New Policy for Adding Dining Plan

[n2mm]

I would love this. I just can't do the ddp for the entire week, but do like it for a few days. will be watching to see how this works out.

 

[patsal]

Well I would love not haivng to purchase the DDP for me, but getting it for everyone else. As an all or nothing I have to go with nothing since I can only eat a very small portion of food (lapband). This was of course my choice, but it would be nice to let everyone else have whatever they want with no worries and still only get what I want as well.

 

[ruthma]

Bump

 

[mdsd8700]

We live in Minnesota, and we always buy annual passes and TIW cards. I'm not sure why you don't feel you can if you live in Illinois. If you only take one trip a year, just arrange it so they are 51 weeks apart and do both trips on one annual pass each. Getting two trips a year on an annual pass is easy, and the TIW card is good for 13 months, so you are covered there too. That's what we used to do before the DVC discount on the AP. Now that we get the discount, we tend to add trips. Before the discount we would buy APs and use them for two trips in the manner I described above, and then we would take a year or 11 months off from Disney trips. The following year we would buy APs again and start the process over. Now with the discount, we do something similar, but we travel at least 2 trips EVERY year. Then instead of renewing our APs, we let them expire and get new ones on our next planned trip so we don't have to waste the clock ticking on the tickets when we aren't traveling to WDW.

That above plan has saved us a lot on passes and dining over the years. I think the DVC AP discount is the BEST perk of all, and that includes the ability to do the TIW card.

Thanks for the advice as well as another pp who suggested I buy just one annual pass to get the TIW. I think is so great that everyone tries to help each other out. We currently hold two sets of 10 day non expiring passes and haven't finished using the first set yet. So we won't need tickets for a few years. As well we have only done two WDW trips once within 13 months of each other, somehow we can't manage that or we like to switch it up and go to DLR. I will however keep the advice in the back of mind for future reference. Thanks.

 

[crocko]

Very intriguing.

Hope we hear something "official" before too long.

 

[Snurk71]

Perhaps but it also opens the door to people leveraging the dining plan simply to save on a couple of meals.

Part of the premise of the dining plan is a hedge that buyers will:

1. NOT eat at the most expensive locations / most expensive meals / highest priced menu items every single day. In your example, dinner at Akerhaus obviously costs much more than at sit-down breakfast at Olivia's. But many DDP participants still choose to use credits for those lower priced locations and meals simply because they don't want to have beef tenderloin for dinner every night.

If Disney gives guests the ability to selectively purchase the dining plan for only certain nights, you better believe that most people will bend over backward to maximize the value of those credits. In other words, NOBODY is buying 2 nights worth of DDP credits (over a much longer trip) and using credits for breakfast at Olivia's.


2. Some credits will go unused simply because people tire of the experience. I'm not going to pretend that this is a huge number but certainly SOME percentage of the credits are unused. Could be just a TS or CS credit here and there or a few snack credits that were ignored. Whatever the circumstances--early flight, sick family member, poor planning, inability to get ADRs--it DOES happen.

And again, if Disney allows guests to selectively buy the plan for less than their total length of stay, this unused quantity will disappear.

In general, I tend to not agree with the idea that "if 'X' cost less, Disney would make more money because more people would buy it." If that were true, Disney would just reduce prices across the board and watch its profits soar!

In reality, price reductions result in a lower profit margin on each item sold. The question is whether you can recoup those lost sales via an increase in volume. That's particularly tough to do in the restaurant industry where seating capacity limits the number of diners you can service in a given day.

IMO, something like this would make the most sense if Disney intended on charging a higher rate for people buying a dining plan for less than their full length of stay. A few months ago Disney started giving people the option to ADD credits to their dining plan purchase. Turned out that they were charging about 1.5x the normal nightly rate for that privilege. I could see something similar happening here.

From Disney's perspective, allowing selective DDP purchases defeats the purpose of having a meal plan in the first place.

ding...ding..ding...

Tim, do you work in finance/business?

I was reading the first few pages and couldn't believe Disney would do as most are hoping - I can't believe the beancounters will allow you to buy less than the number of days for the reasons you highlight. If it does start off this way, I see the numbercrunchers killing it soon after. It just doesn't make much sense from an economics sense.

As Dean or someone else pointed out, capturing DVCers into the restaurants can't be high on the hit list. They appear to be maxing out the sit-downs with the perpetual free dining already. I can't imagine the number of DVCers that always eat in their unit or offsite are that impactful.

A good finance person will smell this out and tighten the plan.

By the way, I'm a beancounter/numbercruncher myself.

 

[mybabesuz]

Note that, effective Oct. 14, the new system will require a one-night room and tax deposit for cash reservations, and payment for the Disney Dining Plan will be required at the time it's added to a reservation. (As a reminder, Members may add the Disney Dining Plan to their reservation as many as 48 hours prior to their check-in date.)

Just got this e-mail

 

[4disneykids]

Interesting, will have to price it out, usually we have a TIW card.

 

[AnnaS]

Note that, effective Oct. 14, the new system will require a one-night room and tax deposit for cash reservations, and payment for the Disney Dining Plan will be required at the time it's added to a reservation. (As a reminder, Members may add the Disney Dining Plan to their reservation as many as 48 hours prior to their check-in date.)

Just got this e-mail

So we can now buy the dining plan for only part of our stay. Is that what you are saying is official? Just want to understand. Thank you.

 

[mybabesuz]

So we can now buy the dining plan for only part of our stay. Is that what you are saying is official? Just want to understand. Thank you.

No... as of now you just have to pay for it when you add it to your reservation after Oct 14th.
They didn't mention anything else yet...
Maybe when the new online reservation system kicks in you will be able to split your reservation and add it to part of it.

Among the enhanced system's benefits to Members will be automatic e-mail reservation confirmations and the ability for Members' guest(s) to receive confirmations at the Members' request. Members also will be able to have one itinerary and confirmation number that represents all segments of their vacation (multiple rooms, resorts, reservation types, etc.). Most importantly, this system enhancement lays the final foundation for the planned introduction of online booking in 2011.

 

[AnnaS]

Thank you. Got it - I just got the DVC email too.

 

[jerseygal]

Why pay for the Dining Plan in advance? I think I'll pay a few days in advance, more than 2 of course

If members still have the flexibility of adding the Dining Plan up till 2 Days in Advance, why pay for it so far in advance, say 11 mos out?

I think I'll wait! Hope that Disney Dining changes the rules so you can do "partial" disney dining during your stay..

 

[tjkraz]

Why pay for the Dining Plan in advance? I think I'll pay a few days in advance, more than 2 of course

If members still have the flexibility of adding the Dining Plan up till 2 Days in Advance, why pay for it so far in advance, say 11 mos out?

I don't see any reason to add it 11 months out but folks who want to use credits for some of the signature experiences which normally require advance payment will have a decision to make. When you have the DDP added to a reservation, you can get ADRs for things like Cinderella's Royal Table and Hoop-Dee-Do without have to pay for that meal in advance. But now the only way to get the DDP added to the reservation is to pay for the entire DDP in advance.

I'm sure Disney has its reasons for doing this but it's going to be quite painful for some guests.

It also remains to be seen how flexible they will be in accepting payments. If you have members from 2 or 3 families staying in a 2B or Grand Villa, will they spread the payment over multiple credit cards? Will they still accept gift cards and Visa reward cards over the phone?

More hassle for renters, too. Since Member Services won't deal with non-members, renters will have to be creative in figuring out how to pass their credit card info to MS. If I were the non-member renting points, I don't think I would be thrilled with giving someone else my credit card number to relay to MS, or even participating in a 3-way call where the DVC member is in on the entire conversation. Sure trust plays a role in all rentals but that's taking things one giant (uncomfortable) step further.

 

[DebbieB]

Renters have to pay the member for the points, they can pay for the dining plan the same way. Either at the same time or separately. Either through paypal or they can send the member a check/money order. Then the member pays member services.

 

[alldiz]

Does anyone know if they will offer the DDP....partial stay. Or DDX and Regular for 1 stay???
Thanks
Kerri

 

[tjkraz]

Renters have to pay the member for the points, they can pay for the dining plan the same way. Either at the same time or separately. Either through paypal or they can send the member a check/money order. Then the member pays member services.

Good point. Although it is more hassle for the member and will require greater coordination between the parties.

Paypal charges service fees for most transfers. So the non-member will probably be asked to pay more than the Disney DDP rate if they wish to transfer the funds to the member using a credit card. Checks will have to be given sufficient time to clear.

And if the non-member wishes to add the dining plan at the latest possible moment, they will be at the mercy of the member. I can just see the posts now: "I rented points 9 months ago for a trip and the member KNEW that I wanted the dining plan. I've been trying to get a hold of him for 3 days and he isn't responding to emails. Now I'm only 2 days from arrival and don't have the DDP listed on the reservation yet! Our trip has been built around the dining plan. What do I do?!?!"

 

[Sammie]

I was told guests will have to pay for the plan not the member. And Yes they will take multiple cards.

 

[kimberh]

I was told guests will have to pay for the plan not the member. And Yes they will take multiple cards.

Guests will have to pay for the Plan? Did they tell you how? Great on taking Multiple credit cards. I did receive a brochure today from American Express about one time use CC that can be reloaded if desired. Their idea was for a teenager. Renters just may have to do something like this. I wonder what the rate for a one time use CC is? Never even heard of these until a few days ago. When we book two bedrooms, we always have 2 or 3 families that are ours, but it is different households.

 

[brookelizabeth]

I would love to see this change in the DDP as well. I was just doing the number crunching for the DDP on our March trip, we are doing a split stay and thinking about adding it to the latter half - and while due to our dinner choices I believe the DDP will actually be more beneficial I do NOT like the idea of having that many sit-downs in a row, and counting credits. I would rather spread it out over our 2 resorts. We haven't done the DDP since we've been DVC members. If they did this, or even a nice discount on the regular plan, we would be more apt to buy it.

Numbercrunchers/bean counters - If Disney stopped all the Free Dining offers in the regular rooms, but offered this alternate DDP, would that make financial sense? Guests could still apply a discount code to their room and add this DDP if they choose. I know there are already Free Dining offers for 2011, but just curious that maybe DVC will get this as a perk in 2011, but the FD offers will stop in 2012 and this will be introduced depending on the reaction of the DVC community? Just thinking out loud!


As for the email - I'm THRILLED with the upgrade to allow online booking!!!!! Finally!

 

[tjkraz]

ding...ding..ding...

Tim, do you work in finance/business?

Studied accounting in college.

Does anyone know if they will offer the DDP....partial stay. Or DDX and Regular for 1 stay???
Thanks
Kerri

None of the communications from DVC have mentioned this option so it's still a rumor at this point.

I was told guests will have to pay for the plan not the member. And Yes they will take multiple cards.

I'm sure they will take multiple cards but exactly how the process will work remains a mystery.

Unless DVC intends on relaxing its policy on not communicating with non-members, the member will have to be involved in all of those conversations. And I find it hard to believe that they would let 2 or 3 different parties sharing the same room call in at varying times to pay for a portion of the dining plan.

"There are 8 of us sharing a Two Bedroom but I only want to pay for my family of four. Sometime later today my cousin is supposed to call and pay for her 3 and my mother will call separately to pay for herself."

Numbercrunchers/bean counters - If Disney stopped all the Free Dining offers in the regular rooms, but offered this alternate DDP, would that make financial sense? Guests could still apply a discount code to their room and add this DDP if they choose.

It isn't really a number crunching issue. For many people, getting a 30-40% room discount is already more beneficial than "free dining." But Disney has been successful utilizing the free dining promotion. It's all about marketing. Seeing an ad that promotes "free dining" resonates better with the public even if other offers have a lower net price.

However you slice it, Disney has a lot to lose by taking the dining plan to anything but the entire length of stay. The DDP is designed to keep people on Disney property and eating in Disney restaurants. And it also puts a pretty nice chunk of change in their coffers. Disney would stand to lose a lot of money from people who decide not to buy the DDP for their entire length of stay--and even more if guests use it as an opportunity to visit Universal or Sea World for a couple of days rather than the Disney parks.

The damage wouldn't be as great if this "perk" were limited to DVC members, but it seems like there are a lot of alternate perks which would make more financial sense for Disney. Just giving DVC members a DDP discount of $3-4 per person, per day would increase usage to some degree while not completely overturning the apple cart.