Do you have to be paying for a room to be eligable...

[Princess_Pumpkin16]

Do you have to be paying for a room to be eligable for the Magic Your Way and Disney dining option? Let me put it this way...my best friend wants to get a Vacation Club Suite and had invited us to stay with him as his guests, (this coming December 2007) and we are still debating if we are going and one of the things that we would like to try for the first time would be to get the Disney Dining package and we think that it would save us money. Our last vacation in December was a bit of a nightmare, that we stayed with my best friend at the Boardwalk Villas, but found that we really didn't have much money to spend on meals and ended up buying bread and peanut butter and jelly to "replace" are meals and my friend wasn't too happy about this beacuase he DID have the money and wanted to eat, where HE wanted to eat...bottom line, if we go again, we want to pay ahead and not have to worry about having the money to eat "out" this time! :blush: I guess we could always "put the money" away, if this is not an option. I was just wondering if anyone knows for sure. Thanks ahead of time!!!!:mickey:
Also, we are bring are now 3 year old and was wondeing if you suggest that we get it for her or just pay as we go for her food, especialy since she is such a pickey eater and last December, the meal plan for kids (from the kids menu) wasn't much of a selection!:mad:

[magicofdisney]

Is this Vacation Club Suite something within DVC? If so, then DVC members can purchase the DDP without a package. I don't know the specifics, but you may have to purchase the DDP for everyone staying in the suite. I'm sure a DVC member can clear this up.

[Duchess99]

I was just there and used a DVC member's points for our room. DVC has it's own version of DDP (same thing just not part of a package). You pay separately for the DDP and for your tickets (yes, you can get magic your way tix). It was just 2 of us and we LOVED DDP...a great value for us! I would check with the DVC member whose points you are using. They should have all that info for you.

[DizneyRox]

Yes, you can get the DDP if you want, HOWEVER everyone on the reservation must get the DDP for the entire length of the reservation. If you all want to get the DDP then that's not an issue, unless some people are showing up on different days. If your name is on the reservation (even for just one day of a 10 day reservation) you will be required to get the DDP for the whole stay (in this case 10 days).

MYW will work just like regular tickets. YOu guys can get whatever tickets you want without having to match the other people in the room. With DVC there really aren't any packages to speak of, at least not that I'm aware of, however I usually have either an AP or already have my own tickets.

[wendy*darling]

The info above is correct.
If your friend is a DVC (Disney Vacation Club) member and is renting a villa for your stay, he will have to be the one to arrange for the Dining Plan for everyone in the room- including your 3 yr old. If one person in the room chooses the DDP, then everyone (3 yrs and up) in that room must be on the plan. And as has been stated, it must be for every night of the reservation.

For DVC members, you must reserve the Dining Plan before you arrive, but you pay for it (in full) at check in. You cannot prepay. I think it will work well to assure that you will be able to eat regular meals with your gracious host instead of resorting to PB&J.

But you still have to save for the plan. You cannot decide when you get to the resort that you have changed your mind (or don't have enough money)- you will owe the full amount of the DDP at check in.

[Princess_Pumpkin16]

I probably should have been a little more specific, my friend has times shares, not the Disney Vaction Club and Disney is one of his destinations that he can choose. I had asked, if he goes to Disney at least once, sometimes twice a year, why in the world did he not do his time share through Disney.....he really wasn't able to give me an anwser (hehehe I think that he is sorry now that he didn't join DVC ...)
Thanks to all of you who have answered my question. I think that I'm pretty clear:

1) You need to get the dining plan for your length of stay.
2) If one person in your party gets the dining plan, everyone in the party has to get it too, even our 3 year old.
3) (I'm not sure about this one...) You need to get your park passes for the length of your stay? I'm alittle confuses hear...aaaargh...

My husband and I were discussing it more this morning (HAPPY EASTER ALL! :easter: :ebasket: :egg: :bunny: ) and we re thinking about just going ahead and booking it on our own, just the 3 of us and stay at the Pop Century. This would be our first time there. We were just going to wait to go again next year and save up to go to the Polly (to celebrate our 5 year Wedding Anniversary year....but you ALL know how difficult it is to stay away from the happiest place on earth!!!!)

[magicofdisney]

Currently you only have to have a minimum one day base ticket to qualify for the DDP (along with staying on site and 3 night minimum stay). HTH :mickey:

[wendy*darling]

magicofdisney[/left];1249714]Currently you only have to have a minimum one day base ticket to qualify for the DDP (along with staying on site and 3 night minimum stay). HTH :mickey:

That is true right now... but there are rumors that this will be changing anytime now.
But under the current rules:
You must stay a minimum of 3 nights in the same Disney resort.

You must purchase the Dining Plan for your entire length of stay, and for everyone in your party.

You must purchase a minimum of 1 day base ticket per person to qualify for the DDP.


Pop is a great place to stay. I am sure you will all love it there. :thumbsup:

[DizneyRox]

I probably should have been a little more specific, my friend has times shares, not the Disney Vaction Club and Disney is one of his destinations that he can choose.
Oh, that's a different story. If he hasn't already traded into DVC, it may not even be an option. It is extremely difficult to trade into Disney. I've only heard of a handful of people being able to do so.

I'm not sure if the DDP would be an option to those trading in. That's a question for your friend to find out.

And yes, and the previous poster has said, rumors are that Disney will be changing the plan to require a MYW ticket for the length of the stay as well. This would elminate the benefit of people buying a larger ticket and using it to cover a split stay, etc.

Kindof dirty if you ask me, but it's basically a loophole that people are taking advantage of. By closing it, in theory it should increase profits. I can't imagine it will generate that much, but it's getting to where it's more and more difficult to increase profits without just raising prices.

[HockeyKat]

I believe that your friend has something akin to Interval International, where he can trade his timeshare week for a week at a DVC resort.

If this is the case and he can effect the trade, then yes, you can add the DDP to the reservation. MYW park hopper tickets for 4 days for 1 adult would come to about $260 (not sure about the 3 yr old). Dining plan is $39/adult/day and $11/adult/day.

My recommendation would be to try to go during free dining period, book Pop, and do it SOON (before all the specials are gone). Contact Magical Journeys (link on side) and they can give you a quote.

I agree on the loophole even though we had thought of using it, since we are DVC and have APs and don't need the MYW ticket. I have even heard you can apply the ticket you buy to your AP renewal, therefore meaning you are out nothing by booking w/ free dining. I think it would make more $$ sense that if you book room + ticket + dining you should have to have all of it for length of stay.