First timer Disney/need decision help Please!!

[abteer]

Hi all!!!

We have finally bucked down and decided to take my one to disney before the preteen I don't want to have anything to do with you starts with my dd. Here's my problem.

I am an airline employee thus I get a huge room only discount. 6 nights at pop our desired resort only 320.00 with taxes. We would really like to have dining, however feel the price of dining plus the tickets, we can come out on top paying for the room only, plus the tickets before we depart. I believe this is the math I'm looking at.

6 nights/7days 6 day park tickets, no hopper no water park, no dining $1295.76


6 nights/7days 6 day park tickets, no hopper no water park, with basic dining $1811.58


6 nights/7days 6 day park tickets, no hopper no water park, with deluxe dining $2255.58

If we do room only discount plus tickets same scenario as above, no dining, $975.00 is it a no brainer? Would you all just pay out of pocket for the food? Would free dining if offered be worth it? (I have no idea how much it would be total if that was offered) this is for 2 adults one child. Opinions please!!!

Teresa (totally clueless)

 

[disneydreamin247]

For the money you are saving by booking room only you can buy your own food and probably still come out ahead. You can get discounted tickets through other outlets, which means you can save a few extra bucks there too.

 

[Seahunt]

Hmmm - are you sure you can even add dining with the airline discount? I thought that I had read posts here on the DIS a while ago that you could not add dining with those reduced (interline) rates, but that might have changed.

Also the free dining deal required rack rate on the room in previous years, so I probably wouldn't count on that with an airline discount - but of course never say never, if the economy keeps getting worse we might see all kinds of deals!

 

[TnTWalter]

There have been people that have looked through the menus [they're on allearsnet . com] and priced out how much it would cost them to eat off the dining plan vs use the dining plan. So if you really wanted to you could do that.

How old is your child? Is she considered an adult? That might change the benefit of the dining plan as it's $38.99 per adult >10.

You're paying $53 per night at your discounted rate.
Great Deal!

Here's the pre-tax listing for POP

$82 per night value season...

but you could always get an AAA discount 20% off value season making it $65.6 per night.

You can do AAA with a package but you have to book through AAA and be sure to get a competent agent [it's dificult].

Regular season is $99 per night or $84.15 after 15% discount for regular season.

Hopefully you can use these numbers in some calculations to figure out what works best for your family.

Enjoy!

Trish

 

[abteer]

I cannot add anything on to the room only discount, my other above calculations were without my discount and what the website was offering. If the rack rate for my desired dates is 638.00 IF free dining was to be offered. How much more would the free dining add?? An example would be great as I'm going to make my final decision today and book weee!

 

[parrothead928]

I would definitely consider adding park hopping to your tickets!!! Many times you might find that you are in a park that is so crowded that you have to leave and go to another park that is less crowded!!! Having a parkhopper is a lifesaver and worth every penny that is spent!!!! Plus, you can take advantage of every EXTRA MAGICAL HOUR that is offered!!!

 

[Mrs D]

I too am going to the World with an Interline (airline) discount on room. I have looked at various packages because the dining plan is appealing to me. I looked up all those menus and priced out our food total for where we are likely to eat. Here was my conclusion, I would need to get a rate of 40% off of rack room rate to make the dining plan be the best deal. I am getting 35% off of a 1bdrm at VWL for the first week in Sept. with the interline rate. We will do one table serve meal for 4 of our 5 nights, but it's still a better deal than going with any less than a 40% room discount with a package.

Hope this is helpful!

 

[cheerforchelsea]

In all of my trips to WDW I have never found that the dining plan was beneficial to my family.....it was wonderful to not have the expense of meals but I personally thought it was more expensive than purchasing meals individually.

 

[Southerndisney]

In August you may want to consider a water park add on. We don't do the dining plan because we eat very few table service meals because the kids don't want to take the time and don't want to be too full to ride the rollercoasters.