Splitting a Stay and the Dining plan.. Fiasco!

[snix11]

Oh bother said Pooh

I thought i had it ALLLL worked out. 14 days, dining plan, knew where we were going to be every night! I'm staying at (get this) 4 resorts while we are there.

3 nights Poly
4 nights BCV
3 nights AK
4 nights WLV

BUT... now i find out that even tho we are staying at disney resorts the WHOLE time, that we can't pool our TS credits for 14 days! That we absolutely have to use the credits before we switch rooms. Now my plans for ohanas one night, pooh lunch the next day and finishing off the third day with the Poly Luau are all TOAST.

So... am I over looking something? I was planning on getting season passes (14 days cheaper) booking the BCV and WLV thru rented points. I thought i had it worked out! PHOOEY.

I realize that everything else I planned I'll either have to undo, or change all plans. Is there any way out of this?

Thanks

 

[mjkaferle5]

I understand your pain! We were flirting with the idea of a split stay when we learned of the 'complications' that occur with the dining plan and a split stay. So we ended up planning the entire trip at one resort to make things simplier!

 

[n2mm]

That would be correct, since your Dining credits expire on your checkout day. That would also mean you would have to buy a ticket for each of your reservations too?? This will greatly affect folks who enjoy spliting stays. Actually for myself, I absolutely hate to split stays and avoid it at all costs. I like to unpack and not repack until my last day, and hate to do it then.

 

[PoohHappens]

When are you going. From what I understand after april 1 DVC members can purchase the dinning plan. So you would be able to get the dining plan for each of the 4 nights you are there. The points are good the day you check in and until midnight the day you check out, I do not know if checking in somewhere else would cancel the credits that day. So you would be able to use DP points on 10 of the days you are there. And since you won't be paying for points the other nights then you can just pay cash for whatever on those days.

 

[indigoxtreme]

Your dining credits are good until midnight of your check out day. So you would basically have to have at least a one day park admission ticket for each hotel so you can have the dining plan for all stays. I think Disney should be able to combine the total stay when people are soing split hotels since you are still a guest at a Disney Hotel.

 

[PoohHappens]

DVC does not have to get a ticket to get dinning plan as it was explained to me, and if you are renting you are entitled to the same option. At least this is how everyone understands it at this point. We will see for sure come april.

 

[snix11]

Well,

Now I'm trying to rework all the dining plans I had.. What a pain! I thought that while staying at Poly, I had all the MK meals worked out, now I've got MK meals planned while at OKW and WLV. (eww)

I've already made the ressies for the resorts and rented the points (we are going in December) so it's too late to change plans to just one resort. Now I just have to figure out how in the heck I'm gonna plan this or just scrap it all and start over.

I really thought I had read the fine print - 14 day stay, ON SITE meant we got 14 days of meal tickets. I didn't realize it was tied to the room per se.

ah well

 

[tinkwannabe2]

Oh what a pain! I had never thought about that complication with spitting stays in you don't want all those dining credits.

You are going to be able to write quite an extensive review when you come home!

 

[PoohHappens]

You could end up with the dining plan for all nights, but you would have to purchase a one day ticket for everyone in your room for the two stays at Poly and AK. If you have annual passes I think you would be better off to get an AP rate for those two stays and buy a DDE card and pay cash for the meals you have scheduled those days. I don't know that it would be worth it to change all your plans. You can still have the DP most days and just pay for the same meals oop on the other days. It will only cost a little more if any, getting an AP rate and using the DDE you will probably come out about the same and you can use your passes on another trip. You will have to check in at the 2 DVC in the morning to have your points for that day.

 

[ratfam]

Pooh Happens is rightabout no ticket requirement for DVC to buy the dining plan, I am in the process of setting up dining plan for our DVC points stay starting March 30 (they said that they would be able to start it early for us since we are staying through April 7) and there has been no link to tickets, only requirements are that it is purchaed for the length of stay for the entire party.

 

[snix11]

Thanks for the reply Pooh... Mind translating some of that for me? lol
What is an AP rate and what does it have to do with dining?
What is a DDE Card and does it invalidate my TS credits?
What passes on another trip? The TS or the park passes I have to buy to get the DP while i'm at Poly and AK?

Sorry about my ignorance, last time i was at DW was 1996 - was only there 3 days on honeymoon and i don't think we ate out of the GF the whole time.

Now i'm planning for a family of 6, with 4 first timers to DW and I want to make it really special

ratfam - length of stay = resort or your actual length of stay? Surely there is someway to get my TS credited for my entire 14 days so I don't pull out my hair? (or hare out of a hat in my case) I am staying "at disney resorts" for my whole stay, even if we will be hopping around like bunnies from resort to resort. *lol*

(why won't the gosh darn smiles work when i reply?)

 

[Allison]

What kind of tickets are you planning on purchasing?

It looks like you are going to have to purchase 2 sets of tickets. You will need tickets for your Animal Kingdom and Polynesian stay as it is not just the meal credits that will be separate for each of these resorts, it is also the tickets. The package requires at least a one day ticket purchase (except for the DVC part) for each resort you are staying at.

 

[snix11]

Allison - To save money we were planning on purchasing AP tickets since we were staying 14 days. They did make me buy a 1 day ticket at Poly and AK when I made my res last night so I could get the dining plan. Now i have 2 day tickets I can't use - but the CM said to not activate them, whatever that means.

Still not sure what we are going to do about the BCV and WLV dining stuff - guess I'll know more soon.

 

[Tissa]

DDE= Disney Dining Experience a card you can purchase if you have an AP that gets you 20% off your ts meals.

 

[Chuck S]

Have you considered the DDE instead of the dining plan? Since you'll have Annual Passes, you can get the DDE card for $60, it will give you a 20% discount at almost all Disney operated full service and buffet restaurants...you can order what you want (the Dining Plan is a LOT of food). Here are the details:

DISNEY DINING EXPERIENCE:

In 2006, become a member in the Disney Dining Experience program for $60.00 and add a second membership for your spouse or partner for $25.00.

The Disney Dining Experience gives you:

20% off of food and beverages at over 70 Disney Resort hotel and Theme Park Restaurants. (Discount is good for up to 10 guests.)
Theme Park and Resort parking for dining purposes
Member-Only invitations to exclusive events
Annual Passholders can join up by calling 407-566-5858 (Mon-Fri, 9:00am to 6pm EST). The Disney Dining Experience is not accepted during holidays, including New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, Easter, Mother's Day, July 4, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Please allow 2 to 3 weeks for processing.

Participating restaurants:

DDE Restaurants

Note that it has been reported that Cinderella's Royal Table will not accept disconts after January 31, 2006, as they are going to a set package price including photos.

 

[keishashadow]

You are an adventurous soul to change resorts so many times - good luck!

As a DVC renter, with your confirmation number(s) in hand; you may purchase the dining option w/o ticket purchase for your 2 sep. stays...you do need to process two sep. transactions. Currently, you may add on plan up to 5 days prior.

Not sure how many days you're spending in the parks but, you could buy a Base MYW tix @ 1st stop, Poly for 7 - 10 nights & use it when you stay @ Poly, BWV & VWL (they're don't expire until 14 days later).

Then, purchase the dining @ Poly for 3 nights, & purchase it again both @ BWV & VWL.

When you get to AK, purchase whatever MYW base tix you want (1 or more days) & add on the dining option there.

BTW, there's a lot of food on the plan...can't imagine eating so heavy for so many days...perhaps you might want to skip a segment?

Good luck, enjoy the magic!

 

[Chuck S]

The APs, if you buy vouchers in advance, may also get you some discounted rooms at non-DVC resorts, saving you some $$$ over your current resort package prices.

 

[Terry S]

I have to agree with others. Since you have the AP just purchase the DDE card and forgo the dining plan all together. Also check if you can get an AP discounted room rate on your non-dvc stays.

 

[PoohHappens]

I sent you a PM

 

[snix11]

We were considering the DP, not because we actually think we are going to eat all that food every single day, but because we are planning on so many $$$ meals. Between Hoop de do, the luau, chef mickeys, the Yachtsman, ohanas, 1900 park fare for breakfast, fantasmic at mama melrose and last night at the CR we thought it might save us money using the TS credits.

We planned on eating breakfast in room, touring the parks till afternoon, lunch as snack or CS and then a "cool" dinner or dinner/show for the night times.

We looked at the premium package but even with all the extras we wanted to do, it still looked like OOP was the way to go.

Thoughts?