No more segmented vacations for ddp

[Chuck S]

I am one of those members who HAS segmented my trip for next Easter but who HASN'T yet added the DDP (mainly because I was waiting to see dates & times of some of the Dinner shows etc to do ADR's first!!)

As its only a few weeks away from when I can start making my ADR's, I logged on tonight to have a 'browse' and check for any updates etc.

Got the shock of my life when I seen they had stopped segmenting.
Where does that leave me? Does that mean I cannot now add DDP?
I'm staying in 1 resort only in same room BUT had planned on doing 1 or 2 different dining plans on separate dates!

I thought this was a DVC Perk and had no idea it was a 'loophole' as is being suggested. The CM I spoke to during making the reservation earlier this year actually suggested I segment there & then to make it easier to add the vars DDP's when I'd made my ADR's and decided which plans I wanted!!!

I'm cross now! Hope I don't have to 'scrap' the whole idea!!

One consolation is for the 1st time, we have AP's and I bought a TIW (again just by browsing got info from this website-ta much).

SO not all bad I suppose as I can get discount!!

lam

I do not think you will be able to get the DDP, unless purchased for your entire stay. DVC may have taken upon themselves to do this segmenting when the new reservation system came online. Disney resorts, which owns and controls the DDP, probably did not like it.

 

[DHar]

I am one of those members who HAS segmented my trip for next Easter but who HASN'T yet added the DDP (mainly because I was waiting to see dates & times of some of the Dinner shows etc to do ADR's first!!)

As its only a few weeks away from when I can start making my ADR's, I logged on tonight to have a 'browse' and check for any updates etc.

Got the shock of my life when I seen they had stopped segmenting.
Where does that leave me? Does that mean I cannot now add DDP?
I'm staying in 1 resort only in same room BUT had planned on doing 1 or 2 different dining plans on separate dates!

I thought this was a DVC Perk and had no idea it was a 'loophole' as is being suggested. The CM I spoke to during making the reservation earlier this year actually suggested I segment there & then to make it easier to add the vars DDP's when I'd made my ADR's and decided which plans I wanted!!!

I'm cross now! Hope I don't have to 'scrap' the whole idea!!

One consolation is for the 1st time, we have AP's and I bought a TIW (again just by browsing got info from this website-ta much).

SO not all bad I suppose as I can get discount!!

lam

your reservation will become 1, just as ours has unless you plan on changing room categories or resorts. if not they will merge your reservations and you will be required to get the dining plan for your entire stay regardless of weather your whole party is there for the entire trip or not...i've been going round and round with them over this...so far the highest up i have been able to talk to is member satisfaction. i was told that they changed this for the "benefit" of the members because they were losing so much time from their vacations at the front desk....they always think of us!!!! anyway, i didnt expect them to tell me anything different...everytime they call i get the whole "we just want to make your vacation as smooth as possible"...just give me the truth one time....please......

 

[n2mm]

I do not think you will be able to get the DDP, unless purchased for your entire stay. DVC may have taken upon themselves to do this segmenting when the new reservation system came online. Disney resorts, which owns and controls the DDP, probably did not like it.

I agree. This poster is in the same situation as I am and I've asked THREE times now when calling.....last time was this morning (and it will be the last time I ask). I'm in the same resort and same room size during the entire stay, even though I had not segmented manually, I segmented by booking during different times. Sorry Iam, you are most likely out of luck. I am a TiW cardholder, so I'm OK with the change. Nothing I can do about it, but am glad that I saw it here on the boards so that I can plan accordingly, esp as I'm working on my January and April 2012 trips right now.

 

[disneynutz]

your reservation will become 1, just as ours has unless you plan on changing room categories or resorts. if not they will merge your reservations and you will be required to get the dining plan for your entire stay regardless of weather your whole party is there for the entire trip or not...i've been going round and round with them over this...so far the highest up i have been able to talk to is member satisfaction. i was told that they changed this for the "benefit" of the members because they were losing so much time from their vacations at the front desk....they always think of us!!!! anyway, i didnt expect them to tell me anything different...everytime they call i get the whole "we just want to make your vacation as smooth as possible"...just give me the truth one time....please......

YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH (I couldn't resist), The truth is spread across the posts in this thread. Disney PR will always be Disney PR.

It seems that most Guests don't want to know what's behind the curtain but the reality is, Disney provides a product with a perceived value but the goal across the company is the same, increase shareholder value and increase profits. There is a balance between customer satisfaction and profit and during the last 2 years Disney started swinging towards profit more that satisfaction.

They still have a great product but once the higher ups see that cut backs and changes means a increased bottom line, it's hard to tell them no or to go back to the way things use to be.

Bill

 

[Dean]

When people say they've invested a lot of money in Disney and are wishing for something a little extra in return many of the responses seem to be in the "why would they do that, you got exactly what you paid for" vein. Rather than people framing their responses as yes, I understand prices are escalating etc but as we all know given the current tough economic conditions it's unlikely that anything is going to be offered as Disney is only focused on short term profits, the tone in responses is one of advocacy. Do these posters here also believe Disney outsourcing/offshoring as much resource as possible since this provides short term help to the bottom line?

I don't think any of us have a problem with members wanting more value, more/better discounts, etc; it's when they come to expect or demand them that they cross the line. The segmenting and DDP issue are just another example and symptom of a larger issue. Namely, that members often expect more than they paid for and as a group, seem to be pretty spoiled. The more this gets batted around and the more people post about their experiences with DVC discussing it, the more I am convinced that there was more to this than simply the extra work and aggravation that was having to go on. I think it's very likely they were told to stop it and stop now by those in control of the DDP and I wouldn't expect DVC MS or Members Satisfaction to say that and it's very possible that they wouldn't know at that level. I doubt we'll ever see segmenting again that doesn't involve different resorts, unit types/sizes or similar.

 

[bastraker]

I am one of those members who HAS segmented my trip for next Easter but who HASN'T yet added the DDP (mainly because I was waiting to see dates & times of some of the Dinner shows etc to do ADR's first!!)

As its only a few weeks away from when I can start making my ADR's, I logged on tonight to have a 'browse' and check for any updates etc.

Got the shock of my life when I seen they had stopped segmenting.
Where does that leave me? Does that mean I cannot now add DDP?
I'm staying in 1 resort only in same room BUT had planned on doing 1 or 2 different dining plans on separate dates!

I thought this was a DVC Perk and had no idea it was a 'loophole' as is being suggested. The CM I spoke to during making the reservation earlier this year actually suggested I segment there & then to make it easier to add the vars DDP's when I'd made my ADR's and decided which plans I wanted!!!

I'm cross now! Hope I don't have to 'scrap' the whole idea!!

One consolation is for the 1st time, we have AP's and I bought a TIW (again just by browsing got info from this website-ta much).

SO not all bad I suppose as I can get discount!!

lam

I am also one of those members affected by this change. We leave in 12 days and I found out about this 2 weeks ago. All my reservations were made 6months ago, for 10 days of dining, and a total of 8 people in our party.

I planned on doing a few nights deluxe and then the rest of our trip regular dining. Now, I can't do that. My reservations were segmented when I originally booked. Now they tell me its all one dining plan since I didn't pay for it prior to the change.

Not what I want and screws up my plans and reservations, but I'm stuck with this decision.

 

[Bullseye]

I'm new to DVC and have never segmented. I empathize with folks who had trips planned and intended to segment. But for the go forward, it doesn't really seem like they took that much away. If you want DDP for only part of your trip, you have to move to a different size room or a different resort? So they're making you jump through a hoop now for that benefit. From what I've been reading, it seems like a lot guests do that anyway.

Am I wrong about that? Like it's not an end of the world kind of thing?

 

[DHar]

we are at blt in a standard view...for us switching to a lake view or mk view = more points...we didnt plan that from the beginning when we were told we could do this.......

 

[disneynutz]

I'm new to DVC and have never segmented. I empathize with folks who had trips planned and intended to segment. But for the go forward, it doesn't really seem like they took that much away. If you want DDP for only part of your trip, you have to move to a different size room or a different resort? So they're making you jump through a hoop now for that benefit. From what I've been reading, it seems like a lot guests do that anyway.

Am I wrong about that? Like it's not an end of the world kind of thing?

Changing rooms/resorts requires different reservations and moving can eat up your day, out by 11, in at 5. With the segmented reservation, you could keep the same room and have a dining plan for one day, a different plan a few days later, and so on. With segmenting, the DDP really became a great value compared to forcing us have it for your entire length of stay. People can only eat so much food and 95% of the DDP users start by eating the most expensive meals but after a few days, they don't care if they use a table credit on a hamburger. I wonder how many credits are forfeited every year, millions?

I remember talking to a lady earlier this year at WDW. She was telling me what a great savings the DDP was for her family. She mentioned that she was only giving back 2 TS and 2 QS credits. I told her that she was nuts and her reply was that they are only credits so it doesn't matter!

Bill

 

[rlduvall]

Even though I am disappointed that I won't be able to segment DDP for my upcoming December reservation, I do understand. I was one of the members who went through a total nightmare with segmenting DDP last December - right around the time of the IT conversion. And mine was a very simple segmenting, i.e. 7 night reservation, but only wanted DDP the last 5 nights - easy peasy, nothing complicated.

Well, as I mentioned, it was anything but flawless and I was down at the desk every single day [when DDP started] trying to get it corrected. While AKV, for the most part, tried to fix it, when I got home I did write DVC Member Satisfaction about it . . . and honestly, they more than remedied the issue. I even told them I was uncomfortable with their generousity. So yes, it must have been costing them a fortune in customer satisfaction.

 

[DHar]

Even though I am disappointed that I won't be able to segment DDP for my upcoming December reservation, I do understand. I was one of the members who went through a total nightmare with segmenting DDP last December - right around the time of the IT conversion. And mine was a very simple segmenting, i.e. 7 night reservation, but only wanted DDP the last 5 nights - easy peasy, nothing complicated.

Well, as I mentioned, it was anything but flawless and I was down at the desk every single day [when DDP started] trying to get it corrected. While AKV, for the most part, tried to fix it, when I got home I did write DVC Member Satisfaction about it . . . and honestly, they more than remedied the issue. I even told them I was uncomfortable with their generousity. So yes, it must have been costing them a fortune in customer satisfaction.

dont feel too sorry for them...we now have to pay for 2 extra days for 2 people

 

[antree]

Maybe if DVC kept the segment down to just once during your stay and it had to be for at least half of your stay there wouldn't have been so many problems. {so if you had 7 days booked, then you had to have at least 3 consecutive days of one dining plan}.

We have only did the dining plan twice the first time last Nov. had it for the whole time, 8 days, then again this past Aug. I did do the segment in August. We checked in the 23rd, then was able to get the dining plan from the 27th - 2nd. There were no problems, they slipped the keys under my door and we never had a problem. That being said I wouldn't do the dining plan again anyway. We had to try and squeeze our counter service in each and everyday. There was never anytime to use it, because we were not hunger because of the times we had to get our sit downs.
The first time we did the dining plan I was on a girls only trip, and my DD loved being able to eat anywhere, she was 16 and loves to eat in Disney I like that the meal was paid for.
So when we went in August this year I thought it would be great to have because our meal was paid for and I didn't have to worry about my DH looking at the bill and saying, What! so really it was a convenience for me and less stressful, I thought. Until we had it in August and we couldn't get 2 meals in a day. Like I said either we weren't hungry yet or our sit down was coming up. The stress of rushing my family to a CS and telling them you have to eat, I already paid for it was not worth it. We are quick snack people in the morning, so using it for breakfast is a waste to us.
I will be saving my money this year as if I am getting the dining plan and then use it for our sit downs. I figured it out it didn't save us much money, just caused us stress.
Just this one families opinion.

We should be thankful that the DDP is available to DVC with out buying tickets. If we push it too much that can change back too.

 

[Sandisw]

As frustrating as it is, the computer system was simply not designed to work well with segmented trips and it appeared that CM spent a lot of time having to fix things--which meant messing around with people's accounts. Even with my smooth experience, my account was touched and I ended up with holding points I should not have.

The one travel plan # even messed up some who had segmented stays due to wait lists.

I still believe there was more to this change then just wanting to stop DVC members from taking advantage of being able to get the dining plans for some but not all of their trips.

 

[Dean]

Maybe if DVC kept the segment down to just once during your stay and it had to be for at least half of your stay there wouldn't have been so many problems. {so if you had 7 days booked, then you had to have at least 3 consecutive days of one dining plan}.

There always has to be a break point. Likely the only thing they could reasonably do would be to allow one to eliminate either the first or last day. They have a history of allowing this on other programs in the past.

 

[disneygrandma]

I wanted to report that our daughter had a segmented stay on part of her recent trip. I had segmented it & pd for 1 nt of DDP before Disney &/or DVC put a stop to it. They were at AKV-Kidani for 3 nts, but wanted the DDP the 2nd night. The reservation had 3 segments with 3 different resv #'s, but they were linked. I had told our daughter that the key she got on the 2nd day would have her DDP on it, so make sure & mark it & then use it on the 3rd day for the leftover DDP credits. I told her to use the 3rd day key for the room. On the morning of the 3rd day, she went to the desk for the new key, and this time there was confusion over what to do. When they finally gave her the new keys, they told her to throw away the old keys & only use these new ones. (She chose to listen to them, instead of to me.) Well, the new key worked for the room, but didn't work when they had lunch at a QS in the parks. She had to straighten this out when they went back to Kidani, and the key worked fine later for the rest of the DDP credits.

My opinion is that a lot of the problems, and confusion, were created by trying to transfer the DDP credits to the new key, instead of just keeping them on the old key to be used up by midnight of that next day. That's how we do it when we switch resorts, and I think it would work the same way if you stayed at the same resort, but checked out & back in. I think, and this is my opinion again, that if everyone on the segmented stays would have done it this way, that a majority of the problems that occurred would have been eliminated. I don't know why the DDP credits had to be transferred over to the new key, or really, why they should have been. Use a sharpee to mark the card with the DDP credits, or have just 1 person carry that key in a special place to be used only for the DDP. Seems to me that would have saved a lot of time at the front desk, and maybe would have kept this segmenting around for others to enjoy. I'm curious if those with problems, like our daughter had, also had the DDP credits transferred, rather than just use them up on the previous day's room key.

I would also like to mention that when I looked at our online points activity, it showed the resv for that 3rd day cancelled & the points put in to holding. Then there was a new resv for that same day that used up these points. This only occurred for that 3rd day when the DDP credits from the 2nd day were put on to the 3rd day's room key. This activity took place on the date of that 3rd day. So it looks like MS was involved with this also.

Could this all have been eliminated by having the front desk instruct people to use their previous day's room key for the DDP? My husband & I had been to WDW a month earlier. We had the DDP for 1 night while at BLT. When we switched to VWL, the CM at the front desk said to use the BLT room key for our remaining DDP credits. (Which is what we planned to do already.) They didn't try to transfer the credits....even though both resorts were under the same resv #. Seems to me, that should be the way the segmented stays in the same resort should be handled too.

 

[hmmerr02]

I wanted to report that our daughter had a segmented stay on part of her recent trip. I had segmented it & pd for 1 nt of DDP before Disney &/or DVC put a stop to it. They were at AKV-Kidani for 3 nts, but wanted the DDP the 2nd night. The reservation had 3 segments with 3 different resv #'s, but they were linked. I had told our daughter that the key she got on the 2nd day would have her DDP on it, so make sure & mark it & then use it on the 3rd day for the leftover DDP credits. I told her to use the 3rd day key for the room. On the morning of the 3rd day, she went to the desk for the new key, and this time there was confusion over what to do. When they finally gave her the new keys, they told her to throw away the old keys & only use these new ones. (She chose to listen to them, instead of to me.) Well, the new key worked for the room, but didn't work when they had lunch at a QS in the parks. She had to straighten this out when they went back to Kidani, and the key worked fine later for the rest of the DDP credits.

My opinion is that a lot of the problems, and confusion, were created by trying to transfer the DDP credits to the new key, instead of just keeping them on the old key to be used up by midnight of that next day. That's how we do it when we switch resorts, and I think it would work the same way if you stayed at the same resort, but checked out & back in. I think, and this is my opinion again, that if everyone on the segmented stays would have done it this way, that a majority of the problems that occurred would have been eliminated. I don't know why the DDP credits had to be transferred over to the new key, or really, why they should have been. Use a sharpee to mark the card with the DDP credits, or have just 1 person carry that key in a special place to be used only for the DDP. Seems to me that would have saved a lot of time at the front desk, and maybe would have kept this segmenting around for others to enjoy. I'm curious if those with problems, like our daughter had, also had the DDP credits transferred, rather than just use them up on the previous day's room key.

I would also like to mention that when I looked at our online points activity, it showed the resv for that 3rd day cancelled & the points put in to holding. Then there was a new resv for that same day that used up these points. This only occurred for that 3rd day when the DDP credits from the 2nd day were put on to the 3rd day's room key. This activity took place on the date of that 3rd day. So it looks like MS was involved with this also.

Could this all have been eliminated by having the front desk instruct people to use their previous day's room key for the DDP? My husband & I had been to WDW a month earlier. We had the DDP for 1 night while at BLT. When we switched to VWL, the CM at the front desk said to use the BLT room key for our remaining DDP credits. (Which is what we planned to do already.) They didn't try to transfer the credits....even though both resorts were under the same resv #. Seems to me, that should be the way the segmented stays in the same resort should be handled too.

Yes, in theory, this should have worked. My experience was also at Kidani and I knew how to do exactly what you were referring to. I knew to hang on to the key that had the credits and only use the new key for access to the room. The problem was the keys with the DPP on them were "timing out" at 11am for the dining credits as well. So, if you hadn't used the credits by 11am and were out in the parks the keys were becoming "invalid" for everything....even park tickets if you had them on them. So, it was a complete nightmare. Thanks for your suggestion because it is exactly what we were supposed to do and it SHOULD have worked. I still don't understand why it didn't. But something just doesn't work in their computer system. When they issue new keys for the same room something seems to happen that turns off the validity of the old ones for everything....DDP, room access and everything at around 11am.