Did a 4-night
DDP while staying on DVC points. 2 adults + 1 child. Spend most snack credits in Epcot Flower / Garden Festival. Did Spirit of Aloha (not worth it) and France for TS.
First snafu was the Spirit of Aloha dinner. I paid with cc beforehand, then bought DDP. Once there, we were told by host and by server that they'll credit my cc and pull the DDP credits. Did not happen. I was careful and checked the # of credits I have on my plan before each meal and noticed the mistakes. I can see how others with a larger party or longer DDP get the #s confused. You don't want to finish a dinner and then realize you have to pay out of pocket.
In France, I asked the server and the host specifically if my DC could use child's TS credit and order from adult menu. They both said yes. They ended up pulling 3 adult TS credits for that dinner. The wine that we ordered was ridiculously small portion.
We ended up spending almost 45 min back at hotel's concierge to deal with the above mess. They understood and was apologizing but even the Manager had a hard time reverting the Aloha credits. They said the system simply won't let them refund cc amount and replace that with TS credit *after* the meal is done. Once fixed, we realized we had more QS credit than expected, and now had to waste it in food court (we were leaving).
My 2 cents :
1. DDP is only worth my effort if it's short vacation. Even 4 days is a bit too much food for me. I'd rather split stay and do a 2-3 day DDP, esp during Wine or Garden fest.
2. We tend to drink around Epcot. DDP doesn't help. We ended up using QS to get drink + meal, and hold onto the meal for breakfast next day. Not worth the energy.
3. Some restaurants' children menu is a joke. Bad food / bad choices. And quote my 7 yr old DC, "Why should I eat hot dog when I can get duck confit?".
4. WDW needs to update their system so guests can see a list of restaurants used / amount charged / # of credit left...etc I HAD to ask the restaurants before each meal the # of TS I have left. Guest relations in the park can only show you what's on your band and not the history. Website doesn't tell me this info either.
5. Do not wait till last minute to straighten out any dining mistakes. I didn't realize that only Concierge can handle my type of problem. I would think the front desk / guest relations can handle. Nope. And I feel bad for the next person waiting in line after me. Plus, Concierge is not 24 hours.
6. If you want to pay with both DDP credits and cc (for non-DDP items), most places have to ring you up twice. This can add time / confusion if you have large # of orders. I have had places in Epcot that could handle both in one transaction, so I don't think it's the system's limitation.
7. If your DH or family members cannot handle the definition of QS vs snacks vs TS, don't let them go off on their own. Yup, my DH is the one who used snack credits for a diet coke.
Would I do DDP again? Probably only for a 1-2 day split stay. The amount of energy that went into planning and keep tracking is just not worth the amount saved (or not saved).