TIW Discount or DVC Discount?????????

[allshookup]

Is TIW good for 13 months?

What about the AP? is it also good for 13 months, or just 12?......

AP expires in 12 months & the TIW expires in 13 months.

 

[mjfox]

The breakeven point for the TIW card vs. no discount is $300 in meals. It only takes a few TS meals to pay for the card, depending on the number of people and where you eat. The DVC discounts are mostly for lunches, whereas the TIW can be used anytime. I have yet to encounter a Disney-owned restaurant that DIDN'T accept the TIW, but the DVC discounted restaurants are very limited.

I know of one restaurant that doesn't accept the TIW - Epcot Japan restaurant. I was supprised and after we left and went back to the hotel I looked it up and I think it is the only on property Disney that doesn't accept it.

 

[allshookup]

I know of one restaurant that doesn't accept the TIW - Epcot Japan restaurant. I was supprised and after we left and went back to the hotel I looked it up and I think it is the only on property Disney that doen't accept it.

That's because it's not Disney owned (it's still owned by Mitsukoshi) & also why you'll find many of the DTD restaurants do not participate, because they are also not Disney owned. Most of the non-Disney restaurants will not participate.

 

[princessfionasmom]

I am also thinking of TIW card for our Oct trip. DS hates the choices for kids DDP so this time we are not doing it. My Q is, I have my AP which expires in Dec that I will obviously use for our Oct trip. I don't plan on renewing it. But lets say I get TIW card and use it this trip. Then I go next year and don't have AP, can I still use TIW card next year? I'm just curious, I don't think I'm going next year because we are doing 10 days for our Oct trip so I don't have any more points til Oct 2010.
Thanks,
Carmel

 

[allshookup]

I am also thinking of TIW card for our Oct trip. DS hates the choices for kids DDP so this time we are not doing it. My Q is, I have my AP which expires in Dec that I will obviously use for our Oct trip. I don't plan on renewing it. But lets say I get TIW card and use it this trip. Then I go next year and don't have AP, can I still use TIW card next year? I'm just curious, I don't think I'm going next year because we are doing 10 days for our Oct trip so I don't have any more points til Oct 2010.
Thanks,
Carmel

As long as you use the TIW card before the 13 months is up, then it's still good.

 

[mikmouse]

I totally agree with this assessment! We have had similar experiences. The other great thing is that our guests were able to get the TIW discount too by ust letting us pay to begin with and reimbursing us later. With the TIW card, all dinners have to be on one check that the card is used on.

Last month we spent 5 days and at every sit down restaurant where we used the TIW card, the servers were kind enough to break out our bills and split the check. They were very accommodating this trip as long as they knew ahead of time. That was great because we were 3 diferent parties at each restaurant.

 

[ILIKEWDW]

As long as you use the TIW card before the 13 months is up, then it's still good.

This is great!!! so I can use TIW for my September 09 trip and my September 10 trip with only one AP!!!!

Big savings for us!!! are you sure we can do that?

 

[DVC_Corrys]

Boooo on the price increase

 

[allshookup]

This is great!!! so I can use TIW for my September 09 trip and my September 10 trip with only one AP!!!!

Big savings for us!!! are you sure we can do that?

Yes! We bought our TIW card on 10/9/08 & it says valid through 11/30/09 so actually more than 11 months. It states, "to obtain your Tables in Wonderland membership benefit, please present this card with driver's license or state I.D. at the time of purchase." It doesn't say anything about having to show an AP & I've never been asked for one. You have to show your AP at the time you purchase your TIW card, but once you have one...it's yours till it expires.

 

[kellyf2626]

When we used our DDE back in the day, we always simply rationalized it as "paying" for the tip (the 20% off the bill would have been the 20% tip we left), not really a discount on the meal. We still saved lots of $$ though!!

 

[jimmacmn]

There are a lot of good points made, but be aware that TIW is not accepted in all Disney restaurants. The counter service restaurants generally will not accept TIW, such as Pecos Bill or Columbia Harbor House in MK, or Roaring Forks in the Wilderness Lodge (but Beaches and Cream does for eat-in). But it is great for TS dining.

There are some counter service restaurants that do accept TIW. Flame Tree and Pizzafari in Animal Kingdom accept it and many of the CS restaurants at resorts will also take it. I know specifically that it is accepted at Artists Pallate at SSR because I used it several times there last week. Also just because the party is supposed to be all one one bill doesn't mean the member has to be the one paying. For the MLK weekend trip DW and I took we usually just evenly split the bill with the other couple we traveled with. For several of the meals I had last week on my guys golf trip, the had totals for each seat and we each paid our own balance with cash or credit card as desired. We've already saved a ton of $ with the card and it will still be good when we go back in Oct.

 

[mom3sonstt]

Seven months after the fact I finally went through and tallied all our expenses from our last trip. It was kind of a strange trip for us - it was
Day 1 - Check In, go to DD, bought oldest DS his PAP, and DH bought the DDE/TIW
Day 2 - 5 - Hit each of the 4 parks with the 4 boys
Day 6 - 9 - Hit each of the 4 parks again with some friends who had never been before - bought DVC sight unseen on our recommendation
Day 10 - Hit a few things we missed in various spots meeting up with boys and/or friends at various times
Day 11 - Quick trip to Magic Kingdom to take some Christmas card pics of the boys then had to catch the Magic Express

All that was said just to show there was no set formula to our usage of the DDE/TIW.

Lunch 6 Primetime
Lunch 4 Restaurantosaurus
Dinner 3 Olivias
Lunch 6 Garden Grille
Lunch 4 Liberty Tree
Lunch 4 Tusker House
Lunch 4 Primetime

Total Savings $110.81 - Purchase Price $60 - Ahead by 50.81

Plus as a Thank You for "interrupting" our trip to play tour guides, our friends bought us lunch at Garden Grille another day - we used the card but they paid so I don't know how much they saved on that one - probably around $20.

We do a lot of counter service meals so there were a lot of places we couldn't use it, plus we have breakfast food, snacks, and sandwich stuff in our room so we don't purchase every meal. There were a few times it could have been used at a place the boys ate, but since DH wasn't with them and the card is in his name we couldn't take advantage of it.

This upcoming trip every savings will be above and beyond.

That said - we had and will have a large group. If it were just DH & I going I don't know if we would get it because with just two people I don't know if we would get full advantage out of it. But it will probably be a while before it's just the 2 of us so who knows