Question on Dining Plan: 4 staying all week & 2 staying only 3 days. How to work it?

[sewarsh]

ITs clear that anyone if you want to do the Dining Plan, you must buy the Dining Plan for every member on the reservation for the entire length of stay.

The problem is that my immediate family (4 of us) are staying 1 week whereas my inlaws are only staying 3 days, so clearly they aren't going to pay for a 7-night dining plan.

From my understanding, I think we could technically take my inlaws off the reservation and get the 7-night dining plan for just our family, they however would not have room keys (they could share one of ours).

Other than this minor inconvenience, are there any other issues that could arise if they were NOT on the reservation? Do you need room keys for entry into anything else? Such as early entrance to parks or buses/monorail? etc?

We're staying at Saratoga Springs in case that matters.

[clc053103]

I am not about to promote anyone breaking disney rules so I will say it- it is against their policies for unregistered guests to stay in the rooms. Think about an emergency, like a fire- they would have no idea those guests were staying in the building.

We have the same situation- a guest coming for 3 days of our 8 day stay. We are not getting the dining plan because of it. I truly think that the rule is stupid, why should you need to pay for the DDP for people who are won't be there the full length of stay- the rule clearly was not written with the DVC guest in mind.

As for the key issue- often your room key is needed to enter the pool or other recreational areas at the hotel. At BLT we need our key just to enter the building too. Also they would not gain admission to early or late magic hours- at late they check your room key at each and every ride.

[Momof3Labs]

They would not get to use Magical Express. And could not do EMH.

You could set up two reservations - one with just your smaller group and one with everyone.

[clc053103]

They would not get to use Magical Express. And could not do EMH.

You could set up two reservations - one with just your smaller group and one with everyone.

If you go this route, you may have to change rooms when you switch to the second room reservation. They can't guarantee you stay in the same one.

[xoashleigh4ox]

ITs clear that anyone if you want to do the Dining Plan, you must buy the Dining Plan for every member on the reservation for the entire length of stay.

The problem is that my immediate family (4 of us) are staying 1 week whereas my inlaws are only staying 3 days, so clearly they aren't going to pay for a 7-night dining plan.

From my understanding, I think we could technically take my inlaws off the reservation and get the 7-night dining plan for just our family, they however would not have room keys (they could share one of ours).

Other than this minor inconvenience, are there any other issues that could arise if they were NOT on the reservation? Do you need room keys for entry into anything else? Such as early entrance to parks or buses/monorail? etc?

We're staying at Saratoga Springs in case that matters.



We just did this in June. My sister and niece had the dining plan and I did not. I actually ate off of their dining plan b/c we didn't eat all the meals she had. You don't have to make separate reservations or have them have a room key. I didn't and everything was fine. A few times we went out I just paid for my own dinner. Just tell your waiter that a few are on the dining plan and some are not. If you use all your meals. Otherwise they just take the amount of meals off your plan. We got an update every couple days at the front desk of how many meals, snack, etc that we had left to use. We ended up leaving without using a few.

Your room key is how you get into the park. If you want to go early you will need it. Or if you want to go on rides after the park closes i think you have to show it. I had a regular park pass to get into the park. We didn't go early so it wasn't an issue. But you don't need your pass for the buses or monorail.