Help me figure out the 5 of us!

[ehsmith]

Hello --

Need some experienced travelers, please! We are 5 who will be going in October. Grandma, Mom, Dad, DD11 and DD7. Grandma is paying for most of it, and I need to find ways to keep the cost down.

The difficult part is that an absolute requirement for her is that we have 2 rooms. Won't get into it, but past experience and family dynamics make this necessary. We wouldn't mind the 3 adults in one room and the kids in another (living room), but we don't want 3 in the living room and only 2 in the bedroom. Since all the suites seem to have only a king in the bedroom, it seems that we are going to have to go with 2 standard rooms.

We were at POFQ last time, and loved it, but we may need to go value this time. Thinking Pop, from everything I've read. We definitely want regular dining plan, and if it ends up free we would have to factor in upgrade charge if we did stay at a value.

I have a pin, but not for those dates... hoping another one comes through. Should I be looking at renting points for a 2BR villa? I feel like if I do that and free dining does come through, I am losing out...

Any and all advice is appreciated!

 

[Shaden]

Hello --

Need some experienced travelers, please! We are 5 who will be going in October. Grandma, Mom, Dad, DD11 and DD7. Grandma is paying for most of it, and I need to find ways to keep the cost down.

The difficult part is that an absolute requirement for her is that we have 2 rooms. Won't get into it, but past experience and family dynamics make this necessary. We wouldn't mind the 3 adults in one room and the kids in another (living room), but we don't want 3 in the living room and only 2 in the bedroom. Since all the suites seem to have only a king in the bedroom, it seems that we are going to have to go with 2 standard rooms.

We were at POFQ last time, and loved it, but we may need to go value this time. Thinking Pop, from everything I've read. We definitely want deluxe dining plan, and if it ends up free we would have to factor in upgrade charge if we did stay at a value.

I have a pin, but not for those dates... hoping another one comes through. Should I be looking at renting points for a 2BR villa? I feel like if I do that and free dining does come through, I am losing out...

Any and all advice is appreciated!

Well, not sure about free dining, hard to say whats going to happen and no one can give you a good prediction on that.

But, wondering what the fixation on the deluxe dining is ? We were there last year, and half our group had deluxe, we had regular full dining. WE didn't even go through all our meals, had a ton of QS and Snacks left and just burned them on candy. Our friends with the Deluxe were sitting on Piles of food. I just can't fathom why anyone would want/need the deluxe plan.

Other than that, you are really in a holding pattern.

For instance the promotion that is looking to start on Jan 3, Some resorts get a significant discount, others get none, or just about nothing.

There is no way to know what promotion will be offered in Oct 2013 for some time yet, and so there is no way to know which resorts will be the cheapest route for you to go.

Would love to be able to give you solid info and let you get all excited and looking forward to your trip, but there really isn't away to see that far ahead.

heck my wife and I are booked for May, but we don't REALLY know where we are staying yet because we need to see the details of the deal released Jan ...

 

[HM]

I would have suggested an offsite option might work better for you, if it wasn't for the dining plan being part of your wants/needs. There are a lot of nice two bedroom places that would give you lots of space.

How about the Fort Wilderness Cabins? You, your husband and kids get the bedroom and grandma gets the murphy in the living area.

I would not suggest renting points. We've done that twice and loved it, but as you noted, when a free dining option and some other discounts became available...we couldn't take advantage of them since we'd already booked with a DVC member. And it seems like you'd be more interested in getting a discounted room. You're likely going to have to wait for a few months before you can actually find out if a discount is offered for your dates.

 

[ehsmith]

I'm so sorry -- I did not mean deluxe. I meant regular. I will edit to change this. I meant that we don't want the counter service.

Grandma is also adamant that we not stay offsite; part of the magic to her is being there, and I do have to agree. (We've done it both ways in the past.)

 

[Shaden]

I'm so sorry -- I did not mean deluxe. I meant regular. I will edit to change this. I meant that we don't want the counter service.

Grandma is also adamant that we not stay offsite; part of the magic to her is being there, and I do have to agree. (We've done it both ways in the past.)

Ah ok .... yea that makes more sense. And the same is true for my Wife and I... loved staying on site. Can't imagine doing offsite unless we are looking at doing universal and other stuff as well, which we aren't for our next trip.

But the rest of my post applies, really no way to know whats going to work out to be cheapest for you until any promotion is announced.

 

[ehsmith]

Very interesting... I crunched some numbers (I am a total geek!) using some possible promotions. I do have a pin for either 35% off room or free dining. Though my dates don't apply, last time when the travel agent called they let me use the pin for other dates. Anyway, supposing one of those deals might be available:

2 rooms at Pop, 35% off room, regular dining plan = 4377
2 rooms at Pop, rack rate, free dining upgrading to regular = 3831

2 rooms at POFQ, 35% off, dining = 5060
2 rooms at POFQ, rack rate, free dining = 4382

 

[tinka-belle]

When the 35% off room rate pins and promos are out it's usually some deluxes and villas that get the full 35% off. Moderates or values get a lower percent in the 15%-20%-25% range. Usually, with Disney ya never know, so higher % off could happen.

 

[Megsie1000]

A value promo is more likely to be 20% or less. 35% is usually deluxe. I guess you never know, but I would not plan on getting 35% off value.

If the layout of the family suites don't appeal then I would just suggest you get two rooms wherever you can afford. Or do 2-bedroom DVC, which will be expensive. Keep in mind that the value resorts will only have double beds. I don't know about anybody else, but I cannot sleep in a double bed with anybody else unless my bedmate is a small child.

The cabins might work, but you will only have one bathroom.

 

[cindym]

This grandma is paying for a trip too! I currently have 2 rooms booked at the Dolphin for the first week of Dec. We usually stay on the Boardwalk. We have never tried the Swan or Dolphin but I got the rooms for $211 apiece including taxes and resort fees. That was an AAA rate. I am also watching for discounts or a pin. My daughter usually gets pins, so we will move if that happens to another BW location. We had a 2 room villa at the BW last time with a 40% pin. That was nice! We are 4 adults and 2 small children. We don't use the dining plan. We tried that 2 different times and it is just too much food!