Check-In without the DVC member in our party?

[SplashCP3]

Hey everyone,

I myself am not a DVC member, but me and a friend are joining a party of 12 in a three bedroom DVC villa rented by one of our friends. The 12 of us will be flying to Orlando from various places across the country and arriving at the Boardwalk at times ranging from 10am-11pm, and the one DVC member who is renting the room will be arriving around 11pm. My question is, can those of us arriving at 10am get our Key to the World, get our park ticket, and have access to our reserved DDP without the presence of the DVC member and enjoy the day before he gets there?

I am aware that rooms are not guaranteed to be ready until 4pm, but those of us arriving early are looking to check-in get our tickets and DDP and run to the parks all day. I have asked my DVC friend about this and he doesn't know, he's become a DVC member only recently.

 

[jel0511]

As long as you are on the reservation, you'll be able to check in. The only issue could be is that the first person to check-in will be responsible for paying for the dining plan at that time.

 

[Sandisw]

As long as you are on the reservation, you'll be able to check in. The only issue could be is that the first person to check-in will be responsible for paying for the dining plan at that time.

And, they will have to pay for everyone's DDP, not just their own. The only way around this is if the DVC member does online check in and puts in the CC#. If they do this, the DDP will be paid for by the time the first guest checks in.

If everyone was hoping to pay for their own when they get there, then everyone has to check in at the same time.

 

[SplashCP3]

So would we even have to pay at check-in time for a full 7 night (length of our stay) plan for our one friend who is arriving and checking in 3 days late and is only staying for 4 nights?

Thanks for the help everyone, I really appreciate it!

 

[rlovew]

So would we even have to pay at check-in time for a full 7 night (length of our stay) plan for our one friend who is arriving and checking in 3 days late and is only staying for 4 nights?

Thanks for the help everyone, I really appreciate it!

Yes- if anyone has the dining plan everyone must have it for the entire length of the reservation.

 

[jel0511]

So would we even have to pay at check-in time for a full 7 night (length of our stay) plan for our one friend who is arriving and checking in 3 days late and is only staying for 4 nights?

Thanks for the help everyone, I really appreciate it!

yes, everyone on the reservation must have the dining plan for the entire length of the reservation, regardless of when they arrive, ie the room ressie is for 7 nights, yet someone arrives 3 days in, they must pay for all 7 days. You can not have each person having the dining plan for different amount of nights.

 

[deva]

As long as you are on the reservation, you'll be able to check in.

Also, the address on the reservation must match the address on the driver's license of the guest. I learned this in January when my sister and B-I-L met us at WDW. They were arriving first and I wanted them to be able to check in. I called Member services to check and they said "no problem - just have them show ID that matches name and address on reservation"

I hadn't remembered giving my sister's address, but the CM said they had it in on the ressie. Upon further investigation, I discovered that it was my address listed with her name. If you don't give them a different address, they just assume the DVC member's address for everyone.

So make sure your friend calls DVC member services with everyone's address (that matches ID).

 

[SplashCP3]

Wow, you all are infinitely helpful - we would've totally been in trouble with the address thing and not know about how the dining plan is compulsory if anyone gets it.

Do park tickets work the same way as dining plan in that everyone needs to have paid for them at the time that the first people check in?

 

[Sammie]

Park tickets are seperate for DVC members. You can purchase any ticket type you want.

However, as others stated, everyone on the reservation has to do the DDP for the length of the reservation, or none at all.

 

[Deb & Bill]

If all 12 of you are on the dining plan for 7 nights, that's about $3500 worth of dining plan.

 

[SplashCP3]

Hey everyone,

We've ultimately decided to just suck it up and pay for the dining plan, despite the people arriving late/early. Being the first one to arrive, I will pay the cost upfront and everyone else will pay me back (Or that's the plan, you never know with college kids). Anything to have access to the DDP the my first day there since I'm already leaving a day early!

Thank you for helping ensure that this complex arrangement goes smoothly. It might've been a mess if I had had to sort all of this out at check-in without knowing how it all works. I much prefer knowing what I'm getting into beforehand rather than having a $3500 tab sprung on me suddenly!

So thank you again everyone - all of you who responded were tremendously helpful!

 

[deva]

Have fun and eat well!

 

[owensamo]

One thing I just want to clarify - you mention getting your park tickets, and someone else mentioned that park tickets are separate. This means that you won't be receiving park tickets with the reservation when you check in! I don't know if there's a way to add park tickets to a DVC reservation like you can a cash package (I've never tried it). However, each individual can purchase their own tickets when they arrive (from the hotel Concierge desk, or at the park).

A better option - especially if you're college kids and trying to save money - would be to order tickets in advance, either from Disney (there's an advance purchase discount) or better still from one of the online official Disney ticket resellers like MapleLeafTickets or UndercoverTourist. I'm sure the DIS has a list of resellers somewhere, but you can also find them on other Disney tips sites.

I just wanted to clarify that, so that noone showed up and was disappointed by not having tickets to pick up when they got there! It sounds like you all will have an awesome trip! Enjoy!

 

[SplashCP3]

owensamo: do you happen to know how significant a discount we might receive by ordering directly from Disney in advance? And how late can you do it (we're arriving this Saturday morning, March 13)?

It was my understanding that if we buy tickets from Disney when we get there, the park pass will be on our Key to the World card, which we think would be infinitely more convenient than having to keep track of multiple passes for room/dining and parks. I think we want to avoid buying a ticket that is not directly from Disney for this reason, but we'd love to hear other opinions, I'm sure it's possible there are other factors that we are not considering given our inexperience.

 

[owensamo]

I don't think it's a huge discount. You'd save more by purchasing from a third party vendor and then having the ticket transferred to your room key. Last time I purchased multi-day tickets from Undercover Tourist, I think we saved about $20 per ticket - enough to help pay for food or souvenirs, for sure!

Some details can be found on wdwinfo at: http://www.wdwinfo.com/discounts/discounts-tickets.htm

That said, though - this close to arrival, I'd probably either order through disney online and pick up there, or just buy them at the resort. Most of the third parties do have local pick-up locations, but I wouldn't risk not having a ticket! Paying a little more is worth the peace of mind. It's something to remember for next time, though! (and if there's a DVC member, there's always a next time... )

 

[Paging Tom Morrow]

FYI - You can add your previously purchased tickets to your Key to the World by bringing both to your hotel's concierge and asking them to combine the two onto one card. We have done this several times, using tickets purchased from Disney and 3rd party vendors.

 

[DonnaL]

In so far as the DDP..........based on what you've said in your previous posts....it doesn't appear that you've made any table service reservations? Are all 12 of you planning to have most table service meals together? If so, it may be very difficult to get reservations at a good number of table service restaurants for a group that size on short notice. I would hesitate to spend that much money on the DDP and then not be able to get any table service reservations for a large group. I'm guessing this is a spring break trip .....please keep in mind ...the whole month of March and early April is a very busy time at WDW with spring break visitors and some table service restaurants have been booked for months.