New Policy for Adding Dining Plan

[alldiz]

Studied accounting in college.



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

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."



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.

Thanks
Kerri

 

[otterpop]

I've been following this whole thread and I don't recall seeing the following question posted yet...

How many of us eat our meals in our "vacation homes"?

If the majority does, then Disney has a lot to gain financially from offering some sort of DP discount/benefit to DVC members by enticing those owners who would normally save money by eating in their rooms instead of purchasing the dining plan. Isn't that the whole idea (from Disney's perspective) of the DVC to begin with. The are enticing us to purchase DVC because in the long run it will save us some money, but also locks us in to giving Disney money for many years to come...

Obviously, if everyone purchases a DP to begin with, then there is no reason why Disney would offer this sort of benefit.

Evan

 

[tjkraz]

...Disney has a lot to gain financially from offering some sort of DP discount/benefit to DVC members by enticing those owners who would normally save money by eating in their rooms instead of purchasing the dining plan.

That would be the benefit to Disney. However, at risk of beating this to death with a sledgehammer, here are some of the drawbacks:

1. People who would have otherwise purchased the DDP for their entire trip no longer have to. Disney loses revenue.

2. People who would have otherwise purchased the DDP for every occupant of the villa no longer have to. Disney loses revenue.

3. People would go to greater lengths to maximize the financial benefit of every single DDP credit. When you have 7 table service credits to use, it's pretty easy to justify using two or three toward low-cost breakfast or lunch entrees. But when a member buys just 2 nights worth of credits, you can bet those credits will be going toward high-end entrees (beef tenderloin, steak, seafood) or high-priced character buffets. The revenue Disney gets for a single dining credit is fixed but their differential cost for serving the beef tenderloin is much higher than an omelet or hamburger.

4. When guests buy dining credits for their entire length of stay, there are instances where some credits go unused. Disney counts on this happening and it plays into their pricing for the plan. But if you give guests the opportunity to buy just a couple nights worth of credits over a week long stay, the amount of expired units will vanish.

In the end, I suspect Disney has far more to lose by these rumored changes to the DDP than they would have to gain. Allowing guests to drop their arrival and/or departure day from the DDP makes more sense as a moderate adjustment, IMO.

 

[TDC Nala]

I don't eat meals in the room,and I still don't buy DDP. I don't like being restricted as to HOW I can order, if not what I can order.

 

[Sandisw]

We do not cook on vacation. We have utilized the DDP in the past but found this last trip that we like having our TS meal mid day. We also only want to do 2 or 3 TS meals during the trip and would prefer to spread them out which was not possible.

We did a split stay so we did do the DDP for 3 nights and only the QSDP for the rest. But, I realized that it really is too much food for me. When we were a family of 5 going, it made sense. But now that we are down to 3 for the most part, it may not be.

If they did allow for partial DDP's during the trip, then we might go with it, but I doubt we will be doing an entire stay with it from now on.

 

[DebbieB]

We typically have breakfast in the room but I would not call it cooking - toasted bagels or cereal. We like to have our big meal as a late lunch, then counter service later. That saves some money. Haven't done the dining plan in a long time. I would consider a partial plan and plan to eat more expensive meals on those dates. That's why I'm surprised Disney would consider a partial plan. Or only for certain people, one person could load up and share with the other people. Disney's portions are usually large. I could see it as a "perk" for DVC since we don't get free dining. I don't see them expanding it to everyone.

 

[patsal]

Kind of thinking out loud here. I'm wondering if a lot of DVC members split their stay to use some form of the dining plan(s). I wonder if that makes housekeeping and room changes more frequent. Perhaps offering an essential a la carte form of the dining plan is a response to the split stays and moving around for those that may have a dining plan, no dinging plan, dining plan. I must admit that I did do that one year. We got the regular dining plan back when the regular dining plan was all inclusive. We stayed in a 1 BR from Sun to Thurs, followed by no dining plan in a studio for Friday and Saturday--esentially no Dining plan on Saturday since I had credits left over and could use them until midnight on Friday. We went back to a 1BR Sunday through Friday of the next week with a dining plan as well. The second half we did a few signature meals to insure using up all credit by checkout on Saturday morning since we were leaving early.
For years after the change (dropping app and tip) I just stayed in a 1BR for the full shot, no dining plan--it was one thing to need to move to use up my credits, and so long as I was moving I was going to save a few points in the process.
This past summer, we tried the QSDP, but we also split the stay. I did not want to have credits hanging over me that were going to go unused--face it the QSDP is more a convenience thing than a money saver anyway. I had just had the lap band put in and food was no longer my central focus (read now I don't even like to cook), but I didn't want to deprive my family of getting what they wanted, so having credits made it easier for them to get what they wanted and for me to use the credit I'd paid for to get what I wanted to eat even if I was going to throw most of mine away--I would have had to pay for it anyway. So here we go with the split stay thing again. 1 Saturday cash AKL AP discounted room. Check in first thing in the AM on Sunday to get credits activated to use for Breakfast, move to Lodge Sunday to Thursday. Move to studio in Lodge for Friday and Saturday with no meal plan--still using credits all day on Friday. Sunday move over to OKW 1BR (again way early check in to activate the credits for use for breakfast)until Saturday. Lots of moves, lots of housekeeping that wouldn't have been necessary. No biggie to me since most were lodge to lodge and I easily checked my luggage and still went about my day. We had a rental car so I could lock any valuables in the trunk and go about my day doing whatever I wanted.

Would allowing the plan to be more flexible save on room turn around and housekeeping? One big clean at the end of 15 days in my case and a quick change of linens and emptying the trash at day 8, rather than full cleanings after 1 night, 5 nights, 2 nights, 6 nights, etc. might be more cost effective and easier on the front desk.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I wonder if with the new integration between CRO and DVC systems (at least I think that's where things are going) if a person eventuallly will be able to add DDP to a reservation without having to go thru MS? That could solve a lot of problems if they are going to require payment immediately and would allow non-members who are using DVC to handle their own meal plan. Maybe even to add it online?

I haven't read the whole thread so maybe that's been speculated already.

 

[yitbos96bb]

I wonder if the reasoning is because many DVCers have been avoiding the DDP. DH and I are switching to TIW on our upcoming trip because quite frankly, DDP isn't much of a value anymore. This is certainly welcome news for many people.

We are doing the same thing... The value for the regular DDP is non-existent with the removal of appetizers and tips and the Deluxe is more than we want to spend per day.

I'm curious to see all the stipulations involved in this... I like it, but the logistics sound like they will be a nightmare.

 

[BlackRock]

People love the dining plan and I think they will love this even more.

BlackRock

 

[mikron]

Grest, some days we don't want much food or travel off site to eat.

 

[jpeka65844]

I haven't read the entire thread but don't recall seeing anything in the OP about whether ALL on a reservation have to have it. That's the option we'd like. When staying in a large size DVC accommodation with other people, it would be nice for everyone to use a DDP as they please. We often split up for meals and some see the value of the DDP differently than others.

Would everyone in a 2 BDRM villa have to have the same pattern, no matter what it is???

 

[edk35]

Maybe they read my posts a year or so ago. I suggested "Disney Dining You Way" where we could add dining to so many days of your trip. We could mix it up so that maybe we had x amt. of regular dining days, x amt. of counter service or even deluxe days with a day or two of NO DINING. I guess time will tell.

 

[tjkraz]

Much to my surprise, most of this appears to be true.

Under the computer system members can still add the dining plan for a stay at one resort but not the other if doing a split stay. And members will even be allowed to get the DDP for certain days but not others at a single resort.

So the part about members being able to pick-and-choose the days for which they buy the DDP is correct.

Use of credits will still be tied to the days for which the credits are purchased. If you buy credits for Monday and Tuesday, they are only good from Monday until 11:59 on Wednesday--NOT for the entire stay.

What isn't quite correct is that you can't just arbitrarily choose the number of guests for which credits are purchased. That is still tied to the occupants of the room on the given night. DVC will track fluctuations in occupancy so--for example--you could buy credits for 4 occupants most nights and increase it to 6 occupants on the nights relatives will be joining the group.

Payments can be accepted from a variety of sources--credit cards, Visa reward cards and Disney gift cards. Multiple cards can be used to fund a single room's DDP purchase. HOWEVER, all of the payment information MUST be filtered through the member. As I suspected, renters and guests of members will have to pass their credit card info along to the DVC owner in order to pay for the dining plan.

More info here:

http://dvcnews.com/index.php/news-p...1372-dining-plan-benefits-from-system-upgrade

Be interesting to see if this flexibility remains in force. Personally I still think Disney has a lot more to lose than they have to gain by offering such flexibility. People who would have otherwise bought the DDP for their entire trip will now slash some days. And anyone who buys a small number of credits will do it with the intent of maximizing the value of those credits. I really don't see how this could turn into a win for Disney but it's certainly a nice perk for members.

 

[Sammie]

TJ, did you get any clarification about cancelling the DDP after you have prepaid?

 

[MAGICFOR2]

If this has been answered already, I'm sorry, but would the DDP have to be paid up front at the time of reserving, and would you still need to reserve in advance? Maybe Disney is working on getting more prepaid plans. It could be that lots of DVC members are cancelling prior to arrival as they don't pay until check-in?

 

[Sammie]

If this has been answered already, I'm sorry, but would the DDP have to be paid up front at the time of reserving, and would you still need to reserve in advance? Maybe Disney is working on getting more prepaid plans. It could be that lots of DVC members are cancelling prior to arrival as they don't pay until check-in?

After Oct. 14, you will have to pay when you book it, with at least 48 hours prior to arrival.

 

[brookelizabeth]

Wow....this is a REALLY nice perk! TJ, I read your article; however, I have a 3 year old asking me questions during the middle of it, so forgive me if this was explained, but for existing reservations this can still be done, right? It's just a bit more complicated? We have a ressie for March, 2 confirmation numbers (split stay), and would very much like to add the DDP for a few of those days. I'm hoping we can take advantage and it's not just new reservations as of Oct. 14.

 

[jakenjess]

Wow....this is a REALLY nice perk! TJ, I read your article; however, I have a 3 year old asking me questions during the middle of it, so forgive me if this was explained, but for existing reservations this can still be done, right? It's just a bit more complicated? We have a ressie for March, 2 confirmation numbers (split stay), and would very much like to add the DDP for a few of those days. I'm hoping we can take advantage and it's not just new reservations as of Oct. 14.

Oh, that's a good question! I guess I assumed we could add it to existing reservations, as you can add it up to 48 hours ahead of time, but we have already booked our Feb. trip. I need to crunch some numbers, but we may add it to two or three days of our stay. I agree this is a very nice perk!!

I supposed some people may cut back on how many days they do DDP, but I also think there are many people, like us, who will add it for a few days who never would have purchased it in the past and would have eaten fewer TS meals.

 

[Vickis3js]

So is this all going to be possible after Oct 14th? I read the article at DVC news and was thinking, before I read it, that I would see about splitting the DDP for our Dec trip but it sounds like it could get hairy and there is a chance that we could lose our room. Looks like I still may run the numbers if its possible though.