Help me choose my vacation

[kticern]

We are heading down to WDW in November. We are going the 13th-19th. There are 7 of us going. My self, DH, DS6, DS4, my father in law, my bother in law and his finance.

I was fortunate enough to get free dining for the 15th-19th and have done FD in the past.

On a whim yesterday I decided to get a quote from a disney TA. Now I am not sure what to do. Here are my two choices. Hopefully you can help me decide and put me at ease about possibly using a TA. I would still do my own dining and FP planning. I am way too much of a control freak to let someone else do that!


Option #1 Booked by me through disney directly at Art of Animation

Nov 13-15th

Room 1
Little Mermaid room for 1A and 2C rack rate with Deluxe dining

Room 2
Finding Nemo Suite rack rate for 4 Adults no Dining (Hoping to get a RO discount any day now!)

November 15th-19th

Room 1
Little Mermaid room for 2 Adults with 6 day ticket no dining

Room 2
Family Suite for 3A and 2C with FD which I upgraded to Deluxe dining with 6 day park hopper and memory maker.

Total dining credits for the stay 78 and snacks 32. We plan on sharing the dining credits and then paying OOP when necessary a total of 20 meals. We usually eat twice a day and snack in between. I have quite a few TS booked that are character meals. No signature dining.

Total cost for the stay $7650.


Option #2 Quote from TA at Port Orleans French Quarter

November 13th-19th

Room #1
Standard Room 2A and 2C 6 day park ticket plus 1 day at waterpark or disney quest and Deluxe dining

Room #2
Standard Room 1A with 6 day park ticket plus 1 day at a water park of Disney Quest and Deluxe dining.

Room #3
Standard room 2A with 6 day park tickets plus 1 day at a water park or Disney Quest and no dining.

Memory Maker

Total dining credits 90 and snacks 60. Again we plan on paying OOP when needed a total of 8 meals.

Total cost $7650

I have stayed at AOA before and loved it. I have never been to POFQ. We have two young kids 4 &6.

Which do I choose???!!

 

[minnie mum]

Same price? Not having to pack up and switch rooms? Queen beds and more privacy for everyone? POFQ without question. It's one of our favorite mods. Your kids will likely love the splash pad. Your father will like the compact size of the resort.

 

[scrapquitler]

Option 1 is making my head hurt. I don't even understand it.

I do see that option 2 will save you purchasing 12 meals out of pocket, and you won't have to switch rooms. Not switching rooms with that many people sounds like a big benefit to me.

 

[momof2cuties]

POFQ is awesome. We actually liked it more than Boardwalk. My 4 yr old would have liked to stay in the splash area all week!

 

[KonaKaiTom]

Have you done Deluxe Dining before? I'm a large man with a big appetite and it is too much food for me - I thought you said no signature dining so that would mean you wouldn't need two TS per meal. We stayed in February in a split stay at GF and AOA and had the regular Dining plan and paid out of pocket for breakfasts, enjoyed QS for lunch and were able to enjoy Teppan Edo, La Hacienda De San Angelo, and Tony's Town Tavern for our dinners. I note a lot of people comment that the Deluxe dining plan is just way too much food.

Tom

 

[RedOne3781]

Option 2, for sure.
With all those people, I think switching resorts would be a major headache.

My only concern though, is the sharing of dining credits. I thought that wasn't allowed by Disney? Wouldn't it be easier to have everyone on the same dining plan? Less confusion, etc.

Regardless, I think the option with staying in the same rooms for the whole trip at PORFQ sounds like a good choice!

 

[kticern]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts!

On the deluxe dining plan, from everything I have read, we will be able to use the adult and child credits interchangeably. We can also use the credits to pay for which ever meals we want to. So we should be able to use some of the credits from the two rooms that have the deluxe and pay for the two adults not on the plan. We would plan on paying OOP for the least expensive meals for the 20 or 8 times.

We have a breakfast or early lunch and a dinner planned for each day. On the days we have early lunch we will just have a quick bite of cereal or something in the hotel room. On the breakfast days we will have a snack in the afternoon to tide us over. While I am sure it will be more than enough food we have always done the two meals a day when we go to disney. This time we are adding appetizers but it affords us the opportunity to do two TS meals a day rather than one QS and one TS. I am not a very big fan of QS meals.

With option 1 we would fax a request to be kept in the same rooms since they are the same resort and category so we hopefully wouldn't have to pack up and move.

Sounds like POFQ would be ok for the kids. I did look at the splash pad and that looks real nice. I am a bit worried it won't be "Disney" enough but I think all the adults would all like having our own rooms.

We have stayed at AOA before and had a great experience. Then we stayed at CBR and hated it. Guess I am a little moderate shy now. I am only considering the thought of POFQ because of the one bus stop unlike the other mods.

Any thoughts on working with a TA? I have never done it and am a bit weary of giving away some control. DH is skeptical of the guarantee of having someone else book the reservation. The company looks like it has been around a long time so I am not as worried about that. It's more of a control issue for me but it does appear to be a better deal money wise.

 

[ArmyVet80]

POFQ is our home away from home. The compact size, boat to DS, one bus stop, etc.. are all great reasons to stay there.

We worked with a TA for our honeymoon (disneymoon). She failed to mention ADR's and other items which caused us to eat at a reasonable number of QS eateries. Not necessarily "magical" for a honeymoon but we did score some reservations at the concierge for Biergarten, Chefs de France, Rose & Crown and a few others. Since you have been to WDW before you more than likely know what to ask for. She did let POFQ know that it was our honeymoon and they had a nice card and some other small items in our room when it was ready. Really started our trip off on the right foot.

I would make sure to make it very clear what you want for your trip with the TA and follow up with them often.