Best Discount Offer

[SweetPeasMom2]

What is the best way to figure out which discount offer is best for your family? There are so many different offers - % off, free dining, kids play/stay free. What is the best way to determine the best offer for you?

 

[mom2cinderella]

I made up an excel spreadsheet with various scenarios.

 

[SweetPeasMom2]

How did you figure it out? Would you mind sharing your spreadsheet?

 

[Scooby2002]

This is a great topic, I am interested to know this as well.

 

[mom2cinderella]

I didn't save my spreadsheet and it was a hot mess! Maybe a tech savvy DISer could come up with one.....

Anyway.

One area was for park tickets. We have our plane tickets already so this was a set number. You could have a selection of days, with or without hopping, waterparks option.

One area for the dining plan. Again, our number of days is already known so this was a fixed amount. You could have a selection of days, quick service plan, deluxe plan.

One area was what I thought we would actually purchase on the dining plan. I looked at our ADRs, and came up with good averages for snacks and quick service meals. That was really eye opening. I knew with a lot of character breakfast buffets scheduled we wouldn't maximize the plan, but I didn't realize we'd come up $600 short.

The last area was for hotel costs. Plugged in the cost for several resorts we are interested in and then had columns of what the rooms would cost with various percentages off.

I was just trying to figure out whether free dining or a room discount would be better but for planning purposes you could include a transportation and souvenir area too.

I wish I was tech savvy enough to make a website where people could just plug in their numbers and it would spit out several options.

 

[lilclerk]

One area was what I thought we would actually purchase on the dining plan. I looked at our ADRs, and came up with good averages for snacks and quick service meals. That was really eye opening. I knew with a lot of character breakfast buffets scheduled we wouldn't maximize the plan, but I didn't realize we'd come up $600 short.

Wow! I need to do this. It's tough to narrow down prices since we don't do many buffets, but I'm not sure we're going to get the most out of the DDP if we don't get it free. We might be better off getting a prepaid Visa instead.

I know the free DDP is the better discount for us over a % off since we're two adults in a value.

This might be my project for tomorrow.

 

[SweetPeasMom2]

Ok, I knew I had seen something out there. But couldn't remember where. And I think it initially was just a planner for the dining plan. But this now has the room only discount on there, so you can compare the 2 and determine which is best for you.

I don't know if I can post the link here though. I don't know who this person is. They ask you to sign-up for free for their site. But the spreadsheet is a free download.