Advise for Avoiding the Segmenting Pitfalls

[csmommy]

OK - we leave in 8 days! Can't wait!!!

In reading about the DP issues & segmenting I am trying to walk into this armed as best as possible in order to attempt to avoid the issues others have had. Yes, we are crazy, but I told DH about it & have made all our reservations, & he is committed (or at least SHOULD be lol) to giving this a try.

Day 1: DDxP
Day 2: DDP
Day 3: none
Day 4: DDxP
Day 5: DDP
Day 6: none
Day 7: DDxP
Day 8: DDP
Day 9: none

He is OK with being the one to get a new card(s) each day if necessary. We are also split staying - 1st 3 nights AKV - Jambo (heard Kidani was a nightmare w/ this ) & then onto BLT for the rest of the trip.

My biggest concern is going to a restaurant & then being told we do not have the dining plan. Or at least the correct dining plan (ie - ordering app's when using DDxP credit & being charged for them).

So - to all those who have done this recently, please let me know if you feel there is anything we can be proactive about. Should we give our cards to the server at the beginning of the meal & ask her to work it out as we are eating? Should I have a credit card on file at the room, charge the meals (or app's) to it & then deal with it when we are back at the resort?

Thanks!

 

[Muushka]

Can I be honest?

The plan looks so confusing. I hope we are able to keep the segmenting perk, but I am afraid that Disney may think it is too much trouble.

We plan on doing it in Nov.

Day 1 DDxP
Day 2 none
Day 3 none

I hope they still have it for us!

But good luck and I hope it all works out for you.

 

[cvjw]

Prepare yourselves for spending lots of your vacation time at the front desk, or waiting in line to speak to someone at the front desk. You will have to get new keys whenever your dining plan changes. Make sure you leave a credit card on fine at the front desk in case your keys don't work for charging your dining credits. Good luck - your plan is very ambitious.

 

[disneynutz]

I guess if your going to WDW to eat and visit with the CM's at the Front Desk it's a good plan. Personally I can eat better food at home for much less money but I can't duplicate WDW at home. Vacations are better enjoyed when they are stress free.

Bill

 

[dzorn]

My advice is don't do it.

Denise in MI

 

[Judique]

OK - we leave in 8 days! Can't wait!!!

In reading about the DP issues & segmenting I am trying to walk into this armed as best as possible in order to attempt to avoid the issues others have had. Yes, we are crazy, but I told DH about it & have made all our reservations, & he is committed (or at least SHOULD be lol) to giving this a try.

Day 1: DDxP
Day 2: DDP
Day 3: none
Day 4: DDxP
Day 5: DDP
Day 6: none
Day 7: DDxP
Day 8: DDP
Day 9: none

He is OK with being the one to get a new card(s) each day if necessary. We are also split staying - 1st 3 nights AKV - Jambo (heard Kidani was a nightmare w/ this ) & then onto BLT for the rest of the trip.

My biggest concern is going to a restaurant & then being told we do not have the dining plan. Or at least the correct dining plan (ie - ordering app's when using DDxP credit & being charged for them).

So - to all those who have done this recently, please let me know if you feel there is anything we can be proactive about. Should we give our cards to the server at the beginning of the meal & ask her to work it out as we are eating? Should I have a credit card on file at the room, charge the meals (or app's) to it & then deal with it when we are back at the resort?

Thanks!

Having used the segmented plan for one DDxP over a weeks stay, this looks like an absolute nightmare to me.

It's a great perk but the most proactive thing you could do is simplify this. As a previous poster alluded, you will miss everything but the front desk and trying to see if your keys work in your door as well as to buy your meals.

To put one night of dining plan in my vacation, I visited the front desk no less than four times. I was at BLT. Twice the keys wouldn't work at all in the door. Wrong credits next morning for the second day. Nine days of switching up would have drove me bonkers.

 

[disneydreamingdebby]

I am curious if everyone who weighed in segmented aside from the one person who stated his/her experience.

We too are doing a split stay between Jambo and BLT in a week.

My plan is this:

day 1 quick
day 2 none
day 3 deluxe
day 4 quick
day 5 deluxe
day 6 quick or none
day 7 none

From what I've read, it seems that the problems are the days when your plan ends or days that you don't have a plan. I am relunctant to do this but the deluxe days would save us over $200. I can't decide if the trouble is worth the $200, but some have reported no problems.

 

[Muushka]

My fear is that if people turn this into a big complicated transaction, it will be discontinued.

 

[disneydreamingdebby]

My fear is that if people turn this into a big complicated transaction, it will be discontinued.

I've already read instances that come Jan. this option will be gone. Honestly, I'd be shocked if Disney continued it.

I don't think that people should refrain from selecting the plan that works best for them for different days because it is complicated. That's the point of segmenting.

The most recent reports are that most of the kinks (except getting new rooms keys) have been worked out.

 

[mousefan1972]

My fear is that if people turn this into a big complicated transaction, it will be discontinued.

I agree. I can't imagine that this is what DVC had in mind when the system upgrade began to allow reservation segmenting.

OP, I wouldn't do it. You are asking for problems, and is the hassle really worth what you may or may not save by breaking up your reservation this way?

I considered segmenting our 6 night BLT Christmas trip this year like this:

Nights 1-3: Regular DDP
Nights 4-5 (Christmas Eve and Day): Deluxe DDp
Night 6: No DDP

In the end I decided the potential hassle wasn't worth it. We'll pay OOP for a signature dinner Christmas Eve and are skipping the Candelight dinner package. My time and sanity are worth a lot, and the last thing I want to do on vacation is waste time at the front desk dealing with a big headache.

 

[horselover]

Yikes! I wish you the best of luck OP, truly I do, but this sounds way too complicated. I too hope DVC does not discontinue this option. We plan on adding the DxDDP to our Christmas reservation for Christmas Eve only. Hopefully that won't be too complicated for them. I hope it all works out for you. Please post when you return to let us know of your experience.

 

[mousefan1972]

Yikes! I wish you the best of luck OP, truly I do, but this sounds way too complicated. I too hope DVC does not discontinue this option. We plan on adding the DxDDP to our Christmas reservation for Christmas Eve only. Hopefully that won't be too complicated for them. I hope it all works out for you. Please post when you return to let us know of your experience.

You should be fine. Only 1 segment with the DDP shouldn't be too complicated for them. In our scenario we had 3 different segments, 2 w/DDP, so I was too afraid to try it. I would never even consider what the OP is doing. In that case I would hope for the best, but expect the worst.

 

[csmommy]

Interesting responses...........we are committed to trying this as I am not going to redo all our plans. I have heard many good things along with bad, so I was just trying to ascertain if the people who had positive experiences had them b/c the CM's knew what they were doing, or if they did some things to be proactive & reduce the amount of possible errors.


I will post how it goes & will speak with the front desk at check-in. I think that avoiding online check-in should help us. Perhaps bringing it to the front desk's attention as we check-in & acknowlegding previous issues discussed here might help. I was also thinking that as we check-in at the restaurants we would mention the segmented dining so if there was an issue they could work it out as we eat.

 

[csmommy]

My fear is that if people turn this into a big complicated transaction, it will be discontinued.

Muushka - Do you really thing Disney did not forsee people segmenting the way I have? AS soon as I heard about the segmenting I started playing with the plan, goodness if I can think this up I am quite sure they can. It really shouldn't be complicated at all. These are the meals I have purchased, so just load them onto a card & they should expire accordingly.

I am curious if everyone who weighed in segmented aside from the one person who stated his/her experience.

We too are doing a split stay between Jambo and BLT in a week.

My plan is this:

day 1 quick
day 2 none
day 3 deluxe
day 4 quick
day 5 deluxe
day 6 quick or none
day 7 none

From what I've read, it seems that the problems are the days when your plan ends or days that you don't have a plan. I am relunctant to do this but the deluxe days would save us over $200. I can't decide if the trouble is worth the $200, but some have reported no problems.

Totally understand. For $1500.00 we get 11 TS meal including 1 Signature, 8 apps, 9 snacks & 3 QS meals, & we plan on sprinkling pixie dust to others who do not have resort mugs since we will get so many.

 

[Sandisw]

We are on a segmented trip next week, but no where near as ambitious as yours!

We are staying 5 nights--2 at BWV and 3 at BLT. We did the QSDP for the first night at BWV and then the DxDDP for the first night we switch to BLT.

I am hoping that having a day in between will help. The part I am worried about most is the dinner at 1900 Park Fare on the day after we get the DxDDP. I plan on bring my CC with me, just in case there are issues with the credits, but I plan to make the server aware before we start that we are DVC members on a segmented trip and that he/she may want to work on things while we eat, just to be sure there is no issue.

For us, that one night of DxDDP works really well because of the meals we chose and because we have one child with us. Her cost of the plan vs. paying OOP for her (even with a TIW discount) saved her mom about $50.

I too hope that Disney does not change our ability to segment the trips as it can be a money saver this way.

 

[Muushka]

Muushka - Do you really thing Disney did not forsee people segmenting the way I have? AS soon as I heard about the segmenting I started playing with the plan, goodness if I can think this up I am quite sure they can. It really shouldn't be complicated at all. These are the meals I have purchased, so just load them onto a card & they should expire accordingly.




Totally understand. For $1500.00 we get 11 TS meal including 1 Signature, 8 apps, 9 snacks & 3 QS meals, & we plan on sprinkling pixie dust to others who do not have resort mugs since we will get so many.

You may be right, but I can see the poor CM's pulling out their hair trying to figure out what the irritated person standing before them is talking about. What credits should have been there on which day.

We did the DDP back when it could not be segmented and even that got messed up and that was after it had been implemented for a few years.

It is such a nice perk for DVC, I just hope it lasts.

But good luck!

 

[Muushka]

Interesting responses...........we are committed to trying this as I am not going to redo all our plans. I have heard many good things along with bad, so I was just trying to ascertain if the people who had positive experiences had them b/c the CM's knew what they were doing, or if they did some things to be proactive & reduce the amount of possible errors.


I will post how it goes & will speak with the front desk at check-in. I think that avoiding online check-in should help us. Perhaps bringing it to the front desk's attention as we check-in & acknowlegding previous issues discussed here might help. I was also thinking that as we check-in at the restaurants we would mention the segmented dining so if there was an issue they could work it out as we eat.

Oh dear. I hope the restaurant is not busy!

Seriously, I really do hope it all works out for you. It is fun to play with different scenarios and figure out a great plan.
I understand why you are doing it. I am a bit of a planner myself!

 

[csmommy]

I am curious if everyone who weighed in segmented aside from the one person who stated his/her experience.

We too are doing a split stay between Jambo and BLT in a week.

.

We are on a segmented trip next week, but no where near as ambitious as yours!

We are staying 5 nights--2 at BWV and 3 at BLT.

Hopefully I will see you both at the BLT pool, relaxing & we can swap positive stories of how our segmenting is going!

 

[disneynutz]

Interesting responses...........we are committed to trying this as I am not going to redo all our plans. I have heard many good things along with bad, so I was just trying to ascertain if the people who had positive experiences had them b/c the CM's knew what they were doing, or if they did some things to be proactive & reduce the amount of possible errors.


I will post how it goes & will speak with the front desk at check-in. I think that avoiding online check-in should help us. Perhaps bringing it to the front desk's attention as we check-in & acknowlegding previous issues discussed here might help. I was also thinking that as we check-in at the restaurants we would mention the segmented dining so if there was an issue they could work it out as we eat.

Believe me all of the CM's are well aware of the issues and they are discussed all day every day. We had the DDP in the middle of our stay last month and it was a pain. 4 trips to the Front Desk, 3 different sets of KTTW cards and DDP credits that were removed from our DDP segment and moved to our non DDP segment.

Bill

 

[disneynutz]

Muushka - Do you really thing Disney did not forsee people segmenting the way I have? AS soon as I heard about the segmenting I started playing with the plan, goodness if I can think this up I am quite sure they can. It really shouldn't be complicated at all. These are the meals I have purchased, so just load them onto a card & they should expire accordingly.

According to the 3 managers that I spoke to, Disney did not expect Guests to have more than 1 or 2 segments. The CM's and managers wish that segmenting would be canceled until the software is fixed and implemented across property. They told me that Disney is looking at the numbers to determine if additional revenue has been generated with segmenting and that they expect that there will be policy changes to fine tune the program if it is continued.

Bill