2013 OKW with dining .. good deal ???

[Daisy_Mum]

I am pricing up a holiday for 2013 August in a OKW studio with the free dining offer. Price will be 162 per night for the studio.
Is this a good price ? I have been reading that people have booked for around 120 per night for this year's stay in August. Seems there is a huge increase for 2013 or will prices go down if I wait ?
When is a good time to book ? Thanks in advance !

 

[wayneg]

I am pricing up a holiday for 2013 August in a OKW studio with the free dining offer. Price will be 162 per night for the studio.
Is this a good price ? I have been reading that people have booked for around 120 per night for this year's stay in August. Seems there is a huge increase for 2013 or will prices go down if I wait ?
When is a good time to book ? Thanks in advance !

Quite complex, where to start?
We have done this deal for the past 3 years, this August will be the 4th time. Its costing us £118/nt with Complete Orlando, Disney were more expensive.

You are not paying £162/nt as you have to buy the tickets also, this then gives you a discount on the room. They also give you a giftcard and you get 3% cashback thru Quidco http://www.quidco.com/disney-world/?ac
Taking all this into account I worked it out to cost £142/nt if I remember correctly (if you search back you might find the thread I posted in)

Complete Orlando have not released prices for next August yet, again if I remember correctly they are rumoured to be about £132/nt but you would have to wait for a definite price. This year they were lowest prices and no messing with giftcards and cashback.

Will Disney drop their price? they never have before so I don't expect them to now but you can never rule anything out, they might increase benefits (higher value giftcard and/or higher cahback) but can't see them lowering prices.

Finally do you 100% want to stay onsite? even though we have really enjoyed our stays at OKW I think this year will be the last, even if its £132/nt next year with CO its too high for us, we can stay and eat offsite for about £90/night for 3 of us. If you definitely want onsite its still a very good deal.

 

[starrysky]

I agree with you Wayne the prices for next year really put us off booking the option again.

We are thinking that if we do go back again it will be back to POFQ and upgrade to the DDP. Thats a whole lot cheaper than the OKW option.

 

[Annabell]

we are in the same boat and still deciding...

 

[wayneg]

I agree with you Wayne the prices for next year really put us off booking the option again.

We are thinking that if we do go back again it will be back to POFQ and upgrade to the DDP. Thats a whole lot cheaper than the OKW option.

OKW would cost us £4,083 for 21 nights with tix, less 3% = £3961
POFQ upgrade to DDP £4,055, less 3% = £3,933
Only £28 or £1.33/nt cheaper for us.

 

[paulh]

rent points of a dvc member? pay us$ for dinning plan £12 per day cheaper(on this years prices).And no need to buy park tickets to get dinning plan.
Paul

 

[Daisy_Mum]

Finally do you 100% want to stay onsite? .

We don't really need to stay onsite, we enjoy staying offsite as well. It all depends on cost and value for money.

 

[Daisy_Mum]

rent points of a dvc member? pay us$ for dinning plan £12 per day cheaper(on this years prices).And no need to buy park tickets to get dinning plan.
Paul

I have looked into that but with the free dining offer, I would think that is a better deal than using DVC points.

 

[wayneg]

rent points of a dvc member? pay us$ for dinning plan £12 per day cheaper(on this years prices).And no need to buy park tickets to get dinning plan.
Paul

Looked into it for next July, have I got roughly the correct prices Paul?
324 points @ $10? = £3,240 = £2,025
$53.54 x 3 x 21 nights = $3,373 = £2,108 (2012 prices)

More than Disney UK with 3 x 21 day tickets included.

Might be an option worth looking into for some though.

 

[paulh]

Looked into it for next July, have I got roughly the correct prices Paul?
324 points @ $10? = £3,240 = £2,025
$53.54 x 3 x 21 nights = $3,373 = £2,108 (2012 prices)

More than Disney UK with 3 x 21 day tickets included.

Might be an option worth looking into for some though.

For 2 weeks OKW say 216 points @ $10 per pint = £1350
DDP $51.54 per night (2012 prices) = £450 per person
Flights would say indirect around £580 per person
4 Adults = £1368 per person = £98 per night per person
Then add cost of park tickets flex £245
making per day come in to £115.5
OP was asking for 14 nights
Paul

 

[wayneg]

For 2 weeks OKW say 216 points @ $10 per pint = £1350
DDP $51.54 per night (2012 prices) = £450 per person
Flights would say indirect around £580 per person
4 Adults = £1368 per person = £98 per night per person
Then add cost of park tickets flex £245
making per day come in to £115.5
OP was asking for 14 nights
Paul

Working on 14 nights in August when the DDP drops slightly I just compared for the 3 of us.

Disney.co.uk with 14 day tix = £2,892 less 3% Quidco = £2,805 + $200(£125) giftcard which means the package is actually costing £2,680

Renting points = £1,350
3 x DDP @ £450 = £1,350
Total £2,700 without our tickets.

Add a 4th person and the deal gets even worse for renting points as the room still costs the same, to pay for DDP costs £450 yet to add to a Disney.co.uk package it would only cost £245 for a ticket (less discount & cashback)

Maybe I am missing something but I can't get renting points to come anywhere near the OKW Disney.co.uk deal.
I expect the saving will be even greater when Complete Orlando release their prices

 

[Portugal1000]

Can't believe how prices have increased. We have stayed 3 times at SSR in August with free dining. Last year we paid

£3730 for 2 adults and 2 children (10 years so adult ticket and DDP) for a 1 bed villa for 19 nights

This year we decided it was just too expensive and are staying at Wyndhams Bonnet Creek in a 2 bed villa (right next door to Carribean Beach) Great resort. This will be our 4th stay but usually stay there in December. Paying $130 a night for 21 nights so total is £1730. On this years prices we worked out that we would be have to spend about £2000 on food to make it cheaper to stay at SSR. We would never do that.

Just priced up next year and Disney for 21 nights in August and they want £5392 -3% cash back and gift card makes it £5106 for a 1 bed.

Bonnet Creek would be £1730, tickets £984 = Total £2714
So would have to spend £2400 on food for it to be a better deal to stay at SSR. Also have to take into account that we have twice the space at Bonnet Creek in a superior room to SSR.

I love both resorts but just cant justify the cost anymore. Love the DDP but I don't think its as good as it use to be and we also love lots of the offsite restaurants.

 

[Elise79]

Working on 14 nights in August when the DDP drops slightly I just compared for the 3 of us.

Disney.co.uk with 14 day tix = £2,892 less 3% Quidco = £2,805 + $200(£125) giftcard which means the package is actually costing £2,680

Renting points = £1,350
3 x DDP @ £450 = £1,350
Total £2,700 without our tickets.

Add a 4th person and the deal gets even worse for renting points as the room still costs the same, to pay for DDP costs £450 yet to add to a Disney.co.uk package it would only cost £245 for a ticket (less discount & cashback)

Maybe I am missing something but I can't get renting points to come anywhere near the OKW Disney.co.uk deal.
I expect the saving will be even greater when Complete Orlando release their prices

Your right Wayne - renting points (even with next years price hike) is not a good deal.

We are DVC members but want to spend our longer summer trip at OKW (looking for a short trip at Easter & Xmas using our points at BLT) so I looked at the cost of renting the points vs paying Disney UK.

We wanted 2 weeks in a one bedroom:
444 points @ $10 = $4440
Food money - $125 x 14 = $1750 (wouldn't buy the DDP as it is too much hassle for the savings plus we have a TIW but allowed similar amount to make a fair comparison)

Total - $6190 ~ £3995

Disney.co.uk package (includes tickets which wouldn't be used for DH & I, DD will be upgraded to an AP as her renewal date is different) £3500 roughly after cash back.

With the savings I would have to be tipping $40 per TS to be worse off and I know our usual tips are no where in that range!

 

[Portugal1000]

Your right Wayne - renting points (even with next years price hike) is not a good deal.

We are DVC members but want to spend our longer summer trip at OKW (looking for a short trip at Easter & Xmas using our points at BLT) so I looked at the cost of renting the points vs paying Disney UK.

We wanted 2 weeks in a one bedroom:
444 points @ $10 = $4440
Food money - $125 x 14 = $1750 (wouldn't buy the DDP as it is too much hassle for the savings plus we have a TIW but allowed similar amount to make a fair comparison)

Total - $6190 ~ £3995

Disney.co.uk package (includes tickets which wouldn't be used for DH & I, DD will be upgraded to an AP as her renewal date is different) £3500 roughly after cash back.

With the savings I would have to be tipping $40 per TS to be worse off and I know our usual tips are no where in that range!

I knew there was something I was forgetting. Last year on DDP we were tipping at least $30 a day. My husband kept reminding me that we could eat somewhere else for less than the tip (did love the DDP though) So I guess for 21 nights thats atleast another $630 or £390 on top. At this rate I can't see that we will ever be staying at SSR again

 

[starrysky]

OKW would cost us £4,083 for 21 nights with tix, less 3% = £3961
POFQ upgrade to DDP £4,055, less 3% = £3,933
Only £28 or £1.33/nt cheaper for us.

Its just me and DH so it does work out a little better for us. But TBH I am not sure if we would bother with the upgrade to the DDP. We managed fine on the CS one before. Paying oop would work out cheaper for us having done a bit more math on it.

DH is now thinking a cruise and a week stay next year at POFQ so we will wait and see.

 

[wayneg]

I knew there was something I was forgetting. Last year on DDP we were tipping at least $30 a day. My husband kept reminding me that we could eat somewhere else for less than the tip (did love the DDP though) So I guess for 21 nights thats atleast another $630 or £390 on top. At this rate I can't see that we will ever be staying at SSR again

How many of you to tip $30 a day? we are 3 adults and tips were $16-20 per day at 18%. Only time we tipped $30 was for a signature meal. For 16 nights our total tips came to $257.29 and that included quite a few $5's at Wulfgang Puck Express.

 

[Portugal1000]

How many of you to tip $30 a day? we are 3 adults and tips were $16-20 per day at 18%. Only time we tipped $30 was for a signature meal. For 16 nights our total tips came to $257.29 and that included quite a few $5's at Wulfgang Puck Express.

Most of our table service meals were over $160 which is easy when alot of entree's are over $30. Add in dessert and a couple of beers, milkshakes and an 18% tip is in the region of $30. Also the buffets are around $40 I think the Disney restaurants are wildy over priced to make people think they are getting a great deal on the DDP. We also leave $5 at Wolfgang Puck. Our friends who have been couldn't believe we did that. They were on DDP and refused to leave more than $5 tip at table service meals. So I guess there are alot of different tippers out there! Do you leave same tip for buffet, say at Chef Mickey. My husband says we shouldn't but I just feel bad if I don't.

 

[wayneg]

Do you leave same tip for buffet, say at Chef Mickey. My husband says we shouldn't but I just feel bad if I don't.

Last year we were a party of 6 so 18% was automatically added. In the past when just 3 of us eating I would leave $10 at a buffet, more if the server goes above and beyond. In a buffet they serve far more tables and a regular TS plus they turn over a lot more people, they have a 1 hour turnover for a buffet meal, 90mins upto 2 hours for TS. The last time we ate at Ohana the server was trying to work 10 tables, he failed, I left $5.

 

[Elise79]

Glad we are not the only ones with bad service at Ohana. We are trying again for Breakfast this time but won't be back for dinner - it was even more over priced for the quality than most Disney restaurants - prefer to eat next door at Kona.

We usually have a TIW card so are used to an 18% automatic gratuity so on the DDP in Feb I just left the nearest round amount to 18% up or down depending on how good they were.