question about the dining plan?

[Craig & Lisa]

The family and I are going down to WDW in August :sohappy: and we have gotton the dining plan on our last visit in April , ( which was great ), but my question is do you have to get the plan for every day you are there? I mean it would make sense to have it for that amount of time but suppose your going for a short time, 3 days, and we will be going again in Nov. for our annual visit, total of 11 people. But for this visit we want to save some money for Nov., so do we have to get it for those 3 days? Thanks

 

[Japhy]

I just called WDW-DINE on this very subject last week and the way they explained is, it has to match the amount of days in park tickets you bought in combination with your resort stay. So if you have a 3 day hopper pass, then you must also buy 3 days worth on your dining plan.

He then went on to explain that if you want a shorter amount of meal ticket days, then just book your room without park tickets for the amount of days you want cut back on your dining plan. But then you have to buy tickets individually for that day and that's just not worth it as far as I can tell.

 

[Craig & Lisa]

I just called WDW-DINE on this very subject last week and the way they explained is, it has to match the amount of days in park tickets you bought in combination with your resort stay. So if you have a 3 day hopper pass, then you must also buy 3 days worth on your dining plan.

He then went on to explain that if you want a shorter amount of meal ticket days, then just book your room without park tickets for the amount of days you want cut back on your dining plan. But then you have to buy tickets individually for that day and that's just not worth it as far as I can tell.

Then a new ( possible ) problem has come up, we have Ap's so how does this change things?

 

[Monty]

Dining plan is only available in a MYW ticket package. You have to buy at least a one day base ticket with your room reservation to get the plan. The plan is always for the number of nights of your stay. If you're there for four nights, you get four Table Service, four Counter Service and four Snack credits per person. Everyone in the room has to have the same package.

If you have APs, you can reserve the room with a one-day base ticket and use your APs to get into the parks for the rest of the trip. But... You can't get an AP rate on the room. So you'd need to do the math of which is cheaper.

EDIT: I'm pretty sure I've covered it, but JPVonDrake will correct me if I missed anything...

 

[Sharon L]

I just called WDW-DINE on this very subject last week and the way they explained is, it has to match the amount of days in park tickets you bought in combination with your resort stay. So if you have a 3 day hopper pass, then you must also buy 3 days worth on your dining plan.

He then went on to explain that if you want a shorter amount of meal ticket days, then just book your room without park tickets for the amount of days you want cut back on your dining plan. But then you have to buy tickets individually for that day and that's just not worth it as far as I can tell.

I believe this is incorrect. The amount of days on your dining plan ties to the amount of nights you are staying at the resort. For instance, we are staying 7 nights this coming November, and we have 7 days of dining plan. Our park hoppers are for 6 days.

 

[Floridasunshine]

From what I understand, the park tickets have nothing to do with the dining plan except that you have to buy at least a one day base ticket in the Magic Your Way package. Otherwise you can have less or more tickets than what your length of stay is.

The dining plan must match the number of nights of your stay.

But lets say you want to stay 9 nights but only want the dining plan for 4 nights, you can split your reservation. You would book a room under a MYW package for 4 nights and then room only ressie for the other 5. Usually you can stay in the same room, but it is not guaranteed. Also, you would have to use the dining plan up by midnight of the day after your 4th night. In other words, you would not be able to spread the 4 nights of dining credits over the 9 night period. As far as your tickets, you could get them all under the MYW package.

If you are going in August, are you going during the free dining period? If so, why would you not want it? I am confused easily ...

 

[New2WDW]

From what I understand, the park tickets have nothing to do with the dining plan except that you have to buy at least a one day base ticket in the Magic Your Way package. Otherwise you can have less or more tickets than what your length of stay is.

The dining plan must match the number of nights of your stay.

But lets say you want to stay 9 nights but only want the dining plan for 4 nights, you can split your reservation. You would book a room under a MYW package for 4 nights and then room only ressie for the other 5. Usually you can stay in the same room, but it is not guaranteed. Also, you would have to use the dining plan up by midnight of the day after your 4th night. In other words, you would not be able to spread the 4 nights of dining credits over the 9 night period. As far as your tickets, you could get them all under the MYW package.

If you are going in August, are you going during the free dining period? If so, why would you not want it? I am confused easily ...

This info is correct! The question is also a good one about the free plan!

 

[Japhy]

Ahh ok! Well the way the gentleman explained it to me on the phone, I remember him telling me that if you were staying for 5 nights but only wanted the plan for 4, then you would need to book the room without any park tickets (I guess signifying the MYW package). I believe he was driving at the split reservation scenerio, but Floridasunshine explained it much better.

 

[MouseearsDeb]

What time in August will you be going? Like others have pointed out, if you go during the last part of the month, the dining plan is free. Also, I believe you can purchase the one day MYW ticket, DO NOT USE IT use your aps, then apply the one day base ticket later to your ap renewel. However, this has to be done in person and not by phone or mail. So, if you will be going back around the time of your ap renewal, well, I think you get the drift. (loop holes loop holes gotta love the system :lookaroun ...) There are a few other threads on this topic somewhere around here......:animwink:

 

[wannabeBelle]

Ahh ok! Well the way the gentleman explained it to me on the phone, I remember him telling me that if you were staying for 5 nights but only wanted the plan for 4, then you would need to book the room without any park tickets (I guess signifying the MYW package). I believe he was driving at the split reservation scenerio, but Floridasunshine explained it much better.

Hey there Japhy, You were definitely given incorrect information. The dining plan definitely has to correspond to the number of nights you are staying at your resort, not the number of days on your park ticket at all. One has nothing to do with the other. The only connection for the Free Dining Offer is that you must purchase a package that would include a resort room stay and a MYW theme park admission ticket, which is considered a package. The MYW Dining plan is simply an add o to the main base package so hence AP's are fine but you would have to purchase the combination to get the dining plan. Any questions, please feel free to contact me or any other member of the Kingdom Konsultants team!!! Belle

 

[Craig & Lisa]

So many answers, but not really what I was looking for, but I will explain in more detail. Back in April, just before we visited WDW we bought our AP's, when we got there we bought the meal plan, I realized before I started this thread that we could not get the free plan, because we booked thru the AP ressie's number, also could not get a discount at the AS suite's so we are at POP. I know that with AP's we don't need to get and extra ticket for the plan, we will pay for it, but do we need to buy the same amount of days as we are staying? We already know how it works, ( GREAT! ) we just don't want it for the whole time we are there, by the way when we are there we don't leave Disney property either. This question doesn't seem to have a simple answer. Oh by the way BELLE, I will be contacting you about park tickets because we have others going with us in Aug., as soon as my wife and I figure out what kind we need to get I'll contact you.

 

[Monty]

I think I understand. You are prepared to buy a one-day ticket to be eligible for the DDP, but don't want the DDP for the full time you're there. The answer is that you can't do that unless you have two separate reservations, because DDP has to be bought for each night of your stay.

If you only want three days of DDP and you reserve a week-long stay, you can't do it. If you only want it for the first three days, you can split your reservation into two, a three night and a four night, but the DDP credits would expire at midnight after check-out of your three-night stay.

Does that answer what you're asking?

 

[Craig & Lisa]

In a way, but it does not make sense to force someone to buy for the time your there when it can't be used anywhere else, and it expires after you leave, ( use it or lose it ). As well as not all places in WDW cater to the DDP. We realized this whe we went to 1900 park fare. But it saved us big when we were at JIKO's, had to use two swipes on the cards for that but it was worth it.

 

[Craig & Lisa]

Hey there Japhy, You were definitely given incorrect information. The dining plan definitely has to correspond to the number of nights you are staying at your resort, not the number of days on your park ticket at all. One has nothing to do with the other. The only connection for the Free Dining Offer is that you must purchase a package that would include a resort room stay and a MYW theme park admission ticket, which is considered a package. The MYW Dining plan is simply an add o to the main base package so hence AP's are fine but you would have to purchase the combination to get the dining plan. Any questions, please feel free to contact me or any other member of the Kingdom Konsultants team!!! Belle

This would also make sense when you own a AP, because then they might say you need to purchase 365 days worth.

 

[Monty]

In a way, but it does not make sense to force someone to buy for the time your there when it can't be used anywhere else, and it expires after you leave, ( use it or lose it ). As well as not all places in WDW cater to the DDP. We realized this whe we went to 1900 park fare. But it saved us big when we were at JIKO's, had to use two swipes on the cards for that but it was worth it.

I found that between 2-credit meals, restaurants not on the plan and scheduling I ended up paying cash for a couple of Table Service meals and still used all the credits over the week we were there.

I saved over $300 on Table Service meals alone, even if we hadn't also used Counter Service and Snack credits [since we used all those credits as well, they were virtually free!].

The system seems to confuse a lot of people, but I recommend it at every opportunity.

 

[Floridasunshine]

If you are an AP holder and would rather not be tied to the dining plan, you can purchase a Disney Dining Experience card for $60. It will save 20% on meals at selected eateries and alcoholic beverages at those places.

But when are you going in August? If the dining plan is free during that time, I still cannot understand why you would not want to get it for your whole length of stay? Its free from mid August through the end of September. Even though I have AP passes, I still purchased a MYW package with 1 base ticket as it will still save me lots of money with the free dining plan.

I guess what I am trying to say is that if you already booked your trip with AP ressies, I would look into the possibility of rebooking and changing it to a MYW package with just a one day base ticket for each person IF you are going at the free dining plan time period. If you need more tickets than that (and not all people have the AP's) you can purchase only the additional tickets that you need separately. The free dining is DEFINITELY worth it, IMO!

I was not sure what you were saying about the 'suites though'... the new suites are not eligible for the free dining promotion. So if you are in one of them you would not be able to get free dining anyway.

 

[wannabeBelle]

So many answers, but not really what I was looking for, but I will explain in more detail. Back in April, just before we visited WDW we bought our AP's, when we got there we bought the meal plan, I realized before I started this thread that we could not get the free plan, because we booked thru the AP ressie's number, also could not get a discount at the AS suite's so we are at POP. I know that with AP's we don't need to get and extra ticket for the plan, we will pay for it, but do we need to buy the same amount of days as we are staying? We already know how it works, ( GREAT! ) we just don't want it for the whole time we are there, by the way when we are there we don't leave Disney property either. This question doesn't seem to have a simple answer. Oh by the way BELLE, I will be contacting you about park tickets because we have others going with us in Aug., as soon as my wife and I figure out what kind we need to get I'll contact you.

Hey there, Send me an E mail or a PM and we will talk if you'd like. Belle

 

[Craig & Lisa]

If you are an AP holder and would rather not be tied to the dining plan, you can purchase a Disney Dining Experience card for $60. It will save 20% on meals at selected eateries and alcoholic beverages at those places.

But when are you going in August? If the dining plan is free during that time, I still cannot understand why you would not want to get it for your whole length of stay? Its free from mid August through the end of September. Even though I have AP passes, I still purchased a MYW package with 1 base ticket as it will still save me lots of money with the free dining plan.

I guess what I am trying to say is that if you already booked your trip with AP ressies, I would look into the possibility of rebooking and changing it to a MYW package with just a one day base ticket for each person IF you are going at the free dining plan time period. If you need more tickets than that (and not all people have the AP's) you can purchase only the additional tickets that you need separately. The free dining is DEFINITELY worth it, IMO!

I was not sure what you were saying about the 'suites though'... the new suites are not eligible for the free dining promotion. So if you are in one of them you would not be able to get free dining anyway.

We did check into that but the problem is that we got an AP discount at POP and without the discount we pay almost 500.00 more, so the problem is that as far as I'm concerned we end up paying for the plan because of the difference.:veryconfu :veryconfu :veryconfu :veryconfu :veryconfu :veryconfu maybe I'm still confused

 

[Autumn96]

Sometimes the AP discount you can get on your room does make the free dining plan less desireable. I think that's what you're saying?

You can't get both discounts, the AP rate AND the free dining plan. So you need to decided how you'd save more, paying rack rate and free dining, or paying AP room rates and OOP for dining. You cannot buy the DDP option, it's only available with a package.

Have you considered AAA? I've heard some people say you can get the AAA rate with free dining, though I don't know first hand. It would have to be a package with at least 1 day base MYW tickets for EACH person in the room. It couldn't hurt to look into it.

I had a dilema where I am purchasing APs and have split ressies. I did do the package through AAA, got AAA discount (but not free dining, this is in July), and had to buy 2 sets of MYW tickets for each part of the split stay... ugh.
I will get my one set of MYW tickets and upgrade them to APs, so those won't go to 'waste'... and one cm at "ticket fulfillment" said there's a good chance I can apply the second set of tickets by making the Customer Relations people upgrading my tickets aware of the situation. They could arrange with my next resort to keep the MYW tickets off my card and apply that credit to my APs too. We'll see.. but at least both sets won't go to waste.

It doesn't exactly 'save' us money being on the dining plan.. probably about even, but look at all the places we can dine!!
Not sure about what your reference to 1900 Park Fare was, but they do accept the DDP. I think just about every Disney restaurant does!
Only a few are double credits (Jiko, HoopdeeDo, Brown Derby, Artists Point, and a few others), but we'll be doing a lot of sharing and saving points. Everyone has said how much food you get on the plan, so I'm sure we'll have a great time!

I hope you do too!

 

[Craig & Lisa]

Not sure about what your reference to 1900 Park Fare was, but they do accept the DDP. I think just about every Disney restaurant does!
Only a few are double credits (Jiko, HoopdeeDo, Brown Derby, Artists Point, and a few others), but we'll be doing a lot of sharing and saving points. Everyone has said how much food you get on the plan, so I'm sure we'll have a great time!

I hope you do too![/quote]

The DDP at 1900 park fare is available for dinner only not breakfast, but we think breakfast is much better..................................... well my wife and I have talked it over, crunched ALOT of numbers and have decided to go with the free dinning plan, as it turns out it saves us money in the long run, I had forgotton that the gratuity was included so overall we save about 150 to 200. Then if we don't use the tickets at all to get the plan they are good forever. I'm not good with numbers so my head hurts :hammer: I need an advil, somehow I don't think I'm saving money but my wife is a teacher so,...... teachers don't lie, right??