Good afternoon! I currently have the free dining plan for an AKL stay beginning 12/23 through 12/28, upgraded to deluxe dining. Originally, we were going to stay off property the night of 12/22 and 12/28. I have a quote from MVT for two nights at Pop Century. I was thinking about replacing the off property nights with the MVT rooms. Then I thought that perhaps we could leave one day sooner, and stay in the room two nights before moving to AKL. I’m going to factor in what our OOP expenses would be for food (I already have two of them later in the week), and if it comes out equal or better than OOP, I may purchase the regular TS dining plan. I don’t know that the deluxe would be worth it.
If we drive down on the 21st and stay at Pop Century for two nights (21st & 22nd), I would have access to the DDP on the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd, correct? On the 23rd, the second DDP starts on the 23rd, so there will be an overlap, correct? So, essentially, if we only buy snacks or QS on the 21st, we’d have 2 TS to use on the 22nd, and then on the 23rd, we’d start using TS credits for our second stay. How does that work, though? Do I need to use up the first DDP plan before using the second? I know that I would need to use up all the credits for the first DDP by midnight on the day we check out of the first place.
As for the tickets, I have six-day park hopper tickets as part of the second package. Would we be able to use those the day before that package starts? It would be nice so that our last day we can just check out and go home.
The only way you can access those tickets early would be to see if guest service would activate them early. I have never read a report of them refusing to do this, but I think in theory they could. You will not be able to book FPs for the days before your package until you activate those tickets.
Your credits for that first stay would expire at midnight of checkout day. This can be a problem so you would have to keep careful track. I honestly have used those credits prior to checking in to the 2nd resort.
Thank you. That makes sense. I’m a bit worried about what we will do with our QS. DD can certainly eat anywhere. I’m a bit more complicated. However, DH most likely won’t be able to eat at any QS. His needs are extremely complicated. DDP may not be the way we should go, but if we got the deluxe, that’s too much food to go through in three days, but would allow us to start the second one on the 24th, which would cover the OOP ones we have planned.
It’s so hard to decide! I shouldn’t be making changes!!!
Is it possible to get the dining plan when you aren’t purchasing tickets? It won’t let me price it on the WDW site. Does it work differently using MVT? MVT quoted me a price of a room and dining without tickets.
Could I hijack this thread just a bit?? Thank you and sorry!
Another DDP/split stay question…
We are staying at POP for one night with Deluxe DDP. On our checkout day we have adrs for TE and Boma. I know we have until midnight to use the credits, but would checking into the Dolphin before midnight erase the credits?
Checking into the Dolphin should not mess with your credits but keep your receipts and if there is an issue and you have to pay out of pocket Disney will refund you.
In general it’s a good idea to check-in at the front desk of the resort. That way, the DDP will be automatically “activated”. Doing on-line check-in only is sometimes fine, but other times it can be glitchy.
When switching over, if you have the DDP on both stays, again it’s a good idea to do that.
You do have to make sure that every credit is used up before you’ll be able to start using the second lot of credits. It is however possible to use the last two credits from plan 1 and the first two credits from plan 2 at the same meal. But you’ll need two checks!
And finally, some CMs at TS restaurants are able to fix DDP issues (such as those on a split stay), others aren’t. Probably depends on authority and experience. If they can’t, use your magic band, keep the receipts, and go to the front desk of your resort and they can fix it for you.
I think if it does not work for the Dolphin check in, the MB would not work too? I woukd have cash/credit card back up? I know there is no reason to think the MB won’t work until midnight but, just in case?
Thank you. Last night I worked out which DDP would be a better fit. The only thing I’m worried about is being able to start using the tickets from the second plan on the 22nd. If I can’t do that, it doesn’t make sense to add the second day ahead of time, because we would lose a day in the parks at the end since we’d have to leave early in the morning to drive home. I guess the only way to ensure that we could go to the parks on the 22nd would be to buy a ticket. But one day tickets are expensive!!!
Even though the deluxe dining plan is more expensive, using it on the 23rd would enable us to cover the OOP dinners later in the week, because I wouldn’t start using the second plan until the 24th. I’m still concerned that the regular dining plan wouldn’t help us much because I’m pretty sure that DH can’t eat at any of the counter service restaurants.
If I put the two days on either end of the trip, it would still work, but then I’d have to put down two deposits and we’d have to move twice!!! Not sure I’m up to that. Moving from Pop Century to AKL is one thing. Moving from AKL to Pop Century may be a disappointment.
Wish I had more money to put into this. It’s hard to decide how much tip money to save. I can certainly estimate the costs for DD and me, but since the chefs have to make DH’s dishes from scratch, one never knows how much those will be. And that’s assuming that the prices won’t be higher at Christmas.
As far as I know, you can always activate tickets early. I think I’ve seen that it can be 3 days before, it could be longer. As long as your whole stay isn’t longer than 14 days you’ll be fine (because tickets are valid for 14 days from first use).
Honestly, I wouldn’t worry about that. I’ve never seen anyone post they weren’t allowed to.
However if I’m understanding correctly, you’re needing to add a day to your tickets if you come early? I think you can add days when you get there. So if that’s the case, then you can just wait until you know for sure you can activate them, and then add on a day. However you might want to get that checked before you do anything. I’d hate to have that wrong.
You won’t be able to book FPs for the 22nd on the package tickets though until you activate them. So plan accordingly!
No, I still only want six days at the park, which is why I would like to use the ticket on the 22nd and not the 28th. Would I have to do that at guest services? I can’t do that over the phone ahead of time?
or should that be 
