Budgeting a fall trip

[BrownMomma7]

Help!! I am seeing multiple rumors on various threads that FD should make an appearance in September this year. Yay!! How can I get a rough estimate of room charges to try to budget which hotel will better suit our family?
Thanks for any help!

 

[ReneeA]

Help!! I am seeing multiple rumors on various threads that FD should make an appearance in September this year. Yay!! How can I get a rough estimate of room charges to try to budget which hotel will better suit our family?
Thanks for any help!

The best way is to go to the Disney website, enter your dates, the resort you're interested in, and tickets. Don't accept any discounts offered on their website now, as free dining requires full rack rate on resorts and at least 2 day base tickets per person. Once all of this is in your "cart", you'll have your total. You can switch out resort, type of tickets, views, etc. to get an idea of the range of prices you could pay. Remember that typically, quick service dining plan is included with value resorts and regular dining plan with moderates and deluxes. If you are thinking deluxes, also remember that sometimes you'll save more taking a room discount rather than free dining. It's all about running the numbers. Have fun with it!

 

[BrownMomma7]

Thanks! Is there information anywhere on what resorts or sections that might not be included?
Also, if I choose value for free QS vs. moderate, the pay to upgrade DP would that be the difference between the two plans?

 

[jiminykrikkit]

Thanks! Is there information anywhere on what resorts or sections that might not be included?
Also, if I choose value for free QS vs. moderate, the pay to upgrade DP would that be the difference between the two plans?

I'm not exactly sure what you're asking, but this thread lists the upgrade costs:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2772063

 

[ReneeA]

Thanks! Is there information anywhere on what resorts or sections that might not be included?
Also, if I choose value for free QS vs. moderate, the pay to upgrade DP would that be the difference between the two plans?

Nope. All of the resort selections have a limited amount of discount rooms...as in, some resorts or resort sections may not be included or sale rooms may become sold out. I know that AOA Little Mermaid rooms are often excluded from offers. We've been fortunate, been 8 times and used free dining, and only had our selection not included once. We're pretty flexible, though, so not a big deal. There are several resorts at every price point, so pick a couple choices, just in case.

Yes, you can pay the difference to upgrade to the regular DDP. Just know that it may be more cost effective to just upgrade to a moderate since every adult (age 10+) costs an additional $19 or so per day to upgrade from QS to DDP.

 

[Tinker Pam]

All Star Movies, The Little Mermaid Rooms at Art of Animation and Port Orleans French Quarter have also been excluded from recent Free Dining Offers. Disney feels that they can fill those rooms without offering the discounts.

 

[BrownMomma7]

Great information! Now I need to decide if I want to try to do a cheaper resort and then a possible split stay to check out what grand offerings the deluxes have. We tried POR and BC last year. Bad experiences at POR which was sad since we have stayed there multiple times and always enjoyed. BC definitely made up for it all and we left WDW with wonderful magical memories!