Convince me ... DVC rental or Free Dining

[lilsonicfan]

Hi all,

I've been to WDW a few times but have always stayed offsite. By way of background, as offsite guests we have always rented a car, we eat breakfast in our hotel or rental unit, lunch in the parks, and dinner out, nothing fancy.

We (a family of 5) are now going in late Aug. I have a reservation for 4 nights with the free dining plan at Caribbean Beach resort in a preferred room. I now want to extend my stay, but I wanted to add two days at the front end, which puts my reservation out of the free dining plan eligibility. Let's say the total cost for 4 nights plus 5 day park hopper is $4,000.

So the choices were:

- book room only for two nights at CBR - the con is that the park hopper you get with "free dining" package wouldn't start till my original booking - this adds about $520.
- book the current "tasty / kids" promo which adds $1,000 for the two extra nights bringing the total to around $5,000
- book a DVC rental, which brings me back to $4,000 (including park hoppers which I would purchase separately), but no dining for any of the 6 nights.

Am I being crazy to give up the free dining (which would be all quick service...) to stay at a better resort / bigger room etc? I feel perplexed by the choices!!

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I would calculate how much more you think you will spend on OOP dining costs for your three options and then re-consider. With a family of 5, free dining becomes a fairly good savings, IMHO and taking that out of the equation could significantly increase your costs. I would also consider if it's a deal breaker if you don't go to the parks those first two days. Also, which DVC resort are you considering?

 

[Brett Wyman]

At the absolute minimum a family of 5 eating all three meals out at a QS would spend about $150-200. so $1200 for 6 nights.

I don't care for the kids only promos as the adults get the best bang for the buck out of the DDP.

I would do a 2/4 slit stay at the same resort and start the DDP on the third day. Seems like the best path to savings.

 

[Grant Parkins]

If it were me, I'd go for the better resort. But I'll also say the dining plan has never made sense for my family. We don't drink much soda & we don't want 2 snacks a day either.

At the absolute minimum a family of 5 eating all three meals out at a QS would spend about $150-200. so $1200 for 6 nights

This may be true, but the QS meal plan is for 2 meals per day, meaning you'll be paying for 1 meal per day out of pocket even on the meal plan. So maybe the dining plan is saving you $900 in food over 6 nights.

You have a family of 5 & mine is just 4, so your numbers will be different than mine. But we've always eaten what we wanted, have never gotten the dining plan & it's always worked out better for us without the plan.

 

[Brett Wyman]

Excellent point about just two meals a day. We always make that work by doing snack credits for breakfast. But that won’t work for everyone.

 

[ClapYourHands]

I would go with option 1. I personally don’t do DDP, but I can see that with 5 people, it will probably give you the best bang for your buck.

New day 1 (arrival day) - get to the resort and settle in. Maybe go swimming. Maybe go to DS for dinner at a fun restaurant.

New day 2 - Disney-lite. Explore the resorts. You can look online for info on different offerings, like tours at AKL. Do a scavenger hunt for things at different resorts. Take the free drawing class at AoA. Try all methods of transportation (bus, monorail, boat, skyliner). Make sure you’re at your resort for the afternoon pool games. Watch the MK fireworks from outside the park.

New day 3 - head to the park bright and early. This would have been your old arrival day, but since you’re already here, you can have a full day rather than a partial one.

If you want to save a little more, have you considered having your first two new nights be offsite? There are some DS hotels that will sleep 5 that you can likely get for less than CBR.

 

[Karebear]

- book room only for two nights at CBR - the con is that the park hopper you get with "free dining" package wouldn't start till my original booking - this adds about $520.

Perhaps my information is old, but I thought that you could activate your tickets up to 3 days before your package starts? If I remember, you have to pick up your tickets at a park and not at your hotel to do that?

 

[dansdad]

Perhaps my information is old, but I thought that you could activate your tickets up to 3 days before your package starts? If I remember, you have to pick up your tickets at a park and not at your hotel to do that?

You used to be able to, but not any longer.

 

[OkanaganAmanda]

We had a similar conundrum, as we had already booked flights for Aug 28-Sept 4 (booked POP via Expedia for cheap) but once FD was announced we booked they Dreams and cancelled the original reso. Had to do a room-only rate for our first night since the package can’t start till day 2. For us, I wish we had a bit more time for checking out resorts, DS....maybe ride the skyliner or monorail around and do a Skyliner drink/snack crawl? Go to Ft Wilderness and ride horses? Do a one day water park day? Or even a Universal Day?

For us, we crunched the #’s knowing what we would spend on food (family of 4) and even with the room discount and Canadian ticket offer, FD is still saving is about $400 when everything is all done, and the appeal of not caring about food prices will be a treat!

 

[lilsonicfan]

We had a similar conundrum, as we had already booked flights for Aug 28-Sept 4 (booked POP via Expedia for cheap) but once FD was announced we booked they Dreams and cancelled the original reso. Had to do a room-only rate for our first night since the package can’t start till day 2. For us, I wish we had a bit more time for checking out resorts, DS....maybe ride the skyliner or monorail around and do a Skyliner drink/snack crawl? Go to Ft Wilderness and ride horses? Do a one day water park day? Or even a Universal Day?

For us, we crunched the #’s knowing what we would spend on food (family of 4) and even with the room discount and Canadian ticket offer, FD is still saving is about $400 when everything is all done, and the appeal of not caring about food prices will be a treat!

Hey there neighbour, we're in the Vancouver area

We can't fit at POP with 4, so I think that kinda limits things further. Right now with 6 nights at a deluxe in DVC and the Cdn ticket offer, it's slightly less than 4 nights in CBR with free dining.... since we don't eat a ton while in the parks I am worried we would just overeat or sorta force ourselves to use up all the snack credits. Sigh, tough decisions.

 

[lilsonicfan]

I would calculate how much more you think you will spend on OOP dining costs for your three options and then re-consider. With a family of 5, free dining becomes a fairly good savings, IMHO and taking that out of the equation could significantly increase your costs. I would also consider if it's a deal breaker if you don't go to the parks those first two days. Also, which DVC resort are you considering?

DVC resort- Polynesian
I'm so torn.

Thank you all for the advice. It gives me a lot to think about.

 

[lilsonicfan]

At the absolute minimum a family of 5 eating all three meals out at a QS would spend about $150-200. so $1200 for 6 nights.

I don't care for the kids only promos as the adults get the best bang for the buck out of the DDP.

I would do a 2/4 slit stay at the same resort and start the DDP on the third day. Seems like the best path to savings.

I think because of how we've done WDW and DL, we really don't spend that much at the parks. We have eaten breakfast at our hotel or condo or whatever, then grab one meal inside the park, then go out for dinner, often some kind of Asian food or something like a Sweet Tomatoes.

The 2/4 split stay makes some sense.

 

[ClapYourHands]

DVC resort- Polynesian
I'm so torn.

Thank you all for the advice. It gives me a lot to think about.

Do you know if there is any availability? I know August is a lower crowd time these days, but now that we’re into the 7-month booking window, the pickings might be a bit slim, especially for the less expensive rooms.

Not trying to discourage DVC if it’s what you want, but if it’s not available, that narrows down your choices.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Hey there neighbour, we're in the Vancouver area

We can't fit at POP with 4, so I think that kinda limits things further. Right now with 6 nights at a deluxe in DVC and the Cdn ticket offer, it's slightly less than 4 nights in CBR with free dining.... since we don't eat a ton while in the parks I am worried we would just overeat or sorta force ourselves to use up all the snack credits. Sigh, tough decisions.

In that case, I would make the switch. If you don't eat a ton, you can put that slight savings into paying OOP for your food. Plus, both of the other options add even more cost. I think you will end up coming out even or maybe paying slightly more for food by going the DVC rental route. You could also consider getting a grocery delivery to have breakfast items, snacks, etc. in your room so you aren't reliant on purchasing WDW, overpriced items the whole trip. If you can rent DVC for your entire stay for less than 4 nights, FD at CBR, I would do it. It solves the ticket problem and you will get a nicer room and resort.

 

[OkanaganAmanda]

hi neighbour! Yeah, you’re not far away at all!

Hmm I think if there is actual DVC availability for your week, that would be a great option. Have you confirmed if there actually are DVC rentals for your week? The canadian discount for tickets I believe expires in a few days.

As for the dining plan, at least the quick service, it isn’t really that much food (not anymore now that they have removed desserts with each meals). For us we will be using 1 snack daily for a light breakfast, so then it is two quick serve meals with an adult bevvie and one snack later in the day. Not too much to be stuck with a pile of credits anyways

 

[Heather07438]

I could be in the minority. Disclosure- I've tried CBR but not Poly.

CBR is beautiful with the new renovation.

• Skyliner access to HS and Epcot will make good use of your hoppers (Skyliner may or may not open early enough to get a BG for Rise of the Resistance).
• Riviera is a short walk and has a great Quick Service 'Primo Piatto' which offers 4 menus, notably a late night menu which really comes in handy. CBR has 'Centertown Market' QS.
• DDP can kick the enjoyment of a trip up a notch, making meals lots of fun. I recommend investing time beforehand looking at menus so you're prepared to fit the favorites in your park plan.
• Another consideration is upgrading to TS for $25 each per day (plus tip expense). Definitely not necessary as Quick Service offers a huge variety but Table Service surely kicks it up a notch. The buffets save time and are good quality, plus they're even better when you're not paying $60 each out of pocket, lol.

Polynesian is gorgeous with bigger rooms (300sf vs 415sf). Monorail access is cool tho Skyliner is a contender. Cost will increase significantly after adding in expensive WDW food. Personally the CBR trip looks to make better use of your budget. More bang for the buck.

 

[loves to dive]

If it's available and you can do it knowing there is no cancellation and no refund (which is usually a no go for me) then I'd go with the DVC. While there are tons of good QS dining options on property I'd get bored eating QS and entire trip and we would most likely leave no using all the snack credits. With a DVC if you are going to an at least one bedroom, you have a full kitchen so you could at least do breakfast and possibly lunch in the room, thus saving money on food.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Just ignore any private messages you get offering you points to rent or a confirmed reservation. That's how you get scammed.

 

[Tink0812]

Growing up in a family of 5 that frequented WDW we were often faced with the same choices. This requires some work but what we would do is look at where we wanted to eat (based on menus, locations, park plans, etc.), look at the menu and guess what we would want to eat there, and add up the total. Then we figured up the grand total to see if the dining plan was worth it. There are some years that we booked the deluxe dining plan just so we could eat at some of the signature restaurants that would be way too pricey for a family of 5 normally. It really just depends on what your goals are for your trip!

 

[DisneyMomx7]

I emailed Disney and was told that we could activate our tickets one day early but would only be able to get same day fast passes.

I saved the email to bring with me in case there is an issue