November 2012 Trip planners #4~almost Disney time! Everyone welcome!

[TruBlu]

Are any of you guys doing the Candlelight Processional dinner package? Since the week we are going is supposed to be low crowd levels, I'm torn about paying the extra money. We want to see Neil Patrick Harris. Any advice???

[mommyof3princess27]

Originally Posted by Smileybug

Wow!! Thanks for all of the imput ya'll. I just sat hubby down and explained everything to him. I think we are going for the room discount and going to pay oop for the food.

We started with FD and then upgraded to DxDP DH does prefer two TS meals a day.(Which is why I upgraded to DxDP.) But with the DxDP I felt pushed to use those credits. So I did. It is just to many meals for us to comfortably eat every day. We do not have children going so we do not need the meal time to use as down time. I wish Disney offered a plan with 2 TS meals a day.



After typing this all out..........I'm still confused.

well i hope its a good discount and you enjoy it! I ahve been thinking about cutting some meals but cant find any to cut! We took out MM but thats about it

[kerriemiller]

Man!!! does anybody else have an excited and wonderfully anxious feeling about the possiblity of changeing around all there plans to get this room discount? I am all gitty and antsy. I guess planning is such a high for me its amost as good as the trip, almost

[mommyof3princess27]

Originally Posted by TruBlu

Are any of you guys doing the Candlelight Processional dinner package? Since the week we are going is supposed to be low crowd levels, I'm torn about paying the extra money. We want to see Neil Patrick Harris. Any advice???

We are seeing Neil Patrick Harris! I am sacrificing the 2 meal credits.... if you are doing inexpensive mealse like scifi or 50's or LTT (to name a few) maybe you could pay oop for those and just use 2 credits?

[mommyof3princess27]

Originally Posted by kerriemiller

Man!!! does anybody else have an excited and wonderfully anxious feeling about the possiblity of changeing around all there plans to get this room discount? I am all gitty and antsy. I guess planning is such a high for me its amost as good as the trip, almost

i wish i could but even with the discount of FDing and upgrading to DxDP, its still cheaper than a RO discount and upgrading to deluxe will cost us an extra $800 and i wont do it this trip maybe next time. I like the mods I wanna stay in POR in the RGR

[tigger30066]

Originally Posted by kerriemiller

Man!!! does anybody else have an excited and wonderfully anxious feeling about the possiblity of changeing around all there plans to get this room discount? I am all gitty and antsy. I guess planning is such a high for me its amost as good as the trip, almost

We switched. Free Dining was not a big draw for us since we stay at values. But we decided on a split stay at AoA LM and Music with the room only discount. Saved us $108. I know that does not seem like a lot but it is 20%. We are doing this trip on a budget. So that leaves us more spending money.

[squirrel4569]

Made a call on my drive in and as I suspected AoA LM isn't covered by the promotion. The suites are though, but upgrading, including the discount, would cost me an extra $1700 for our trip. I thought about asking what the discount at POP would be, since we stayed there last time and had a great stay there, but I think we really want to stay at AoA so it's worth the extra this time. I may play around with it a little to see if another resort would offer any significant upgrades or savings that could be redirected elsewhere. Still kind of wish that we could get the deal we got a couple of years ago when we went. We got a free dining discount that was enough savings that we were able to fly instead of drive. I don't mind driving but flying is so much easier. Going the week of Thanksgiving I'm not expecting to really find any deals. It seems to be what it is.

[ireneryan]

Originally Posted by disneychic2

Ohhhh! I just noticed I'm at exactly 3 months!!!

You've got to find little celebrations where you can!

I'm throwing a party for you!! I can't wait for our trips!!!!

[ireneryan]

Originally Posted by kerriemiller

Man!!! does anybody else have an excited and wonderfully anxious feeling about the possiblity of changeing around all there plans to get this room discount? I am all gitty and antsy. I guess planning is such a high for me its amost as good as the trip, almost

Yup Kerrie! I'm right there with you! You should have seen me yesterday, I was nearly deranged. I wasn't eligible for FD so it seemed like a no brainer to go for the RO discount, but then it wasn't eligible for the dates at my resort on any level. I wasn't ready to give up resort completely but I did manage to make a split stay work which really didn't save me enough money to justify the change but totally gave me a HUGE adrenaline rush to switch some things around to make it make more sense and go through and get rid of some things and add some new things. Downright Giddy I tell you!!!

[squirrel4569]

Originally Posted by FaerieFire

Here's a whole page on the finances of the DDP: http://blog.touringplans.com/2012/07...-plan-exposed/

°o° Lace — Planning our second WDW adventure, 11/1-12 AoA-LM (Sent from my iPad using DISBoards)

Not a bad article. Certainly worth reading if you aren't familiar with the DDP or are on the fence about it. When we went in 2010 we had the DxDP largely because we wanted a lot of table service meals as breaks for our kids and to get out of the heat. We found a lot of value in the package based on both what we would've paid had we paid full price for it and since we got the QSDP discount during the free dining promotion. The only time I recall really ordering something unusual or expensive was at CRT when I ordered duck. We had reservations for most things but also was able to walk up to a couple of places due to it being Labor Day week in September, traditionally the slowest week of the year.

This year we booked the DDP just based on the past experience. We decided to scale it back a little because our kids are older. With the addition of the refrigerators in the value rooms at no cost and the removal of cereal and milk as a snack item we'll just bring some milk & cereal with us and have breakfast in our room most days. The QS places do have an indoor seating area so lunch will be QS and then dinners will be TS. We will have one or two meals OOP, but since we're driving this time and will have a car they likely will be in town and not on property. I have a friend who owns a restaurant/bar in Orlando that I want to check out so we're using this trip as an opportunity to do that. I did a breakdown of the costs for meals alone based on prices listed on allears.net using Excel and we're set to save about $120 for the week, not counting the snacks.

We'll evaluate it on our next trip for sure because the trend seems to be that the cost to value ratio is diminishing, although the convenience of pre-paid meals on vacation is so relaxing. It's very nice to show up and know that it's all covered. When we go into a store we have to pay for souvenirs I know, but the rest of it is covered and that's so nice on vacation. Even if we had gift cards I know that in my mind I would be thinking "I could use this money on X instead of paying these outrageous prices for food." With the DDP you hardly look at the check, you just relax and enjoy your vacation.

[Smileybug]

Originally Posted by TruBlu

Are any of you guys doing the Candlelight Processional dinner package? Since the week we are going is supposed to be low crowd levels, I'm torn about paying the extra money. We want to see Neil Patrick Harris. Any advice???

I think the advice mommyof3 gave you is probably about the best option. I think it would be scary even during a "low crowd" time to try and see it without those reservations.

Originally Posted by mommyof3princess27

well i hope its a good discount and you enjoy it! I ahve been thinking about cutting some meals but cant find any to cut! We took out MM but thats about it

Not sure what to do just yet. Gotta think, gotta think.

Originally Posted by kerriemiller

Man!!! does anybody else have an excited and wonderfully anxious feeling about the possiblity of changeing around all there plans to get this room discount? I am all gitty and antsy. I guess planning is such a high for me its amost as good as the trip, almost

I do!!

Originally Posted by mommyof3princess27

We are seeing Neil Patrick Harris! I am sacrificing the 2 meal credits.... if you are doing inexpensive mealse like scifi or 50's or LTT (to name a few) maybe you could pay oop for those and just use 2 credits?

I can't really think of any other way.

Originally Posted by squirrel4569

Made a call on my drive in and as I suspected AoA LM isn't covered by the promotion. The suites are though, but upgrading, including the discount, would cost me an extra $1700 for our trip. I thought about asking what the discount at POP would be, since we stayed there last time and had a great stay there, but I think we really want to stay at AoA so it's worth the extra this time. I may play around with it a little to see if another resort would offer any significant upgrades or savings that could be redirected elsewhere. Still kind of wish that we could get the deal we got a couple of years ago when we went. We got a free dining discount that was enough savings that we were able to fly instead of drive. I don't mind driving but flying is so much easier. Going the week of Thanksgiving I'm not expecting to really find any deals. It seems to be what it is.

Doesn't ever hurt to check things out. But if your family is set on AoA and you are prepared financially for it .... I would just stay put and enjoy it.

Originally Posted by tigger30066

We switched. Free Dining was not a big draw for us since we stay at values. But we decided on a split stay at AoA LM and Music with the room only discount. Saved us $108. I know that does not seem like a lot but it is 20%. We are doing this trip on a budget. So that leaves us more spending money.

Extra spending $$ is always a plus no matter how you look at it.

Originally Posted by ireneryan

I'm throwing a party for you!! I can't wait for our trips!!!!

Can I join in?

Originally Posted by ireneryan

Yup Kerrie! I'm right there with you! You should have seen me yesterday, I was nearly deranged. I wasn't eligible for FD so it seemed like a no brainer to go for the RO discount, but then it wasn't eligible for the dates at my resort on any level. I wasn't ready to give up resort completely but I did manage to make a split stay work which really didn't save me enough money to justify the change but totally gave me a HUGE adrenaline rush to switch some things around to make it make more sense and go through and get rid of some things and add some new things. Downright Giddy I tell you!!!

I'm so glad this worked out for you!!

[kerriemiller]

I knew I was in like company


I may have conviced hubby to switch to club level. I shouldnt complain but man he will not stay in anything less then a 1 br suite ANY where. Every hotel we stay at has to have a seperate bedroom. I REALLY want to say club level!!!

[Smileybug]

Originally Posted by kerriemiller

I knew I was in like company


I may have conviced hubby to switch to club level. I shouldnt complain but man he will not stay in anything less then a 1 br suite ANY where. Every hotel we stay at has to have a seperate bedroom. I REALLY want to say club level!!!

I can sure understand the want of a suite with children. That would be a hard decision to make.

[princesshope1982]

Originally Posted by mommyof3princess27

ok Smileybug now you and AquaDame have the flashy things under your name! I want one too!

how do you get a flashy thing?

[Smileybug]

Originally Posted by princesshope1982

how do you get a flashy thing?

You take part in the wrong thread at the wrong time.