaking the rules and we can't allow this anymore". I am livid, but decided to suck it up, minimize what is becoming an embarassing scene, and pay cash for the two meals. The check comes and they charge us for the MOST EXPENSIVE MEALS, which were not the meals for the two not on the plan! I actually told everyone else to go on and I would catch up, because I really was about to lose my temper. We spent almost 30 minutes waiting for them to fix our checks, and I had to pay out of pocket for meals I had been told twice that I would not. I don't care if Disney wants to have this rule, but I made decisions about initially buying the DDP and then on what we ordered based on what I was told and then the "rules" changed. That is not what I am used to from Disney and it really upsets me on general principle. I have lots of friends who don't "get" Disney and the one thing I tell them is that one of Disney's biggest attractions is customer service -- sometimes things go wrong but Disney ALWAYS fixes them. Well, that is no longer true for me. Maybe a fairly small problem in the grand scheme of things, but........
The kicker is that I called Disney Dining afterwards and was told a random assortment of rules: first, that you could not use more than one TS credit per day per person; when I said that was totally wrong, then it was that you COULD treat other people, but that the total in the group couldn't exceed the total in the party, and the example that they kept giving me was if there were four people on the dining plan that I could treat 3 others, and that anyone else in the group could also treat 3 others not on the plan, but that we had to be in separate parties. What the ???
I don't know, we ended up scrambing to use our extra credits and meal planning felt like a hassle. I think I like the DDE better, unless and until Disney gets the rules straight.
For instance, I would ask before ordering what was available on CS menus if using the dining plan. Twice I got "anything" then when I pushed for specifics was told that I could get ONE "anything" but no side item, no matter that it wasn't a combo. This is clearly wrong, but who wants to carry the full plan specs and have to get a manager to clear it up. It doesn't make you the most popular person in line, trust me. Second, there were times when one or two of us used the dining plan for TS and we got the feeling like we were doing something wrong. I got the impression that there is some vague perception among cast members that some people are trying to cheat the system, so if you do anything other than EVERY PERSON in the party using the plan it freaks them out. As we were all adults and using adult credits there really wasn't anything wrong with what we were doing, but a few meals we all definitely got the feeling that our server was, well, suspicious or something.
The incident that STILL infuriates me is this: I called Disney prior to our trip and asked about treating other adults to our adult credits. I was told that the problem was trying to use child credits for adults. After I explained that we were all adults I was given the spiel of "well, then, they are your credits to use as you want. Use all TS the first day, use them the last day, treat people, whatever; just remember that once you run out, you run out." Makes sense, fine. We went to the Turf Club at SSR on its second or third open day. At the beginning of the meal I explained to our (obviously new) server that two of our party weren't on the dining plan, but we were using two of our (all adult) credits for them. Okay. Meal is over (and of course everyone ordered appetizer, dessert, etc. even though we were stuffed, but hey, it's paid for and you want to try it, right?) and suddenly "there is a problem" using credits for someone not on the plan. Um, didn't we just discuss this? I talk to the manager who keeps telling me that "people are breaking the rules and we can't allow this anymore". I am livid, but decided to suck it up, minimize what is becoming an embarassing scene, and pay cash for the two meals. The check comes and they charge us for the MOST EXPENSIVE MEALS, which were not the meals for the two not on the plan! I actually told everyone else to go on and I would catch up, because I really was about to lose my temper. We spent almost 30 minutes waiting for them to fix our checks, and I had to pay out of pocket for meals I had been told twice that I would not. I don't care if Disney wants to have this rule, but I made decisions about initially buying the DDP and then on what we ordered based on what I was told and then the "rules" changed. That is not what I am used to from Disney and it really upsets me on general principle. I have lots of friends who don't "get" Disney and the one thing I tell them is that one of Disney's biggest attractions is customer service -- sometimes things go wrong but Disney ALWAYS fixes them. Well, that is no longer true for me. Maybe a fairly small problem in the grand scheme of things, but........
The kicker is that I called Disney Dining afterwards and was told a random assortment of rules: first, that you could not use more than one TS credit per day per person; when I said that was totally wrong, then it was that you COULD treat other people, but that the total in the group couldn't exceed the total in the party, and the example that they kept giving me was if there were four people on the dining plan that I could treat 3 others, and that anyone else in the group could also treat 3 others not on the plan, but that we had to be in separate parties. What the ???
I don't know, we ended up scrambing to use our extra credits and meal planning felt like a hassle. I think I like the DDE better, unless and until Disney gets the rules straight.