Dining plan with DVC resort

[Dis507]

I don't believe this is true. What I've read repeatedly on the Restaurants board is that the mug is good for 14 days after activation, and if you stay longer than that you can have the activation extended. So that's another reason that people buy the dining plan for the first part of a split stay - they can keep using the mug.

Here's a recent thread from the Disney Dining Plan sub-forum: https://www.disboards.com/threads/r...-plan-when-does-the-clock-start-when.3946431/

I stand corrected.

I was not aware they were so generous with the mugs purchased on the DDP to allow them to go beyond the planned stay.
Good to know.

 

[J-Dog]

It can be added as soon as your reservation is in the system. And you can do it yourself right on the DVC website. You just have to look under your reservation. When you hit purchase dining plan, it will give you the cost for both the quick service plan and the regular dining plan.

Did that work for you? I tried multiple times and kept getting "the Dwarves" every time - ended up having to call.

 

[Sandisw]

Your going to need to get it or work with a CM to see if they can renew your 1st one. Since its a split stay and considered 2 different reservations the 1st one will be turned off after your last day of the 1st reservation. So your second half it won't work at the soda machines.

Agree completely with what everyone else has said, the price is the price. But with some resort stays they have offered it for free or at a substantial discount. But I've only seen that with the stay packages (Hotel, tickets, DDP) being purchased all at once.

That has not been our experience with mugs. They activate for 14 days, regardless of length of stay.

ETA: see it was answered.

 

[jillt2ph]

Did that work for you? I tried multiple times and kept getting "the Dwarves" every time - ended up having to call.

Sure did. I went ahead and added it to my 6/29 reservation after I took that screenshot. Maybe try a different browser?

 

[Artemis Fowl]

Didn't want to start a new thread.

We are going next week for 9 nights and have a split stay (5 nights/4 nights).

I understand that you can purchase the dining plan up to 48 hours prior to the stay. We aren't sure if it is right for us but we booked it for the first part of our stay to test it.

If we are half way through our first part and realize that we want to add it for our second part, can I do that while on the first part of the trip? Or is it 48 hours prior to the entire stay starting?

Thanks!

Did you go on this trip yet? Was it worth it? Did you extend the dining plan?

 

[Cfabar1]

can the resort mugs be refilled in the table service restaurants/used at meals? or only at quick service?

We have yet to do the dining plan... it just doesn't seem to make sense for us based on how we eat - which is a lot of signature 2 meal service credits...

 

[jo-jo]

To add to the other questions being asked. When will you get to the resort and will you get your mugs right away?

I was talking about staying at all stars just to sleep over, and move to DVC next day late afternoon. Short park day. Seems to be a toss up if while still at all stars, I can start using mug there (check out day from there) , others have said have to wait until I get to DVC to get mug.

And you thought you were going on vacation, in fact you are going on a fact finding mission. Have a great trip.

 

[Mle8308]

can the resort mugs be refilled in the table service restaurants/used at meals? or only at quick service?

We have yet to do the dining plan... it just doesn't seem to make sense for us based on how we eat - which is a lot of signature 2 meal service credits...

No, they cannot. And bringing the refillable mugs into TS restaurants caused quite the debate here a while back. I think bringing one into a TS restaurant is tacky and would not do it, but YMMV.

 

[CarolynFH]

can the resort mugs be refilled in the table service restaurants/used at meals? or only at quick service?

My understanding is that the refillable mugs can be used only at the resorts, not in the parks, and only at the resort self-service beverage stations. Here's a photo of the sign, from the DisneyFoodBlog.com.

 

[fumanchu2488]

Did you go on this trip yet? Was it worth it? Did you extend the dining plan?

We did go on the trip and had a great time.

We didn't end up extending the dining plan but we did talk to CMs about it and they said that we could 48 hours prior to the check in date (like it was any other reservation).

As far as 'worth it', I definitely felt like it was worth it for our family. We did at least one character dining or more 'signature' type dining every day and with kids 3 - 9 years old it is very easy to get the value out of it. Also, we were able to use the resort fillable mugs the entire trip (which was $100). We went with a 3 YO and 6 YO for reference.

I don't think we would have done as much character dining without it, but to me it made the trip better overall. Also, we didn't have to stress about dollars once we were there or even look at a bill. We did Crystal Palace, Tusker House, Chef Mickey, Ohana.

We don't drink a ton, but even without all the alcohol we still made out ahead based on our meals. My thought after the trip was:

1. I cannot see a world where it is worth it for anyone between ages 10 and 21 to get a dining plan.
2. As long as you do 1 dining with either a buffet or character meal per day, and you have kids 3-9, it is very easy to break even at a minimum. If you drink alcohol with every credit, it can be substantial.
3. We probably would not have eaten as much or at these places without the dining plan, but I was never stressed about our kids not eating like I would have had I spent $70 for them at a meal at the spot. I know that doesn't make a lot of sense, but mentally it was just done.
4. DVC makes it easy because if I didn't get the reservations I wanted, I would have just not paid for the plan. When I got nearly every reservation I wanted, it was easy to just add it.

 

[FreeTime]

My understanding is that the refillable mugs can be used only at the resorts, not in the parks, and only at the resort self-service beverage stations. Here's a photo of the sign, from the DisneyFoodBlog.com.

View attachment 867498

Soooooo…I just had a thought about how this sign is misleading. I always see people lugging the cups around the park and wonder why as I would think they would know you can only use it at the hotel.

The actual name of WDW is Walt Disney World Resort. So these signs imply you can use them anywhere on property at a self-service machine. But if you really read the sign you see the word resort seems to reference accommodations because of use of “any” and doesn’t say “throughout the Walt Disney World Resort”.

 

[CarolynFH]

Soooooo…I just had a thought about how this sign is misleading. I always see people lugging the cups around the park and wonder why as I would think they would know you can only use it at the hotel.

The actual name of WDW is Walt Disney World Resort. So these signs imply you can use them anywhere on property at a self-service machine. But if you really read the sign you see the word resort seems to reference accommodations because of use of “any” and doesn’t say “throughout the Walt Disney World Resort”.

I think some guests might stop at their resort’s location and fill their mugs while on their way to the transportation stop and then consume their drinks at the parks, as opposed to drinking them and then bringing the mugs back to their rooms before traveling to the parks.

 

[Sandisw]

I think some guests might stop at their resort’s location and fill their mugs while on their way to the transportation stop and then consume their drinks at the parks, as opposed to drinking them and then bringing the mugs back to their rooms before traveling to the parks.

This is us....we start the day with them filled, and then use them to hold drinks while we walk around the park...when its hot, it does keep ice from melting as quickly and with a lid and handle, easy too then the to go cups...plus, we can then refill them on the way up to the room when we go back!

 

[kilik64]

Just fyi for anyone, if using gift card to pay, you can only do 1 card for whatever reason on website. Limits you to $1000 since that is the max you can put on 1 card. You can call to add and use multiple when you do that.

We used target card and bought enough to cover the ddp for 5 of us (2 adult 3 kid under 10) so helped save another $80 plus essentially.

I don’t think it’s really worth it for adults unless you like the all inclusive feel it gives. It’s a decent deal with kids if you do a lot of character dining like we did. Way that works out is you pay for the character meal and get this qs and snack that day for free. It’s roughly $25 for a kid character meal and that’s the same daily cost of a kid.