Using the Magicband to pay out of pocket when you have dining plan credits - how does it work? - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Using the Magicband to pay out of pocket when you have dining plan credits - how does it work?
Lenny and I were talking earlier about Disney and we got on the subject of paying OOP for food with the MB when you have dining plan credits. How does this work, especially at the CS locations? Do you just tell the cashier and they do the correct thing when you scan your MB or do they not listen and apply credits anyway? How about if you're just buying "snacks" but don't have snack credits - do they "push" you to get a meal (this question is because of this summer's "meal deal" where you get only one QS meal per day - not the dining plan, just the single meal).
We haven't done a meal plan since Abby was 10 - she's turning 16 on Wednesday - so MB's could have been in development but they weren't in use at all. Now that the MB's are in use and I "learned" how easy it was to use them and charge to them last year, we were wondering how things like paying OOP works in conjunction with credits. In past years, I would typically just use my credit card if I wanted to pay cash for something but the MB was just so easy that I stopped doing that - I just used the MB for everything. So do you have to keep a really close watch on the credits? Are the CM's good with doing things correctly? I know we're human and mistakes happen but are they rare or are they the norm?
Any and all experiences welcome as we are curious to how it works.
I think this is a great question & also a very important one when to get your "money's worth" from the dining plan you need to plan your credits accordingly. Looking forward to reading the answers/experiences that everyone has had.
When they used the KTTW cards, you would tell the cashier that you wanted to pay using the KTTW card and not use your dining credits. I'm assuming MagicBands would be the same way. We did this all the time whenever we wanted to buy drinks or a cheap snack - something not snack credit worthy. I personally have never had any problems, but I've heard of other people having credits used accidentally. It seems to be the exception rather than the norm. We just check the receipt to make sure it's correct.
On our last two trips my husband and I used the DDP with MB’s and OOP items. When we approached the CM we would politely and clearly explain that we planned on paying for our items in two transactions, one with a DDP credit and the second OOP. We kept the items we wanted to pay OOP separately, we had the CM run all of the DDP credit items first and then the separate OOP items, scanning our bands after each transaction. We used our room charge for the OOP items and we never had a problem having DDP credits being used for OOP items. We didn’t watch our credits any more closely than usual, just kept track of them as we had in the past. We were there during F&W (with FD) and didn’t have a problem exchanging CS credits for three SC items either. This was when credit exchanges had just started taking place and were new to everyone. Sometimes the CM’s would look at our items and ask us if we were making a CS/SC exchange other times we just had to explain what we had and what we were doing.
usually they ask if you want to use a credit and you can say no cash then you need t put in your pin and thats that. Easy for us adults but i didn't let my kids attempt it
Lenny and I were talking earlier about Disney and we got on the subject of paying OOP for food with the MB when you have dining plan credits. How does this work, especially at the CS locations? Do you just tell the cashier and they do the correct thing when you scan your MB or do they not listen and apply credits anyway? How about if you're just buying "snacks" but don't have snack credits - do they "push" you to get a meal (this question is because of this summer's "meal deal" where you get only one QS meal per day - not the dining plan, just the single meal).
We haven't done a meal plan since Abby was 10 - she's turning 16 on Wednesday - so MB's could have been in development but they weren't in use at all. Now that the MB's are in use and I "learned" how easy it was to use them and charge to them last year, we were wondering how things like paying OOP works in conjunction with credits. In past years, I would typically just use my credit card if I wanted to pay cash for something but the MB was just so easy that I stopped doing that - I just used the MB for everything. So do you have to keep a really close watch on the credits? Are the CM's good with doing things correctly? I know we're human and mistakes happen but are they rare or are they the norm?
Any and all experiences welcome as we are curious to how it works.
This one is actually one of the simpler questions when it comes to MagicBand operation - when it comes time to pay, you simply say "Room charge" and apply your MB to the reader. Once in a while, if a CM is not paying close enough attention, they might use one of your dining plan credits instead of charging the item, but all you have to do is look at your receipt afterward to verify. Last time I had a DDP, I actually wound up with leftover meal credits, because at some restaurant (never did find out which one), they didn't subtract credits that they were supposed to.
If you don't have dining plan credits, there is no way they can apply dining plan credits, so if you're out of snack credits the only option is to pay out of pocket, either with your MB or an alternate payment method.
There is no sales or push at TS or CS eateries - if you are out of credits, you pay out of pocket. The CMs make no effort to push, sell, or steer you toward upgrading your plan. It's just tap, enter pin, get receipt, done.
I find charging everything to my MB to be very convenient, I just have to check my balance every few days to make sure I don't go over budget.
Now, if Disney would just figure out a way to link a Disney Gift Card to your MDX account, and allow charging for off-site Guests, that would make it perfect...
I don't know if my question was answered, it may have been and I'm just too tired this morning to comprehend.
We will be using the DDP, however will be enjoying appetizers and alcoholic beverages with our meals, which are not included with our plan. So for example, we have dinner at Narcoossee's, we get an app for the table and everyone has a drink. Do we have to explain beforehand that we will be using our 2 TS credits for the meal, and then everything else to be put onto our magic bands...or is there some other idea as to go about this.
When I talked to our reservation CM and asked about having separate cards attached to each magic band (group of adults staying in same villa)...he said that we could all have our own separate charges, but wondering if that makes life much more difficult...??
I don't know if my question was answered, it may have been and I'm just too tired this morning to comprehend.
We will be using the DDP, however will be enjoying appetizers and alcoholic beverages with our meals, which are not included with our plan. So for example, we have dinner at Narcoossee's, we get an app for the table and everyone has a drink. Do we have to explain beforehand that we will be using our 2 TS credits for the meal, and then everything else to be put onto our magic bands...or is there some other idea as to go about this.
When I talked to our reservation CM and asked about having separate cards attached to each magic band (group of adults staying in same villa)...he said that we could all have our own separate charges, but wondering if that makes life much more difficult...??
You've got two separate issues mixed in there Kara, and the answers have a lot of "if-then-else" statements, but I hope it will all make sense once you hear the answers.
1) Multiple adults staying in a villa.
If each adult has their own MDX account, they can link their credit card to their account themselves, and any charges they make with their MagicBands will be charged to their card.
If Al and Peg have one account, and Steve and Marcie have one account, then Al can link his credit card their account and all charges from Al and Peg's MagicBands will go to that one card. Ditto for Steve and Marcie.
If everyone in the party is in the same MDX account, i.e. you manage everybody and nobody has a separate account of their own, then you need to link multiple cards to that account, which you can only do at check-in. The check-in CM will make sure that Al's card is linked to Al and Peg's MagicBands, and Steve's card is linked to Steve and Marcie's MacigBand, as it were.
2) Mixing charges with Dining Plan credits.
This one is pretty much the same as CinderAbby's original question. When settling up your bill at a restaurant, all you need to do is tell the server, "We're using dining plan credits for the meals, and everything else is room charge." This is a very common situation, so the servers are all quite good at keeping things separate. They usually ask you whether you're on a dining plan before you order.
If you're all staying in the same villa, then you're all on one reservation (even if you have separate MDX accounts). This means that your dining plan credits are all in the same bucket, so if you get four meals together, only one person needs to tap their MagicBand for the dining plan credits. They're all coming from the same bucket, and all of your MBs are linked to that bucket, so there is no need for Al, Peg, Steve, and Marcie to each tap their own MB.
However, if you want to split the charged items, then Al will need to tap his MB to charge to the card that's liked to his MB, and Steve will need to tap his MB to charge to the card that's linked to his MB.
Thank you for the useful info. I was wondering how the MBs work when paying OOP too, since we have the DDP, but intend to charge certain things to our room.
I did have one other question, though. Both my sister's family and my family will dine together at TS restaurants. The ADR is for 8 guests. When it comes time to pay for the gratuity, does one family's room get charged for the entire amount? If items that are not included on the DDP are ordered, can they keep separate tabs, or is everything combined on one bill? Are we allowed to let our server know beforehand to keep the two family's bills separate?
Thank you for the useful info. I was wondering how the MBs work when paying OOP too, since we have the DDP, but intend to charge certain things to our room.
I did have one other question, though. Both my sister's family and my family will dine together at TS restaurants. The ADR is for 8 guests. When it comes time to pay for the gratuity, does one family's room get charged for the entire amount? If items that are not included on the DDP are ordered, can they keep separate tabs, or is everything combined on one bill? Are we allowed to let our server know beforehand to keep the two family's bills separate?
It works just like any regular restaurant; if you need to split the bill (including the gratuity and non-DDP items), let your server know ahead of time, and they'll arrange it however you want it. ADRs are not tied to reservations, rooms, families, or anything else; however, most Disney servers will assume that you're all together until you tell them otherwise.
It works just like any regular restaurant; if you need to split the bill (including the gratuity and non-DDP items), let your server know ahead of time, and they'll arrange it however you want it. ADRs are not tied to reservations, rooms, families, or anything else; however, most Disney servers will assume that you're all together until you tell them otherwise.
OK, makes sense! The MBs with DDP credits and ADRs are throwing me off. Or maybe it's traveling with my sister and her family that's throwing me off.
My sister's famiy's DDP credits are their own pool, right? Not pooled with ours? I booked them a separate room on a separate Disney account.
OK, makes sense! The MBs with DDP credits and ADRs are throwing me off. Or maybe it's traveling with my sister and her family that's throwing me off.
My sister's famiy's DDP credits are their own pool, right? Not pooled with ours? I booked them a separate room on a separate Disney account.
DDP credits are tied to the reservation number. If you have two separate reservation numbers, then your DDP credits will be two separate pools. However, if you booked both rooms, and they are under the same reservation number, then the credits will be pooled together.
DDP credits are tied to the reservation number. If you have two separate reservation numbers, then your DDP credits will be two separate pools. However, if you booked both rooms, and they are under the same reservation number, then the credits will be pooled together.
Two different confirmation numbers, because they are on two separate Disney accounts. I did link the two accounts together, though, so I could make ADRs and FP+s for both parties. I think that's where the confusion is, as far as the DDP credits.
I got a small booklet in the mail today, and it shows only my family's reservation, with only 4 of us on the DDP, so I am assuming only our credits are pooled together. My sister got her own booklet for her family. So exciting! I hope our luggage tags and MBs are coming soon!
I understand it all, shockingly...I just know that when that first TS meal comes and we all sit down, eat, have a great time and then the bill comes everyone will be looking at me for help (even though they all told me to stop planning and to just wing it). I didn't, however realize that if we are all on the same reservation, that our DDP credits were all in a "bucket" per say. I thought they were individually linked to each person as their own. I do remember seeing a large group last year doing this though when we were at Cape May Cafe. Good thing we are all eating together so we shouldn't be short any credits, at least I hope!
You've got two separate issues mixed in there Kara, and the answers have a lot of "if-then-else" statements, but I hope it will all make sense once you hear the answers.
1) Multiple adults staying in a villa.
If each adult has their own MDX account, they can link their credit card to their account themselves, and any charges they make with their MagicBands will be charged to their card.
If Al and Peg have one account, and Steve and Marcie have one account, then Al can link his credit card their account and all charges from Al and Peg's MagicBands will go to that one card. Ditto for Steve and Marcie.
If everyone in the party is in the same MDX account, i.e. you manage everybody and nobody has a separate account of their own, then you need to link multiple cards to that account, which you can only do at check-in. The check-in CM will make sure that Al's card is linked to Al and Peg's MagicBands, and Steve's card is linked to Steve and Marcie's MacigBand, as it were.
So basically I need each person to have their own MDX account. Currently I have an account with everyone on it as I am the organizer. With everyone having their own account, will we all still be linked so that I can modify if need be? I can't remember, but I feel like my father had his own account that we linked...but we weren't even staying on grounds that time, so didn't have the complications of CCs or DDPs...just FPs!
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- so MB's could have been in development but they weren't in use at all. Now that the MB's are in use and I "learned" how easy it was to use them and charge to them last year, we were wondering how things like paying OOP works in conjunction with credits. In past years, I would typically just use my credit card if I wanted to pay cash for something but the MB was just so easy that I stopped doing that - I just used the MB for everything. So do you have to keep a really close watch on the credits? Are the CM's good with doing things correctly? I know we're human and mistakes happen but are they rare or are they the norm?
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