# Traded into DVC (RCI). How guests can purchase meal plan?



## yumdrey (Dec 18, 2011)

I have an RCI trade to disney resort.
It's for my friend's family, so I purchased guest certificate.
They want to purchase meal plan.
How can they do that?

I called the resort, and they said they get exchanged (through RCI) guest information 3 days in advance from the check-in date.
Even if resort has no guest info yet, can I (or guest) still purchase meal plan?

Never purchased meal plan for myself, thanks in advance for any idea!


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## Culli (Dec 18, 2011)

yumdrey said:


> I have an RCI trade to disney resort.
> It's for my friend's family, so I purchased guest certificate.
> They want to purchase meal plan.
> How can they do that?
> ...



I believe you have to call member services and I'm not sure what the non DVC member phone number (or if they have one) is to get to them.  I would start with this number (407) 939-6244 and explain to them what you want to do.

EDIT TO ADD: if you have a guest cert Member Services probably won't talk with you without permission or having your "guest" on the line with you.  I do this for my Mom with a guest cert and I have to have her conferenced in on the phone call for her to give permission to deal with me.


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## bnoble (Dec 18, 2011)

> How can they do that?


Once the reservation and GC have made it to DVC (about 1-2 weeks after the GC purchase) they can call Member Services directly: 800-800-9800

Have them follow the prompts to "World Passport Collection" followed by "RCI Exchange".


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## janej (Dec 18, 2011)

Helen,

Do you know that DVC changed their policy to require payment for the dinning plan as soon as you add it to the reservation?  At least they do for DVC reservations. I would wait until it gets close to check in to add the dining plan.  They can still make their dinning reservations without the dinning plan.

Jane


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## rickandcindy23 (Dec 19, 2011)

You must add and pay for the dining plan at least 48 hours in advance.  This is the new process with RCI exchanges.  

But as someone else said, you can make dining reservations without any reservation #.  Anyone can eat at the restaurants, even if you are staying at the Marriott down the street, or the Motel 6. 

The dining plan is something you can only purchase while staying at DVC.  

As I said in my PM, the food is expensive with the dining plan.  It's $51 a day (or thereabouts), and at the end of the day, it's very likely you will not spend as much on food as you paid.  The desserts, sodas and snacks would be completely wasted on our family.  We only eat desserts on special occasions, and soda is overpriced everywhere, so we usually have water.  

We ate at 13 different restaurants in November with Tables in Wonderland and saved a bundle.  But we have annual passes....


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## yumdrey (Dec 20, 2011)

Ok, thanks!!


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## heathpack (Dec 20, 2011)

rickandcindy23 said:


> We ate at 13 different restaurants in November with Tables in Wonderland and saved a bundle.  But we have annual passes....



Cindy, just recently announced- TIW available to DVC members, no longer need an annual pass.

H


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## 6scoops (Dec 21, 2011)

rickandcindy23 said:


> You must add and pay for the dining plan at least 48 hours in advance.  This is the new process with RCI exchanges.
> 
> But as someone else said, you can make dining reservations without any reservation #.  Anyone can eat at the restaurants, even if you are staying at the Marriott down the street, or the Motel 6.
> 
> ...



Last time I was in the world, back in March, I used the dining plan and it felt like such a waste.  So I am considering the TiW card.  I have heard it saves 20 % off your meal including alcohol, but is this true?  I looked at info online and it looks like it only saves you 10%, and then I see it has a bunch of black out dates (Christmas and New Years)  I am flying to Orlando Christmas eve.  So now I'm wondering with all the reservations I booked should I count on TiW to save me money or the dinning plan again?  I have a sit down meal planned for almost every day, though I could start canceling some of my reservations.  I really don't want to spend a fortune on food this trip.    I just paid $2200.00 for annual passes!  I'm starting to worry I am making the wrong decision to not get the meal plan?  What is your average savings with TiW card?


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## 6scoops (Dec 21, 2011)

heathpack said:


> Cindy, just recently announced- TIW available to DVC members, no longer need an annual pass.
> 
> H



Only problem is when will this be?  It might be a while before this is actually available to DVC members.  They announced online booking over a year ago and that is just now taking place?.


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## bnoble (Dec 21, 2011)

> I am considering the TiW card. I have heard it saves 20 % off your meal including alcohol, but is this true? I looked at info online and it looks like it only saves you 10%, and then I see it has a bunch of black out dates (Christmas and New Years)


It is 20% of the entire bill.  There is a service charge of 18% (pre-tax/pre-discount) added, but that's probably within spitting distance of what you'd tip anyway.  (I tend to tip a little higher than this, so it's a wash.)  It is not good Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve, and New Years Day, but should be good most of the rest of the week.  More details here:

http://allears.net/din/dde.htm

Of course, the effective discount will be something less than 20%, because the card itself costs money.  I usually find that I'm somewhere in the 12% range for a weeklong trip for my family of four Disney adults.  But, that's a better deal for us than the dining plans, and TIW is more flexible.


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## Culli (Dec 21, 2011)

6scoops said:


> Last time I was in the world, back in March, I used the dining plan and it felt like such a waste.  So I am considering the TiW card.  I have heard it saves 20 % off your meal including alcohol, but is this true?  I looked at info online and it looks like it only saves you 10%, and then I see it has a bunch of black out dates (Christmas and New Years)  I am flying to Orlando Christmas eve.  So now I'm wondering with all the reservations I booked should I count on TiW to save me money or the dinning plan again?  I have a sit down meal planned for almost every day, though I could start canceling some of my reservations.  I really don't want to spend a fortune on food this trip.    I just paid $2200.00 for annual passes!  I'm starting to worry I am making the wrong decision to not get the meal plan?  What is your average savings with TiW card?



Yes it is off your total bill including alcohol, we have one and love it.  It basically pays for the tip which they automatically charge you 18% with TIW card.  The other thing I prefer TIW over Meal Plan is we don't like to eat out all the time, we actually prefer to eat in the room.  With the TIW we eat a few nice meals with drinks and it pays for itself.  We didn't get one last year because we didn't eat out hardly at all.  This year we did an adults only trip with another couple and it more than paid for itself.  

If you plan on eating out every day and getting sit down meals the dinning plan might work out better for you.


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## rickandcindy23 (Dec 21, 2011)

The more expensive restaurants require 2 table service credits, when on the dining plan.  Now even LeCellier requires two.  The food is not that much more expensive than the other restaurants.  I don't get it.  

Our daughter decided Biergarten's show might be better at dinner, so she booked it this trip.  The show was not even as good as the afternoon show, and the lunch menu is considerably less $$.

I hope I can talk our daughter into eating big lunches at the restaurants next year with Tables in Wonderland, instead of dinners.  We could save so much money, and LeCellier had the lunch meal deal with dessert and appetizer included.  It was wonderful.  I had the maple crème brulee.  If other restaurants do the same, lunch could be a bargain.


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## 6scoops (Dec 21, 2011)

Thanks everyone for the quick reply's.  I've been so many times and always do the dining plan.  I have to keep reminding my self how much I did not like it last time.  The kids get the same crap at almost every restaurant, no matter if it is counter or table service, that bothered me.  I could get them a nice meal and have them split it and get a discount w/ the TiW card.  Do I buy this card when I get there or online?  

I like the idea of the lunches instead of dinner, I just went online and switched the beirgarten reservation from dinner to lunch!  I can't believe I have never been there.  I think my DH will love it!  One more question, I have two reservations on Christmas, one for in MK at LTT or Cali Grill.  Should I avoid the park on Christmas and head to Cali or is the park the place to be on Christmas, kids are 10 and 11.  What do you think?  ( I have never been to Cali, but I do have other back up ressies on different days)


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## bnoble (Dec 21, 2011)

You buy it when you get there from any theme park guest services location.


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## rickandcindy23 (Dec 21, 2011)

I couldn't see any difference in the food at Biergarten from lunch to dinner, and the show is better at lunch, so I think lunch is a no-brainer.  Maybe the carvers are missing at lunch?  I didn't get any of the meats the carvers had on that giant cutting board.  

The guy plays the bells at lunch and not at dinner, or at least not when we had dinner.  We have been to three lunches at Biergarten, only one dinner.  I was disappointed in dinner, and the restaurant was so much busier.  The rest of the show was the same. 

Annual passholders get the TIW discount for the $75 fee.  We will always have annual passes, so I guess that DVC perk will be wasted on us.  :rofl:


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## spencersmama (Dec 27, 2011)

My 2 cents - we go to the parks a lot, have TiW, and we never go to the sit down restaurants for dinner.  The menus of the buffets are almost exactly the same, with the exception of one or two items and you pay much more.  My family always does a easy grab breakfast in the room, then we have our big meal at lunch.  I usually do a little later lunch around 1:30 - 2 to avoid crowds and to get out of the heat of the afternoon. 

The Biergarten is our favorite restaurant and we have been there probably 60 - 70 times in the last 13 year.  The show varies slightly (alpine horn, bells, song selection) by the people working that day.  They only add rouladen (rolled, stuffed beef) and one other item for dinner, so not at all worth the extra $10 or so more, IMO.

The Disney website has menus.  Some have prices, and you can call to ask the prices if not listed.  There are some places that have the same menu all day, so the time doesn't matter.  For instance, it used to be that the buffet rest. at Hollywood Studios was the same price at lunch and dinner, but they had characters at lunch time but not dinner.  The characters were Playhouse Disney characters, so we would go at dinner time as I have older kids.  I have found lately that even though we are big eaters (2 adults, 2 teens) that it is much cheaper to do to a sit-down rest. and order off the menus.  If you are looking to do a character dinner each night, the dining plan would probably be worth it, but TiW gives you so much more flexibility.


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## ciscogizmo1 (Dec 27, 2011)

rickandcindy23 said:


> The guy plays the bells at lunch and not at dinner, or at least not when we had dinner.  We have been to three lunches at Biergarten, only one dinner.  I was disappointed in dinner, and the restaurant was so much busier.  The rest of the show was the same.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## mtbmom (Dec 28, 2011)

A little OT, but if you go to Biergarten for lunch during a slow time (i.e. September) there may be no show at all.  This is what happened when we sent in September 2011.  There was no show at all.  No band, no bells, no nothing.  Funny thing is we asked for a table near the stage and they gladly accomodated us. :hysterical: 

We still had a good time.  Loved the beer flight and the conversation with our table mates.  Did I mention we got a table right by the stage!!!


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## tlguinn_2000 (Jan 1, 2012)

heathpack said:


> Cindy, just recently announced- TIW available to DVC members, no longer need an annual pass.
> 
> H



Is this true now?  How do you get one?  We will be staying at the BWV in March.



>


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