Dining Plan & Split Stays

[Hcalvert]

If this is asked somewhere else, I apologize.

After thinking people were crazy for booking split stays, I have now booked two--one in January 2020 and one in June 2020. The January trip is five nights total--two nights somewhere (currently booked at CSR and waiting for AP offers or book a confirmed DVC reservation) and 3 nights at Poly (DVC). The June trip is 14 nights total--8 nights at CCV and 6 nights at BLT--all booked through DVC. All the DVC reservations already have the DDP purchased for those nights (I know, my husband likes the DDP and insists on it even though I am skeptical about it).

I am an annual passholder and plan on using the same magic band that I purchased in July for all the trips. So, my concern/question is how does Disney differentiate between the meal plans during split stays when you are using the same magic band for both, especially since they technically overlap (one begins at 7am and the other ends at midnight on the same day)?

 

[nickys]

Nothing is stored on your magic bands. They are a “key” to your MDE account. So your magic bands will access the dining plan credits for the stay in question.

If you book the dining plan for both parts of the plan, then you must use all the credits from plan #1 before using any on plan #2 on change-over day. That includes all snack credits. And if you are doing a signature dining meal on that day, both credits must come from the same plan.

Now occasionally there can be issues if you try to use credits from plan #2 before you check in at resort #2. Worst case you would have to pay cash and get the resort front desk to refund you and deduct the credits. So make sure you have some cash / card with you that day.

 

[Hcalvert]

Nothing is stored on your magic bands. They are a “key” to your MDE account. So your magic bands will access the dining plan credits for the stay in question.

If you book the dining plan for both parts of the plan, then you must use all the credits from plan #1 before using any on plan #2 on change-over day. That includes all snack credits. And if you are doing a signature dining meal on that day, both credits must come from the same plan.

Now occasionally there can be issues if you try to use credits from plan #2 before you check in at resort #2. Worst case you would have to pay cash and get the resort front desk to refund you and deduct the credits. So make sure you have some cash / card with you that day.

Using the credits before check-in is not going to be the problem. I guess I perceive that the problem is going to be that I should not be forced to use all my snacks before I eat dinner on the new plan. When I bought the plan, it said I had until midnight on the check out day, so this should be honored and I hate to sound nasty, but it is their problem to fix---or don't sell DDP with split stays-- or merge the credits since I will be on property for all that time anyways. They merged two reservations together for planning purposes for my July trip as I was able to book both dining reservations and fastpasses for both reservations at the 180 and 60-days marks based on the first reservation. Was that a mistake on their part? Anyways, while I was typing this, I just thought I will just have to use my snacks up for breakfast or Vanilla Bean Frappuccino at Starbucks with no problem. I am only going to have 4 snacks anyways for the 2 night stay.

 

[nickys]

Using the credits before check-in is not going to be the problem. I guess I perceive that the problem is going to be that I should not be forced to use all my snacks before I eat dinner on the new plan. When I bought the plan, it said I had until midnight on the check out day, so this should be honored and I hate to sound nasty, but it is their problem to fix---or don't sell DDP with split stays-- or merge the credits since I will be on property for all that time anyways. They merged two reservations together for planning purposes for my July trip as I was able to book both dining reservations and fastpasses for both reservations at the 180 and 60-days marks based on the first reservation. Was that a mistake on their part? Anyways, while I was typing this, I just thought I will just have to use my snacks up for breakfast or Vanilla Bean Frappuccino at Starbucks with no problem. I am only going to have 4 snacks anyways for the 2 night stay.

But as far as Disney goes, there is no such thing as a split stay. You have two separate stays that constitute a continuous stay on Disney property.

The ADR system, which presumably includes the DDP, does not allow for booking all at once, you should have had two booking windows (although DVC Member Services can override that and book the second stay for you).
You therefore have two dining plans, and you must finish one before using the second. Maybe forgo the DDP on the first stay since it’s only two nights. You could then start using the credits for breakfast on change-over day (although see the comment above about checking in).

FPs do have a single booking window. Since that system is more recent, they must have decided they would incorporate that feature.

 

[MickeyCB]

Now occasionally there can be issues if you try to use credits from plan #2 before you check in at resort #2. Worst case you would have to pay cash and get the resort front desk to refund you and deduct the credits. So make sure you have some cash / card with you that day.

Nickys is correct regarding potential problems on your cross over day. We had not physically checked into BayLake (though we had received a room ready txt) on our trip in December after checking out of AKL.
We were at Epcot and tried to use our second dining plan quick service credits in Japan, and they had no record of it. I never carry any cards with me on our trips, and luckily I was able to charge the QS to our room. Quite silly when they have record of our reservation, but not our dining plan.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

Magic bands have zero effect on dining plans.
All info is in MDE.
Use whatever magic band you want as it will access all the same info.

 

[crawale]

If this is asked somewhere else, I apologize.

After thinking people were crazy for booking split stays, I have now booked two--one in January 2020 and one in June 2020. The January trip is five nights total--two nights somewhere (currently booked at CSR and waiting for AP offers or book a confirmed DVC reservation) and 3 nights at Poly (DVC). The June trip is 14 nights total--8 nights at CCV and 6 nights at BLT--all booked through DVC. All the DVC reservations already have the DDP purchased for those nights (I know, my husband likes the DDP and insists on it even though I am skeptical about it).

I am an annual passholder and plan on using the same magic band that I purchased in July for all the trips. So, my concern/question is how does Disney differentiate between the meal plans during split stays when you are using the same magic band for both, especially since they technically overlap (one begins at 7am and the other ends at midnight on the same day)?

You should think about purchasing a Tables in Wonderland card. This gives you a 20% discount on most food and alcohol in most table service restaurants. You can also choose exactly what you want instead of being restricted to entree and desert as the dining plan. The card will be valid for both your trips. For two of us, one a non drinker, we have saved over $125 during our recent trip and when we go with three children in June next year we will save a lot more, had to subtract the cost from this year's saving.

 

[DisneyJoe]

I was told on one of my personal trips where I had a split stay that you needed to tell them (resort 1) to make sure you are fully checked out of the first resort before the dining benefits of the second resort will become active, otherwise, the dining credits of resort 1 remain active until midnight. There can be other issues too. I had issues having my magic band open my room at the 2nd resort too, it was a mess that took over 2 hours to fix.

 

[Hcalvert]

You should think about purchasing a Tables in Wonderland card. This gives you a 20% discount on most food and alcohol in most table service restaurants. You can also choose exactly what you want instead of being restricted to entree and desert as the dining plan. The card will be valid for both your trips. For two of us, one a non drinker, we have saved over $125 during our recent trip and when we go with three children in June next year we will save a lot more, had to subtract the cost from this year's saving.

I am not interested it the TIW card as I am $150 in the hole to begin with and have automatic gratuity (I like to decide the tip based on service not a mandate). I actually like that I get a dessert, alcoholic drinks, and snacks because while I am on vacation is the only time that I have them. My son is under 9, so he is a deal on the dining plan and we will look into other options when he ages out. I will not have an AP after this year anyways as we plan to not renew and go to Europe instead for the next few years for vacation.