Dining Plan

[Sandisw]

OP, I think it would help you to understand if you would carefully review the POS and other information you got when you purchased DVC. Especially if you're still within your recission period, because what you're expecting from DVC sounds like it's not in line with what you purchased.

To explain further...

DVC is a timeshare. You're now the owner of a share in one of the DVC resorts. As an owner, when you use your points to book a room, you're using room inventory that is owned by you and the other people who own at your home resort. You're not booking room inventory that's owned by Disney.

That's an important point, because the free dining and other promotions are offered by Disney to fill rooms that THEY own. You are no longer doing business with the hotel side of Disney when you book using your points. At all. Separate reservation system, separate room inventory. Since we're not booking their rooms, or contributing to their bottom line, we are not eligible for any promotions, codes, discounts, packages, or any other reservation deals offered by Disney. There's simply no reason for them to give us free food, or free anything else.

Free dining isn't a 'perk'. It's not a gift or a benefit. It's a marketing scheme to allow Disney to unload rooms that aren't selling well, and to book them at full price. Sometimes it's a good deal, sometimes it's not, but Disney is smart enough to know that if they use the word 'free', people will assume it's the deal of a lifetime.

Which brings me to the topic of discounts and perks and DVC. If you look at your contract, you'll see that no perks or discounts are part of your vacation ownership. Meaning, other divisions of Disney and other companies may offer members occasional discounts, if it benefits them to do so, but they are not part of your DVC membership.

The current discount on AP's is a good example. At the moment, Disney Parks has determined that it's to their benefit to offer DVC members a discount on the AP. It gets 'em in the parks more often, so hopefully they'll spend more money on food and souvenirs. If at any time, Disney Parks decides that that's no longer the case, that AP discount will be gone.

My point is, we don't get discounts or perks because we're "part of the Disney family". We get them because it may benefit the giver of the discount to do so. We get the occasional small discount at some restaurants if the restaurant operator thinks it'll help them to fill tables. We get the occasional shopping discount if the store owner thinks we'll buy more stuff because of it.

If you're expecting DVC membership to get you lots of perks and goodies and discounts, I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed. To be sure, you'll get a good value on your lodging at DVC resorts; that's what the membership is for.

Well said!!

 

[Dean]

I'm surprised at how often this topic is brought up. It seems that many DVC owners don't understand that they bought a timeshare? Do Marriott owners think they are entitled to free meals when they book their timeshare in Aruba? I just don't get it....

A subset of Marriott owners (and other clubs too) have their issues, however, to me, DVC members as a group seem to have higher expectations and a larger % seem to have a sense of entitlement than other groups that I am aware of. I would guess that Ritz owners have a higher expectation than most as well but with what they pay up front and yearly, they likely should. I think it comes down to several factors. These include that many hold Disney on a pedestal and thus make inaccurate and inappropriate assumptions buying in. Another is that many INCORRECTLY see themselves as buying a part of Disney rather than simply buying a timeshare. A third is that I believe many stretch themselves financially to buy DVC more than some other timeshares and put all their eggs into one basket.

I don't see the OP's question as a case of entitlement. It's just a lack of understanding of what DVC is and how it works. Combined with a hefty dose of "magical thinking".

I'm sure the OP didn't mean it to come across that way, but as written, it does have the entitlement ring when they seemed to indicate the expectation that DVC members should get every benefit that Disney offers other guests. To me it's all about the process of learning DVC and how it works and we all had to go through it in one way or another. To be honest, there are long term members of both DVC and this board that can't get past these type of issues. Just look at the valet parking and reallocation thread's as examples. Or look at thread's where someone threatens to complain to DVC thinking a single complaint is going to change policy proving their own view of their importance in the system is more than it really is.

 

[crisi]

The current discount on AP's is a good example. At the moment, Disney Parks has determined that it's to their benefit to offer DVC members a discount on the AP. It gets 'em in the parks more often, so hopefully they'll spend more money on food and souvenirs. If at any time, Disney Parks decides that that's no longer the case, that AP discount will be gone.

There is another side to this - the AP discount helps sell more DVC. Free dining helps sell more room nights, which DVC doesn't need help with, but they do want to sell more points. Giving us more days in the park has almost zero marginal costs - especially with how DVC members tend to use the parks (spend a few hours, spend the afternoon by the pool, don't brave the crowds and don't commando) - but free dining has the marginal cost of food, and food isn't free.

 

[disneynutz]

There is another side to this - the AP discount helps sell more DVC. Free dining helps sell more room nights, which DVC doesn't need help with, but they do want to sell more points. Giving us more days in the park has almost zero marginal costs - especially with how DVC members tend to use the parks (spend a few hours, spend the afternoon by the pool, don't brave the crowds and don't commando) - but free dining has the marginal cost of food, and food isn't free.

And that is why they keep increasing the price of the DDP while reducing the quantity and sometimes quality of food. They have also reduced their cost by offering the same food at multiple locations across property, just like they saved money by selling the same merchandise across property.

Bill