So I have an 8 night stay booked at CSR for 12/8-12/16.
Our family tends to do Disney on the early schedule. We like being at the front of the turnstyles when the parks open, doing early character breakfasts, etc. On the flip side, we usually try to get back to our room by around 8 pm because DS and DD get very cranky if they don't get at least 9 hours of sleep (and it takes at least an hour or so to get them to sleep once we get back to the room). In that regard, we've never stayed for Wishes, Fantasmic, or Illuminations.
However, on this trip I'd like to do all 3 (have already bought MVMCP tickets and reserved a Fantasmic Dinner Package). But I still want to get to the parks early as per our usual itenerary.
In addition, we'll be treating my parents who are flying in from the West coast. While my dad is a morning person, my mom is not, and is not super thrilled about getting up any earlier than about 7 am (especially coming from the West coast). So she'll be a pretty unhappy camper if told she needs to be at a bus stop by, say, 6:45 for an 8:15 character breakfast.
Because of all of this, I've been tempted to switch to a Poly/BC split stay, mostly from a convenience/location standpoint (would allow us to sleep an average of about an extra half hour most mornings and get back from the evening shows at least 30-40 minutes earlier - we dine deluxe, so it would also allow is an easy commute from our room to and from the restaurants, and I've already made the appropriaate ADRs). But the price difference is dauntingly steep (especially when you're talking two rooms).
We could, as an alternative, stick with CSR and rely heavily on cabs but I've never been thrilled about this option (partly because our party size would likely require us to take separate cabs and partly because I'm a purist who worries that this will somehow detract from the totality of being "immersed in Disney").
The discount situation complicates things even more. If free dining were to start on 12/8, I'd probably stick with CSR because a moderate resort + free DDP (upgraded to DxDP) for your entire trip is a lot of bang for your buck at Disney. But it doesn't tempt me quite as much with FD starting on 12/10 (and we've already purchased our flights), even though we could still presumably get 6 nights of FD by doing a room-only for the first 2 nights.
When room discounts come out for December, the picture will clear up somewhat but I'm honestly not expecting anything better than 20% at Poly and 30% at BC (based on what we've seen so far this year). No matter how you slice it, a Poly/BC split stay is going to be thousands more than CSR.
I guess part of my dilemma is that I've stayed at CSR before (and liked it) but have always dreamed of doing a Poly/BC split stay. While we have the financial resources to do it, it just seems imprudent to spend that much extra, especially when my main motivation is location, convenience, and trying something new and fanciful (my father, in particular, couldn't give a hoot about the difference in room size/quality or club level amenitites).
Another part of my dilemma is that we probably won't go back to Disney in 2013 (and will likely never go to Disney again with my parents). So there's this part of me that says, "c'mon, you only live once and can afford it, do the Poly/BC split stay (and hope for some decent room discounts)." But another part says, "go with CSR with FD for 6 of the 8 nights, it's by far the best deal you're going to get from a purely financial standpoint."
Decisions, decisions . . .
How would you lean in this situation?
Our family tends to do Disney on the early schedule. We like being at the front of the turnstyles when the parks open, doing early character breakfasts, etc. On the flip side, we usually try to get back to our room by around 8 pm because DS and DD get very cranky if they don't get at least 9 hours of sleep (and it takes at least an hour or so to get them to sleep once we get back to the room). In that regard, we've never stayed for Wishes, Fantasmic, or Illuminations.
However, on this trip I'd like to do all 3 (have already bought MVMCP tickets and reserved a Fantasmic Dinner Package). But I still want to get to the parks early as per our usual itenerary.
In addition, we'll be treating my parents who are flying in from the West coast. While my dad is a morning person, my mom is not, and is not super thrilled about getting up any earlier than about 7 am (especially coming from the West coast). So she'll be a pretty unhappy camper if told she needs to be at a bus stop by, say, 6:45 for an 8:15 character breakfast.
Because of all of this, I've been tempted to switch to a Poly/BC split stay, mostly from a convenience/location standpoint (would allow us to sleep an average of about an extra half hour most mornings and get back from the evening shows at least 30-40 minutes earlier - we dine deluxe, so it would also allow is an easy commute from our room to and from the restaurants, and I've already made the appropriaate ADRs). But the price difference is dauntingly steep (especially when you're talking two rooms).
We could, as an alternative, stick with CSR and rely heavily on cabs but I've never been thrilled about this option (partly because our party size would likely require us to take separate cabs and partly because I'm a purist who worries that this will somehow detract from the totality of being "immersed in Disney").
The discount situation complicates things even more. If free dining were to start on 12/8, I'd probably stick with CSR because a moderate resort + free DDP (upgraded to DxDP) for your entire trip is a lot of bang for your buck at Disney. But it doesn't tempt me quite as much with FD starting on 12/10 (and we've already purchased our flights), even though we could still presumably get 6 nights of FD by doing a room-only for the first 2 nights.
When room discounts come out for December, the picture will clear up somewhat but I'm honestly not expecting anything better than 20% at Poly and 30% at BC (based on what we've seen so far this year). No matter how you slice it, a Poly/BC split stay is going to be thousands more than CSR.
I guess part of my dilemma is that I've stayed at CSR before (and liked it) but have always dreamed of doing a Poly/BC split stay. While we have the financial resources to do it, it just seems imprudent to spend that much extra, especially when my main motivation is location, convenience, and trying something new and fanciful (my father, in particular, couldn't give a hoot about the difference in room size/quality or club level amenitites).
Another part of my dilemma is that we probably won't go back to Disney in 2013 (and will likely never go to Disney again with my parents). So there's this part of me that says, "c'mon, you only live once and can afford it, do the Poly/BC split stay (and hope for some decent room discounts)." But another part says, "go with CSR with FD for 6 of the 8 nights, it's by far the best deal you're going to get from a purely financial standpoint."
Decisions, decisions . . .
How would you lean in this situation?
. The is our biggest factor at times also is price. I'm not really willing to shell out over 1000.00 more for a room for 11 days. I have a hard enough time paying for a moderate when we could be staying in a value for 500.00 cheaper.
