What are our options w/DVC?

[ebenmax]

My husband and I with our three children (19, 16, 4) are going to WDW next summer for our first DVC trip. Since I have never done this w/DVC,
we want to maximize our experience financially. We need your help

Are DVC members offered discounts on Magic Your Way tickets? (not APs)

Is the Disney Dining Plan offered for us and worth it? Same price as general public?

Can you buy the DDE card as a DVC? Cost?

Is there a way to get preferred Wishes/IllumiNations with DVC or some other package available to DVC members?

Are there any other discounts or perks we should be aware of?

Thank you SO much!!

Ellen and Brian

 

[tjkraz]

Are DVC members offered discounts on Magic Your Way tickets? (not APs)

No.

Is the Disney Dining Plan offered for us and worth it? Same price as general public?

Same price as the general public. Must be purchased for ALL occupants of the room and for all nights of the stay.

Value depends on how you eat. We often eat breakfast and lunch in our room, and don't eat nearly as much food during a meal as the DDP gives you (for table service, an appetizer, entree AND dessert for each person.) The DDP will never make sense for us.

Can you buy the DDE card as a DVC? Cost?

The DDE card is only available to FL residents (DVC ownership does not qualify for residency status) and Annual Passholders. I belive it's $60 for one card and $75 or 85 if you want cards in the names of two adults (only necessary if you'll be splitting up at times.)

Is there a way to get preferred Wishes/IllumiNations with DVC or some other package available to DVC members?

No.

Are there any other discounts or perks we should be aware of?

All of the DVC discounts are on the members-only website. There are discounts on some restaurants, recreation (bike & boat rentals, golf), behind the scenes tours, etc. The list is always subject to change so you're best to check it a few weeks before your trip. You will also receive a "pocket perks" summary upon check-in.

 

[RobDoc]

The only DVC discount for admission is an AP/PAP. In the past there was a 10% discount on parkhopper passes, but that was replaced by the AP discount.

The Dining Plan is available for DVC stays. No tickets must be purchased for the plan. It must be purchased for all days of the stay and for all in the room.

DDE is available only to FL Residents and AP holders. It is not a DVC option.

At times, there have been discounts on a variety of tours and special programs. These change frequently and are usually announced in VM and on the Member website. If something is available today, it may not be next summer ... and vice versa.

There are many dining discounts available and discounts on other programs. Check the Member site before you leave for details (it's sometimes a good idea to print off the list). In addition, you will receive a "Perks Pages" list at check-in with a list of what's available.

Enjoy!

 

[starbox]

We used the pool-hopping perk. We spent a day at MK, then went swimming at the POLY prior to dinner at O'hana. It was very nice.

If you decide to get the Annual Passes with your DVC discount, you get 10% off at World of Disney, plus a bunch more dining discounts.

 

[Deb & Bill]

My husband and I with our three children (19, 16, 4) are going to WDW next summer for our first DVC trip. Since I have never done this w/DVC, we want to maximize our experience financially. We need your help ...Ellen and Brian

Are you members already? If you are, you can find out a lot about your membership on the DVC member website.

 

[Dean]

My husband and I with our three children (19, 16, 4) are going to WDW next summer for our first DVC trip. Since I have never done this w/DVC,
we want to maximize our experience financially. We need your help

Are DVC members offered discounts on Magic Your Way tickets? (not APs)

Is the Disney Dining Plan offered for us and worth it? Same price as general public?

Can you buy the DDE card as a DVC? Cost?

Is there a way to get preferred Wishes/IllumiNations with DVC or some other package available to DVC members?

Are there any other discounts or perks we should be aware of?

Thank you SO much!!

Ellen and Brian

Are you talking about a rental or buying? If it's a rental, you will likely not have access to any perks. You could buy the DDP if it's added prior to your visit. And you could get a pass (any type pass) to get the DDE plus the other perks associated with a pass including some dining discounts.

As for the DDP being worth it, I agree that it depends on how you use it and how you eat. It will give you options you might not pay for but it likely will not save you money. The people who can get the best value from the DDP are those that have some combination of the following: eat a LOT, can access the DDP for shorter stays or only part of their stay (split stay), have multiple units, use it for the more expensive options and plan well. It can be a waste or a gold mine depenfing of the situation.

 

[ebenmax]

Thanks everyone!! We are joining/buying on Tuesday - when our sales rep is back on duty!!

 

[dianeschlicht]

Just be aware that the "perks" that we are talking about are all temporary type perks and can change at any time. There have been some really good ones in the past (like free passes) and some not so well used ones as well, but there is always some discount on something somewhere with DVC, and you need to be up to date on that before you leave for each trip. We really love the AP discount, and hope that one stays around forever! We also like to take advantage of the tour discounts. I'm thinking we might try the Segway tour again this trip, since it's been 2 years since we did that one.

 

[JimMIA]

Is the Disney Dining Plan offered for us and worth it? Same price as general public?

As others have said, the value of the DDP depends on your family composition and how you use it. We love it, but not everybody does.

And I think Dean made a very good point about your length of stay -- we make several short trips per year (4-5 days), and we love DDP for that duration. If I were staying two weeks, I'd have to think more about DDP, because I'm just afraid we would not really get full value from it.

The price for 2007 is $38.99 per adult (over 10) and $10.99 for kids 3-9. Your older kids are certainly plenty big enough to get full value, which is not always true for people who have a 10 y/o who eats like a bird.

That price includes one table service meal (appetizer, entre, dessert, non-alcoholic drink, AND tax and tip). Frankly, we use all of our TSs for dinners, and we get more than the value of the plan for those. Everything else is just bonus for us.

Our "bonuses" are a counter service meal (meal, dessert, non-alcoholic drink) and a snack (generally anything under $4 at those outlets which take DDP). The snack and CS credits also include all taxes.

You can use TSs for character meals too, and we typically do two character dinners on each trip because DD4-going-on-24 LOVES her characters. Next week, we're doing Crystal Palace (Pooh, et al), and the Norway Princess dinners...along with Le Cellier and the Capt Jack's double lobster tail dinner. Those meals alone are pretty good value for $38.99 per person for the adults, especially with tax and tip included.

I think if you like to eat one nice dinner a day, you'll come out well with DDP. If you use TSs for some of the Signature Dining (2 TSs per), I'd look carefully at the math of that. You might be better off paying cash for those.

In addition to the good value we get, we also like the ease of having the CS and snack credits, because they're essentially free and we don't have to make a financial decision every time we want something.

You may end up with a few CS and/or snack credits left over. If you do, don't waste them -- they make perfect meals for the flight home!

 

[ebenmax]

We are definitely planning to try Le Cellier!!
Now, where do you get Capt. Jack's lobster??? I am not sure of the restaurant.

Also, we thought we would go to Cali Grill and Yachtsman. Do such places not prove to be cost effective since we have to use two TS?

Thanks -

Ellen and Brian

PS - GREAT idea for using up the CS for the trip home!!

 

[Dean]

We are definitely planning to try Le Cellier!!
Now, where do you get Capt. Jack's lobster??? I am not sure of the restaurant.

Also, we thought we would go to Cali Grill and Yachtsman. Do such places not prove to be cost effective since we have to use two TS?

Thanks -

Ellen and Brian

PS - GREAT idea for using up the CS for the trip home!!

Capt Jack's is a restaurant at DD that sits out over the water right beside Rainforest. They have a two lobster tail dinner and it's a 1 TS credit restaurant. We ate there for the first time this Sept and really enjoyed it. As far as I know it's the only place now to get lobster for a single TS since Coral Reef doesn't have it.

My personal cutoff for the DDP is that I would have to spend a total of $25 per credit used before tax and tip to make it worthwhile. Since we normally wouldn't order deserts and appetizers outside salad's/soup; that's tough to do at the signature places. Mousesavers has a list of the best $$ values for both regular TS and signature locations. Basically they are taking the highest $$$ items from each category including a drink and adding them up. That's fine if you would order those basic items or even if you really want to. Look at the menu's for the places you are looking at and go through them like you were actually ordering. That should tell you whether this is a good choice for you or not. Remember you can get smoothies and the like if they have them as your drink. We got a milk shake at 50's PT that was enough for 2 people.

We normally order a soup or salad each and share an entree possibly with an extra side. We rarely order dessert and if we do. usually plan for it by not getting the soup/salad. What we did out last trip was do several signature places and shared a meal at all that were feasible. One appetizer, one entree, one dessert. We did 2 different TS places one day and the only meal we used the DDP for each person was a character breakfast where you obviously can't share. The other benefit was we didn't overeat nearly as much as we could have. This coming Dec we will have multiple rooms and plan to get the plan for only a part of the group but for everyone in a single unit plus we'll only be there for 5 nights.

 

[JimMIA]

Dean's got a very valid point, one that I've made a number of times over on the DDP board. You really do have to compare the cost of DDP -- not to the cost of the most expensive appetizer, entre, dessert, and drink -- but to what you would really order. That is especially true if you are someone who cooks or has some meals in your room.

Often, you will see what I think are wildly inflated calculations of "savings." On our most recent trip (5 days), I compared the cost of the DDP for us (2 adults and one child) to what we would have actually spent if we ordered normally, and with our 20% DDE discount. I came up with a total savings of about $70 just on the dinners alone.

I don't even count the counter service and snacks, but we used them all. If I'd really wanted to calculate it down to the penny, I imagine we probably would have saved about $200 including everything. Of course, if we didn't have the DDE card, the savings would have been somewhat higher.