Why not???

[KAT1811]

Why can't DVC rentals get the free dining plan? I am very unfamiliar with DVC as we are staying for the first time this year as a gift from my uncle. We are looking to by in maybe this year if we like our stay. They just listed the free dining plan for our dates and with 6 of us it would have been great but since we are staying DVC we were told we are not eligible for the discount. For us this would be a HUGE deterrent for buying DVC. I just don't understand the logic DVC goers spend spend tons of money in WDW why not give them the same breaks the general public gets?

[candleshoe]

The free dining plan is a way to entice people to book a trip to Disney so that they make more money. Those who are DVCers...they already got our $$$ and know we are die-hard Disney freaks. We're coming anyway. They don't need to entice us further. You could argue that there is an incentive for them to have us NOT come. They have our money, and if we don't they can rent the rooms out to other paying guests. Of course, if they blatantly put into place disincentives there would be such an uproar among DVC-ers that they wouldn't get any new people to sign up and that would be a major revenue stream closed.

[NotaGeek]

I don't think that owning DVC can be compared to coming to stay at the resort as a "regular" guest paying for a vacation. If you have received your stay at DVC as a gift, no more money has been paid to Disney -- so I suppose the money that you saved by getting the gifted stay in DVC would be equivalent to paying for food. Financially, giving free stays to DVC members just doesn't make sense.

[Pirate Granny]

DVC owners have a lower rate for passes to the park...
:pirate:

[chefmickey3]

We don't like the DDP. After using it twice, it was too much food and we had little flexiblity. When you own DVC, you can get discounted Annual Passes. With an AP, you can get a Tables of Wonderland card which saves you 20% off Table Services plus AP card has other savings throughout the World. We feel like we get a great value on every vacation. Free dining is not free when you pay rack rate for the room.

[DVC Mike]

"Free" dining is a promotional package offered by the WDW Resort that is designed to fill the resorts and parks during an otherwise slow period. It really isn't free as it can only be obtained by purchasing a promotional package that includes at least 3 nights at the full rack rate and at least one day's worth of park tickets.

The intent of "free" dining is to increase revenue during slow periods.

To give the dining plan to DVC members would cost Disney a lot of money, and it wouldn't increase revenue. DVC members are going to come and fill a resort and probably visit the parks anyway.

I don't ever see Disney offering free dining to vacations booked via points. Of course, DVC members can book the same promotional package as the general public using cash and take advantage of "free" dining.

[DVC2004]

Free dining is not really "free". The room rates are higher. It must be purchased as a package, which you can't do as a DVC member (or if you rent a member's points). You could do it it you stay in a DVC unit as part of a Disney package not on points.

[Mickey'sGirl]

We don't like the DDP. After using it twice, it was too much food and we had little flexiblity. When you own DVC, you can get discounted Annual Passes. With an AP, you can get a Tables of Wonderland card which saves you 20% off Table Services plus AP card has other savings throughout the World. We feel like we get a great value on every vacation. Free dining is not free when you pay rack rate for the room.
Agreed. :thumbsup:

[candleshoe]

We don't like the DDP. After using it twice, it was too much food and we had little flexiblity. When you own DVC, you can get discounted Annual Passes. With an AP, you can get a Tables of Wonderland card which saves you 20% off Table Services plus AP card has other savings throughout the World. We feel like we get a great value on every vacation. Free dining is not free when you pay rack rate for the room.

I can't find this "Tables of WOnderland" in info central. I see they talk about the disney dining experience- is this the same thing? It looks like that, even with an annual pass, you still have to pay $65 for it, not all restaurants participate, and it's not valid on holidays. This doesn't seem so great to me. We've done the dining plan (through DVC) the last few visits and paid for it and it's the best thing we've ever done- it more than pays for itself and we've never complained about the issue that you get too much food!

[VWL Mom]

I can't find this "Tables of WOnderland" in info central. I see they talk about the disney dining experience- is this the same thing? It looks like that, even with an annual pass, you still have to pay $65 for it, not all restaurants participate, and it's not valid on holidays. This doesn't seem so great to me. We've done the dining plan (through DVC) the last few visits and paid for it and it's the best thing we've ever done- it more than pays for itself and we've never complained about the issue that you get too much food!

Yes, TIW is the new name for DDE. Mostly all the TS restaurants participate and the added bonus for us is the 20% applies to adult beverages also. You need to go into the TIW site for the full list otherwise you will just see those that offer a normal DVC discount.

We are not desert people and we enjoy appetizers so this works better for us. The $65 I paid in November of 2008 does not expire until Dec 31 2009 so we will get 3 trips out of the card and probably save $600-$750 in total.

[candleshoe]

Yes, TIW is the new name for DDE. Mostly all the TS restaurants participate and the added bonus for us is the 20% applies to adult beverages also. You need to go into the TIW site for the full list otherwise you will just see those that offer a normal DVC discount.

We are not desert people and we enjoy appetizers so this works better for us. The $65 I paid in November of 2008 does not expire until Dec 31 2009 so we will get 3 trips out of the card and probably save $600-$750 in total.

So it only covers TS, not counter or snacks, correct?
Sounds like it wouldn't be for us since we like to use the snacks a lot, esp at EPCOT during the wine and food festival, and we don't really drink adult beverages.
Do you see any reason then why this would be better for my family then the dining plan? We have 3 young boys BTW. Guess I'm looking for a genreal pros/cons on these 2 options which may already exist on another thread...

[candleshoe]

VWL Mom
"We are not desert people"

Neither are we...much to hot.

:fresh:

[lockedoutlogic]

the benefit of a set room price will far outweigh a temporary promotion on food in the long run.....

it is a huge benefit now - 15 years into DVC.....

in 10,20,30 years....it will be shocking the differences in the room rates.

and as others have mentioned....."free" dining is just a hook that pulls people in to the slowest (by far) month of the year.

...and it's worked...as the post -labor day crowds are significantly bigger now than they were five years ago....when it was a ghosttown.:thedolls:

[VWL Mom]

VWL Mom
"We are not desert people"

Neither are we...much to hot.

:fresh:

Oopsie :blush:

[VWL Mom]

So it only covers TS, not counter or snacks, correct?
Sounds like it wouldn't be for us since we like to use the snacks a lot, esp at EPCOT during the wine and food festival, and we don't really drink adult beverages.
Do you see any reason then why this would be better for my family then the dining plan? We have 3 young boys BTW. Guess I'm looking for a genreal pros/cons on these 2 options which may already exist on another thread...

Correct, no CS or snacks.

I think the best way to decide what is right is to look at the menus and get a rough estimate. IMO it depends on individual eating habits.

[TinksDH]

Do you see any reason then why this would be better for my family then the dining plan? We have 3 young boys BTW. Guess I'm looking for a genreal pros/cons on these 2 options which may already exist on another thread...

The "pro" is that if you eat at TS a lot, AND you go to WDW more than once a year, you will probably save much more than by using the DDP. But only you can answer that based on your anticipated stays.

As a family of 5 (4 "Disney adults" and 1 "Disney child") anytime we walk into a TS restaurant we will be spending at least $100 for food/bev. So we'd only need to use it 3 times to pay for itself.

OTOH, we tend to not like the DDP, as when we used it before we wound up having quite a few CS meals left, as we don't eat in the parks every day. So we wound up over-eating just to "get our money's worth"! :ill:

[lockedoutlogic]

Now that i think about it....the original premise is ludicrous....

Person X (dvc member) buys a timeshare from Company D (Disney)

Person Y (non-dvc member) would typically buy a room from rack inventory from company D

Person Y decides to "rent" person X's timeshare....money changes hands between third parties....Company D gets no room revenue


so why exactly would Disney reward someone who bypasses their room revenue stream in this matter?

And before i get "look at all that food and merchandise revenue"......wait.....

They know you're coming, they know they've got you, and in the end....you will pay for all

That is about as close to a statistical certainty as you can get in travel

Disney World = Banked

[KAT1811]

Okay, okay, good points but I still think it stinks! LOL! :razz:

[Tinkermom]

Sounds like you were hoping for an entirely free trip (aside from park passes) but look at it this way...

Since your accomodations are FREE you can most likely make this a relatively inexpensive trip as you can choose less expensive dining options now. :mickey:

[KAT1811]

Sounds like you were hoping for an entirely free trip. . .

Uh. . . no. Not sure where you came up with that but. . .

With four children I assure you this trip is anything but free. We are in the World for two weeks. Airfare alone is expensive never mind the annual passes and our dining plans are not inexpensive as our family enjoys fine dining. We are celebrating two birthdays during our stay as well.

My only inquiry was why "free dining" is offered to the general public and not to DVC. Never did I assert that I was looking for a "free" vacation. I will say that was a bit insulting and uncalled for.

[laprana]

Since your accomodations are FREE you can most likely make this a relatively inexpensive trip as you can choose less expensive dining options now. :mickey:

I don't think it's completely accurate to say that just because we're DVC members, our accomodations are free. Maybe pre-paid is a better word? When we bought into DVC last summer and added on this summer, we most definitely didn't get our points for free!

I can totally understand both sides of the free DDP argument. On the DVC members' side, it would be really awesome to get this perk for being some of Disney's most loyal guests! But, on the Disney Business side, I can understand why they wouldn't need to offer it to DVC members to keep them coming back, and why it wouldn't necessarily be a good financial move for Disney.

[lockedoutlogic]

I don't think it's completely accurate to say that just because we're DVC members, our accomodations are free. Maybe pre-paid is a better word? When we bought into DVC last summer and added on this summer, we most definitely didn't get our points for free!

I can totally understand both sides of the free DDP argument. On the DVC members' side, it would be really awesome to get this perk for being some of Disney's most loyal guests! But, on the Disney Business side, I can understand why they wouldn't need to offer it to DVC members to keep them coming back, and why it wouldn't necessarily be a good financial move for Disney.

You're right...its not FREE per se....

But it is guaranteed revenue....and that is a key distinction.
All DVC point purchases and maintenance fees are already guaranteed....somebody has already committed to pay that.

the "free" dining promotion is an attempt to create more non-guaranteed revenue by offering an incentive to generate new travel.

Big difference in disney's financial eyes

[TinksDH]

I don't think it's completely accurate to say that just because we're DVC members, our accomodations are free.

You missed the point - the response that you quoted regarding "free" was to the OP, who has been given this trip from his/her Uncle as a gift. Presumably he used his DVC points and gave the stay to the OP. In that regard, the accommodations to the OP are free.

Obviously DVC is not "free" to members. "Pre-paid" is definitely the correct term.

[TinksDH]

And while we're on it....

it makes no business sense at all for Disney to give free DDP to DVC members (and I am one since 2001). These free meal promotions are strictly designed to spur short term demand and get folks into hotels and into the parks to spend money. Giving DVC members free dining will not have hardly any impact, as obviously we won't be paying for hotel rooms, we probably have more AP's than typical hotel users so we won't be buying as many tickets, AND we're a harder group to get quick hits from as we tend to plan out our vacations much further in advance. Why would Disney do that? To reward us? Your DVC purchase should stand on its own feet.

If you REALLY want the free dining, then go ahead and make a cash ressie!