Last Minute Trip - HELP!

[heathers4um]

Sorry for the common question, I should know this but its been a couple of years and I am thrown into the tizzy of planning a last minute trip for July as *someone* forgot to bank our points....

We are going to go for my DSD's 11th bday (her first time!) and we will bring her cousin, our niece, to share in the magic (her first time too!). Our trip, for reduced flight's rates sake, will be from Wed-Wed so we will need to have a split stay but we like that. We actually got exactly what we wanted! I am trying to figure out the best way to do this and I wondered if you need to have your park tickets and your dining plan match, and if you need them for the entire length of stay. It would be perfect for us to do a 5 day park hopper and more ticket, with the dining plan for 5 days. The day we arrive and the last day we would like to be on our own.

Advice and thoughts are so very welcomed! I feel lost and out of the loop, so this was the first place I came! Thanks!

 

[erionm]

With DVC Reservations, there is no ticket requirement to add a dining plan to the room reservation. You can have any length ticket (or none at all) and still add the dining plan to your reservation. You must get the dining plan for all nights of the reservation that you are adding it to and all persons on that reservation must be on the plan.

 

[nalajms]

It would be perfect for us to do a 5 day park hopper and more ticket, with the dining plan for 5 days. The day we arrive and the last day we would like to be on our own.

With a 7 night stay, you'd have to have the dining plan for the whole reservation. The only way to get the 5 days of dining you want would be to have a separate reservation for day 1 and the last night.

I prefer to have dining plan when we stay in the Epcot area (more options we like). Also, if we're flying out late or get in early, that makes a big difference.

Good luck!

 

[heathers4um]

OK, so we have to have the full 7 day dining package for all in our party but we can choose whichever park ticket package for however many days we want? I thought I remembered it being that way but I wanted to clarify. It IS convenient and worth it to have the dining, in my opinion, as its not easy to feed anyone on $55/day while on vacation. Although now I am putting the TiW card in the mix and wonder if that's the better choice. We did that and the meal plan and it worked for us when it was just the 2 of us since we imbibed...not sure how much of that we will be doing with 2 kids!

Now I have to figure out if we want the hopper AND the waterparks...does anyone have any thoughts on that dilemma?

 

[nalajms]

Now I have to figure out if we want the hopper AND the waterparks...does anyone have any thoughts on that dilemma?

The lines will be long with all the tour groups from S.America. It'll be hard to do more than 1 park a day. And July will be SUPER HOT! I'd get water parks over the hopper.

 

[heathers4um]

The lines will be long with all the tour groups from S.America. It'll be hard to do more than 1 park a day. And July will be SUPER HOT! I'd get water parks over the hopper.

good point - thanks! In speaking to DH, we determined the waterparks were a definite - the thing is, we plan to do the early morning, back to resort after lunch for pool and naps, then back out for the nighttime fun. We hope to do every other day as more of a rest/pool/waterpark day so we wondered if the hopper would come in handy so that we can jump from morning to night, or if one park is uber nuts but the mobile magic says another isn't quite as bad...is that being overly optimistic?

 

[justcantwait]

You can add the Park Hopper option (and I believe the Water Parks & More option) when you get there. If you know the water parks are a definite, get that when you get the tickets. The park hopper you can add if/when you decide to hop. It's the same price no matter when you get it, whether it's the 1st day, or the 5th. Sounds like you're going to have a great trip. Enjoy!

Kathy

 

[heathers4um]

You can add the Park Hopper option (and I believe the Water Parks & More option) when you get there. If you know the water parks are a definite, get that when you get the tickets. The park hopper you can add if/when you decide to hop. It's the same price no matter when you get it, whether it's the 1st day, or the 5th. Sounds like you're going to have a great trip. Enjoy!

Kathy

Thanks Kathy - I'm almost over the initial stress of this last minute expense we were NOT prepared for, and the excitement is starting to show itself! I think that's a good solution so I will talk to DH tonight.

As an aside, I noticed that the PH cost and the WP & More costs are a flat rate per person and not a per day cost? Am I reading that correctly? I thought I remembered they used to be a pp/pd cost.

 

[erionm]

As an aside, I noticed that the PH cost and the WP & More costs are a flat rate per person and not a per day cost? Am I reading that correctly? I thought I remembered they used to be a pp/pd cost.

Correct, the WPF&M and Park Hopper options are a flat rate per ticket (Currently: $57 for one or the other, $79 if you purchase both). The No-Expire option varies based on the number of days on the ticket.

Current ticket prices can be found in Post #18 this thread: Everything About WDW Tickets

 

[Kidanifan08]

You said you are doing a split stay, so you could just do the dining plan for one of the resorts and not the other, since it will be two separate reservations. You could do the first part of the trip with the DDP, which would allow you to use your dining credits through the end of the day that you check out from your first resort.

The TIW is a nice option, as well. This is particularly true since the kids have to be on the adult plan and may not eat their money's worth of food. Since the TIW is $100 for DVC members, you need to spend around $500 with the card just to recover the initial cost. If you know that you will travel before the end of July 2014, then the TIW card could be used for that visit, as well.

Have a great time! We'll be there sweating it out in July, too! We are definitely planning on some water park time!

 

[heathers4um]

Correct, the WPF&M and Park Hopper options are a flat rate per ticket (Currently: $57 for one or the other, $79 if you purchase both). The No-Expire option varies based on the number of days on the ticket.

Current ticket prices can be found in Post #18 this thread: Everything About WDW Tickets

Thanks for the link!

 

[heathers4um]

You said you are doing a split stay, so you could just do the dining plan for one of the resorts and not the other, since it will be two separate reservations. You could do the first part of the trip with the DDP, which would allow you to use your dining credits through the end of the day that you check out from your first resort.

The TIW is a nice option, as well. This is particularly true since the kids have to be on the adult plan and may not eat their money's worth of food. Since the TIW is $100 for DVC members, you need to spend around $500 with the card just to recover the initial cost. If you know that you will travel before the end of July 2014, then the TIW card could be used for that visit, as well.

Have a great time! We'll be there sweating it out in July, too! We are definitely planning on some water park time!

I'm kind of stressed to go in July, especially with the girls and it being their 1st time...any tips on surviving that I haven't already thought of?

I was just discussing the TiW card vs the DDP and DH thinks we should just do the DDP all the way through for convenience sake and we are pretty sure we won't be back before the year is up but secretly I think he doesn't want to hear me complaining that I have to cook while I'm there!

 

[heathers4um]

Can anyone tell me the pros and cons of going through UT for the park hopper and waterparks & more ticket package instead through the DVC website? It seems it will save me $14 pp and I'm not sure if it will be worth it to not have my vacation package all together. When we purchased annual tickets a couple of years ago, we went through them for MYW and then bridged the costs for the annual passes after visiting our first park which was totally worth the money we saved, but we aren't doing that this time - we are just buying regular tickets. Can anyone offer any thoughts on this?

 

[erionm]

You will still save money on the MYW tickets by purchasing them from UT. You can save even more by signing up for the mousesavers e-mail (comes out on the 15th). You can have MYW tickets purchased from UT added to your KTTW cards (if desired) by the concierge desk at your resort after check-in.

 

[thepops]

We got tickets from UT and what I saw was that you need to look at all of the options the site has. We were able to snag tickets with hopper and water-park and non-expiry for an 8 day ticket that were cheaper than without water-parks! Must have been a special bunch they had .... saved about $68/ticket over gate price! We weren't going to get that long of a ticket, but the price was just too good.
(also use the mousesavers newsletter link. It gives you a little more of a break as well)

 

[heathers4um]

You will still save money on the MYW tickets by purchasing them from UT. You can save even more by signing up for the mousesavers e-mail (comes out on the 15th). You can have MYW tickets purchased from UT added to your KTTW cards (if desired) by the concierge desk at your resort after check-in.

Oh, I didn't know that they could combine them for you - sweet! Thanks!

 

[heathers4um]

We got tickets from UT and what I saw was that you need to look at all of the options the site has. We were able to snag tickets with hopper and water-park and non-expiry for an 8 day ticket that were cheaper than without water-parks! Must have been a special bunch they had .... saved about $68/ticket over gate price! We weren't going to get that long of a ticket, but the price was just too good.
(also use the mousesavers newsletter link. It gives you a little more of a break as well)

Thank you SO much for your (and Michael's!) reminder of the Mousesavers link! I DO get their newsletter so I'm going to go take a look right now! TY, TY, TY!! I knew coming here was a smart idea!