Is DxDP worth it anymore?

[robinb]

Originally Posted by cookieswithangel

We have thought about it, but we've never really looked into it. That might be an option to consider for us. Except with going for 14 days, we enjoy those water park days. We'd have to actually buy water park tickets if we had an AP, correct?
We will definitely take a look at the breakdown for the cost with TiW when we get together next week to crunch numbers.
Thanks for the idea!

And just to throw it out there, there are no kids in the party. Just one college kid and a mom. (:

A Premium AP would work well for you and cover at least two trips if you plan it right. Last year you probably could have gotten in three: June 2011, Nov 2011 and June 2012. You can also get a discount on your resort that is usually better than the standard discount available to the general public.

[cookieswithangel]

Originally Posted by robinb

A Premium AP would work well for you and cover at least two trips if you plan it right. Last year you probably could have gotten in three: June 2011, Nov 2011 and June 2012. You can also get a discount on your resort that is usually better than the standard discount available to the general public.

We are pretty much stuck at going once a year now, since college schedules are not easy to take off a few days during the semester. But we did actually consider an AP before, but we weren't really educated on it, so we didn't look into it much at all. We plan to sit down and crunch numbers this coming week while everyone is home to see if it would be worth it.

Also, since someone asked, we tend to get 10 day passes with park hopper and water park and more. (well, thats what we did this past June, and unfortunately only got through half our trip before we had to fly back due to a medical emergency)

I do appreciate everyone's opinions on this, thanks for sharing your thoughts!

[BuzznBelle'smom]

Cookieswithangels--Something to consider is, only one of you needs the AP to get TIW or the discounts. The rest of you can get regular 10-day (or whatever) passes.

Another thought is, if you're balking at paying OOP, consider setting aside a certain amount of money on a gift card, and use that for meals. I'm doing a version of this for my upcoming trip in Jan. We're doing basic DDP, but have a few extra meals in there. I'm using rewards points and a GC to cover tips and the extra meals. The Deluxe Dining Plan sounds nice in theory, but I think seeing all the wasted food, paying tips, and worrying about maximizing my use would put a damper on my vacation. This is a "BuzznBelle'sMom" problem, it may not afflict everyone, though.

[CraigInPA]

Originally Posted by robinb

Have you considered getting an annual pass and then the Tables in Wonderland card? It will save you 20% on most TS and some CS including alcohol.

ETA: If you don't have an AP, what kind of ticket do you get? The TIW card is $75 and you have to spend $375 to break even. Everything else is gravy. It will expire about 13 months after you get it and you can pick it up from Guest Services at the parks or at DTD.

The above payback is incorrect. While the total spend to directly recoup the cost of the TIW card is, in fact, $375 in food, it assumes that you can purchase a TIW card in the first place. For that, you need to be a DVC member or an AP holder. For non-Florida residents, the AP is $620 per year.

If you consider the OP stating they go once per year, and even stretch their vacation to 10 days, the extra cost of the AP is almost $300 over the price of regular adult tickets. So, you'll need to add that extra $300 to the TIW card, making the total spend more like $1875 to recoup the full cost associated with TIW.

Craig

[robinb]

Originally Posted by CraigInPA

The above payback is incorrect. While the total spend to directly recoup the cost of the TIW card is, in fact, $375 in food, it assumes that you can purchase a TIW card in the first place. For that, you need to be a DVC member or an AP holder. For non-Florida residents, the AP is $620 per year.

If you consider the OP stating they go once per year, and even stretch their vacation to 10 days, the extra cost of the AP is almost $300 over the price of regular adult tickets. So, you'll need to add that extra $300 to the TIW card, making the total spend more like $1875 to recoup the full cost associated with TIW.

Craig

Since they are perfectly happy to go to the waterparks 4 days out of 14, buying a PAP is predicated on the OP making two trips work within one 365 day period. For instance, a late June 2013 vacation and an early June 2014 would work well. In that case, she would save $100 per pass over the two years in addition to all the other PAP perks like resort discounts, being able to buy a TIW card and a 20% discount at some gift shops: http://allears.net/pl/apass.htm#bene2012 .

[olliffm1]

I am all about an AP and TiW card. When we went this past June we got 1 AP for a TiW card. The extra investment was worth it. We ate what we wanted to way and didn't feel the need to order the way the DDP or the deluxe plan wanted u to. My father is very old and wants all TS meals, so we actually are that family that fits in 3 TS meals a day. It's crazy, I know. But I have a family of 7 that goes down and we broke even in 2 days. Plus the TiW card is good for 13 months. But be warned, an AP has the after effect of doing more trips if your close enough. I went last week for all of $300 (the ap rates on the hotels are better than the other deals)

[cookieswithangel]

Thanks for the new posts, but I think we figured out we'd go with the DxDP. We did estimates for every restaurant we would eat at, and we were really only $200 under the price of the plan. And our trip is basically a make-up trip for last year, since we had to come back a week early last time, we figure we can pay for convenience and enjoyment.
If we were able to go more than once a year now, I think we might find use of the AP, but we can't be sure we'd able to make it back within the 13 month period.
I would still love to hear opinions and experiences for other people who might be in the same situation.
Thanks!

[sheilanne]

Originally Posted by cookieswithangel

Thanks for the new posts, but I think we figured out we'd go with the DxDP. We did estimates for every restaurant we would eat at, and we were really only $200 under the price of the plan. And our trip is basically a make-up trip for last year, since we had to come back a week early last time, we figure we can pay for convenience and enjoyment.
If we were able to go more than once a year now, I think we might find use of the AP, but we can't be sure we'd able to make it back within the 13 month period.
I would still love to hear opinions and experiences for other people who might be in the same situation.
Thanks!

We are arriving 11/27 and staying at BLT, paying rack rate on everything because no discounts were available. I tried everything, room discounts, AAA, free dining and nothing was available. Tonight, I added DXDining for 4 adults and a six year old and it was 2600 dollars. That is just crazy to me but when I crunched numbers, it was a little cheaper. We have sigs every night and character bkfsts 4 mornings. I know it will be too much food, but the convience will be so worth it.

[mfulk]

It's still worth it for us because we do a lot of character breakfasts and we have 4 kids 8 and under. When the oldest turns 10 I'm not sure we'll still see it as a good value.

[cheryllarsen]

My family has used it and i say definitely worth it!

[cheryllarsen]

We have tried every one of the Dining Plans and we spent much more money on other trips than this last when we used this one!