Tables in Wonderland being phased out?

[Melanie]

It's being heavily rumored today that the popular TIW plan is to be phased out by the end of 2016. There have been reports of dining CM telling guests that no new cards will be distributed by the end of this year, and that the program will therefore end as those last distributed cards expire.

I for one am pretty incensed by this. It's only for a very small group of qualified folks, and I think it's pretty bad show to do away with yet another nice perk for AP, DVC and FL residents.

[Mickey'sGirl]

This has me spitting nails! Honest to goodness it will impact how and if I spend my dollars at Disney. We are DVC members who always purchase Annual passes and the TIW card, and have done so for a decade. Because of the discount, we do usually eat at Table Service locations both at the parks and in the resorts. Without the discount, this will not happen with the same frequency. That's a lot of money not spent on site Disney! I have two big boys who know good food, and there are plenty of better options off-site for less money, or we will just prepare more meals in our villa. You lose on this one Disney!

[AgentC]

This has me spitting nails! . . . Because of the discount, we do usually eat at Table Service locations both at the parks and in the resorts. Without the discount, this will not happen with the same frequency. . .there are plenty of better options off-site for less money, or we will just prepare more meals in our villa. You lose on this one Disney!

Right there with you, Jennifer. Without my TIW discount our table service emails will be tapering drastically.

[John]

The list of perks gets smaller and smaller (it was a nice DVC/Passholder benefit) - and the bean counters win another battle.

Fairly disgusted at this move.

I'm sure the DVC AP Discount is next... you watch.

[CanadianWDWFan]

The list of perks gets smaller and smaller (it was a nice DVC/Passholder benefit) - and the bean counters win another battle.

Fairly disgusted at this move.

I'm sure the DVC AP Discount is next... you watch.

My thoughts exactly!

We have been thinking that this has been coming for some time now, since they introduced the DVC four day pass option. Really if they do away the AP discount for DVC members I can see myself changing how I travel to Disney. I am glad we decided to forgo our annual trip to the parks instead opting for a visit to Vero Beach. We will just use our DVC just for beach visits if the AP discount goes away.

If this really does prove to be true, it will force us eat more meals in our suite or go offsite. There are so many good restaurants outside of Disney that we will begin to frequent.

Has anyone contacted Member Services in regards to the TiW being phased out?

[Hammer]

This has me spitting nails! Honest to goodness it will impact how and if I spend my dollars at Disney. We are DVC members who always purchase Annual passes and the TIW card, and have done so for a decade. Because of the discount, we do usually eat at Table Service locations both at the parks and in the resorts. Without the discount, this will not happen with the same frequency. That's a lot of money not spent on site Disney! I have two big boys who know good food, and there are plenty of better options off-site for less money, or we will just prepare more meals in our villa. You lose on this one Disney!

Right there with you, Jennifer. Without my TIW discount our table service emails will be tapering drastically.

I agree with both of you. If this is true, we will be bringing wine and champagne to drink in our DVC villa rather than having nightcaps at a different Disney hotel bar each night of our trip. For goodness sake, we did a Monorail Bar Crawl our last trip! Not to mention, we tend to eat at high end restaurants. Did we more than make back our $100 investment? Yes, but the restaurants still made a nice profit from our meals, since most of you know we aren't exactly dining penny pinchers.

Has anyone contacted Member Services in regards to the TiW being phased out?

I was planning to call tomorrow, but won't have a chance until around lunch. If anyone calls before then, please post what you find out!

[dlpmikki]

We will also be eating more offsite. I really liked TiW. Maybe I will be renting out more DVC points than I use in future!

[VWL Mom]

I really liked TiW. Maybe I will be renting out more DVC points than I use in future!

[azcavalier]

So, we've used TiW for a couple of years when we had APs. It's nice. I mean 20% off of a $120 check is a good deal. But honestly, this probably won't change the way we eat. We'll grumble, but we'll still go to WDW restaurants. Because the TiW card wasn't why we went there in the first place. We did it because we love them. And the TiW card was simply a perk. We went there before we had the TiW card, and we'll continue to go after. And i'm thankful that we had it while we did.

Now, if they do change the DVC AP discount, THAT will change how we do things. Because we never bought APs before the discount. And with that discount, it makes too much financial sense not to get it. But if it goes away, we'll not be renewing our APs, and as such we won't be going to WDW as often. But there is no news about that happening. That's pure grumbled speculation.

[Basket Mommy]

I'm ambivalent. We're a family of 6, so the 20% discount barely covers the mandatory 18% tip. Sometimes we get TiW, sometimes we don't. Right now we have a current card, which we used on a previous trip and will use it again before it expires (and we planned the 2nd trip to occur before that happens to maximize its usage). A daily table service meal is part of the draw to WDW for us. We always choose at least one sit-down meal per day. Sometimes we cough up the dough for the dining plan, and sometimes we pay out of pocket. There's no rhyme or reason to what we do, and I doubt that the absence of TiW will change our visit frequency. It's a nice perk, but not a game changer for us. Same with the AP discount. It's nice, but we rarely buy the APs. I have one right now, because I'm taking two trips in 2015 and the AP made more sense. The rest of my family will get 5-day passes for our next trip. I didn't buy into DVC because of the perks. We bought points to save money on lodging, and it's more than paid for itself in the 7 years we've been members. I like the perks, but again, I'm still good with the membership itself.

[Hammer]

I didn't buy into DVC because of the perks. We bought points to save money on lodging, and it's more than paid for itself in the 7 years we've been members. I like the perks, but again, I'm still good with the membership itself.

You bring up a good point. People are always saying that you shouldn't buy into DVC for the discounts as they can and have changed over the years. In the beginning of DVC, you received free park tickets and that went away.

I think this really affects Florida residents and AP holders (people like Cindy) the most.The discount was incentive for locals to dine on property.

[VWL Mom]

We're a family of 6, so the 20% discount barely covers the mandatory 18% tip.

Actually the 20% discount is just that, a 20% discount. Being you're a family of 6 the 18% tip would be mandatory anyway.

I didn't buy into DVC because of the perks. We bought points to save money on lodging, and it's more than paid for itself in the 7 years we've been members.

While I do agree with this, the TIW and AP discounts made it possible to make 3 trips a year. Taking away those perks coupled with the fact the my home resort will be a construction zone will make me give consideration to cutting back for awhile. Right now we're booked again for September and January but after that who knows.

[SurferStitch]

I'm ambivalent. We're a family of 6, so the 20% discount barely covers the mandatory 18% tip.

You would be (hopefully) paying that 18% tip with OR without the TiW discount, so that's not a valid assessment.

You DO get a TRUE 20% disount.

Quick math lesson... let's say your bill is $100 (to make the math easy). Also not counting tax for simplicity (when we dine out, we tip on the full bill anyway, and never back out the tax).
- With no TiW discount, and 18% tip, you pay $118 OOP
- With the 20% TiW discount, your bill drops from $100 to $80, plus $18 tip (because you still pay the 18% tip on the original bill of $100, not the discounted bill of $80) for a total of only $98 OOP.
- You have saved a total of $20 (20%)

Now, if you (collective you) regularly left no tip or a palsy tip, then yes, you aren't saving as much with TiW as may be desired. But, if you always tipped a decent amount (18-25%), then you are definitely raking in the savings.

Our TiW card pays for itself in only a few signature meals. It's a huge cost savings for us, especially since we like to have nice adult beverages with our meals.

I apologize.... but I cringe every single time I hear this.

Oh... and I'm extremely disappointed to hear about the possible loss of the TiW discount. It would probably impact the way we dine as well. We love to eat at a lot of signature restaurants each trip. I didn't book V&A for this next trip because they were removed from the participating restaurants.

[Ms. Mode]

Discounts are always nice, just like a bonus check at work is nice and not to be counted on, but I don't let them plan my vacation for me. Just say'n....:

[Mickey'sGirl]

Discounts are always nice, just like a bonus check at work is nice and not to be counted on, but I don't let them plan my vacation for me. Just say'n....:

Agreed. But even though they don't do the planning, they seriously influence decisions.

If I can pop into a table service restaurant and pay about the same as I would pay at a quick service, then I will go into the table service. At DHS for instance, we almost always opt to eat at a picnic table at the Sci-Fi rather than eat at a Quick Service. It ends up costing us about the same, we get to cool off and enjoy being served and avoiding French fries. This will not happen with the same frequency because it is not as much of a break-even situation. Without the discount, the difference is more noticeable, and I will look at other options.

SurferStitch's breakdown of the big savings to be had is pretty accurate. That's a lot of coin, and if there is nothing at Disney to influence how I spend my coin, then I will consider taking it outside the parks.

[Melanie]

And I also used it often at Animal Kingdom for beer and counter service, where there was no gratuity expected. I love my Safari Amber and Flame Tree.

For those of us who used it at lounges, it will be a big loss.

[AgentC]

And I also used it often at Animal Kingdom for beer and counter service, where there was no gratuity expected. I love my Safari Amber and Flame Tree.

For those of us who used it at lounges, it will be a big loss.

I've used it frequently at Flame Tree too and for those of us who don't mind the clowns at POFQ it was good at their food court as well which was also a nice plus.

[Melanie]

Hold the phones - I'm now seeing that CMs at the TIW office are saying this is absolutely just a rumor and it is not being phased out. So stay tuned....

[Hammer]

For those of us who used it at lounges, it will be a big loss.

That's me !!

We love to go to the resort and restaurant lounges to have wine at the end of the night, sometimes ordering a snack to have with it. This is what will change for us if this is indeed true. We will stock more wine and snacks in our DVC villa (bought off property) and enjoy them on our balcony.

[Hammer]

I finally got to speak to someone on the Tables in Wonderland line. She said they were sent a note this morning that there are no plans to discontinue Tables in Wonderland.