dining plan with tour operators

[supersal]

In 2007 I went to Coronado Springs with Airtours and managed to get the Dining Plan.

Didn't visit last year so don't know what was happening but want to go again in 2009 to POR and get free dining but can only find the offer with Virgin or TCD...are they the only operators doing this? Are other operators likely to offer this later...what happened last year?

 

[s.and.s]

Hi

You also have the option of booking directly with Disney UK (with or without flights) on line or over the phone.

One point to bear in mind if your stay straddles the 3rd Oct cut-off date is that if you book with Disney then you get the DDP free for the entire trip. However we were told by Virgin Holidays that, under the terms of their contract with Disney, they can only offer the free dining for the days up to the 3rd Oct. For any days falling after that you would be charged for the DDP. You cannot choose not to have it for the remaining days since you must have the plan for the entire duration of your stay.

Cheers

 

[supersal]

Hi

wow that got me worried as we want to arrive on 3 oct - i have called Virgin and TCD this evening and both are telling me that as long as I arrive on 3 I will still have the free dining for the duration of my stay.

i have checked all the small print for all the sites and it doesn't mention any thing about the 3/10 being cut off for the plan...only for the qualifying date.

Any body else encountered any info on this ?

many thanks

 

[s.and.s]

Hi

wow that got me worried as we want to arrive on 3 oct - i have called Virgin and TCD this evening and both are telling me that as long as I arrive on 3 I will still have the free dining for the duration of my stay.

i have checked all the small print for all the sites and it doesn't mention any thing about the 3/10 being cut off for the plan...only for the qualifying date.

Any body else encountered any info on this ?

many thanks

Hi

We were surpised (and not a little annoyed) since that's not how it operated last year. We queried this and Virgin Holidays checked this and were adamant that their contract with Disney did not allow us to get free dining for the whole 2 weeks. Just tried VH web site again and if you try booking, say, 26 Sep to 10 Oct for Port Orleans and select Quick Service Dining rather than Room only it charges £108 (i.e. 26 Sep to 3 Oct = 8 nights free, 4 Oct to 10 Oct = 6 nights charged at £18 per night = £108).

In the end our TA virtually matched the overall package price we would have got booking with Disney direct.

So all in all not sure what's going on.

Cheers

 

[supersal]

It's so confusing...I costed up on the web site and as you said they added cost of DDP for days over 3 Oct...So I called them and they said...again that it was free, even if I arrived in resort on the 3 Oct.

I discussed the web site booking...they said I could do it on the phone and when pushed they would still meet the online discount that I thought i would lose by doing a phone booking. So it can be done...just by phone....

hope it helps with any future bookings