Hey Pam~
Those books sound great!!! OMG, I am addicted to the creative disigns board with the tshirts. I had a few created, and then did so many myself!!! AC Moore (a craft store here incase you don't have one) had tshirts on sale this week 5 fo $10- I was so excited- I might go back tomorrow and get more!!!
Anyway, I have used the dining plan twice. The regular
DDP last year once, when me, Bill, and Austin went for the first time together. And the QSDP just came out this year- and I used that in June when me and a couple of gf's went for a few days. And I have to tell you, the regular DDP was nice, but I think I would take the QSDP any day.
#1. Food on the regular DDP is expensive. You figure Bill and I went to the Grand Floridian Cafe for dinner and our plates were about 30.00/pp plus drinks, plus dessert, plus tax- even though its included in the DDP- that's what your basing your tip on. You figure abou 20% of 100.00- so our tip there was $20.00-it adds up.
#2 You need to make reservations. And character places-such as the Crystal Palace, are very crowded. We had like a 5:30 reservation, and weren't seated for like another 20 min. With the QSDP, you can just walk right in at your own convenience.
#3 The Mugs. The mugs that I simply cannot do without. For the regular DDP, there are 6 in your family plus tax times about 13.00. Thats about 100.00 for mugs. In ths QSDP- they are free!!!
#4 Snack Credits. The regular DDP only includes 1, while the QSDP includes two. If your family is anything like mine- we used ours for breakfast all the time. The size of the bagels, danishes, muffins, or cereals was just perfect for us- plus filling our mugs up and we did not have to buy a drink
Then, you can use the other one for a midday or midnite snack
Totally up to you- but from my opinion- I only have a family of three, and I would not spend the extra money to upgrade. 800.00 sounds like alot to upgrade or even tipping if it is offered free. That is totally up to you though. Remember, you can always do a surprise character dinner or lunch (lunch is cheaper- example HS's Playhouse Disney Hollywood and Vine Play and Dine) for about 18-20.00 pp.
Which leads me to my last tip. I have learned something from my past two vacations. And that is how to save money at WDW.
Preferred rooms. If you are staying only a few nights (like three, it is only abou 50.00), and I guess that is ok. We stayed in the Dalmation buildings at ASM last year in the preferred section. What I did not realize is that the Dalmation buildings and Toy Story buildings have non preferred sections only a few steps away from the preferred. When I stayed at POP this past June, we stayed in the bowling pins preferred- same thing. Each of the resorts has about 3 preferred sections- that have nonpreferred sections, and then two other nonpreferred sections out in the middle of nowhere. So, next time I book (I always call in and request what building I want), I think we are going to POP, I am going non preferred and requesting to stay in the 60's building (right behind the food court), with a pool view. That way if I make the ressie far enough out (most people don't think to put in requests), I may just as well get it, and I don't have to shell out over 100.00 just to walk a few extra steps. Hopefully, that helps and I made some sense out of that- but it really is a useful and money saving tip
And one last thing (I know I'm a talker, but I love talking Disney). I probably won't do this until Austin is a little older, but since you are thinking of staying in Orlando and visiting Universal Studios, I seen this commercial last night for the Nickelodeon Suites- and let me tell you, they looked awesome
They run promotions- they have 2 waterparks on the grounds and all kinds of activities for your kids. You should definitely look into this. The rooms are nickelodeon themed as well.
Ok enough for tonight-- and sweet disney dreams to all
!!!!!