Question re: timing of adding dining plan

[rabbitthecat]

So, here's a question -

Have a trip coming up in October. I've been running dining numbers for days and have just about convinced myself to buy the Dx plan out of pocket.

My question is this: if I call Disney and add dining now, I will have to buy at least one day's worth of park tickets and this would turn my room only reservation into a package, correct? And if that's the case, I'd have to pay the balance of the package at the 45 day mark, which would be in approximately 12 days. I really don't want to do that, so I'm wondering if I can buy the one day ticket, add dining and pay for it when I arrive?

Many thanks for any advice, and my apologies if this has been answered previously and I just missed it

 

[Sandisw]

No, you must add the dining plan at least 72 hours prior to your vacation and everything has to be paid for prior to arrival.

What you can do, however, is add the plan closer to your arrival and pay for it then.

The only piece is if you are on a room only discount code. I have read that sometimes they do not still have availabilty for those discounted rooms when they are part of a package so the later you wait, there is always a small chance you would be forced to give up the discount.

ETA: If you have a Disney Visa, they will allow you to book a package and give you 6 months, 0% interest on the price of the package. So, this would delay you having to pay for it all upfront.

 

[squirrel]

Unless you have an AP, then yes you need to purchase a min. of one day ticket for each person in the room.

 

[rabbitthecat]

Excellent, thank you both very much for the info! The 72 hour lead time is certainly reasonable, but since I'm only a room-only discount code I wouldn't be surprised if I can't get dining. Ah, well....I'll keep planning my spreadsheet comparisons just for fun