No more segmented vacations for ddp

[dis-happy]

It would sound like you can, which is how the old system worked. Now with this new system automatically linking all reservations under one number, I'm not so sure?

Had we wanted to do a dining plan for only 1 part of that split stay, I would have called back, and sought direction, on what to do. MS should allow different dining plans for different stays, IMHO, as you are at 2 different resorts, but not sure the new system allows for that. I would think us DVC members do split stays way more often than cash guests, if they do them at all, so it's interesting to see what will happen here as it sounds like it's software dependent.

I hope you get it worked out, Tiger

One thought: try putting a different lead name on each reservation. Wouldn't that result in different reservation numbers?

In my opinion, I think the "abuse" came in when members started doing one night QS, next two nights no dining plan, next one night DxDP, next three nights DDP, last night no dining plan. Or the member who did DxDP on nights one, three, five and seven and no dining plan on nights 2, 4 and 6. Again, just my guess, but I'd like to think that if members had stuck to dropping two nights from the front or end of the trip to accomodate the guests arriving later or departing earlier, it might not have become such as issue.

But, like I am saying, just my thoughts.

I so agree with this. In fact, when the rescission came to light, I didn't even blink. Pretty much expected it would happen---just a matter of when, not if.

 

[disneygrandma]

I know the whole "yah dah yah dah" schpeel about "just get a cash resv". I'm just saying that segmenting is a way to meet in the middle on this thing.

As far as my last comment goes.....it is in no way trying to get back at Disney. ?? I just wish it had never been created. Oh, the 1st time we used it, we thought it was a really good deal. Apps with the meals. Tips included. But so much food!! Even now without the apps on the regular DDP, it's still too much food. But we've noticed all the changes with the food. Many of the restaurants seem to have "generalized" their menus. In many instances, quality has lessened as well. We blame the DDP for the overall diminishing of our dining experiences. And of course, without Free Dining, then there wouldn't be all of the hard feelings associated with it.

As for our experience this trip: By the end of our 2nd day (only 1 night on the DXDDP), I didn't want to even think about food. We saved our receipts and figured out what we would have bought & how much we would have spent. Our tips would have literally been cut in half also. We spent $15 more on the DDP. It's the buffets where the savings really are.

 

[Tiger926]

One thought: try putting a different lead name on each reservation. Wouldn't that result in different reservation numbers?

I so agree with this. In fact, when the rescission came to light, I didn't even blink. Pretty much expected it would happen---just a matter of when, not if.

I'm not sure, as I think the one stay was in my name, and the other in hubby's, and I think they were still one number, but I'm not sure, and can't check, as our waitlist came through, so 1 resort for us now.

I know the whole "yah dah yah dah" schpeel about "just get a cash resv". I'm just saying that segmenting is a way to meet in the middle on this thing.

As far as my last comment goes.....it is in no way trying to get back at Disney. ?? I just wish it had never been created. Oh, the 1st time we used it, we thought it was a really good deal. Apps with the meals. Tips included. But so much food!! Even now without the apps on the regular DDP, it's still too much food. But we've noticed all the changes with the food. Many of the restaurants seem to have "generalized" their menus. In many instances, quality has lessened as well. We blame the DDP for the overall diminishing of our dining experiences. And of course, without Free Dining, then there wouldn't be all of the hard feelings associated with it.

As for our experience this trip: By the end of our 2nd day (only 1 night on the DXDDP), I didn't want to even think about food. We saved our receipts and figured out what we would have bought & how much we would have spent. Our tips would have literally been cut in half also. We spent $15 more on the DDP. It's the buffets where the savings really are.

I agree that the restaurants have suffered big, but not sure it's all about the DP - but that's a discussion for another thread!

We have eaten pretty much everywhere, multiple times, with DP, DxDP, OOP, TIW/DDE and AP/DVC discounts. At this point, we are burned out on food, so we cook in our villa, and we love it! The kids are a bit sad about missing character meals, and we feel a bit guilty as our baby boy is losing out, as our eldest has eaten at all character meals a million times, but we can't justify the prices either. But, we would never assume that segmenting was the answer to this problem. If Disney really did want to reward DVC members with this, they would allow segmenting, as having children and eating at character buffets will save a ton with DxDP, for instance.

The DP was made for the entire length of stay, so why should us DVC members be treated any differently than cash paying guests?

Tiger

 

[DonnaL]

I do have to agree with another poster above who stated doing a different DP every night or alternating DP and none during the entire trip is probably the main cause of the system overload. However, as much as I dreaded calling MS today with all of this stuff going on about the DP I needed to add two people to our October reservation for only one night.....the last night of our trip...my cousins are driving over from the Tampa area that morning and staying overnight with us to enjoy the F & W Festival. DH and I were already flipflopping back and forth as to doing the DP and whether we wanted Deluxe or Regular....before the segmenting was stopped we had talked about doing Deluxe only for our first two nights (we're there for a total of four nights) and nothing for the last two.....but enjoy grazing at the F & W for those two days. However, the past week we've been back and forth on the issue and had just about decided to not get any DP at all since we really didn't want it for all 4 nights. Anyway, when I called MS today to add 2 people to last night only......a supervisor was called and it took them forever, but, I now have two separate reservations and was told we will need to get new keys on our last day.....so obviously, it's not only the DP causing reservation issues, but, also adding extra people to the original ressie causes some issues. At that point I decided to ask about the DP and was told if DH and I don't want the DP for the first 3 nights that's fine, but, if we want to get it for our last night we can do so since it's a different reservation number or vice versa.....the first 3 nights and not the last night. Now......it remains to be seen if our Trash and Towel will be messed up also.

 

[murphy t]

I do have to agree with another poster above who stated doing a different DP every night or alternating DP and none during the entire trip is probably the main cause of the system overload. However, as much as I dreaded calling MS today with all of this stuff going on about the DP I needed to add two people to our October reservation for only one night.....the last night of our trip...my cousins are driving over from the Tampa area that morning and staying overnight with us to enjoy the F & W Festival. DH and I were already flipflopping back and forth as to doing the DP and whether we wanted Deluxe or Regular....before the segmenting was stopped we had talked about doing Deluxe only for our first two nights (we're there for a total of four nights) and nothing for the last two.....but enjoy grazing at the F & W for those two days. However, the past week we've been back and forth on the issue and had just about decided to not get any DP at all since we really didn't want it for all 4 nights. Anyway, when I called MS today to add 2 people to last night only......a supervisor was called and it took them forever, but, I now have two separate reservations and was told we will need to get new keys on our last day.....so obviously, it's not only the DP causing reservation issues, but, also adding extra people to the original ressie causes some issues. At that point I decided to ask about the DP and was told if DH and I don't want the DP for the first 3 nights that's fine, but, if we want to get it for our last night we can do so since it's a different reservation number or vice versa.....the first 3 nights and not the last night. Now......it remains to be seen if our Trash and Towel will be messed up also.

If you decide not to do any dining plan I would just add the other 2 to the whole reservation & not have to bother with getting new keys.
Murphy

 

[k3chantal]

We have only done split stays. Our favorite is Animal Kingdom for four days, Vero Beach for three, and back to AK or another resort, depending on availability. I REALLY hope that MS still allows this. If someone finds out, please let me know.

 

[jade1]

But we've noticed all the changes with the food. Many of the restaurants seem to have "generalized" their menus. In many instances, quality has lessened as well. We blame the DDP for the overall diminishing of our dining experiences. And of course, without Free Dining, then there wouldn't be all of the hard feelings associated with it.
.

Yep-for example Kona at Poly had very nice tenderloin the first year of the DP-that went away pretty quick and now its a Teriyaki strip-

 

[bumbershoot]

Where I once had 1 reservation number for 3 very different reservations (OKW 2 bedroom for 8 people, then BW studio for 3, then OKW 1 bedroom for 3), I now, suddenly, happily, magically, mysteriously, and yet also near heart-attack-inducingly, have THREE.

And not one is the original number. (oops, not true, just rechecked my paperwork, the first reservation has the original all-inclusive reservation number)



Anyone else?

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

But in mid-August when I changed my March 7 nights at one resort to 7 nights at two resorts, I got TWO reservation numbers.

Same for me. My November reservation which is split between BWV and VWL is and always has been 2 reservation numbers. A reservationfor Oct that I booked for friends needed one night waitlisted and when that came thru it was added to the first so only 1 reservation number.

All of these were booked when they were supposed to be doing the one travel itinerary.

 

[Grumpy Grandma]

Where I once had 1 reservation number for 3 very different reservations (OKW 2 bedroom for 8 people, then BW studio for 3, then OKW 1 bedroom for 3), I now, suddenly, happily, magically, mysteriously, and yet also near heart-attack-inducingly, have THREE.

And not one is the original number. (oops, not true, just rechecked my paperwork, the first reservation has the original all-inclusive reservation number)



Anyone else?

I still have only 1 reservation number for 2 different resorts. Did you ask them to make this change? Did you find the change on DVC website or on the DW website?

 

[twinklebug]

I still have only 1 reservation number for 2 different resorts. Did you ask them to make this change? Did you find the change on DVC website or on the DW website?

I also see only one number on my BWV/Kidani reservation for Dec. I'm no longer considering DDP for our upcoming trip, but am curious from a programmer standpoint how they deal with the mess that's been made trying to hook multiple systems operating differently together. I've gone as far as to draw out a couple possible schemas to resolve the issue - I think I need a Disney break.

Bumbershoot mentions in the other thread that this is for the split reservation they are doing online check-in for. It used to have 1 number, and now has... 3? Seems that someone in Disney is going through the system finding split reservations and segmenting them out to unique reservation numbers before the guests checkin/arrive. Again, has to be connected to software problems... A bit of manual labor beforehand to deter problems switching during the split stay perhaps?

 

[n2mm]

Where I once had 1 reservation number for 3 very different reservations (OKW 2 bedroom for 8 people, then BW studio for 3, then OKW 1 bedroom for 3), I now, suddenly, happily, magically, mysteriously, and yet also near heart-attack-inducingly, have THREE.

And not one is the original number. (oops, not true, just rechecked my paperwork, the first reservation has the original all-inclusive reservation number)



Anyone else?

Not me. I just checked. This is how my reservation goes:

10/15 one night studio - bwv (used my SSR points to book @ 7 mo)
10/16-22 six nights studio - bwv (used my bwv pts to book at the 11 mo)
10/22-29 seven nights 1 BR - bwv for DD/family (used SSR pts @ 7mo)

We didn't use to have the same number, but during the last upgrade it changed and now ALL of these 3 have the same number, even though the last one was not us in the room. I had wanted to do the delux ddp on my first night, but now can't. Since it's just the 2 of us, we thought we would have some nicer meals using credits. I tried once to approach MS about it last week and got shot down. So am waiting to see if this all works out later. I never segmented, it's just the way my reservation was booked by me adding the first night later when buying airfare.

 

[murphy t]

So after reading thru this long thread and thinking it wouldn't affect our up coming trip, I decided to check my reservation for our trip in Oct. I have 2 BWV studios booked and they BOTH have the same reservation #. I don't recall this happening with previous reservations. I planned to add the DDP only to one room. Hopefully that is the case. I think I'll wait til things calm down before calling....

Just to add my 2 cents to the discussion, I don't believe the ability to segment the DDP was a " loophole". It was told to people by MS that they could do it, so they did. However I do believe it was never intended to be broken up in to so many segments such as 1 night DLX DP, none the next , 3 regular DDP and on & on, creating somewhat of a nightmare for all involved.
I'm not surprised they (who ever made the decision) put a stop to it, but they seemed to have "thrown the baby out with the bath water" in the implementation. Those who were told they could segment the DDP prior to Sept 6 should still be able to. And as before the one reservation #, we should be able to add dining for part of our reservation if changing resorts, room categories or just splitting the room reservation in to 2 separate ones, with the
caveat of possibly having to change rooms.
Like I said, just my 2 cents. That and $3.00 will get you a cup of coffee (not Starbucks)!
Murphy

 

[otterpop]

Just to add my 2 cents to the discussion, I don't believe the ability to segment the DDP was a " loophole". It was told to people by MS that they could do it, so they did. However I do believe it was never intended to be broken up in to so many segments such as 1 night DLX DP, none the next , 3 regular DDP and on & on, creating somewhat of a nightmare for all involved. I'm not surprised they (who ever made the decision) put a stop to it, but they seemed to have "thrown the baby out with the bath water" in the implementation. Those who were told they could segment the DDP prior to Sept 6 should still be able to. And as before the one reservation #, we should be able to add dining for part of our reservation if changing resorts, room categories or just splitting the room reservation in to 2 separate ones, with the caveat of possibly having to change rooms. Like I said, just my 2 cents. That and $3.00 will get you a cup of coffee (not Starbucks)!
Murphy

I totally agree except for one thing...since your post, I think it might be now $3.25 for a cup of joe...!

 

[Sandisw]

Where I once had 1 reservation number for 3 very different reservations (OKW 2 bedroom for 8 people, then BW studio for 3, then OKW 1 bedroom for 3), I now, suddenly, happily, magically, mysteriously, and yet also near heart-attack-inducingly, have THREE.

And not one is the original number. (oops, not true, just rechecked my paperwork, the first reservation has the original all-inclusive reservation number)



Anyone else?

I wonder if the reason yours have been changed is because you are within the 10 day period for online check in.

I have to go back and check my just completed trip. It was canceled and re-booked 5 days before we arrived. I wonder if it was to change the numbers. EDIT: Yes, when they messed with my reservation before I arrived, they ended up changing out my BWV reservations so instead of being under the same # as the BLT stay, they had their own numbers. Since it was a 2 night segmented trip, each one of those ended up with its own. So, what once had been a 4 segment trip under one #, ended up to be a 4 segment trip, each with its own number.

Those that have segmented trips under one # might find closer to arrival it changed. I really think this whole change has more to do with the problems one number caused when people had split stays--even when it had nothing to do with the dining plans.

 

[murphy t]

I totally agree except for one thing...since your post, I think it might be now $3.25 for a cup of joe...!

Your probably right! And thanks for agreeing.
Murphy

 

[Deb & Bill]

.... Those who were told they could segment the DDP prior to Sept 6 should still be able to. ...

How are they going to prove that? If nothing is in writing, it didn't happen.

This whole issue isn't much different than the change from paying at check-in to paying when you add it to the reservation. I'm sure there were lots of members who just hadn't gotten around to adding before it was announced that you would have to pay when you add it.

If non-DVC guests couldn't segment the dining plan (and they were originally the target audience for the plan), how can you say this wasn't a loophole? No one else can do this.

 

[murphy t]

How are they going to prove that? If nothing is in writing, it didn't happen.

This whole issue isn't much different than the change from paying at check-in to paying when you add it to the reservation. I'm sure there were lots of members who just hadn't gotten around to adding before it was announced that you would have to pay when you add it.

If non-DVC guests couldn't segment the dining plan (and they were originally the target audience for the plan), how can you say this wasn't a loophole? No one else can do this.

You are right, you really can't "prove it" but for starters you would have had to book before Sept 6 (obviously) and would have already segmented your stay in preparation for adding the DDP later. Although there may be other reasons to segment a stay intending to add the DDP is one of the main ones.

As for it not being a loophole, the ability to add DDP on a DVC stay has been extended to members and for a short while segmenting was a part of it. There are plenty privileges/perks that members have (altho they are certainly diminishing) that paying guests do not & vice/versa.
Maybe I just don't like the term loophole, makes it sound like people were purposely doing something dishonest when that was not their intent.
Murphy

 

[tjkraz]

I'm not surprised they (who ever made the decision) put a stop to it, but they seemed to have "thrown the baby out with the bath water" in the implementation. Those who were told they could segment the DDP prior to Sept 6 should still be able to.

Not that it matters a whole lot but the quoted passage above is exactly why I have to disagree with your interpretation of the events. If DVC had the ability to at least accommodate those who currently have reservations segmented, I believe they would have done so.

Disney Vacation Club has nothing to gain or lose from how its members use the dining plans. It's not their profit center. They simply manage the transactions. And yet they are the ones taking the PR hit for this policy change--dealing with all of the angry member phone calls.

If it was within their power to allow pre-9/6 reservations to segment, they absolutely would have done so.

But it wasn't their decision and those who forced the change (sadly) don't care about a few hundred DVC members being upset and don't have to take the angry phone calls.

I also don't think the overly complicated reservations were the main reason for the change. While a hassle, those were few and far between.

The real issue is people paying $75 for one night of Deluxe Dining and structuring their plans to eat $100-125 worth of food. What Disney really wants (and expects) is that people will pay $525 for 7 nights of deluxe dining and eat about $450 - 550 worth of food.

 

[Tiger926]

Not that it matters a whole lot but the quoted passage above is exactly why I have to disagree with your interpretation of the events. If DVC had the ability to at least accommodate those who currently have reservations segmented, I believe they would have done so.

Disney Vacation Club has nothing to gain or lose from how its members use the dining plans. It's not their profit center. They simply manage the transactions. And yet they are the ones taking the PR hit for this policy change--dealing with all of the angry member phone calls.

If it was within their power to allow pre-9/6 reservations to segment, they absolutely would have done so.

But it wasn't their decision and those who forced the change (sadly) don't care about a few hundred DVC members being upset and don't have to take the angry phone calls.

I also don't think the overly complicated reservations were the main reason for the change. While a hassle, those were few and far between.

The real issue is people paying $75 for one night of Deluxe Dining and structuring their plans to eat $100-125 worth of food. What Disney really wants (and expects) is that people will pay $525 for 7 nights of deluxe dining and eat about $450 - 550 worth of food.

Excellent post, Tim! I totally agree, Tiger