35% versus discounted dining?

[Susiequsie60]

OK - now I'm just confused. I'm thinking I might not have done this correctly.

On the Disney site there seem to be 2 different discounts for the upcoming winter months. Either a percentage off of room only, or the Play/Stay/Dine deal - which is what I booked (at the Wilderness Lodge.)

Did I do the right thing? Now I keep reading about all of these PIN codes (for free dining) and I was wondering if I should have booked the 35% off the room and hoped for a free dining PIN? I really want to have at least the discounted dining. We like the convenience of not having to worry about money out of pocket to pay for meals. It works well for us.

Do you all feel that I have any options even though I'm already booked? I'm not going to let myself get too crazy about it because I think I got a "decent" deal, but if I could make it even better I'd certainly like to!!!

FYI: This is probably our 6th or 7th trip, if that matters with the PINS. We're going from February 1-8, and staying at the Wilderness Lodge (first time in a Deluxe for us!!) Just the 2 of us to celebrate our 25th anniversary.

Thanks.

SQ

 

[eliza61]

OK - now I'm just confused. I'm thinking I might not have done this correctly.

On the Disney site there seem to be 2 different discounts for the upcoming winter months. Either a percentage off of room only, or the Play/Stay/Dine deal - which is what I booked (at the Wilderness Lodge.)

Did I do the right thing? Now I keep reading about all of these PIN codes (for free dining) and I was wondering if I should have booked the 35% off the room and hoped for a free dining PIN? I really want to have at least the discounted dining. We like the convenience of not having to worry about money out of pocket to pay for meals. It works well for us.

Do you all feel that I have any options even though I'm already booked? I'm not going to let myself get too crazy about it because I think I got a "decent" deal, but if I could make it even better I'd certainly like to!!!


Thanks.

SQ

From my understanding you cannot "combine" discounts. I've heard of ways to do this but the one and only time I tried to combine a free dining with a 35% off discount I was told no.

Not sure how it works with pins as I've never gotten one

Now as for which deal is better depends on your family and style. Our next trip we want to try the poly and since it's not a dvc resort (yet) I can't use my points.

a room discount is always the better deal for my family. a Poly room is ~433 per night in June when we think we'll be going. at 35% off that's a saving of ~150.00 a night. my family simply does not spend that much on food.

Now you already said you like the illusion of not having to think about food cost so I would probably stick with that. IMO some times having a "care free" vacation is worth the extra few bucks.

 

[Susiequsie60]

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know if I'd be able to "switch" my reservation to the 35% discount instead of the discount dining plan? Without any penalty I mean. I might just want to rethink it . . .

(Would certainly be easier to stick with our "low carb" way of eating if we're not feeling forced to consume all those yummy Disney snacks. I could be quite happy with chunks of cheese in my room. Hmmmmmmm.)

 

[aaarcher86]

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know if I'd be able to "switch" my reservation to the 35% discount instead of the discount dining plan? Without any penalty I mean. I might just want to rethink it . . . (Would certainly be easier to stick with our "low carb" way of eating if we're not feeling forced to consume all those yummy Disney snacks. I could be quite happy with chunks of cheese in my room. Hmmmmmmm.)

You can call them and ask them to price out the room discount for you. It may change what's available. It they can let you know your options. As far as switching it up, you're outside 45 days so you wouldn't have a change fee.

You can have a room only discount on a package so make sure they don't think you now want a room only reservation which would be canceling and rebooking.

 

[purple figment]

You can call and see what is available with the room rate discount. For us we have found that the room rate discount is better at a deluxe resort than a FD offer.

You would not be able to combine a room rate discount with a FD offer, but you can have a room rate discount with a paid dining plan.

 

[GovieMom]

We're staying at the CR in February, and the 35% RO discount saved us hundreds more than the S-P-D offer would have. We booked RO of course, and just added on the dining plan and tickets. Doing it that way was STILL less money than the S-P-D offer, which in our case was a joke.

 

[Susiequsie60]

So I did it - called WDW directly and changed the reservation. Now, we're at the Boardwalk Inn, 8 days, 7 nights - Park Hopper Tix (cause we love those) and NO dining plan. Saving over $700 from the same stay at the WL with the discounted dining plan (SDP or whatever those initials are.)

I know we'd enjoy the dining plan, but I also know we'd end up over-eating! We've done it before. I can't resist those darn treats when they're "free" for goodness sake.

I'd rather stay at the Boardwalk (which I'll admit is sort of my dream resort for some reason) and eat more in our own style. I know for a fact that even with the DP (and the aforementioned over-eating) we'd still be spending plenty of $ out of pocket. As other's have said, you need to know your own eating habits. I can adjust mine either way, and I think we'll do fine with this set-up. I have absolutely no problem with having some food in the room and eating breakfast and/or lunch there. I think I can take that $700 we saved, add a little bit more to it, and eat pretty well while we're there.

I think I'm going to LOVE being able to walk to 2 parks from our resort. Perfect for me. And since we'll have a car there, I'm not terribly concerned about buses. I might try them, but if it's a hassle, we're willing to just drive over to MK or AK.

I love my husband for being so understanding or my decision-making process! Guess that's why we've stayed married for 25 years, huh?

SQ

 

[MsThumper]

So I did it - called WDW directly and changed the reservation. Now, we're at the Boardwalk Inn, 8 days, 7 nights - Park Hopper Tix (cause we love those) and NO dining plan. Saving over $700 from the same stay at the WL with the discounted dining plan (SDP or whatever those initials are.)

I know we'd enjoy the dining plan, but I also know we'd end up over-eating! We've done it before. I can't resist those darn treats when they're "free" for goodness sake.

I'd rather stay at the Boardwalk (which I'll admit is sort of my dream resort for some reason) and eat more in our own style. I know for a fact that even with the DP (and the aforementioned over-eating) we'd still be spending plenty of $ out of pocket. As other's have said, you need to know your own eating habits. I can adjust mine either way, and I think we'll do fine with this set-up. I have absolutely no problem with having some food in the room and eating breakfast and/or lunch there. I think I can take that $700 we saved, add a little bit more to it, and eat pretty well while we're there.

I think I'm going to LOVE being able to walk to 2 parks from our resort. Perfect for me. And since we'll have a car there, I'm not terribly concerned about buses. I might try them, but if it's a hassle, we're willing to just drive over to MK or AK.

I love my husband for being so understanding or my decision-making process! Guess that's why we've stayed married for 25 years, huh?

SQ

I think you made a wise decision.

I will admit I don't know the first thing about Disney's dining plans, and every time I try to read about them, my brain glazes over. It is just DH and myself, and one of the reasons we like to go to WDW is so that we can dine at the "upscale" restaurants. We don't eat a big breakfast so we just have coffee and granola bars in the room. If we get tired of the granola bars, we might order something from room service and split it. If we don't have dinner reservations, then we will have a larger lunch, and maybe get room service for dinner. We like keeping our meals flexible. I don't like the feeling that I have to eat, or money that we paid will be wasted.

We stayed at WL for about 5 years in a row. I couldn't get DH to stay anywhere else, but when we started to go to the Food & Wine Festival (arriving this coming Sunday, yay), I finally got him to stay at YC. Now I can't get him to stay anywhere else, but we are going back to WL in February. We love WL, but your dining options are limited. We love the entire boardwalk area. We love to take a walk after dinner. He likes to get ice cream.

DH also loves the fact that he can park the car, and we don't have to drive again until we are ready to leave for home.

Hope you have a wonderful, magical trip.

 

[Susiequsie60]

Thank you so much Ms. Thumper. When our kids were young, we always went during the Food & Wine Festival. Not really because of the festival, but because our kids have a good part of that week of from school in NJ (Teacher's Conventions.) I hope you have a wonderful time.

I'm still pinching myself that I'm staying at the Boardwalk Inn!!!

SQ

 

[DJFan88]

So I did it - called WDW directly and changed the reservation. Now, we're at the Boardwalk Inn, 8 days, 7 nights - Park Hopper Tix (cause we love those) and NO dining plan. Saving over $700 from the same stay at the WL with the discounted dining plan (SDP or whatever those initials are.)

I know we'd enjoy the dining plan, but I also know we'd end up over-eating! We've done it before. I can't resist those darn treats when they're "free" for goodness sake.

I'd rather stay at the Boardwalk (which I'll admit is sort of my dream resort for some reason) and eat more in our own style. I know for a fact that even with the DP (and the aforementioned over-eating) we'd still be spending plenty of $ out of pocket. As other's have said, you need to know your own eating habits. I can adjust mine either way, and I think we'll do fine with this set-up. I have absolutely no problem with having some food in the room and eating breakfast and/or lunch there. I think I can take that $700 we saved, add a little bit more to it, and eat pretty well while we're there.

I think I'm going to LOVE being able to walk to 2 parks from our resort. Perfect for me. And since we'll have a car there, I'm not terribly concerned about buses. I might try them, but if it's a hassle, we're willing to just drive over to MK or AK.

I love my husband for being so understanding or my decision-making process! Guess that's why we've stayed married for 25 years, huh?

SQ

We get to try YC due to the discount and we usu. stay mod. so I'm excited as you!

We also take car but would not use it for MK as they drop you directly at MK in bus, but with car you have to go to TTC and either monorail or boat. And it's a pain at end of day.

We've done FD but also OOP and even making some ADR's and eating just whatever else, it works out great, esp. as we love lots of snacks and everyone loves differ. things.

Enjoy!

 

[GovieMom]

I'm still pinching myself that I'm staying at the Boardwalk Inn!!!

Sooo excited for you! That is an amazing place to celebrate your 25th; congrats!

 

[Susiequsie60]

Thanks for the well wishes.

Now I all I have to do is stay married until February 5!!! (Just kidding . . .)

SQ

 

[eliza61]

So I did it - called WDW directly and changed the reservation. Now, we're at the Boardwalk Inn, 8 days, 7 nights - Park Hopper Tix (cause we love those) and NO dining plan. Saving over $700 from the same stay at the WL with the discounted dining plan (SDP or whatever those initials are.)

I know we'd enjoy the dining plan, but I also know we'd end up over-eating! We've done it before. I can't resist those darn treats when they're "free" for goodness sake.

I'd rather stay at the Boardwalk (which I'll admit is sort of my dream resort for some reason) and eat more in our own style. I know for a fact that even with the DP (and the aforementioned over-eating) we'd still be spending plenty of $ out of pocket. As other's have said, you need to know your own eating habits. I can adjust mine either way, and I think we'll do fine with this set-up. I have absolutely no problem with having some food in the room and eating breakfast and/or lunch there. I think I can take that $700 we saved, add a little bit more to it, and eat pretty well while we're there.
I think I'm going to LOVE being able to walk to 2 parks from our resort. Perfect for me. And since we'll have a car there, I'm not terribly concerned about buses. I might try them, but if it's a hassle, we're willing to just drive over to MK or AK.

I love my husband for being so understanding or my decision-making process! Guess that's why we've stayed married for 25 years, huh?

SQ

You'll be fine and I think you will much more relaxed diners. When the ddp first came out, we like you thought that it would be nice not to "think" about what we ordered. In reality the opposite happened. When I did the ddp I stressed much more over what I ordered. mainly because I felt that if I did not order the most expensive dish or get the dessert I was "wasting" credits and therefor money.

We were amazed the first year we went without the ddp when we found out we spent waaay less. Why? because some times I simply wanted a salad instead of a big steak, we found that many times we were not hungry at lunch or some times we did a huge late breakfast/lunch so again we didn't need cs credits.

You'll love the Board walk, I just had my first stay there last month.

 

[Susiequsie60]

Eliza61 - It's that dessert that always gets me. I mean if it's "free" I have to have it, right? While I'm no going to be a crazy dieter at Disney, I really don't need to eat dessert every single day just because I feel I should.

The last time we went we got the actual "free" dining plan, and since it was 4 of us - with a big growing son - it was definitely worth it to have. Now that it's just us 2, I know we can eat for alot less, and not really have to skimp at all.

I'm feeling very very happy about my situation, and so is my husband.

SQ