Sharing a Dining Plan

Hello All!

If I have two rooms and I book the deluxe dining plan for one room only, I can use the dining credits for both rooms, assuming we are all together and a person with the credits is there with their magic band, correct? Just want to confirm!

Thanks!

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I’ve never done it but I’ve read where others have-even to the point of booking a campsite as the second option. I think it’s safe to say that this is not how Disney intends it to be. Check out the Backside of Magic Podcast-they discussed this a lot.

This is a Jiminy Cricket questions-

Yes you can.

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My local friends always join us for a meal or two when we go and I’ve only had them give me grief over having more people dining than on the package once, and it was still fine in the end.

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We had 7 people on the DDP and we used it for 14 people at some meals.
The only place that questioned us, was H&V. It was strange, because we only had the people on plans there at this meal, but my daughter (a kid) was sitting with my parents and they didn’t have kids on their plan. But even in that case, they just asked about it and still processed it.

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Along the same lines, but veering slightly off path…I am trying to decide if sharing a dining plan between 2 rooms can actually save any money. So far I’m not seeing how. Does anyone do it for the purpose of saving $$ or just as a convenience?

People do it to save money but if you would only need 1 room otherwise I’m not sure how much they save. I’ve never tried to price it out though.

We would have a party of 7 using 2 rooms, but considering only purchasing the QS dining plan for 1 room of 4 people. However, when I run the numbers, the fact seems to be the same…the dining plan cost per meal and per snack is almost always higher than the out of pocket cost. So just sharing it amongst other people doesn’t seem to save any money unless you were actually sharing plates and using less than 1 credit per person per meal.

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You need the deluxe plan really for it to work. You get an appetiser as well, so you might only buy 2 meals for a family of 5 for instance.

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No, it won’t save money. It’s really just paying in advance. I don’t see how sharing would change that… you’re paying ~$35 per TS meal or $18 per QS meal, so unless you’re only eating at high end TS places all the time then it’s really kind of hard to actually use the full value. Even if you’re sharing plates then you’re not saving anything because I would think you’d only share plates if you’d share out of pocket as well.

The one way it can actually save any significant money is if you have kids under 10 who order off the adult menu… they are allowed to order whatever they want on the deluxe plan at the restaurant’s discretion and if it’s really the child ordering the adult meal it won’t get questioned. Now, if you’re trying to game the system and you had 2 adults and 2 kids on your plan, and then the table ordered 4 adult meals and 4 kids meals you can’t tell them “Oh, we’re paying out of pocket for the kids meals and using credits for the adult meals”. I mean, you could tell them that but they can come back and tell you that the dining plan credits are technically non transferable and they’d use credits for 2 of the kids meals and 2 adult meals.

That makes sense.

We have actually shared in that way when we did girls’ trip to F&W festival… we got a regular dining plan for 4 and would just order 2 meals and an app because we didn’t want to get too full, but at the end of the day it didn’t really save any money, because we would have done that anyway. Based on our receipts we pretty much broke even.

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I think where the deluxe plan is different is that you get the apps too, so where you might have all had a meal each if it was just an entree, the apps stretch those meals further. I’ve never shared a meal in my life though :joy: I’m only going off threads I’ve read about it. I’ve seen people say they have saved hundreds of dollars.

I could only see sharing every single meal working out if you have a number of kids who don’t have big appetites AND would eat the adult menu food. I couldn’t see 4 adults sharing 2 meals as an every meal thing. Plus then you can only eat at places that are a la carte.

We did it this summer. We had two rooms and 7 people. We had a deluxe plan for two adults and 1 child and shared the credits. I don’t have my numbers handy but it was a good savings over everyone having the dining plan. We did a lot of character meals and it did work for us. Tax and tip added up though too.

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The kids are key because you pay much less for their plan and can get adult meals.

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That’s why we did it for a couple of years when my older niece and her BFF were right on the cusp of being Disney adults. We knew all of the kids would order filet if given the chance, but they’d also get plain pasta with butter half the time. It was nice for them to have that option when they were 8 and 9. Now that only 2 of them are under 10 though, it’s really not worth the money or the hassle of trying to share (because we always have two reservations anyway).

In January when it’s just my sister and me and the 2 littles we might do the deluxe plan for that reason, though we’re considering going totally out of pocket for the first time ever because those 2 kids are perfectly happy on the kids menu.

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You are looking for bang for the buck and so do we. I’ve never had 2 rooms and I’ve never had a DP. I’ve always look longingly at the DP but they do not work for us. We don’t eat enough, we don’t drink, we find no value in bringing home overpriced packaged snacks with our leftover snack credits that everyone talks about; and DP limits flexibility and bites into park touring time, which can equate to money. However with two rooms, the Standard or Deluxe DP might give you very good bang for the buck if you do a few of the following:

  1. Do a couple of character meals;
  2. Use all your liquor credits;
  3. Are not vegetarian or vegan;
  4. Eat all your food. For the TS, entree and dessert for each credit;
  5. Consume, during your stay, all your snack credits; and
  6. Some people who can take advantage of the resort mug for free soda.

Then ask yourself, would you normally order that much food, and drinks and desserts for everyone?

I spoke about flexibility. We are me, DH, DD21, and DS19. When we go to the park, we each get some frozen dessert (Dole Whip, Citrus Swirl, ice cream, etc) and then we may each chose another snack to share. After all, Disney does have some of the best snacks! By the time meal time rolls around, we may not be that hungry and only order a couple of salads and an appetizer to share; a couple of entrees; or skip a meal. We usually just drink water. With TS reservations, we need to get to them and that takes away from touring the park. or doing what fits into the schedule at that moment. Because if we don’t show up for the reservation, Disney charges us $10/person for no show.

But, according to the following blog, out of pocket has risen more in cost than the DPs: 2023 Disney Dining Plan Info & Tips - Disney Tourist Blog.

I think the DP could be of value or very close to value given your circumstance. Crunch the numbers again! Bon Appetit!

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We’ve split the Deluxe Dining plan the last 2 years & will again this fall. We have 2 rooms. Put 1 adult & 2 kids in the first with Deluxe plan & 3 adults in second room no dining plan. Pool the credits over the trip. Gives us ~1.5 meals per day with credits (so 1 some days, 2 the others). We don’t share meals, but do a lot of character dining. Purchase a few QS OOP & end up using all our snacks (which ends up being 1 snack/person/day). It’s worked out great for us.

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Actually there are many different views about how to save money at WDW and some of them are using the dining plan. It is possible to save money with it. It is also possible to save money without it. On the trip I am planning right now I will be saving about 12 - 15% with it. I know it is saving me money because of the fixed price things. The range is because of the things that are not fixed. There are so many ways to save money on food at DW and so many combinations you can use to do it that I could write all night and still only scratch the surface.