Either a really brilliant or a really stupid plan...

[linzjane88]

My husband and I are AP holders who booked the Poly August 22-29 for a nightly rate of $212 a night, tax included (booked through a travel agency). We then decided to add our non AP friends to our room and make it a fun grownup trip making our Poly stay $268ish. Problem is airfare those particular dates is *horrendous*--as in an extra $100 per person.
SOOOoooOO since free dining is eternally on my bucket list I had an epiphany. We get rooms at the CSR for approximately the same price as our poly rate. Since the hubs and myself have AP we get 4x 3 day tickets. Our friends would use all the package tickets each getting two 3 day tickets while we keep our AP's. I am mostly concerned about the linking nonsense and magic bands--I assume that we *should* just be able to link all the tickets to the other couple.

Eventhough staying at a deluxe (for a moderate price I might add) is also on my bucket list its easier to part with considering all the construction and the pool closure. Basically for the same nightly price everyone eats for free plus we will save about $400 on airfare. Its easily a 1K savings for us four adults, even if we rent a car to avoid buses.

Does this sound like it would work? Also--am I going to need to be up at 3AM (I live in Wa) to book? Would ALL the standard CSR rooms go immediately? Given that I have never booked through Disney directly or for a popular promo I am not sure what to expect. Thank you (all wise all knowing)fellow Disney peeps

 

[purple figment]

1. Since the hubs and myself have AP we get 4x 3 day tickets. Our friends would use all the package tickets each getting two 3 day tickets while we keep our AP's. I am mostly concerned about the linking nonsense and magic bands--I assume that we *should* just be able to link all the tickets to the other couple.

2. Does this sound like it would work? Also--am I going to need to be up at 3AM (I live in Wa) to book? Would ALL the standard CSR rooms go immediately? Given that I have never booked through Disney directly or for a popular promo I am not sure what to expect. Thank you (all wise all knowing)fellow Disney peeps

1. Your friends could each use 2 sets of tickets, but they could also add 3 days to one set and use those. Adding 3 days would cost only $39 per ticket and adding park hopper would be an additional $60 (since your APs are hoppers). At the same time your sets of 3 day tickets could be saved to use towards renewal of your APs or on a trip when you don't have tickets. The value of the 3 day tickets is currently $255. Instead of using 2 sets of tickets with a total value of $510 your friends could get 6 day hoppers at a cost of $354 (3 day tix $255 + 3 additional days $39 + hopper $60 = $354.

2. Just a heads up, sometimes the specials aren't loaded into the online system until after the phone lines have been open for a while.

 

[linzjane88]

Thats brilliant! Thank you for the input. Sometimes I get too excited and can't make logical plans when I keep getting interrupted with "YAY! I'm going to Disney!!!!!!!!"

I will forever be a Disney Junkie. Rain, shine, or FP+

 

[weesignlanguage]

I am doing the math on this free dining thing too b/c we are upgrading in June to APs. It's mind boggling!! We go back and forth on whether to use the AP discount and pay for food OOP or stay where we really want OR book the FD and stay at a resort that isn't our preferred resort. Big decisions! The clincher for me is probably having the 2 day tickets from the FD trip to use to upgrade next year again for APs. It is fiscally the better decision.

I have to ask though...HOW did you get a Poly ressie that cheap?? Jealous!!

 

[linzjane88]

It was through a travel agency --(magical vacations--sorry if I am not suppose to say names of places?). And yeah, thats what I thought. In fact thats what started this whole second Disney trip this year thing (we just went as a family in April). How could you NOT stay at the Poly for 212$ a night???! Which then turned into 'How can I NOT do free dining by tweaking my travel dates a bit???!!!' I don't know if that company always has that great of deals or what. I have never stayed onsite (as an adult) so I haven't looked into it before.

I am such a sucker for a good Disney deal.

 

[weesignlanguage]

Wow! Well that is an amazing deal for sure!! I see why it's such a hard decision! Ha!

 

[wdw4rfam]

Definitely brilliant!!!

 

[ldnoggle]

We are having nearly the same discussions! My parents and I have a Christmas trip booked at CSR. My mom and I both have annual passes- but it's looking like it may still save money to get free dining and just upgrade dad's ticket when we get there and save ours for future use. It's such a hard decision!

 

[insureman]

I have to ask though...HOW did you get a Poly ressie that cheap?? Jealous!!

I heard through a podcast that there was a possibility of Poly discounts because of all the construction going on there.