Non DVC Owner with a question about our upcoming trip renting points.

[michelleiada]

Hello DVCers. We are DVCer wannabes...tee hee! We have a trip booked in May for 10 nights. We are a family group of 19 and all have separate villas at Beach Club, renting points through a DVCer. We have rented with her before and she has been wonderful. My question is, I recently asked her to add my daughter's boyfriend to the reservation with the dining plan and Magical Express. She informed me that DVC recently made a change to the system and if we add him now, we will have to pay for everyone's dining plan in advance on a credit card. She suggests waiting until a week before our vacation and add him then, so we can hold off paying for the dining. I totally trust her but don't want to bother her again with more questions and thought this would be a good place to get some possible input and answers. In the past when we rented points, we paid for the dining plan on the day we checked in. This is what we were planning to do again. Here is my dilema... We started planning this trip 18 months ago. My parents are both retired and on a fixed income and in order to make this trip affordable to them, myself and my brothers and sister have been purchasing Disney Dollars and Disney gift cards for every holiday, birthday, etc. They have around $900 accrued in gift cards and Dis dollars. They were planning to pay for their dining with that. Also, I have the Disney Rewards Visa card and have $1300 in points and planned to use that to pay for my family dining plans. We did all of this at the Beach Club front desk last time upon arrival. We can't do this if we add the boyfriend on, she says we have to pay by credit card over the phone. So, any suggestions on how to make this work? We purchased my parents 10 day park hopper tickets for their xmas gift so that is already done. Would it be possible to just tell them the day we check in that we need to add the boyfriend to the reservation? then how would we get him on Magical Express? HELP? Anyone? How can we still make this work? It is a lot of money to go down the drain... There has to be a way to do this???

 

[rlovew]

If you want him on Magical Express he has to be added to the reservation before arrival (he also must be on before arrival to get the dining plan). The new rule as of October was that all dining polans had to be paid for when made- it also means if you adjust a reservation you have to pay for the dining at that time. I am not sure about the Visa rewards money but I do know that you can use Disney gift cards to pay for the dining plan over the phone. You should be able to use the Visa rewards- you may want to collect all the information (gift card numbers, credit card numbers) and arrange to do a 3 way call with member services with your renter to pay for the plan.

The other option is to arrange for alternate transportation for the boyfriend (Mears or such) and add him to the reservation at check in (I assume he isn't putting you over the room limit). He will NOT have the dining plan if you do this.

 

[michelleiada]

No, he isn't putting us over the room limit at all...I would NEVER do that!! There are six of us in a two bedroom villa. They sleep 8. Not a problem. I plan to put him on the pull out sofa in the living room. Could we just tell them at the airport that we are adding him and get him on the bus???

 

[michelleiada]

I just thought of something. The entire group is flying in the same flight except for myself, my Mom and step Dad. We are driving to Virginia and taking the Autotrain because step Dad won't fly. So...we will arrive the early in the morning and the rest will arrive that same night. I could pick up my daughter and bf at the airport if necessary because I will have my car. Hmmm...that is an option. Or...could we just tell them when we check in that morning?? and add him to ME then??

 

[TDC Nala]

Could we just tell them at the airport that we are adding him and get him on the bus???

No, they won't issue him a voucher unless he is on the reservation.

I don't know how you 'd do adding him to the reservation hours before he arrives. But even if you are able to do that, he won't have the dining plan if you add him after arrival.

 

[Deb & Bill]

If he wants the dining plan, you have to add him at least 48 hours before your arrival. If you add him at arrival, he won't get the dining plan. And if you add him 48 hours before, you'll have to pay for the dining plan at that time.

 

[DebbieB]

I just thought of something. The entire group is flying in the same flight except for myself, my Mom and step Dad. We are driving to Virginia and taking the Autotrain because step Dad won't fly. So...we will arrive the early in the morning and the rest will arrive that same night. I could pick up my daughter and bf at the airport if necessary because I will have my car. Hmmm...that is an option. Or...could we just tell them when we check in that morning?? and add him to ME then??

I would do that. If they say no to ME, then you can drive to the airport or he can just pay for the Mears shuttle. With the recent changes to the reservation system, if you try to change it in advance you are going to have to pay for the dining plan for at least the room he is in. But then he will not have the dining plan, he would have to pay out of pocket.

 

[michelleiada]

UGH....it seems that no matter what we do here we may have a problem. We will have to use our Visa Reward points to purchase tickets upon check in and just pay for our dining by credit card a week before. As far as my parents gift cards go, perhaps one of my brothers can purchase them from my parents and use them for park tickets. We can purchase park hopper w/water park option at the front desk upon check in right?? I have always purchased them before we arrive at either Undercover Tourist or the Disney Store. Ugh......this is crazy. Any advice?

 

[Chuck S]

I wouldn't wait until a week before, I'd add him at least two weeks prior to give the ME info & tags time to arrive.

When adding the DDP, as suggested, have the DVC owner set you up with a 3 way call. Before then, get the gift cards and any credit card payment method you want to use to pay for the DDP together and have it ready. Any Disney Dollars paper currency you want to use can be applied to the room charging at check-in, or used for tips needed for the DDP.

Your other option is to forget about the DDP for this trip, drop it from the reservation, and pay cash. Depending upon your normal dining habits, the DDP may not save you any $ anyway, it is only a convenient way to prepay. I've never used the DDP, and we eat well at Disney, but have never spent as much as the DDP would cost us.

 

[CarolAnnC]

You would not have to pay for the DDP for all 19 people - just for the one reservation where you are adding the person on. Agree with the others, add him on a couple weeks prior, get him DDP and ME, and just pay the DDP for that room, if required. Keep it simple..

 

[downontheBW]

I have a suggestion, if CarolAddC's idea doesn't work - it requires some math, though

Yes, you do have to now pay in advance for DDP and the reservation must be made at least 2 days in advance as PP's have said. I rented some of our points out recently and our renter wanted the DDP. We decided the best way for me to reserve her DDP was to use a debit card. She got a Visa debit card for the exact amount of the DDP then gave me the number over the phone and I called it in.

DVC will take Disney Gift cards, credit cards and debit cards for the up-front payment of the DDP. And I would assume they will take a combination of them.

Total up all of your gift cards and Disney Visa points and see how much you have. Determine the total DDP for all people on the reservation (including your boyfriend). Subtract the amount you already have from the total DDP and get a plain Visa debit card for the difference. The lady you're renting from can call in, add your boyfriend and pay for everyone's DDP using all of the cards. She'll need the person's name on the card, card # and pin for each card.

You should be all set. Does that make sense?

I'd double check the math and ask her to call ahead of time to make sure they will accept multiple forms of payment; I really think they do. You could use the Disney dollars for other items during your trip.

 

[michelleiada]

Thanks for all of the responses. I think we can figure out how to make it work between purchasing tickets and the dining plan. Just won't be as easy as it would have been. Merry Christmas to all of you.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Thanks for all of the responses..... Just won't be as easy as it would have been. ...

And, that, I think, was DVC's point in requiring it to be paid when added to the reservation.