Can someone help with numbers 25% off versus $300 gift card? :)

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

I would love someone to please double check my estimated math and see if I understand this correctly before calling my agent tomorrow. I'm sure there is someone out there in my same position who has done this!

I'm wondering what is the better deal for us. 1) $300 gift card for the Values or 2) 25% off the room. I think a deciding factor could be that we'll have three Give a Day vouchers (one for each of us) that we could apply towards the cost if we did the 25% off route. So, I know how much I'm getting in choice #1 with the $300 gift card - $300! I also understand we can't use our GAD vouchers towards the tickets since we have to book a package for the gift card. We would use our vouchers for the fast passes if we chose this route (as we currently have it).

However, if I am estimating this correctly, the price of the room only during our stay is $709 (preferred) or $624 (standard). We have a standard room this time so that's a savings of $156.00 with the 25% off rate. Then, we'd have to buy our tickets there so we could use our GAD vouchers to our advantage. If I understand it this way, we would have a credit of $79.00 x 2 (for two adult daily tickets) and $68 (1 childs ticket) so this would be a savings of $226.00 off the tickets alone. Adding this with the room saving would be a grand total savings of around $382.00.

Clearly this is more than the $300 gift card so is this a no-brainer? Is there something I'm missing? If we chose the 25% off route and therefore bought the tickets there, will I have to go to will call at one of the parks in order to redeem our GAD vouchers for the credit towards the tickets for us?

I would love to know your thoughts and opinions on this. I'm fine with having the gift card to use for food and anything else. We're actually not doing the dining plan this time around and will use up the $300 gift card on the food mainly. I don't mind the "inconvenience" factor of it - I'm more concerned with the possibility of saving more $ if it's not too complicated.

Thank you so much in advance!
Heather

 

[marcielm]

It does sound like if you plan to use the GAD vouchers for your tickets, it will be the better savings for you to go with the room only discount. You will go to the will call window at the first park you wish to visit, redeem the vouchers, and then talk to them about upgrading the 1 day park ticket to the multiday ticket. You may need to go into the parks first and then go to a guest services window for the upgrade (I'm not 100% sure on this... and I can't rememeber what I've read here about how to do the upgrade).

 

[disneyfan55]

It does sound like if you plan to use the GAD vouchers for your tickets, it will be the better savings for you to go with the room only discount. You will go to the will call window at the first park you wish to visit, redeem the vouchers, and then talk to them about upgrading the 1 day park ticket to the multiday ticket. You may need to go into the parks first and then go to a guest services window for the upgrade (I'm not 100% sure on this... and I can't rememeber what I've read here about how to do the upgrade).

We upgraded one day tickets last week to APs. We had the tickets left from last years FD and the $500 free gift card offer. We used the ticket and when to Guest Services to have them upgraded to APs (they never told us of the current 20% off most stores in WDW) Also, the date of expiration was incorrect. Check that out if upgrading to APs. If the ticket is used, you will get the value of the one day pass (even if you paid less) I know that the GAD is free, but I would use it just to be sure you get the entire value.

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

Thanks for your input guys!!

Heather

 

[saradela]

We would use our vouchers for the fast passes if we chose this route (as we currently have it).



Which fast passes? can you explaine that to me? arent the fast passes the ones you get at the parks that tell you the time that you have to come back?

 

[marcielm]

Which fast passes? can you explaine that to me? arent the fast passes the ones you get at the parks that tell you the time that you have to come back?

If you do the Give a Day, Get a Day promotion that Disney is advertising right now, you can use your Voucher for your "free day" at Disney for a special FP that allows you (and up to 5 people) to have a special FP card. This card gets you 3 FP's from one tier of rides, and 3 FP's from a second tier of rides for each person. It is like the special FP you could get last year on your b-day if you had a multiday park ticket. The FP gives you an immediate return time for the ride, and they work after all the FP machines are "closed" for the day.

Hope this helps! We plan to use our 4 vouchers for FP's... one at each park!