Free Dining & DVC

[dlove28]

Tried my best to find the answer on the boards (no, really, I did). Looking to rent points for the first time in the Fall and will book the DDP. However, the last two years the DDP was made free for that time period. Does Free Dining (please don't start a debate on the merits...) apply to DVC members/guests/renters?

If I booked a regular reservation through Disney and paid for the DDP and they then offered Free Dining, they would refund the costs. Does the same happen if I rent through DVC, purchase the DDP and then an offer for Free Dining comes up? Or is that just for those with a regular vacation package?

Please let me know your experiences.

Thanks - JD

 

[It'sWDW4me]

Tried my best to find the answer on the boards (no, really, I did). Looking to rent points for the first time in the Fall and will book the DDP. However, the last two years the DDP was made free for that time period. Does Free Dining (please don't start a debate on the merits...) apply to DVC members/guests/renters?

If I booked a regular reservation through Disney and paid for the DDP and they then offered Free Dining, they would refund the costs. Does the same happen if I rent through DVC, purchase the DDP and then an offer for Free Dining comes up? Or is that just for those with a regular vacation package?

Please let me know your experiences.

Thanks - JD

Free dining is only available if you pay rack rate for the room and add park tickets to make it a package. If you book a room using DVC points (members or renting from members) your reservation isn't eligible for FD.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Your agreement is with the member, not with Disney. Therefore, unless the member is offering free dining, you are not eligible for any free dining.

You need to know that if you have any problems with your reservation, Disney will not be involved in any way should a problem arise.

 

[disneynutz]

Disney offers "free" dining as a marketing tool to increase occupancy, attendance and profit. DVC doesn't have an occupancy problem so there isn't a reason to offer anything "free".

Bill

 

[Lynne M]

Does the same happen if I rent through DVC, purchase the DDP and then an offer for Free Dining comes up? Or is that just for those with a regular vacation package?

If you rent a reservation from a member, you're not renting through DVC - meaning, you are not dealing at all with the Disney company. It's a private transaction with an individual. In some ways, kind of like renting your coworker's beach house.

To explain a bit further, the free dining promotion is offered by Disney to encourage people to make cash reservations for resort rooms that they own at full rack rate. When DVC members book villas with their points, these are not rooms that are owned by Disney - they're owned by the members. Two totally separate room inventories. The Disney resorts division gets NO money when a member books on points. Therefore, there's no reason for them to offer free dining to a member booking a villa on points.

 

[TDC Nala]

Free dining is available only with full price room WDT (Walt Disney Travel) packages including at least 2 day base park tickets per guest. It is not available with DVC reservations and has never been offered for DVC reservations.

If you want the free dining, you'll need to go with a package through Disney instead of renting from a DVC member.