Dining Plan and Room only reservation?

[VroomVroomLightning]

We are going to try and do a split stay in November. Starting off at POP and then changing mid-week. I will just get 10 day tickets and believe they can be used for 2 weeks after I first use them? My question about the dining plan is since we will already have those tickets can we just get a room only reservation with the dining plan for the 2nd half of our stay or do we need to get seperate tickets for each hotel to get the dining plan? I hope all of this makes sense! Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[vicki_c]

You cannot add a dining plan w/o a ticket purchase unless you are an AP holder or DVC member. The minimum for a paid dining plan is currently a 1 day ticket purchase for each person in the room. For a split stay, you would need to buy at least that length of ticket for each reservation to have the dining plan on both.

Dining plans are only available with Disney packages. Packages = room + ticket.

 

[VroomVroomLightning]

Thanks for the response! So for my second half of the stay I could just buy one day tickets and have the dining plan for 5 days?

 

[vicki_c]

Thanks for the response! So for my second half of the stay I could just buy one day tickets and have the dining plan for 5 days?

Yes you could - dining is based on the # of nights at the resort, not the tickets, even though you have to buy a ticket. And you don't have to use the ticket you purchase, you can keep it for a future trip and then upgrade it to what you need for that future trip (as long as you don't use it at all).

 

[clanmcculloch]

If you're interested in a DVC property for the second half of your stay then you can consider renting DVC points. With a DVC stay, you don't have to purchase tickets in order to purchase a dining plan.

You didn't actually ask about this, but I want to make sure you understand something about split stays with dining plans. Disney sees split stays as 2 different hotel reservations. The credits from your first stay will expire at midnight after you've checked out. The credits from your second stay will become available as soon as you check in for your second reservation. You will have to make sure that you use the credits from your first stay during the dates for that stay and you'll have to make sure that you don't plan for any of the credits from the second stay before you've checked in for that one.

Also, you need to understand that if you're anticipating taking advantage of a free dining promotion (assuming another one comes out for your dates) then you'll have to purchase 2 day tickets, not 1 day tickets as that seems to be what Disney's now requiring of that promotion.

 

[VroomVroomLightning]

If you're interested in a DVC property for the second half of your stay then you can consider renting DVC points. With a DVC stay, you don't have to purchase tickets in order to purchase a dining plan.

You didn't actually ask about this, but I want to make sure you understand something about split stays with dining plans. Disney sees split stays as 2 different hotel reservations. The credits from your first stay will expire at midnight after you've checked out. The credits from your second stay will become available as soon as you check in for your second reservation. You will have to make sure that you use the credits from your first stay during the dates for that stay and you'll have to make sure that you don't plan for any of the credits from the second stay before you've checked in for that one.

Also, you need to understand that if you're anticipating taking advantage of a free dining promotion (assuming another one comes out for your dates) then you'll have to purchase 2 day tickets, not 1 day tickets as that seems to be what Disney's now requiring of that promotion.

I knew about using my dining credits for each reservation before they expire. But I did not know about the 2 day tickets for free dining. Thank you for your help!

 

[Luv2Roam]

Just remember that a room only reservation is just that -- a room only.
WDTC sells the dining plans, and they sell travel packages. It does get confusing as DVC members can buy a dining plan when they stay on points, and WDTC also sells ticketless packages to AP-ers.

 

[TDC Nala]

WDTC also sells ticketless packages to AP-ers.

AP holders also should remember that these are packages, not room-only reservations. The deposit, payment, change and cancellation policies are different for packages. If you book a room-only reservation you pay one night's deposit and have until five days from arrival to cancel without penalty, with the balance payable at check-in. Packages require a minimum $200 deposit (unless the full cost of the package is less than $200) and payment in full no later than 45 days from arrival, with change (downgrading) and cancellation fees accruing within 45 days. Adding a dining plan to a previously booked AP room-only reservation means you now have a package and need to pay attention to your payment deadline. If you're already within 45 days you'll have to pay for the entire package at the time you add the dining plan.