RCI Timeshare / Disiney Dining avail?

[tw529]

hello all-if i rented points via RCI Timeshare owner, am I eligible for the disney dining plan? i've been told i cannot take advantage of the FREE dining plan that will be going on when i am in disney....help???

 

[Faldred]

RCI members staying on exchange SHOULD be treated like DVC members staying on points. In theory, at least. Which means being able to add any of the dining plans to the reservation. That said, let us know what your actual experience was. Much of the knowledge on this board comes from hearing people's first-hand accounts.

RCI/DVC points stays are not eligible for "free dining" because despite the name, "free dining" is simply a rack rate room + park ticket + dining package discount. Since you aren't paying for a room at rack rate, the discount doesn't apply to you.

 

[kcbedo]

We have a DVC reservation through RCI exchange for the end of January. We haven't added it yet, but DVC member services says that we can add DDP any time up to 48 hours before arrival. It used to be that you could book DDP and then pay for it when you arrive, but just recently they changed it so that you pay for DDP when you book it.

Also, there are a few differences between a member and non-member DVC reservation. DVC owners get free Internet, and I think free DVD rentals at the resort. Everything else, like Magical Express, checkin, etc. should be the same. I'm not sure if DVC members have to pay the $95 resort fee or if that is just an RCI thing.

For us, the RCI exchange was a crazy good deal.

 

[tw529]

So I can 't take advantage of FREE Dining thats offered?!?!?!?!? that stinks

 

[vicki_c]

So I can 't take advantage of FREE Dining thats offered?!?!?!?!? that stinks

DVC rooms ARE the discount, in effect. Disney does not let you stack discounts. So you can either get a DVC room on points, OR a discounted cash room through Disney reservations, OR free dining, OR whatever other offer they might be having for cash reservations.

Only full priced rack rate rooms on cash + a minimum ticket purchase (2 days currently) gets you free dining.

 

[Faldred]

Another way of looking at it is that the DVC points schedules reflect peak vs. non-peak demand. If going during non-peak, your discount is that you "pay" fewer points for the same length of stay.

For RCI traders, the lower demand for units translates into more units available for exchange.

As I noted above, "free dining" is simply a package discount for cash resort guests staying on a specific type of package. There are considerably better deals out there in many cases, and using an RCI exchange, even with the exchange and resort fees, is a really, really good discount.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

We switched from Free dining in a family suite to 2 weeks in a 2BR villa at BCV and OKW through an RCI trade, and even if we pay OOP for the Dining Plan for 2 weeks (2A, 3C) it's saving us over $2000. So essentially for what we would've already paid for our room, tickets and Free Dining, will include our flights as well.

 

[AJKMOM]

So I can 't take advantage of FREE Dining thats offered?!?!?!?!? that stinks

It isn't free dining, period. It's free dining if you pay full price for a resort room and buy park passes. Sorry. When we stay at DVC, we never eat that much in the parks, it's cheaper to get snacks, drinks, some meals that we make in the room.

 

[TDC Nala]

sorry, no free dining. But you are already getting a pretty heavy discount on the room, and you can call DVC Member Services and pay for any dining plan you want.