Is this possible/the best deal

[WDmommyof4]

Okay, so I have always wanted to take all of my children to Disney at once, but could never find anyone to go with us even when offering to pay their full expense. My youngest will be 4 in October and has never been, my soon to be 6 year old has been once but doesn't love it, my 9 and 7 year old's have been 5 times each and are true Disney lovers.

This is the plan for the December 14-20 trip. My son's birthday is on the 19th so I wanted to be there for it, but still leave by the time things get really busy for the holidays. Also, on the Disney website if you start your vacation when free dining is still in effect they give it to you the whole trip right?

It would be
Me 27
Mom 71
4 DS's 8,7,6,4 (age at the time of the trip)

My plan is to get two separate rooms at an All Star value resort with one adult and two kids in each room and then ask for adjoining. The room with my mom and two younger children will get an upgrade to the basic free dining and 6 day tickets. My room with the two older boys will get free dining with upgrade to basic and a one day ticket since we have seasonal passes. The one day tickets will be used on the 19th as it is a black out date for the passes and we will still want to be in the park on my son's birthday.

The cost comes to

$1407.52 for my mom's room
$977.27 for mine.
Total: $2384.89

A few question for those who have made it this far lol.

1. If we get to the resort early on check in day what are the chances that we can get adjoining rooms?

2. Will the free dining apply to our whole package as long as our vacation begins when it is still in effect.

3. Is this the cheapest way to go?

Thanks in advance for any help!

[SC Mouse Fan]

Originally Posted by WDmommyof4

A few question for those who have made it this far lol.

1. If we get to the resort early on check in day what are the chances that we can get adjoining rooms?

2. Will the free dining apply to our whole package as long as our vacation begins when it is still in effect.

3. Is this the cheapest way to go?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Make sure you ask for connecting rooms not adjoining. To Disney adjoing is next to each other. Connecting has the interior door that can be opened between. We made that mistake once and had to stay in those rooms for one night before they could move us to connecting.

We have gotten 2 rooms at POR for several trips and have always been able to get connecting rooms. When we checked in we would ask at the front desk if they were connecting. A few times the weren't but they were able to move us to rooms that were connecting. We get there about 10 AM so they have some empty rooms to work with. Hopefully your resort will be as accomodating as POR.

[marcielm]

1. If we get to the resort early on check in day what are the chances that we can get adjoining rooms? There is no guarantee that you will get the adjoining rooms, no matter when you check in. Just be sure and ask, ask, ask and hopefully they will be able to make it happen.

2. Will the free dining apply to our whole package as long as our vacation begins when it is still in effect. The answer on this one is yes, it will go for the entire stay.

3. Is this the cheapest way to go? Yep, FD is always the cheapest in the values... and with your AP's I don't think you can get any cheaper! Good planning for the 1 day tics to use on your blackout date.

[WDmommyof4]

Thank-you both for your advice. I really hope we can get connecting rooms but if not it will not be the end of the world. Thanks again!

[lovesdumbo]

Just a thought....could you use the one day tickets to upgrade your seasonal passes to annual passes? Would that work to your advantage at all?

[WDmommyof4]

Originally Posted by lovesdumbo

Just a thought....could you use the one day tickets to upgrade your seasonal passes to annual passes? Would that work to your advantage at all?

It is a wonderful thought, but doesn't really work for us. We have the FL resident seasonal pass which is only about 265 per adult and 230 or so per child. An annual pass last time I checked was over $400. The seasonal passes are still good for an entire year and the black out dates rarely come in to play since we usually go in late Feb. early March.

I am just getting the 6 day tickets for my mom and two youngest because they do not have seasonal passes, but likely will not take another trip in the next year. The only reason my soon to be 6 year old agreed to go on this trip is because his Gammie is going, and I do not know if my 3 year old will like Disney as of yet. If he does I will upgrade him to a seasonal pass at the end of the trip.

[lovesdumbo]

Originally Posted by WDmommyof4

It is a wonderful thought, but doesn't really work for us. We have the FL resident seasonal pass which is only about 265 per adult and 230 or so per child. An annual pass last time I checked was over $400. The seasonal passes are still good for an entire year and the black out dates rarely come in to play since we usually go in late Feb. early March.

I am just getting the 6 day tickets for my mom and two youngest because they do not have seasonal passes, but likely will not take another trip in the next year. The only reason my soon to be 6 year old agreed to go on this trip is because his Gammie is going, and I do not know if my 3 year old will like Disney as of yet. If he does I will upgrade him to a seasonal pass at the end of the trip.

Your poor 6 year old. Hope he can find something that he likes on the trip with Gammie. My 8 year old DS loves Disney but is afraid of "weird" things. He mostly loves the real "classic" stuff like Carousel of Progress and One Man's Dream. He does like Everest and Space Mountain but is afraid of Spaceship Earth, Pirates and Haunted Mansion.

My DH isn't the Disney fanatic that I am. Once a year is too much for him but not enough for me. I take my kids one on one and then we usually do convice DH to do an annual family trip. I enjoy the one on one trips but I also want my kids to have shared memories of our family trips.

[PrincessKsMom]

OP, change your signature to show that DS5 (almost 6) is going now. Now you can pick a happy face for him.

[DisneyCruiser2008]

I've read on this board that people often FAX in their room requests (in addition to making the request when they set up their ressie) a couple days before arriving... I don't know if that might help your chances of getting a connecting room? Sounds like an amazing trip!

[WDmommyof4]

Originally Posted by lovesdumbo

Your poor 6 year old. Hope he can find something that he likes on the trip with Gammie. My 8 year old DS loves Disney but is afraid of "weird" things. He mostly loves the real "classic" stuff like Carousel of Progress and One Man's Dream. He does like Everest and Space Mountain but is afraid of Spaceship Earth, Pirates and Haunted Mansion.

My DH isn't the Disney fanatic that I am. Once a year is too much for him but not enough for me. I take my kids one on one and then we usually do convice DH to do an annual family trip. I enjoy the one on one trips but I also want my kids to have shared memories of our family trips.

LOL yes he went when he was two and almost three but was very scared of the characters. He is still scared of characters like Smokey the Bear and the Cow at Chick Fil A. He was okay on the little rides as long as I could take him on them with me. I haven't made him go since because he didn't want to. My mom says if she is going he has no choice though lol.

I love Disney as well but my family doesn't share the love. It took much pleading on my part for years to get my mom to agree to go with me.I still think she only agreed because all the Christmas lights will be up. Also me and the old boys have been enough times that we don't go commando anymore, so she doesn't have to worry about us pushing too hard.

Originally Posted by PrincessKsMom

OP, change your signature to show that DS5 (almost 6) is going now. Now you can pick a happy face for him.

I will change it lol. That was actually from our March trip where I took only the two oldest. I usually stay away from the boards unless I have a trip planned or it makes me .

Great tip about the faxing too DisneyCruiser2008 I will have to try that one!

[beth_cam]

Don't forget if you are going to the park on a birthday and already have tickets, you can still get a gift card (that's what we got anyway) worth the value of the person's 1 day ticket. I don't know if you have to, but I registered the birthday and took the print out with us.