Sticker shock, is this an average price

[kazmama]

I'm a newbie who is completely disney dumb. I requested a quote for 12/5-12/12/09 for two adults and an 8 year old, park hopper with upgrade to deluxe dining at Port of Orleans (wanted Coronado Springs) and it was 2800.00 before air fair. I added in insurance, because we have the worst luck. Does this price sound right? I toured Europe for less.

TIA
Kazmama

 

[RMulieri]

yep..Disney isn't cheap. For my family of 2 adults and 1 child for 5 nights with basic dining plan and park hoppers in a DVC 1 bdr is $3300.Not inc. airfare

 

[jacksmomma]

That sounds about right. Prices are a little higher in December. Is that quote from the internet? You could always call into the ressie center and see if there are any codes or discounts attached to your name.

 

[Justsyd2]

That sounds right. Did you tour Europe with three people for that amount? What you can do is try the Value resorts with the Hoppers and the DxDP, or a Moderate with the QSDP. Play around with the different options in order to save some money.

 

[disneyfan55]

Dining is free for the regular DDP which is plenty of food. The food plan is making your cost go up quite a bit and that is a lot of TS food and I have found the regular dining plan is more than enough.

 

[3happydancers]

I'm a newbie who is completely disney dumb. I requested a quote for 12/5-12/12/09 for two adults and an 8 year old, park hopper with upgrade to deluxe dining at Port of Orleans (wanted Coronado Springs) and it was 2800.00 before air fair. I added in insurance, because we have the worst luck. Does this price sound right? I toured Europe for less.

TIA
Kazmama

Could you reconsider the Deluxe Dining? You could save quite a bit per day. Also, if you are a AAA member, try giving them a call for a percentage off the trip. Another thing to reconsider is the park hopper and purchase basic MYW tickets (though hoppers is a nice feature) with a little planning, sticking to one park a day is definitely doable.

 

[clanmcculloch]

That sounds kind of like rack rate prices. Did the CM you spoke with indicate that they were sold out of the current offers (free dining or room discount)?

 

[WendyLovesPeter]

make sure you ask for standard view @ your resort - by my experience the CM always quote the higher price "view" and who really cares if you can see water from your room. Also try pricing everything yourself separately - plan to spend a lot of time online. I think you will be suprised how much you save that way - try every angle to trim a little extra cash here and there - whether its AAA discounts, a code or pin you find )watch mouse savers site) or even credit card points. As far as flights go... dig dig dig - sometimes you will do better with 2 one way flights even on different airlines. I check all the travel sites too like Expedia, Travelocity etc. Good luck - I enjoy the discount search - makes me feel like I pulled something over on WDW

also keep asking questions here - I have learned a lot from the WDW vets by reading posts and asking questions

there is a current code right now for travel during that part of December for resort only (this is why I don't do packages) - go to mouse savers!

 

[happymommy]

I went on Disney's website, and can't right now price the free dining, but the room discount is $96 a night at Coronado Springs (regular room), which came to $756 total.

Park hopper: $888.22 (8 days, two adult one child)

If you paid for the regular dining plan, it's 39.99 per adult and 10.99 per child per night, so that would cost you $636.79 plus tax.

Total using the room discount code would be $2281.01

This is without some taxes.

Upgrade to deluxe dining is $42 a day for your family - I agree that is a lot of food! We did the regular plan last December and it was a lot. The upgrade would run you $294.

So, I guess now running the numbers, I'd do the current room discount promotion with Disney, as your total would run roughly $2575.01 with Deluxe Dining. It's still do basic (or if I was without my husband quick service) And you'd get Coronado Springs!

 

[rt2dz]

Before you go for any dining plan--even free--figure out what you roughly think your dining plans would be using the menus and prices at All Ears. This is the cost you would be saving with the dining plan (not the cost of the dining plan).

Then figure out which dining plan fits you best: QS, DDP, DxDP, or the non-dining plan dining plan--OOP (Paying Out of Pocket). To do this see HERE. Then compare this cost to the free dining that Disney is offering during your travel period against the 35% off the room Disney is offering while paying for dining separately (plan or OOP).

You might find something cheaper than what you have booked. At the very least, you will see the differences in what you are paying for and will know you made the very best choice for you.

 

[Rockmtn]

We just booked POR for this Dec with free dining for 9 nights.
Cost us $2247.
We did not do park hoppers or insurance though.

 

[beth_cam]

I'd check all the specifics. And try doing the online booking yourself, if you haven't. go to disneyworld.com and click the dogeared link near the top right - it says something about a deal on dining. Once you have chosen the free dining package, and picked a hotel, Be sure that the screen says you are receiving free dining, the room type you want is the one given - preferred rooms are often the default, make sure the tickets are the ones you want.

Standard room at a moderate during this time of the year cost about 166 ($149/night+tax).
8 day park hoppers (from another poster) 888
Delux dining upgrade is actually 32/adult and 10/child per day
insurance 66.95/adult

So
Room - 1162
Tickets - 888
Dining upgrade - 518
Insurance - 133
Total - 2701

To compare to the room discount that the previous poster talked about (delux dining is 69.99/adult and 19.99/ child per night)
Discounted room - 750
Tickets - 888
Dining - 1120
Insurance - 133
Total - 2891

 

[danielle.st]

FWIW, while I think you should see if you can get the free dining deal, I also disagree with some other posters about what is and isn't worth paying extra for. You can get the free dining and then just pay a bit extra to bump it up to the deluxe. My family and I went in December last year and used the deluxe dining and we loved it We didn't feel like there were too many table service meals at all, and we enjoyed them much more than the chaotic feeling that we got when we even attempted to pop our heads into the theme parks counter service restaurants.
We also like paying just a bit extra for the preferred room so that we would be closer to the resort food court (at Pop, other resorts may be different).

 

[CzarinaKatarina]

Something else to consider on the dining is what kind of meals you are doing. My dd (9) and I will be at Yacht Club from 12/5-12/12. I was looking at the Free Dining Offer but paying for the upgrade to Deluxe because between character meals and being that close to Epcot, we are looking at table services for breakfast and dinner almost every day.

When I booked online I got lucky and got a room discount that was better anyway (WooHoo) . Have you checked the Disney site to see if they have any offers for when you are going?

 

[marcielm]

I'm a newbie who is completely disney dumb. I requested a quote for 12/5-12/12/09 for two adults and an 8 year old, park hopper with upgrade to deluxe dining at Port of Orleans (wanted Coronado Springs) and it was 2800.00 before air fair. I added in insurance, because we have the worst luck. Does this price sound right? I toured Europe for less.

TIA
Kazmama

The reason your trip is so much is because of the upgrade for the DxDP. If you stick with the DDP (1TS, 1QS, 1 snack) that is free, your trip (with the insurance, at the POFQ) is only $2171.36. I'm going to agree with everyone else's comments about the DxDP being waaaay too much food. If you have never been to WDW, on this plan you will never see the parks because you will be too busy trying to get to all of your meals. Each TS meal takes about 2 hours out of your day (with travel time & dining time).

$2100 at a moderate for over a week is a great price.

 

[WDmommyof4]

If you are a true newbie and have never done deluxe dining, do yourself a favor and skip it lol. I say this because on my trip with my two oldest boys in March I got it for the first time and now am forever spoiled. We love the sit down, character, and 2 TS meals, so it was absolutely wonderful.

For the trip in December I found myself unable to choose between TS restaurants so had to upgrade lol. Do yourself a favor and go with the regular dining the first time around, or risk becoming a deluxe dining brat like myself .

 

[penelope75]

It just seems that with the deluxe plan, you spend all your time eating or at least trying to get from one ADR to another. We are doing our trip this year, at a value resort, with free dining, family of 5 (one is 2) with airfare and a rental car for $3000. There are other options. Do your research. I always think about how much time we spend in our room and realize that the mods or deluxe resorts are just not worth it. But, hey, that is just my 2 cents worth. Good luck planning your trip.

 

[buzznina]

Another thing to consider is, do you really need to add hopping to all your tickets? Are you really going to go to 2 parks evey day? This could save you some $$$

 

[Brae's Mom]

I'm a newbie who is completely disney dumb. I requested a quote for 12/5-12/12/09 for two adults and an 8 year old, park hopper with upgrade to deluxe dining at Port of Orleans (wanted Coronado Springs) and it was 2800.00 before air fair. I added in insurance, because we have the worst luck. Does this price sound right? I toured Europe for less.

TIA
Kazmama

You got yourself a good deal. I've never done Disney that inexpensively. Even when I stayed at Value resorts. We tend to go for longer periods of time. Sounds like a good price to me. Have a great trip!

 

[danielle.st]

If you have never been to WDW, on this plan you will never see the parks because you will be too busy trying to get to all of your meals. Each TS meal takes about 2 hours out of your day (with travel time & dining time).

QUOTE]

That's not true at all. We never spent more than 1 hour-- except for HDDR. We saw more characters that we could count, heard some nice music, saw some fun shows and some amazing theming.
We saw everything in the parks we wanted to see. The only rides we missed in any of the 4 parks were ones we purposely skipped (Stitch, Kali Rapids) or those that were closed. We went on many rides twice and I don't think we missed any shows.
We did skip part of AK because I thought we could do a counter serve lunch and didn't book a TS. We walked into Pizzafari and it was insane. I couldn't even figure out where to get in line because it was chaotic and completely filled with people. We skipped walking through one of the walking tour areas (with the tigers) because we'd already done everything else and didn't want to fight a mob of people for a sandwich and the walking thing didn't seem worth staying in the park for.
Maybe people going to the 2 credit, fancier restaurants are spending 2 hours at each meal, but they wouldn't be doing that 3 times a day anyway.