New Policy for Adding Dining Plan

[lauralw]

I have had several interesting conversations with member services and had to share.

It seems that starting sometime in 2011, DVC members will be allowed to add the dining plan to any number of days of their vacation that they wish and in any combination. For example, for a seven night stay, you might decide to do the DxDDP for 2 nights and the regular DDP for 2 nights and no DP for the remainder. In addition, the CM said that you could opt for the dining plan for some members of your group and not others. I have now confirmed this with two CMs. They said they are changing over their whole system right now and things might be confused for a while. One CM told me to call back in January to add my partial DxDDP to my March trip, the other told me to call back in Oct.

This could be an amazing perk as one night on the DxDDP could equal two sit down dinners.

 

[Sammie]

This would be really nice if they offer this.

 

[lisaviolet]

I have had several interesting conversations with member services and had to share.

It seems that starting sometime in 2011, DVC members will be allowed to add the dining plan to any number of days of their vacation that they wish and in any combination. For example, for a seven night stay, you might decide to do the DxDDP for 2 nights and the regular DDP for 2 nights and no DP for the remainder. In addition, the CM said that you could opt for the dining plan for some members of your group and not others. I have now confirmed this with two CMs. They said they are changing over their whole system right now and things might be confused for a while. One CM told me to call back in January to add my partial DxDDP to my March trip, the other told me to call back in Oct.

This could be an amazing perk as one night on the DxDDP could equal two sit down dinners.

How flippin' excting is that?

I've only got it once because of not wanting it for the entire time and guests coming over for a night. And the one and only time I got it I felt like I was just okay with it - mainly due to suddenly thinking about food /that tired me by the end - so I won't use it every time but yeah for options for us all.

Thanks so much for posting!

 

[LOVETHATMOUSE]

This would be great, since we don't want to be saddled down with TS every day. We are planning a trip in Sept and would love to customize our own dining plan!

 

[cseca]

SWEET!
I wonder if they would let you use partial DDP for your whole stay.
For example buy 4 day DDP only for your whole 7 day trip. THAT would be beyond awesome!

 

[lauralw]

no problem.

I forgot to add that while making reservations for March, the CM told me the total price after each reservation (they were all buffets). The prices are much higher than last year.

For example, for Boma, on the week of March 12, the adult price is $39 (I assume this is holiday pricing), for the week of March 20 the price is $35 and then in April it is again $39. Chrystal Palace and LTT also seem to be about $5 more than 2010 with an additional 5 bucks for holiday pricing. It makes the dining plan look more and more appealing.

 

[lauralw]

SWEET!
I wonder if they would let you use partial DDP for your whole stay.
For example buy 4 day DDP only for your whole 7 day trip. THAT would be beyond awesome!

I don't know exactly how it would work but you might be able to create something like that by doing the dining plan every other day. You would have two days to use every nights worth of credits.

 

[Chellymouse]

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.

 

[Tiger926]

This is interesting. We have been doing TIW as the Regular DP doesn't work for us (don't like CS), and although we enjoyed DxDP, it was too many ADRs.

This would be cool, but I can't see it being done without many problems. Missed days, missed credits, etc. Seems like a big job to maintain - will this affect our dues?

Tiger

 

[Sammie]

This is interesting. We have been doing TIW as the Regular DP doesn't work for us (don't like CS), and although we enjoyed DxDP, it was too many ADRs.

This would be cool, but I can't see it being done without many problems. Missed days, missed credits, etc. Seems like a big job to maintain - will this affect our dues?

Tiger

No reason to affect our dues. DDP is offered by Disney Food and Beverage.

Disney is going to a brand new accounting sytem and I suspect this is the reason they will now be able to offer this. Now it might be hard for the guest to keep up with, but that to me would fall on the guest as their responsibility.

 

[dvcwannabs]

Maybe we could buy DDp for say, 4 days out of a 7 day stay and have 'til the end of the reservation to use the credits any time during the stay Having it for certain days only would be a nightmare you would have to keep getting new keys with the credits added, and when would they expire? after 24 hours? 48?

Very happily not wannab's anymore!

 

[Sammie]

Maybe we could buy DDp for say, 4 days out of a 7 day stay and have 'til the end of the reservation to use the credits any time during the stay Having it for certain days only would be a nightmare you would have to keep getting new keys with the credits added, and when would they expire? after 24 hours? 48?

Very happily not wannab's anymore!

That would be the most user friendly way for it to work. That way the guest has to decide in advance what they want, put them on the keys and have it expire on midnight of the day you check out.

Which may be the reason they are going to a pay for it in advance situation.

 

[Tiger926]

No reason to affect our dues. DDP is offered by Disney Food and Beverage.

Disney is going to a brand new accounting sytem and I suspect this is the reason they will now be able to offer this. Now it might be hard for the guest to keep up with, but that to me would fall on the guest as their responsibility.

I was thinking of constantly reprinting cards and people going to Concierge to have their credit balance printed out. It seems like it could be extra work for the resorts.

Maybe we could buy DDp for say, 4 days out of a 7 day stay and have 'til the end of the reservation to use the credits any time during the stay Having it for certain days only would be a nightmare you would have to keep getting new keys with the credits added, and when would they expire? after 24 hours? 48?

Very happily not wannab's anymore!

This is exactly what I was talking about above - many cards, much busier at front desk or concierge desks now, which might add more workload and busier hotel lobbies, which are busy enough, IMHO.

Tiger

 

[granmanh603]

We have been using the TIW card too. Very interesting...usually whole trip is just toooooo much food for us. Be interesting to see how it is presented...

 

[minpin3]

What is TIW? I've seen this mentioned in several places. I agree, Disney should offer an additional dining perk for DVC members as we do not qualify for any of the free dining plans yet we are paying good money annually for the resorts. Just my two cents....

 

[thebigman65]

This would be great!....I think they would have to do it as stated above.....so you could buy lets say 4 days out of a 7 day stay for example.....it would be simple and easy for everyone concerned. So you know over the 7 days, you would have 4 TS, 4CS and 4 SN for example.....no re-issuing cards, etc.....easy peasy....

 

[Bell30012]

Due to limited availability (We just bought into DVC) on our upcoming just before Christmas vacation we will be moving a few times on the trip. The CM was really funny when she asked me if I considered adding the DDP or DxDP to any days of the trip. Because of the separate reservations we are able to add it to each reservation. It will really work out for us.

Dec 18 - 19 SSR Standard Studio
Dec 20 SSR 2 Bedroom Villa
Dec 21 AKL Kidani Studio
Dec 22 AKL Jambo Studio

My DD8 always the optimist says that this will give her a chance to review more resorts.

 

[Tiger926]

What is TIW? I've seen this mentioned in several places. I agree, Disney should offer an additional dining perk for DVC members as we do not qualify for any of the free dining plans yet we are paying good money annually for the resorts. Just my two cents....

TIW - Tables in Wonderland card. Costs $75.00/year with a 20% discount on most TS restaurants and a few CS (alcohol counts as well). Mandatory 18% tip is added to each bill. Must have an AP or be a Florida resident in order to purchase.

Free Dining - As has been discussed on this thread at least 1 million times - LOL! - we do qualify for Free Dining as it's a package promo. If you pay rack rate for your room, you will get the Free Dining promo. It is a marketing promo used to generate sales, and not a reward, so DVC members would not be given it for free, as you are suggesting.

Tiger

 

[Splash Mountain Fan]

I hope this is the case. We are taking family on our next trip. Some want to do the plan and some don't. We'll see...

 

[mamaprincess]

This sounds AWESOME! The possibilities are endless. It definitely will allow for more flexibility in how we dine, when and where etc.