BB FD vs Room Only Discount - Is my Math OK?

[lady_hlh]

I already booked a 6 night stay with the BB free dining starting 8/18 for 2 adults and 2 kids over 10 and I'm calculating the savings on that as $1334.16. I thought maybe we would be better off with the 30% room rate discount earlier in August but I see $339 as the room rate at CR for garden wing standard view and I'm only coming up with a savings of $610.20. Is my math on all this correct? I definitely want to keep the dining plan because we are letting my DD bring her girlfriend and it will be easier to have the dining prepaid.

 

[nonsmom]

It usually is cheaper in most of the deluxe resorts, with the exception of WL & AKL to do the % off room, but given the fact that DD & her friend are over 10, I would call. I too have the BB for free dining & have 2 DS's 7 & 10. When I inquired about WL it is better with the BB, but for CR it was better for us with the % off room. If u do the % off you cam still buy the dining plan.

I decided to save the $ on the hotel & stay longer so I went with POFQ & kept the BB. Hope this helps.

 

[lady_hlh]

I know I was surprised that the BB FD came out cheaper but I think it is because in reality we are paying for 4 adults now. If we wanted to stay at YC again and only do the QS dining plan I think the % offer would be a better deal but the CR garden wing rooms aren't that much more expensive than AKL or WL.

 

[mommyrosa2]

I know I was surprised that the BB FD came out cheaper but I think it is because in reality we are paying for 4 adults now. If we wanted to stay at YC again and only do the QS dining plan I think the % offer would be a better deal but the CR garden wing rooms aren't that much more expensive than AKL or WL.

We are a family of 4 adults (my oldest is now 18) and FD ALWAYS saves us more than any room only discount, even a 40% off room only discount but that's because we would be getting the DP either way. There are some folks who do better with the room only, ie: no DP, sharing meals, doing more CS meals, etc., but not us.
We booked the FD BB for this August too but then had the opportunity to get a room only discount of 40% (CM discount) so I too had to make a comparison...here's mine:
FD BB offer 8/18-8/25, at BC Resort GV room, 8 days, PH passes, 4 adults = $4608.25
40% room only offer 8/18-8/25 @ BC, GV room = $1854.25 + 1517.84 (ph passes) + $1556.52 (reg DP) = $4928.61
difference: 320.36 savings by using the FD BB - not a HUGE savings, but a savings nonetheless.

Now, this year, we ended up having to scale back to a moderate so we ended booking CSR, business class and here's how we ended up:

FD BB offer (same dates as above) @ CSR, business class, 8 dy PH, 4 adults = 3452.98

40% room only offer (same dates) @ CSR, business class=1161.00 + 1517.84 (PH passes) + 1556.52 (Reg DP) = 4235.36

difference: $782.38 savings
Now, some can argue that they can eat cheaper than the DP, and while that may be true, our family can't... we've gone with and without the DP and we've always spent more OOP without it. BUT, we typically eat like the reg DP is designed...we don't share meals, we like desserts and we like having our sit down meals for dinners. When we vacation, food is a huge part of our overall experience. Now, I will say that I intend to save an additional 10% off my package by paying for it with Disney GC that I'll get at target using my Red card 5% savings and the extra 5% pharmacy rewards so that 3452.98 will come down to 3107.68, for an additional $345 savings

 

[lady_hlh]

Thanks for showing me how your numbers worked out for 4 adults. We got a 40% PIN when our DD was younger and that saved us more than FD so I was surprised that FD could be the best deal. I'm so glad that I went ahead and booked the FD BB last year, I'll definitely be calling the BB # this again year to see what they are offering when we are there in August.

 

[mommyrosa2]

Thanks for showing me how your numbers worked out for 4 adults. We got a 40% PIN when our DD was younger and that saved us more than FD so I was surprised that FD could be the best deal. I'm so glad that I went ahead and booked the FD BB last year, I'll definitely be calling the BB # this again year to see what they are offering when we are there in August.

I'm definitely hoping that there will be another FD BB when we're there in August as well since my youngest DD has already informed us that she wants a week's stay at the Poly next year for her sweet 16 present

 

[lady_hlh]

I'm definitely hoping that there will be another FD BB when we're there in August as well since my youngest DD has already informed us that she wants a week's stay at the Poly next year for her sweet 16 present

Your DD has good taste, the Poly is my dream resort but we still haven't made it there yet. My DH and I think my DD are both dying to stay at the GF some year. Last year we downgraded to a mod and those 2 told me they only want to stay at deluxes from now on

 

[mickeynut1]

I already booked a 6 night stay with the BB free dining starting 8/18 for 2 adults and 2 kids over 10 and I'm calculating the savings on that as $1334.16. I thought maybe we would be better off with the 30% room rate discount earlier in August but I see $339 as the room rate at CR for garden wing standard view and I'm only coming up with a savings of $610.20. Is my math on all this correct? I definitely want to keep the dining plan because we are letting my DD bring her girlfriend and it will be easier to have the dining prepaid.

We are a deluxe family of 4 (all adults) and sometimes FD comes out to be the better deal over a room discount. Some people think it's automatic that a room discount at a deluxe will always be the best deal over FD, but that is not always the case. Everyone needs to run the numbers for their individual situation as there are several factors involved. Depending on the number of people in the room, their ages, resort, room type, and time of year, FD can (and sometimes does) save more money. It looks like you are saving quite a bit more with FD than you would with the room discount .