Modifying DVC Reservation with Dining Plan

[U2Bono269]

Hi all! I was hoping that someone here could help me out with some questions I'm having a hard time answering.

My family is booked to stay at Saratoga Springs from August 16-21, 2015. We are staying on my grandparents' DVC membership.

We would like to change to a different resort (Boardwalk or Bay Lake) because we won't be renting a car and would like to have a closer proximity to the parks.

I can't ask these questions of DVC myself. They literally won't talk to me because I'm not the owner of the account. And to be honest, my grandmother is having difficulties getting my questions answered for me. She gave me her account info and I am able to log into her account and manage my vacation on her behalf.

I did my best to find the answers on this board, but I'm not 100% comfortable with what I found out, because it doesn't match my scenario exactly.

So my questions:

1. In order to switch my reservation (which I know I can do on Friday, Jan 16 at 8am) am I correct in saying that I need to book a new vacation and then cancel the old one for a full points-refund? There are enough points for me to book 2 vacations at once so I know that I don't need to cancel my original reservation until I have a new one.

2. I have a dining plan purchased on my current DVC reservation. Am I able to transfer this, or does it also need to be canceled and repurchased? Will this cause a problem for me to change my resort?

I hate to say it, but I'm worried that if I leave this to my grandmother to take care of, she won't be able to accomplish what we're looking for.

Can anyone shed some light?

 

[disneynutz]

Dining plan needs to be canceled, refunded and then purchased for the new reservation.

You need to find out what type of points were used for the first reservation. Were they banked from a prior UY?
If so you need to use them for the new reservation or they could be forfeited at the end of the UY.

Bill

 

[U2Bono269]

Yes, some of the points used were from the previous use year. So I do need to cancel the reservation first I assume?

Is the canceling of a reservation instantaneous? Meaning, if I were to find a new reservation I wanted, could I quickly cancel what I have and continue the new booking process to minimize the chances of losing my original reservation? Or is that unnecessary?

And will canceling my reservation automatically cancel my dining plan?

 

[disneynutz]

Yes, some of the points used were from the previous use year. So I do need to cancel the reservation first I assume?

Is the canceling of a reservation instantaneous? Meaning, if I were to find a new reservation I wanted, could I quickly cancel what I have and continue the new booking process to minimize the chances of losing my original reservation? Or is that unnecessary?

And will canceling my reservation automatically cancel my dining plan?

You would have to cancel and rebook. It's usually in real time but the website has been flaky lately and anything could happen. The possibility exists that between the cancel and rebook, someone could snag the inventory. This also can happen when you call in.

I would cancel the DDP, then the room reservation.

Bill

 

[newdeal]

its saratoga springs, just cancel it now so you are sure it will be cancelled when it comes time to book your new reservation. If all else fails and you can't get what you want Saratoga springs will still be available to rebook. I am not a snob agains Saratoga, that is where I own and we are staying there in May (for the first time) but it is clearly easy to book at almost any time

 

[mcorbo]

You can have your grandmother add you as an Associate to the DVC account. This will allow you to talk to Disney about the reservation. It can be done online under My Membership->My Profile. It may take a day or 2 to process though.

 

[U2Bono269]

I added myself as an Associate (with all appropriate permissions, of course). My grandparents don't know how to use a computer. Hopefully this will help. When will I know it's been made official?

Can I cancel my Dining Plan online or does that have to be over the phone? I imagine I should call so I can hopefully avoid the $50 fine?

 

[U2Bono269]

I read in another thread that a DDP is cancelled automatically if a reservation is cancelled...true?

 

[nalajms]

If you cancel the reservation, the DDP is automatically canceled.

For what you're trying to do, you don't need to call. As newdeal suggested, cancel the SSR reservation now. Then at 8am on Friday, be logged in online and ready to go. If you don't see the room you want, keep trying past 9am (when other people swap over the phone). And waitlist right away if you don't get what you want.

Your best chances are Boardwalk Garden view and Bay Lake Lake view.

After you book, you can go back to Upcoming Vacations and add DDP to the new reservation with a credit card. If you're using a GC, then you'd have to call. Good luck!

 

[rlovew]

I added myself as an Associate (with all appropriate permissions, of course). My grandparents don't know how to use a computer. Hopefully this will help. When will I know it's been made official?

Can I cancel my Dining Plan online or does that have to be over the phone? I imagine I should call so I can hopefully avoid the $50 fine?

There should not be a $50 fine for cancelling any part of a DVC reservation- there are fees for cancelling a regular booking with Disney depending on a variety of things but a DVC reservation not made with reservation points will not cost any money.

 

[U2Bono269]

Thanks for all your help!

It turned out that I had to attend a meeting this morning from 8-10am, which meant I couldn't go online to do all of this. So I had to leave it to my grandmother to call, but it worked out great!

We switched to Boardwalk Villas, and she even upgraded us to a preferred view room.

Best of all, my Dining Plan wasn't even cancelled! I just checked and it's still there.

So it came out perfectly in the end.