Booked 1st Trip to Disney! Is this a good price?

[Trip 2 Disney]

I just booked our first trip to Disney through WDW travel company yesterday It is a 8 day trip for 2 adults & a 13 yo for mid May of this year. Total price including taxes & fees $3,039 includes:

• round trip air fair
• 8 MYW Base Tickets
• Accomodations at All-Star Music
• Dining plan
• Trip Insurance

This is my first time planning a Disney trip & would like to know how well I did. Recommendations on how I can do better are welcome.

 

[Turk February]

Did you use the 20% off room deal they're currently running for the values at that time?

 

[Trip 2 Disney]

Did you use the 20% off room deal they're currently running for the values at that time?

I used a special pin I received via email for 35% off value resorts. Hotel stay went from $105 to $68 a night with the exception of Friday & Saturday which I believe went from $120 to $78. I believe I saved around $300 on the room.

 

[Turk February]

Sounds like you did great then!

 

[Trip 2 Disney]

Sounds like you did great then!

Thanks! I think I am trying to come to terms with spending near $1000 on the dining plan. That seems like a lot for a family of 3 to spend on meals in 1 week. My grocery budget for the month does not come any where close to that. But I have been told that meals are very expensive at Disney especially when you add in the character meals.

 

[Turk February]

I assume you chose the regular dining plan that gives you 1 quick service meal, 1 table meal and 1 snack per day? It does sound like a lot, but trust me, if you want to eat at sit-down restaurants once a day, it's worth it. You can easily have a meal that covers your entire days expense. The character meals alone will most likely cover the $46/day!

If you haven't already, you should start making your dining reservations ASAP. You're allowed to do so 180 days prior to the date, so tables are already filling up!

 

[Trip 2 Disney]

I assume you chose the regular dining plan that gives you 1 quick service meal, 1 table meal and 1 snack per day? It does sound like a lot, but trust me, if you want to eat at sit-down restaurants once a day, it's worth it. You can easily have a meal that covers your entire days expense. The character meals alone will most likely cover the $46/day!

If you haven't already, you should start making your dining reservations ASAP. You're allowed to do so 180 days prior to the date, so tables are already filling up!

We did choose the regular dining plan. I plan to make my ADRs later this evening. Thanks for responding to my post!

 

[savvywifey]

look pretty good to me

 

[TeacherDL]

Looks like you did a good job to me! Have fun!!!

 

[Trip 2 Disney]

@ savvywifey & TeacherDL Thank you for the feedback.

 

[kalee45]

Did you ask about Free Dining? May not be better than the room discount but may be worth the call.

 

[Macgyver91]

Sounds like a good deal to me too. If you haven't paid it off already, then wait until the last minute to pay off the balance just incase a better deal comes along. I always lock ours in and pay on it monthly and then pay off the remainder just before the deadline. Sometimes something better comes along and sometimes not...just never know. Did you look into park hopper passes? We use ours TONS! If a park is full then you can slip into another one and then back to the one you started at if you want or hop somewhere totally different. With as many days as you guys are staying, you wouldn't really notice the cost. The dining plan is great and some of the quick service places have enough food that you guys can share...thus spreading our your QS meals!

You will have a great time!!

 

[Singinglizzie]

The Disney dining plan is great, especially if you like sit down restaurants, but you could save a few hundred if you switch to the quick service dinning plan. The benefit here would be that you wouldn't need to make advance reservations, just show up to any food court and spend your meal credits. Plus you get a refillable mug. And no tipping is required. I've done both plans, and each one has it's plus and minuses. IMHO the best places for counter service restaurants are at Downtown Disney, Epcot and the Allstars- where you will be staying. Of course, maybe that is not what you want, but it is a way to save if that is what you are looking for!

 

[KELLY]

The Disney dining plan is great, especially if you like sit down restaurants, but you could save a few hundred if you switch to the quick service dinning plan. The benefit here would be that you wouldn't need to make advance reservations, just show up to any food court and spend your meal credits. Plus you get a refillable mug. And no tipping is required. I've done both plans, and each one has it's plus and minuses. IMHO the best places for counter service restaurants are at Downtown Disney, Epcot and the Allstars- where you will be staying. Of course, maybe that is not what you want, but it is a way to save if that is what you are looking for!

It looks good to me.

This is our breakdown so you can compare
Kids free promo I have 2 so this works out better for us missed FD
9/24 to 10/2 8 nights
POP standard room
7 day base ticket
QSDP
2100.00
I think air will run us another 1000.00.

As with you the dining plan is what add's to our cost. We only do 2 Ts meals one being T-rex so the regular plan don't work for us. Plus we save on tips in the end.

 

[Trip 2 Disney]

Did you ask about Free Dining? May not be better than the room discount but may be worth the call.

I thought that you had to book your trip before the end of 2010 to qualify for the free dining plan. I would have booked during this time frame but the dates covered under the free dining plan did not cover the dates we are going. It doesn't hurt to call and ask so I will give them a call later today.

 

[Trip 2 Disney]

Sounds like a good deal to me too. If you haven't paid it off already, then wait until the last minute to pay off the balance just incase a better deal comes along. I always lock ours in and pay on it monthly and then pay off the remainder just before the deadline. Sometimes something better comes along and sometimes not...just never know. Did you look into park hopper passes? We use ours TONS! If a park is full then you can slip into another one and then back to the one you started at if you want or hop somewhere totally different. With as many days as you guys are staying, you wouldn't really notice the cost. The dining plan is great and some of the quick service places have enough food that you guys can share...thus spreading our your QS meals!

You will have a great time!!

Thanks for the advice! We have not paid for our trip yet but we were planning on calling to make a payment for the remaining balance today. After reading your post we will make our monthly payments and see if something better comes up. Since it is our first trip to WDW we did not get park hoppers. We decided that we will add the park hoppers once we are at the park if we need them. If we have not determined a need for them by the 2nd day we will not be adding them.

 

[Trip 2 Disney]

The Disney dining plan is great, especially if you like sit down restaurants, but you could save a few hundred if you switch to the quick service dinning plan. The benefit here would be that you wouldn't need to make advance reservations, just show up to any food court and spend your meal credits. Plus you get a refillable mug. And no tipping is required. I've done both plans, and each one has it's plus and minuses. IMHO the best places for counter service restaurants are at Downtown Disney, Epcot and the Allstars- where you will be staying. Of course, maybe that is not what you want, but it is a way to save if that is what you are looking for!

We will be staying at All-Star Music. Switching to the quick service plan would save us around $230 but if we were to do 2 character meals at say $35 each ($210) then I am only looking at a savings of around $20. Which seems like the dining plan would be a better deal.

I haven't finalized all of our dining plans yet. Once I take a closer look at the menus and estimated cost it tell me if I should switch to quick serve or stick with the dining plan.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Trip 2 Disney]

It looks good to me.

This is our breakdown so you can compare
Kids free promo I have 2 so this works out better for us missed FD
9/24 to 10/2 8 nights
POP standard room
7 day base ticket
QSDP
2100.00
I think air will run us another 1000.00.

As with you the dining plan is what add's to our cost. We only do 2 Ts meals one being T-rex so the regular plan don't work for us. Plus we save on tips in the end.

Thanks for the comparison. I wish my DD was younger so that we could have taken advantage of the kids free promo. Free dining would have been great for us as well but our dates didn't fall into the correct dates and I believe you had to book your trip before the end of Dec 2010.

Overall it seems that we booked our trip for a good price. Thanks for the feedback.