Hey all,
Just wondering - does everyone know that some
major room discounts were released today through 10/2? I guess it depends on where you're staying whether it's worth taking the room discount vs. doing FD. My TA was ready to book the
free dining first thing this morning, but quickly moved to do the math when she received word of the new resort discounts and sure enough, it saved me more money with the room discount!
I didn't really want the
DDP until I found it was free. But now, it's cheaper to use the room discount and PAID dining (We're staying at Beach Club) vs. doing the FD and rack room rates. My package went down by almost $350! If I wanted to really save I could cancel the paid DDP and save $1200 off the original package - but we'd still have to pay for food out of pocket and I think we will get our money's worth with the DDP. It's pretty much a wash, so I'm keeping the DDP.
I would
definitely check out the new offers on the rooms - they are much better than the summer offers. I saved 40% on BCR - the room came out to about $200 a night for the first six nights of our trip! That's a steal, believe me. The things that made it a savings for me was 1) I'm staying at a deluxe hotel so the price and discount are higher and 2) I have three children under 10, which is much cheaper per day than the adult rate my husband and I are for DDP.
Good luck everyone -
please check this out and do the math!! It might be worth it to take the room discount over the FD.
PS - I have to mention TA's - just reading this thread about everyone's hellish early morning and stress getting through to Disney made me SO glad I'm using my TA! Don't let AAA keep you from using a TA for Disney again. I got all kinds of warnings about working with AAA for Disney so I avoided them. I'm using Small World Vacations (very popular) and unlike AAA, all of their TA's do WDW exclusively. They are constantly monitoring the discounts and are working on them before you even hear about them - I got an e-mail at 7:15 about this new room discount and telling me that she was working on refiguring the package, and she was on the phone with Disney. She got back to me within a few hours and it was done. The other great thing is she could put the package on hold for me, without booking it, until 5/10! So I had many days to decide...but of course I booked it on the spot. It was glorious...
Also, a TA doesn't cost a dime and you don't have to relinquish full control, at least at SMV. I am also a vacation control freak, and I've been doing my ADR's b/c I booked "late" and I'm within the 180 day window.

The TA is happy to do them if you give them the info, but the ones I need are a bit picked over and it's just easier for me to do it as I plan our schedule. Finally - my TA was in touch with me via email starting Friday when I first talked to her, had a package within hours sent to me, and continued to tweak it and answered all my crazy e-mails over the weekend. She is ON top of it.

I love that she is booking it all and dealing with Disney - I jusst e-mailed her my flight itinerary and she will set up Magical Express for us too...

I told her I'd continue to stalk her for info on WDW!
