Would this work????

[pickers1982]

Looking at booking summer 2018 and want to do a diy trip. Hoping to do a long trip and maybe buying a holiday home! Lots to get our heads round first so that may be a long way off.

Anyway that's an aside! Looking at split stay with a villa and Disney hotel . The catch is we like to get free dining and like our last week to be at Disney to end on a high and so the kids are settled down with the time difference. If we do this we figure it is slightly stupid in the we will be paying for two weeks park tickets at Disney and can only use the parks for one which seems a bit silly.

Would it work to book one night in a dismey hotel near the start of our trip before we go to our villa get two weeks tickets and the finish at a Disney hotel with free dining? Pretty sure we couldn't book this online as you need to buy tickets to get the free dining in the deal but if we phoned up would this method qualify? I know Disney want you there as much as possible so probably wouldn't let this qualify.

 

[Woodview]

Go straight to villa for 1 week .... visit other parks ..... & other things ... Airboat rides etc.

2 nd week Disney & a 7day ticket .

 

[pickers1982]

Go straight to villa for 1 week .... visit other parks ..... & other things ... Airboat rides etc.

2 nd week Disney & a 7day ticket .

14 day tickets are the same price as 7 so it would be nice to have the option to use them in the first week too.

As mentioned we normally do what you suggest

 

[chmurf]

Would it work to book one night in a dismey hotel near the start of our trip before we go to our villa get two weeks tickets and the finish at a Disney hotel with free dining?

no, this wouldn't work

You can only have a dining plan (free or paid) as part of a package (accomodation + tickets booked together)

meaning that if you stay onsite at Disney on your last week, you MUST purchase tickets for that stay to qualify for free dining. And hose tickets can't be used before your check in at disney's

as for your plan, you don't need a disney hotel near the start of your trip to buy tickets. You could buy them separately, and be able to use them whenever you want.
But, then, you won't qualify for free dining on your last week (unless you pay for a new set of tickets) there is no way around that.

your only other option would be to see if your dates could qualify for a US free dining.
Usually you need to buy 2 days tickets + hopper to qualify for US free dining

So, a plan would be :

- purchase 14 days tickets separately and use them during the first 2 weeks (time is so they end 2 days before you return to the UK) and hope disney UK have the same deal they had at the beginning of the year (25% off tickets)
- hope for a US free dining, add 2 days hopper, which you'll use for your last 2 days after your initial 14 days tickets have expired
That would essentially get you 16 days of park + free dining for the last week

but you have no guarantee to get US free dining for your dates, and you'll only know fairly close to departure.
That's a lot of hoping for, but you at least have a chance for this to happen. Asking to have free dining applied on a room only booking without adding tickets (on the ground that you already have some) stands 0 chance of success.

 

[pickers1982]

no, this wouldn't work

You can only have a dining plan (free or paid) as part of a package (accomodation + tickets booked together)

meaning that if you stay onsite at Disney on your last week, you MUST purchase tickets for that stay to qualify for free dining. And hose tickets can't be used before your check in at disney's

as for your plan, you don't need a disney hotel near the start of your trip to buy tickets. You could buy them separately, and be able to use them whenever you want.
But, then, you won't qualify for free dining on your last week (unless you pay for a new set of tickets) there is no way around that.

your only other option would be to see if your dates could qualify for a US free dining.
Usually you need to buy 2 days tickets + hopper to qualify for US free dining

So, a plan would be :

- purchase 14 days tickets separately and use them during the first 2 weeks (time is so they end 2 days before you return to the UK) and hope disney UK have the same deal they had at the beginning of the year (25% off tickets)
- hope for a US free dining, add 2 days hopper, which you'll use for your last 2 days after your initial 14 days tickets have expired
That would essentially get you 16 days of park + free dining for the last week

but you have no guarantee to get US free dining for your dates, and you'll only know fairly close to departure.
That's a lot of hoping for, but you at least have a chance for this to happen. Asking to have free dining applied on a room only booking without adding tickets (on the ground that you already have some) stands 0 chance of success.

Thanks. So if you phoned up to book they wouldn't treat it as one booking?

 

[Diz22]

If the free dining is important you could book a room and ticket package through Disney, as pp have said a 14 day ticket is the same price as a 7 day but either would be only valid from the day you check in on site.
You could book your required length of stay on site but book flights separately to extend your stay to accommodate your villa portion. If you wanted to visit Disney during that time you would need to buy another park ticket.

 

[chmurf]

Thanks. So if you phoned up to book they wouldn't treat it as one booking?

no.
To get dining, your booking MUST include tickets, and tickets are not valid before check in.

if you phoned, you'd get one reservation number for the tickets (or first night and tickets) and one reservation number for the last week's stay.
2 separate bookings.

I understand what you're trying to do, and I really can see how it would be more convenient, but if you don't add tickets to a hotel booking, you also can't add dining.

That would be great if it could be done, but if you don't buy tickets that start on your check in day (package) you can't get dining, no matter if you phoned, went there in person, or begged on your knees, that won't work

 

[scoobydooby2016]

I'm afraid it can't be done. I called a couple of trips ago trying to do something similar. You have to buy tickets to get free dining. Split stays on property also require two lots of tickets to get the free dining.