DDP was not free for me !!

[mom2aredhead]

Last year we went back and forth about going in Sep or Oct, and opted for October. We were going to stay at AKL either way and ended up going in October, missing free dining. I was a little bummedat first, but then I did the math, and frankly for smaller families like ours, the room discount worked out better.

The room discount we got in October saved a little more than the $535 we gave up in free dining. Keep in mind, we would have eaten the same food regardless - I'm not up for running around the world just to eat the most expensive meal to maximize the plan, so it the actual menu items would have been the same regardless of how I paid.

I just looked at is as we paid "rack rate" for the food instead of the room...but we still got a good discount so we were happy with it and had a great trip.

 

[Muushka]

I'm spending a little over $200 more on our room at ASMovies for the week. Feeding two adults and two kids would cost us much more than that, even with us only doing CS. The Free DDP may not be 100% free, but it's close enough to make us happy . We did it last year, and when we totalled the receipts, it came to be about $1000 worth of food. That's more than $200 .

Just wondering, how many days are in that week? We are spending a week (7 nights) at ASMu and just the room alone will be 7 X 79 (nightly rate) = $553 plus tax. What rate did you get???

 

[rantnnravin]

Just wondering, how many days are in that week? We are spending a week (7 nights) at ASMu and just the room alone will be 7 X 79 (nightly rate) = $553 plus tax. What rate did you get???

DisneyFamily isn't saying they paid $200 for the room, they said they paid $200 more for the room. They probably paid for a preferred room to get the rate.
See Disneyny's anlysis below:

Quote:
Originally Posted by disney_family_1247
I'm spending a little over $200 more on our room at ASMovies for the week. Feeding two adults and two kids would cost us much more than that, even with us only doing CS. The Free DDP may not be 100% free, but it's close enough to make us happy . We did it last year, and when we totalled the receipts, it came to be about $1000 worth of food. That's more than $200 .

DISNEYNY
I agree with this. We just got back from 8 days with FDP. I paid 82 per night for ASMU. The best rate I could have found was 69. So I paid an extra 13 per day so I could have the FDP. Well worth it IMO.

OP, it can be very frustrating to see availability at a different rate and not be able to get the discount rate for what you want. Look at it this way" sometimes manufacturers make bundle packs with extra bonus products packed with something else. Ex: Buy a box of markers and get a box of crayons for free. But the store runs out of those promo packs. You can still buy markers and crayons from the stock they have on the shelves, but you'll be paying the regular rate for them. No foul here.

 

[Muushka]

DisneyFamily isn't saying they paid $200 for the room, they said they paid $200 more for the room. They probably paid for a preferred room to get the rate.

Oooooh. Silly me! Thanks. That makes a lot more sense!

 

[tasha99]

Last year I missed free dining, but found a code for CSR at about $100/night. Since DS was considered a child, that $40-50 discount almost matched free dining.

This year we booked ASMu, but got upgraded to OKW. I definitely think my $82/night 1 BR with dining for 3 adults was "free." My friend who was going to go with me just came back from her trip (she opted to go a week later since she didn't have kids who had to be in school) and she told me the ASMu buses were horribly crowded.

Dilemma: Knowing that the buses are my #1 priority for Disney convenience (CSR and OKW get ), and having stayed in a 1 BR, how will I ever go back to a non-DVC room? Sadly, I won't. Oh, Disney, your "free" upgrade was diabolical!