Get The AP or AAA Package?

[aanthony03]

We are going down in Dec. Last year we used my hubby's AP and got the Dining Experience card for our trip. Would be wise to do the same thing or should we go with getting a package from AAA. There is 3 adults, and 3 tots in our party ages 7, 5, and 2.

I thought about trying to see if a package would come out with free dining, but since we are going in Dec, they may not put one out!

Any advice or comments!!

 

[3PRINCESSMOM]

free DDP has been used to entice travel during hurricane season, a time when bookings dwindle. Dec bookings have grown, especially the last few years. This, of course, is only MHO, but I doubt we'll see free DDP beyond the current 9/30 date.

Regarding your AAA vs AP question, the answer really depends on your family's eating and touring habits. Spend some time here on the Dis looking at threads regarding people's experiences and opinions on the DDP. Overall, what I have gathered so far is this: the cost of DDP can surely be a bargain when one compares the cost of all the food you can get. However, it seems most say they would never usually consume what they did while on DDP. Therefore in some cases they would have saved $$ by just buying the food they would normal buy; dining the way their usual budget and schedule allows. That is another point I have seen made repeatedly, all of the TS meals takes away from touring time for many families.

All of that being said, if you're like me, you may want to try it yourself at least once and form your own opinion. Fortunately for me, I am doing it during the free DDP offer.

Good luck decide!

 

[NancyT]

I would sit down and look over the menus at AllEars and get a feel for what doing it each way would cost you, and try to gauge from that.

We did both ... and based on my personal experience, we'd be better off with the Dining Plan. This past trip (Jan/Feb) we booked the room only with the AP discount, and used the DDE for the 20% off. We spent a fortune on food, so when we factored in the big room savings, the money we saved on the room (plus more) went to food.

That is based on our eating preferences though ... we like to relax, go to places we may not normally go to (esp. at home) so we like the change.

I agree with 3PrincessMom that it's a decision based on your personal preference ... so determining if you would spend more on food than you'd save on the room with the AP discount would help a lot.

For us, we have learned that the dining plan is the way to go for our family ... but I know it does not make sense for others.

We're going in Sept. with the free dining, and then when we go back Jan/Feb '07, I think we're going to pay for the dining plan. We'll save our MYW base tickets to upgrade later when we renew the APs.

I hope my math isn't totally flawed, lol, but I think this route is saving us in the end.

I hope you all have an incredible trip, whichever route you choose to take

 

[ciera321]

For us, the AP and DDE card works better than a AAA package. Is your DDE card going to still be valid during your trip or will you have to renew it? For our upcoming trip in August, I had a AAA package (only the room portion is discounted) with the dining reserved as a backup. I fell a little discount was better than nothing. When AP rates came out I cancelled the AAA package and grabbed our rooms at the AP rate and saved about $350. Plus, by no longer having the dining plan and figuring our meals with the menus and prices on allearsnet.com AND the DDE card 20% savings, our food will be about $950 instead of the dining plan cost of $1,215. I'm a planner and love to work with numbers, so this was not a pain for me, but saving over $600 for our trip was great. Hope you have a great time!!!