Hi, Abigail,
Welcome to the
Disney Parks Moms Panel! I'm delighted to receive your question about
MagicBands and
Dining Plans, two of my favorite aspects of staying in a Disney resort hotel!
Your
Disney resort hotel reservation is associated to a credit card, which may be the one you used to pay for the reservation or the one you used during the check-in process. When buying food or merchandise, you may choose to pay cash, with a credit card, with a
Disney Gift Card or by tapping your MagicBand and do a "room charge", which means that the amount you're paying for at that moment is being added to your "folio" (a list of all the expenses incurred by the guest). At check-out, the Cast Member assisting you will most likely print a copy of the final amount for you to have a look at it before the credit card transaction is performed. You will receive a copy of it via email so you can keep it in your records.
Your dining plan entitlements and your party's can be redeemed through your MagicBand as well. When you check-in, a number of credits are added to your pool of credits which can be accessed through your MagicBand. Note that you will have access to everyone's credits (they're all combined) for snacks, quick-service meals (and table service entitlements if you have the
Disney Dining Plan and the
Deluxe Dining Plan), but in order for those to be redeemed a password must be entered. After you get a food item, the number of remaining entitlements will be printed on the receipt. You may also ask your hotel Concierge or Guest Relations for a complete printout of your meals used (who used them, when and where) and those you still have available. You can also view your remaining entitlements when placing a
mobile order on the
My Disney Experience app.
Abigail, please come back to the
Moms Panel if you have any additional questions as you continue to plan your Walt Disney World Resort visit. We love to help!
See ya real soon!
~Desiree