Dining plan and DVC

[Woodcourt]

So happy...and confused with so much to learn!!!

We are staying at SSR from Dec 8-14th in a 2 bdr. The first two days, it will most likely just be my immediate family of me, DH, DD6, DD4 and DS3...on the 10th, we will have friends come stay with us for the remainder of the trip.

So, my question is, how does the dining plan work. Do we pay for our family on Dec 8th and then when they come on the 10th, can they go and pay for theirs?

 

[DebbieB]

As long as you are staying in the same room for the entire trip, you will have to pay for everyone when you check in (for all 6 nights). The only way to split it up would be to have 2 separate reservations.

 

[Woodcourt]

As long as you are staying in the same room for the entire trip, you will have to pay for everyone when you check in (for all 6 nights). The only way to split it up would be to have 2 separate reservations.

Can you have two separate reservations in a 2bdrm? I assumed one villa meant one reservation

 

[Dean]

Can you have two separate reservations in a 2bdrm? I assumed one villa meant one reservation

No, you'll have to pay for all in the unit on arival for the ENTIRE time of the reservation. Depending on the makeup of the group, this may require you to rethink the DDP. By rule all in the unit must pay for the entire time even if not physically there.

 

[JimMIA]

Can you have two separate reservations in a 2bdrm? I assumed one villa meant one reservation

Yes you can, but you would need two unrelated reservations (not linked) for two separate villas. And there are two catches to trying to do that.

The first is, if you make two separate reservations, you might have to move on the 10th to a different villa. DVC can try to keep you in the same villa, but there's no guarantee.

The other is the big one though. At this late date, it would be difficult to split your reservation into two parts. The resort is probably sold out for that period, and any change would really be a cancellation and re-booking. If you cancel, the open dates should go to the next person on the waitlist, and you'd be out of luck. The only way to know for sure is to call MS and ask.

If the other family is arriving on the 10th -- AND you're sure they won't cancel out -- paying for them for the entire trip is not the worst thing in the world. That would only give you two days of extra credits. You could use those either with them, or use them yourselves on Signature Dining events which require two TS credits. You'd probably have no problem using the extra CS credits, and you'd definitely not waste the snack credits. All of the credits are assigned to the villa, so how you divide them up is up to you.

Be sure you understand DDP 2008, because it's been greatly downsized from previous years.

 

[DebbieB]

Can you have two separate reservations in a 2bdrm? I assumed one villa meant one reservation

What I was thinking is one reservation for December 8 & 9 for just your family, then another reservation for December 10 to 14 for the whole group. You would risk having to change rooms.

 

[stitch1094]

I ran into a similar issue last year but it was in regards to the Magical Express. My immidiate family arrived at OKW on a Monday and were leaving 10 days later. My mother was arriving on Wednesday (after us) and leaving on Sunday (before us). I tried to book the Magical Express for he and was told I could only book the Express based on the arrival/departure dates of my reservation. I was really upset about this. I mean there is "no charge" for the bus and its not like they dont run 24/7 for 365. I asked for a supervisor who then transferred me to someone else. Eventually, after much pleading, I was able to get her a seat. I still can't believe how difficult that was!

 

[Woodcourt]

What I was thinking is one reservation for December 8 & 9 for just your family, then another reservation for December 10 to 14 for the whole group. You would risk having to change rooms.

oh, gotcha

 

[Mischa]

This happened to us last November. We had a 2-bedroom (me & 2 friends). One of my friends' son & DIL came to stay with us for 2 nights. My friends & I were on the DDP, son & DIL were not.

They also did not have room keys. I was told by the CM that if I wanted the other 2 (son/DIL) to have a room key then they would have to be on the DDP for entire time my friends & I were going to be on it. We opted to not give them a room key (we were going to all be together anyway, and if they wanted to go back to the room before us then son's mom would give him her key). It worked out really well.

We even ate together and just told the waitress that 3 of us were on the DDP and 2 were paying OOP. Most of the time we had so much food (especially at TS places) that we had to share it (otherwise it would have gone to waste).