Help me justify a forth night....

[BusySpeechMom]

OR help me think through it.
This is the situation... We ORIGINALLY booked the Polynesian for 4 nights. My husband had a fit about the $380 so he said only 3 nights ($1152 for 3 nights or $1532 for 4 nights). The DVC broker said it was not a big deal to cut the forth night. I have not received a new contract reflecting the change however. I have been crunching numbers for dining, etc. and it dawned on me that we can only get quick service dining for the number of nights we stay (3 nights). We are buying park hopper for 4 days because we want to spend all day at the park the day we check out. When we checkout Sunday morning we will throw the luggage in the car and scoot to the Magic Kingdom until 9 or 10 pm. The plan is for us to jump in the car and stay at a Hampton Inn in Orlando to sleep for the night and then drive home Monday early. The more I think about it the more I honestly think we should just stay the forth night at the Polynesian. We are saving $380 at Disney by only staying 3 nights but Hampton Inn will run us $120 I'm guessing? So it comes down to $260 savings.
Then there is the reasoning for Quick Service Dinning. Since the kids are both 12 we will have to buy for four adults. Should we get it or not? Hmmmm
Thank you for helping!

 

[gwynne]

Honestly, it comes down to what you are comfortable with. Packing up, checking out, checking in eats time. The Poly is lovely but not cheap.
Nothing is perfect. If it's doable (and OK to both adults) I'd stay put.

 

[mickeynut1]

OR help me think through it.
This is the situation... We ORIGINALLY booked the Polynesian for 4 nights. My husband had a fit about the $380 so he said only 3 nights ($1152 for 3 nights or $1532 for 4 nights). The DVC broker said it was not a big deal to cut the forth night. I have not received a new contract reflecting the change however. I have been crunching numbers for dining, etc. and it dawned on me that we can only get quick service dining for the number of nights we stay (3 nights). We are buying park hopper for 4 days because we want to spend all day at the park the day we check out. When we checkout Sunday morning we will throw the luggage in the car and scoot to the Magic Kingdom until 9 or 10 pm. The plan is for us to jump in the car and stay at a Hampton Inn in Orlando to sleep for the night and then drive home Monday early. The more I think about it the more I honestly think we should just stay the forth night at the Polynesian. We are saving $380 at Disney by only staying 3 nights but Hampton Inn will run us $120 I'm guessing? So it comes down to $260 savings.
Then there is the reasoning for Quick Service Dinning. Since the kids are both 12 we will have to buy for four adults. Should we get it or not? Hmmmm
Thank you for helping!

I agree with gwynne. If the extra cost is doable, I'd stay put. If you won't be leaving MK until 9 or 10 pm, it will be a lot less hassle to hop on the monorail or boat and be back at the Poly in 5-10 minutes vs getting to your car and driving to/checking in at another hotel. I can't comment on the QSDP as we've never had it, but hopefully others will give their opinion. Good luck .

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I guess I don't fully understand why you are buying the park hopper. You mention you are buying it because you want to visit MK on your checkout day, but you don't need a hopper if you are only visiting one park per day. Are you actually "hopping" on other days of your trip? Meaning you are going to more than 1 park each day? If not, drop the hoppers!

I'm not a big dining plan person. Will you eat all of the food offered on the plan? If not, you won't get your money's worth.

 

[shannon006]

I would stay 4 nights at the Polynesian, base tickets and no dining plan. My reasons:
1. Most convenient to stay in one place.
2. There is so much to do at each park, and midday go back to the Polynesian and enjoy the resort,then return to the park dinner time ish.
3. You can definitely eat less expensive than the dining plan, unless you always want dessert, and order the most expensive items each meal. With 2 12 year olds I can't imagine they would eat that much, however you know them best,so review the menus and then decide what works best for your family

 

[Babsy]

I agree with gwynne. If the extra cost is doable, I'd stay put. If you won't be leaving MK until 9 or 10 pm, it will be a lot less hassle to hop on the monorail or boat and be back at the Poly in 5-10 minutes vs getting to your car and driving to/checking in at another hotel. I can't comment on the QSDP as we've never had it, but hopefully others will give their opinion. Good luck .

Absolutely agree!!!

 

[AdamEfimoff]

Why not stay at a cheaper hotel for the whole trip ? I. There are plenty of hotels that you can stay at on Disney property which are cheaper. So why not stay at them? I know you are renting points . But still even the Four Seasons is cheaper! The Waldorf is way cheaper you could spend another 4 days!

 

[BusySpeechMom]

I guess I don't fully understand why you are buying the park hopper. You mention you are buying it because you want to visit MK on your checkout day, but you don't need a hopper if you are only visiting one park per day. Are you actually "hopping" on other days of your trip? Meaning you are going to more than 1 park each day? If not, drop the hoppers!

I'm not a big dining plan person. Will you eat all of the food offered on the plan? If not, you won't get your money's worth.

Good point! I never thought about NOT getting a park hopper. Duh! LOL. You are right! There is only one day that we need a park hopper (AK and HS). Can we get just one day of park hopper?
Thank you for all the replies!

 

[AdamEfimoff]

OR help me think through it.
This is the situation... We ORIGINALLY booked the Polynesian for 4 nights. My husband had a fit about the $380 so he said only 3 nights ($1152 for 3 nights or $1532 for 4 nights). The DVC broker said it was not a big deal to cut the forth night. I have not received a new contract reflecting the change however. I have been crunching numbers for dining, etc. and it dawned on me that we can only get quick service dining for the number of nights we stay (3 nights). We are buying park hopper for 4 days because we want to spend all day at the park the day we check out. When we checkout Sunday morning we will throw the luggage in the car and scoot to the Magic Kingdom until 9 or 10 pm. The plan is for us to jump in the car and stay at a Hampton Inn in Orlando to sleep for the night and then drive home Monday early. The more I think about it the more I honestly think we should just stay the forth night at the Polynesian. We are saving $380 at Disney by only staying 3 nights but Hampton Inn will run us $120 I'm guessing? So it comes down to $260 savings.
Then there is the reasoning for Quick Service Dinning. Since the kids are both 12 we will have to buy for four adults. Should we get it or not? Hmmmm
Thank you for helping!

Is there a reason why you are only looking at the Polynesian ?

 

[momof2gr8kids]

I believe the hopper is the same price whether you use it for one day of your tickets or all of them.
Personally, if you were going to be at MK all day and not be returning to resort, and leaving early the next day to drive, I'd rather get on the road and save some money as well since you're not planning to use the amenities at the resort.

You most likely will have credits left over you can use on your check out day, as you probably won't use up all your credit entitlements from your first night, assuming you aren't getting there first thing in the am.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Why not stay at a cheaper hotel for the whole trip ? I. There are plenty of hotels that you can stay at on Disney property which are cheaper. So why not stay at them? I know you are renting points . But still even the Four Seasons is cheaper! The Waldorf is way cheaper you could spend another 4 days!

The Four Seasons isn't cheaper. The Waldorf may be cheaper, but they already have a DVC contract, so not much of a chance of getting out of that now. Plus the transportation from the Waldorf is terrible and if they stay there, they'd have to pay for parking at the parks, only adding to expense.

Good point! I never thought about NOT getting a park hopper. Duh! LOL. You are right! There is only one day that we need a park hopper (AK and HS). Can we get just one day of park hopper?
Thank you for all the replies!

You can't get a hopper for only one day. I would adjust your touring plan and get base tickets - that would cover a lot of the cost of the fourth night at Poly.

 

[happymommy]

Good point! I never thought about NOT getting a park hopper. Duh! LOL. You are right! There is only one day that we need a park hopper (AK and HS). Can we get just one day of park hopper?
Thank you for all the replies!

No it's an all or none thing.

I agree with the others, though. Is there a reason you won't consider any other resort? I'd pick one that is more in line with your budget and stay there all four nights. I can't imagine staying 3 nights, then moving for just one night. Too much hassle. I'd rather stay somewhere cheaper for all four nights - that's such a short vacation as it is.

I also would not do the dining plan. I had the QSDP for free, and still couldn't use all the credits. It's too much food for many folks, and will not save you money likely (yes in theory it could, but it's more about having all of it paid for in advance). Just pay out of pocket - you will likely spend less.

 

[dizzyinwdw]

I agree if you drop the PH you will probably save about the difference between a fourth night at poly and the Hampton inn. You cannot add PH for one day only to a 4 day ticket-- it is all or nothing. I agree you may also want to drop QSDP ( unless you like the idea of paying beforehand) since it is difficult to get the value especially as 4 Disney adults. Are you doing any table service? There are some websites you can google that compare paying OOP vs DDP/QSDP so you could estimate any savings. We haven't done the meal plan the last few trips and have saved money paying OOP. I put aside money equal to the projected meal cost with the planners so it's not such a shock when we get there. If you have time and really want to do half days at AK and DHS could you get 5 d base tickets and do AK the morning you are leaving? That might be cheaper than PH and you could use the split park day as a partial resort day. Plus you will then be able to book FP+ at each park since they are separate days. Have a great time!

 

[AdamEfimoff]

The Four Seasons isn't cheaper. The Waldorf may be cheaper, but they already have a DVC contract, so not much of a chance of getting out of that now. Plus the transportation from the Waldorf is terrible and if they stay there, they'd have to pay for parking at the parks, only adding to expense.

My mistake

But aren't there other DVC properties that would be cheaper?

Is the room entry level for DVC??? Have you thought about a cheaper room?

 

[tstidm1]

Doing trips solo or with one other person I haven't found any value in the Dining Plan. I simply put the money I spend on Dining on a gift card and user that. I usually end up with $40-50 left on it for Souvenirs.

 

[Nancyg56]

I would drop the hopper and use the money for the 4th night. For the amount of savings to move to a different hotel, I would stay put, under any circumstances, but if I needed to make that money difference up, I would cut back on "extras". Hoppers would be the first to go.

 

[BusySpeechMom]

I can't thank everyone enough for being so helpful while I put this vacation together. I have a new curve ball for you now! I just looked at the mail and yesterday we received PIXIE DUST in the mail!!!! I almost did not look at it because we have 3 nights booked at Polynesian through a points broker. We were briefly thinking of trying 2 nights at a value resort at Universal before Disney to lengthen our trip but the park tickets are so expensive. Ugh.
But then came the PIXIE DUST!!!
The offer is for 20% off moderate/ value or 30% off deluxe with SIX days of tickets with park hopper.
Now I am thinking of adding 2 or 3 nights at Pop Century and then going to Polynesian for our originally booked stay. That would give us more than enough time at the parks so we could just leave Sunday morning instead of rushing to get tin as much time as possible. What are your thoughts?
I priced it at $1800 for 3 nights at Pop Century and 6 days of tickets with park hopper.

 

[BusySpeechMom]

Actually I am thinking 5 nights total is plenty. So 2 nights at Pop plus 6 day park hopper is $1500. Is that a good deal?

And you guys have convinced me to not go with park hopper (if we don't take the pixie dust) or food plan. Thank you for explaining it!

 

[hsmamato2]

what was your ORIGINAL total going to be,including park tickets?
*breakdown numbers for 3 nites pop 3 nites poly*
** buying a 4 day base pass for 4 'adults' =$1384.52 (disney website)**

examples- DVC+ Hampton inn+ base tickets(1302+1385.52)=$2686.52
POP+DVC+ hopper park tix= $2982
The difference between those 2 is $295.48

I would go with the 6 nite plan,as overall it's a MUCH better bargain for what your'e spending anyway.
plan #1-is 2686 for 3 nights/4 days. That averages to a cost of 671.50 per day for your family of 4 (thats'$168 per person per day lol)
plan #2- is 2982 for SIX days(plus hopping bonus) which averages to a cost of 497.00 per day for your family of 4 (thats $124 per person per day)
remember to add money for food oop(you'll save over ddp unless it's 'free)

 

[hsmamato2]

...and I would add.... plan #1 and plan #2...that's 3 extra days,plus hopper bonus at Disney for LESS than the cost of one extra night at the Poly.