Any way to make a split stay & dining plan affordable?

[britfish]

I was thinking of surprising DH and doing a split stay during our trip. I just can't seem to find a way to make it affordable since we are also doing the dining plan(we are doing a bounce back for free dining). We will be there for 9 days and have 8 days of park tickets. Is there a trick to this?:confused3

[TDC Nala]

I don't get what part of the trip you wish to split. You already have a bounceback reservation for how many nights? Are you hoping to add nights onto that? Do you want a dining plan with both reservations or just with the free dining one?

[britfish]

We booked bounceback for 9 days and I was hoping to maybe spend a couple of nights at a different resort during this time. I wanted to do free dining for the total trip. I just can't seem to find a way to make it affordable since I have to make two seperate reservations it increases the ticket prices a lot. I didn't know if there was a "formula" like 5 days tix. with one reservation and 3 w/ the other is the cheapest way..or what...KWIM? I am probably not asking this the right w ay at all.

[TDC Nala]

You can't do free dining for the whole trip unless you purchase at least a one-day ticket with the second reservation (assuming there will be a free dining offer that will cover it). Really the best option you have is to buy tickets that cover your entire stay with the first reservation and a one-day ticket with the second reservation, then keep the one-day ticket for another trip. So far WDW does not require those booking a free dining reservation to purchase length of stay tickets, but you must buy at least a one-day ticket.

[dansyr2514]

What we are doing this year is 5 days CSR ( hopefully with free dining) and adding tickets for 7 days to the package and then booking 3 nights DVC(renting points) and paying for the dining plan for 3 nights. This way you get around buying 2 separate sets of tickets.