Recent reports of dining plan kinks with a segmented reservation?

[ErinC]

I've read a few reports where segmenting the dining plan turned out to be a nightmare for some people. Anyone care to share a recent report? I'm just curious if they have the kinks worked out yet. We have about a month before our trip and I'm still undecided about what to do yet. I'd like to do the following:

March 5th checking- QSP
March 6th and 7th- DDP
March 8th-13th- no plan

I just don't want to spend hours at the front desk and have to check in and out on a daily basis. Some are saying they are having to check in each day and others say they are not?? Just curious of those that have recent experience.

 

[n2mm]

I was there (OKW) 2 weeks ago and it was a diaster -- never again. I've posted my experience. I keep waiting to read someone's positive report that their cards work the way they were suppose to and that they didn't have to go and get new cards everytime there is a change. I've yet to see a good report out there to show that this is working properly. Still waiting. I really want this to work out, but not willing to do it again.

Here's some of my story in this thread.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2630211&page=2

 

[harpetj]

We are checking in on 2/23 at SSR after a red-eye from the west coast and want to add the QSDP for just that one night. We usually make meals in our villa but will need meals right away and won't be able to check-in until that pm. Figured this would be a good way to get our first meals and our mugs for the trip. I am really interested to know if we will have problems too because the last thing I want after a red-eye with a 2 and 3 year old is to have room issues!

 

[ErinC]

Thanks for your replies. Since we are bringing family with us, It makes me even more nervous to try segmenting. We've never taken these guests with us and I don't want it to turn out to be a nightmare trip for them.

 

[lilpooh108]

We are checking in on 2/23 at SSR after a red-eye from the west coast and want to add the QSDP for just that one night. We usually make meals in our villa but will need meals right away and won't be able to check-in until that pm. Figured this would be a good way to get our first meals and our mugs for the trip. I am really interested to know if we will have problems too because the last thing I want after a red-eye with a 2 and 3 year old is to have room issues!

I'm one of the people who posted a report regarding problems with segmenting our reservations/DDP in Dec 2010. Just wanted to chime in here and say that ironically, we DID NOT have problems with using our dining credits for snacks or counterservice. Just sit down restaurants. It was really weird.

 

[px57chevy]

We went in Oct 2010 during the INITIAL transfer over and we were changing resoorts so it was extremely difficult. I knew there would be issues even with arranging the split so I was trying to be extremely patient.

IT TOOK US 3 HOURS on the phone with MS to arrange the partial plans because our party was spliting half way. Then when we checked in at OKW for part 2, they did not have the DDP on the reservation. Reason was because OKW was still on the old software.

MASS confusion...there is more to the story but did not want to bore anyone. We ended up getting free tickets to the MNSSHP for our trouble.

 

[n2mm]

Still waiting to read a success story.

 

[huey578]

Has the problem been associated with doing split stays or partial days on DDP?

 

[n2mm]

Has the problem been associated with doing split stays or partial days on DDP?

Partial days on ddp.

 

[lagunn]

I hope they sort any problems out soon. I rang them yesterday and they segmented my reservation so that i could add dining plan to the first 4 nights and the last 4 nights.

 

[DanenRox]

We used the DDP for the first 2 nights of a 6 night stay in January for 2 separate rooms. Booking the segmented trip was a disaster and led to many follow-up phone calls, complaints to management, return calls from DVC management, etc. When we arrived however, it was seamless. We never had a problem, no need to change room keys, no complications at all.

 

[javaj]

Just back a few hours ago, had a segmented reservation at BLT with Deluxe the first night and Quick Service the second night. Overall, not a bad experience.

Our keys stated "DVC Multiple" on them and this confused the servers, but I found that if I told them exactly what to use, they seemed to figure it out eventually.

Yesterday, when both deluxe and quick service credits were both active (check-out/check-in day), had a little glitch - my room key had all credits available, but the kids room keys (which I like to use when utilizing credits to avoid being charged accidentally since theirs have no charging privileges) had the deluxe credits active, but no quick service or snacks available.

Also, none of our keys worked to unlock our room yesterday - although the keys worked to let us into the building. Confused yet? We were!

We had new keys issued later in the day and all was fine again.

Another interesting observation is that the snack credits were combined on that 1 day - so i.e. we had 2 snack credits left from the deluxe, and 6 credits for the quick service, and it showed those pooled on our receipt (i.e. "8 snacks left")


Any questions, let me know!

 

[Sandisw]

Just back a few hours ago, had a segmented reservation at BLT with Deluxe the first night and Quick Service the second night. Overall, not a bad experience.

Our keys stated "DVC Multiple" on them and this confused the servers, but I found that if I told them exactly what to use, they seemed to figure it out eventually.

Yesterday, when both deluxe and quick service credits were both active (check-out/check-in day), had a little glitch - my room key had all credits available, but the kids room keys (which I like to use when utilizing credits to avoid being charged accidentally since theirs have no charging privileges) had the deluxe credits active, but no quick service or snacks available.

Also, none of our keys worked to unlock our room yesterday - although the keys worked to let us into the building. Confused yet? We were!

We had new keys issued later in the day and all was fine again.

Another interesting observation is that the snack credits were combined on that 1 day - so i.e. we had 2 snack credits left from the deluxe, and 6 credits for the quick service, and it showed those pooled on our receipt (i.e. "8 snacks left")


Any questions, let me know!

Thanks! It sounds like they are figuring things out and fixing them so they work, at least with only minor glitches!

We are going to try this in August--night 1, QSDP and night 2, DxDDP while at BWV. Then we will be heading to BLT for 3 nights, and doing only DDP for one of those nights.

 

[sweetdana]

SUPER excited to hear this may be fixed.. or at least is being worked on..

Dec 2010.. A MESSSSSS! 20 mins a day at Front desk, what felt like a dozen keys, and losing snacks due to being to tired to deal with it.


May trip, I am not doing it, as it was not worth the MAYBE 100-300$ I might save... but I am going to try for my Aug trip (fingers crossed! ) Thinking by then they should have it figured out.

 

[ErinC]

It sounds like they may be working it out ( I hope so). This is what I want to do, will this work?

Sat. check in - QSDP eat our CS evening meal and CS lunch on Sunday.

Sun- DDP- Eat dinner at 1900 park fare, and then CS lunch on Mon.

Mon. -DDP- eat dinner at O'hana and then CS lunch on Tuesday.

No plan for the rest of our days. Will this work?

 

[Sandisw]

It sounds like they may be working it out ( I hope so). This is what I want to do, will this work?

Sat. check in - QSDP eat our CS evening meal and CS lunch on Sunday.

Sun- DDP- Eat dinner at 1900 park fare, and then CS lunch on Mon.

Mon. -DDP- eat dinner at O'hana and then CS lunch on Tuesday.

No plan for the rest of our days. Will this work?

It will. You just have to ask them to segment things out so Sat. night is by itself, Sun/Mon are together, and the rest are together.

 

[LaNina72]

I hope they sort any problems out soon. I rang them yesterday and they segmented my reservation so that i could add dining plan to the first 4 nights and the last 4 nights.

You are very lucky... I called them on the 10th and got a CM who had no idea what I was referring too. I didn't want her to even touch my existing reservation for fear of her loosing it!

I'm very hesitant about doing a segment, based on all I've been hearing.

 

[tammymacb]

I posted this on the misc forum a week ago. Guess I should have posted it over here.

I know that DDP can be booked for part of a reservation for DVC members now.

Who's done it?

I'm going to F&W in October for 4 nights. My plan is Monday ( drive down, check in night ) I won't buy the plan. I plan on buying the plan ( DDPx2 actually ) for Tues and Wed night. The credits are good until midnight Thurs. We leave Friday morning.

I tried to call MS today to get details but their computers are down..

Has anyone added the DP to a partial reservation and did you have any problems doing so?

 

[DanenRox]

When we visit WDW again (September) I am thinking of the Deluxe dining plan for 2 out of our 5 nights. I would book for example night one and night three. Since each night of the meal plan is actually good for 48 hours (give or take) this seems like a reasonable choice. If you lay out the plan it provides plenty of food for the time period (we'd be in a Villa and have some breakfasts/lunches in our room). I'm dreading the nightmare this plan could lead to but I remain naively optimistic. For now when I book the room I will ask they book all nights seperately. Then I will continue to watch this thread to see what chaos I've unleashed.

 

[ErinC]

It will. You just have to ask them to segment things out so Sat. night is by itself, Sun/Mon are together, and the rest are together.

Do I segment the reservation first, and then add the dining plan, or do I do it all at one time? It seems like some people are taking care of the segmenting in an email. But don't you have to pay for the DP when you add it? I wouldn't want to do that through an email.