Changes since 2017

[Usababe]

The last time we went to Disney was 2017 and we are going again this summer! I know there has been some changes since we last went and hoping you can help with some questions I have-
I’m sure I’ve read somewhere about the Disney hotels charging fees to your credit card upfront- is this true now? Last time we went we had a credit card on hold and used our band to charge some things to the card, like tips etc and then every few days we would go and pay this off using our Disney dollars we got on a card! Can we still do this? Will we have any charges on our card as soon as we check in?
Another big change for us will be the dining plan- our son is 11 now so has an adult dining plan, can he still order from the kids menu if he doesn’t like anything from the adults? Also the addition of alcohol is new to us- can you have a drink with a quick service meal as well as a table service meal and is it limited to the drinks that are listed on the menus for each restaurant? Last thing mobile ordering- how far in advance should you order? And how do u know when your order is ready? also if you order three snacks and want to use one quick serve credit instead- can you do this? Sorry for the essay

[Goldia]

You're right about the hold being put on a credit card. But this seems to be intermittently applied at wdw. We were at POFQ last summer and I put my clarity card on the MDE so we just used magic bands to pay with. But I don't think we ever had a hold applied, but I've read reports of other dibbers saying they did have a hold. So, bit of a mixed bag.

We had the $200 gift card last year and I got this applied to the account after about 10 days. Our balance was already over that amount in charges so they put the whole card on the account and then deducted the final payment before we checked out on the last day. So, yes you can still put a gift card towards the bill.

You can have virtually any alcoholic drink on the menu with your QS or TS meal. I've found there are very few drinks excluded and haven't come across any that are excluded at QS restaurants. This is largely due to the fact the options at QS are limited to just a handful. When we get QS at the resort we always got a can of cider or beer for the fridge, even when it was the kids meals, as we were always with them and paying for them and we used our resort mugs for drinks. Even at breakfast QS.

My kids are going to 16 and 13 this trip. We always ordered from the adult QS and TS as soon as they were over 10. I've seen a few threads about child credits, but haven't followed it so can't answer that question. Not sure about the 3 snacks for a QS when mobile ordering, haven't tried this. I'd be interested to know, hopefully someone else will come along with the answer.

[RachaelC]

We just got back this morning with our 10 year old who was also an “adult” and when I tried to order from the kids menu in the ABC Commissary they wouldn’t let me 😢

None of the policies seem to be consistent anywhere though so I would go prepared to order from the adult menu but then individual cast members may show some discretion in specific cases.

With the meal credits for snacks we didn’t try this via the app, but again found it very hit and miss as to whether they would allow it or not, but in most places we could do so.

With the charges we found that they did just charge it to our card at the end. Our total charged to the room was just under $400, so might be worth asking if there are any spending limits for when they start to charge the card more frequently

[Usababe]

Originally Posted by Goldia

You're right about the hold being put on a credit card. But this seems to be intermittently applied at wdw. We were at POFQ last summer and I put my clarity card on the MDE so we just used magic bands to pay with. But I don't think we ever had a hold applied, but I've read reports of other dibbers saying they did have a hold. So, bit of a mixed bag.

We had the $200 gift card last year and I got this applied to the account after about 10 days. Our balance was already over that amount in charges so they put the whole card on the account and then deducted the final payment before we checked out on the last day. So, yes you can still put a gift card towards the bill.

You can have virtually any alcoholic drink on the menu with your QS or TS meal. I've found there are very few drinks excluded and haven't come across any that are excluded at QS restaurants. This is largely due to the fact the options at QS are limited to just a handful. When we get QS at the resort we always got a can of cider or beer for the fridge, even when it was the kids meals, as we were always with them and paying for them and we used our resort mugs for drinks. Even at breakfast QS.

My kids are going to 16 and 13 this trip. We always ordered from the adult QS and TS as soon as they were over 10. I've seen a few threads about child credits, but haven't followed it so can't answer that question. Not sure about the 3 snacks for a QS when mobile ordering, haven't tried this. I'd be interested to know, hopefully someone else will come along with the answer.

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So even with a quick service breakfast if we wanted we could get 4 alcoholic drinks ( there is 4 of us, 2 adults and 2 kids) and take them back to our room with us? I’m honestly not a big drinker and quite fussy with what I do drink but it’s nice to know the options!

[Goldia]

Originally Posted by Usababe

So even with a quick service breakfast if we wanted we could get 4 alcoholic drinks ( there is 4 of us, 2 adults and 2 kids) and take them back to our room with us? I’m honestly not a big drinker and quite fussy with what I do drink but it’s nice to know the options!

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In a word...Yes! Both mine are over 10 so Disney adults. Not sure how it would work if you have child credits. But we did exactly this. Towards the end of our trip we had to force ourselves to actually drink the cans we'd put in the fridge. There are also little bottles of wine, red, white and Prosecco. They're single drinks but were a good choice. I also like the mini margarita's from the hotel food court. In parks it's usually a slushy type cocktail in a cup, but some are good. In the parks we often shared 3 QS between 4. So would get 3 alcoholic drinks and order the kids soft drinks as snack credits. I know lots of people say it's a waste of a credit but we find it difficult to eat all the food.

[disneymummy]

Hi we got back yesterday from POFQ. They put a $100 hold on my debit card, we easily traded quick service credits for 3 snack credits. With mobile ordering you can literally do it hours in advance, once you get to the location you click ‘I’m here prepare my order’ on the app and you get a notification on your phone when it’s ready.

[Guest]

I did not notice anything different regarding use of credit card. We charge loads to the room last trip in September 2019 as we did not have a dining plan, we paid it off in full at the end of the fourteen nights as we would normally do.

I don’t know about buying child’s meals, it seems different people have experienced or been told different things.

Mobile ordering is great. You can put your order in at any point during the service period, so you can’t pick up a breakfast during lunch for example, it will have a time limit on it. Then when you arrive you click on the “I am here” option on the app. You will also get a notification on the app when it is ready but in reality it will probably be within the minute. We tend to wait until we get to a venue and have found a seat before we order anything, then we order, select “I am here”, walk up to the counter and are handed the food more or less immediately.

[Hula Doola]

WDW confirmed to me yesterday that you can't order child's meal with a qsdp adult credit any longer (I don't know if ddp is different). But another dibber has said that you can change some of your adult credits to child ones at the reception desk at your resort, so you could swop some out if you know how many you might need. And other dibbers have found that in some cases a CM at a restaurant will allow you to order and adult sized portion of a child meal and charge an adult credit but this seems to be a bit hit or miss depending on the individual CM at the time.
There's some other threads about purchasing alcohol with meals - I am pretty certain you would not be able to order an alcoholic drink on a child meal credit, but you can I believe on adult credit even if it is for a minor, sometimes they ask to see id (you'd need to show the adults id), and there's a limit to how many alcoholic drinks one adult can get at a time regardless of how many meals being purchased. So it might be that each adult in your group gets two meals with two alcoholic drinks, rather than one of you getting all four at a time. I'm sure others can explain that more eloquently than me!

[disneymummy]

We ordered kids meals at table service places and quick service places for my fussy 12 and 10 year olds. They did have the some adult meals but it’s a lot of food for preteens.

[Usababe]

Originally Posted by disneymummy

We ordered kids meals at table service places and quick service places for my fussy 12 and 10 year olds. They did have the some adult meals but it’s a lot of food for preteens.

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Thanks my son will only be 11 and although he will enjoy some of the adults menus (he’s looking forward to being to have steak) he is quite fussy and some TS restaurants menus just don’t appeal to him and I’m sure it will be too much food as well! I think the only thing we can do is ask at the time.