Looking for experienced advice

[Takasa]

Ok so we had to cancel our trip this year so Im re-planning for 2015 I know its far out but I can't wait so this is how I soothe myself!

Family make up info FOR the trip 2 adults, 6 children 12,12, 11, 9, 7 and 1. We have gone to Disney during Christmas week before so crowds are ok. We tend to stay in the parks all day enjoy EMH and if we are at the resort we are in the pool. I understand there will be price increases but Im just using 2014 prices for comparison purposes.

Ok so my first issue is that I am wanting to hit the Halloween party, Christmas decorations and the food and wine. I'm looking that doing a check in of Oct 30-Nov 8 check out. From what I can gather I would only miss out on the country Santas or will we miss more of the decorations? Any suggestions?

I had planned to stay in a value resort AoA but with 8 people it looks like Id have to have 2 rooms? Which at current prices seems to be $600+ a night? Even with the chance to get free dining with it will be much cheaper to just camp at fort wilderness and pay for dining out of pocket. So dining would be ~$384+$54 (to $110) so a max of $494 a day. Is there another option for a hotel that is more inexpensive for 8 people?

Thanks in advance you guys are awesome!

 

[Nwall81]

We have found IT IS MUCH cheaper to stay off property in a vacation home or villa. You can find a 4 bedroom home of Villa for 800$-1600$ depending on what you want for the week. So if you can do without all the "benefits" of staying on Dis Property, you can really save allot of money and stay in a much.. well more comfy if not so magical place. So let's say your looking at doing a week a 1400$ a week vacation home or villa, and do a 5 day park hopper pass for everyone, your looking at around 4000$ for a base price.. a two bedroom villa hotel stay at Disney would end up costing around 6700$ for your group. You can look up vacation homes at homeaway dot com

 

[isaacsfam]

I'm not sure because I've never really priced out AoA but I think two rooms at a mod would cost less. Also, if free dining is available you will get a better meal plan. Just request joining rooms.

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

With 8 people you don't need two suites, which I think is what you're talking about at AoA. You could do two rooms at a value or moderate resort and it would be much cheaper. And if you do the two moderates and it's during FD, you'd get the regular dining plan instead of just the QS. Even paying the higher price for suites at AoA, you'd only get the QS plan because it's considered a "value" resort.

 

[HopperFan]

Since you have plenty of time I would come up with different scenarios and their pros & cons based on this years rates/discounts offered.

If you were booking with Free Dining, then I would be looking at getting two moderate rooms at Caribbean or Coronado (the two offered). You would be looking at around $450 per night including the regular Disney Dining Plan which gives you the table service credits.

If you wanted to save even more money then I would look at Free Dining at a Value Resort (POP or AllStars) with two rooms. You would have Quick Service Dining Plan (@ $260 a night) included. I would probably upgrade to the regular plan so your looking at about $375-400 per night. Not sure the $75 savings per night ($675 total) is worth it to give up bigger rooms, queen beds, themed pools with slides and more food offerings.

I would not be camping plus paying for the dining plan when if Free Dining opens and I could be in a hotel room with the dining plan for the same amount of money. Aside from I don't like to camp anymore, the transportation and other issues make the campground way too much work for my vacation.

Of course your other scenarios will involve no Free Dining but paying for it or no Dining Plan paying OOP - which then opens other possibilities such as staying offsite with more space and kitchen.

At least you will have fun planning it all!

 

[mdyoung]

In February 2013, we did a 7day/6night trip with free dining. Large party of 6adults & 3 children. We chose to stay at Pop Century which is just across the bridge from AoA in two adjoining rooms (2 of the kids were under 3). We did not upgrade dining plan. This worked out really well for us. We left the door open between the rooms till bedtime so the children had room to play.

We are going again January 2015 same length of time minus 1 adult and children are 7, 5 & 4. We will again stay at Pop but have 3 rooms this time - 2 adjoining & 1 next door(hopefully). This time will upgrade to regular dining plan to include several character meals at an approximate cost of $600 for the entire group for the whole trip. Cost increase would be less for you with the number of children and adults. Character meals & 1 special dinner costs us this much or more on the 2013 trips.

I am a planner and have researched every possible combination that could possibly work for us and this seems to be the best solution for us.

Hope it helps! Sorry you had to postpone your trip.

 

[GotLabradors]

Ok so we had to cancel our trip this year so Im re-planning for 2015 I know its far out but I can't wait so this is how I soothe myself!

Family make up info FOR the trip 2 adults, 6 children 12,12, 11, 9, 7 and 1. We have gone to Disney during Christmas week before so crowds are ok. We tend to stay in the parks all day enjoy EMH and if we are at the resort we are in the pool. I understand there will be price increases but Im just using 2014 prices for comparison purposes.

Ok so my first issue is that I am wanting to hit the Halloween party, Christmas decorations and the food and wine. I'm looking that doing a check in of Oct 30-Nov 8 check out. From what I can gather I would only miss out on the country Santas or will we miss more of the decorations? Any suggestions?

I had planned to stay in a value resort AoA but with 8 people it looks like Id have to have 2 rooms? Which at current prices seems to be $600+ a night? Even with the chance to get free dining with it will be much cheaper to just camp at fort wilderness and pay for dining out of pocket. So dining would be ~$384+$54 (to $110) so a max of $494 a day. Is there another option for a hotel that is more inexpensive for 8 people?

Thanks in advance you guys are awesome!

We're in the same boat. I had to postpone my fall 2014 trip for 1 year. It's been awful, but my 12 month mark will be here soon. I have spent my time running different scenarios for resorts, dining plans or not, tickets, etc. And now, it's turned into a multi-family trip. Try putting together different scenarios for different resorts.

 

[Raenstoirm]

Have you looked into renting a DVC? If you ask around 11 months before your trip anybody can rent you a room for the week you want without worry of it being sold out (there are 2 and three bedrooms, plus a "treehouse" with 3 bedrooms). You will not get free dining, but you would save a lot on the room. And honestly with kids your age, I would not be so attached to the dining plan anyway. The bigger ones might not want the adult meals and the littler ones might get bored of the chicken nuggets and PB&J and want something else, so you would have to pay OOP for them or mix who gets what. It just seems like a hassle to me. We have never found the dining plan to be worth it, free or not. We find the room discounts have much more monetary value for us when we actually do the math.

As for the decorations, you will miss out on a lot. MK will have most of its decorations up, but Epcot and DHS will not. You may get to see the Osbourne Lights or you may not (obviously 2015 dates aren't out yet). This year the first christmas party and the first night of the lights are on the same night, so you would have to pick just one if you were leaving on the 8th. The resorts will also still be in setup mode and the big MK tree doesn't appear till the middle of December (after the parade filming). I personally would pick one or the other (Halloween or Christmas) if you really want to get in the spirit, but seeing both in one trip is pretty cool if you don't mind missing out on full Disney Christmas.

 

[Takasa]

I really appreciate the thoughts!

Not sure how I ended up getting prices so high when I looked! When I relies for a room they are booking at around $200 a night. I never priced out the moderates before so I was certainly shocked that they were so comparable to the values! Especially if there is free dining!

While we have yet to make a rope drop we are never in our room my kids are ridiculous with the emh at night lol. This is the first time I'm scheduling a resort day (for ME to relax!) so it really is about the parks for us

I definitely LOVE the planning and disboards for me it makes the wait easier!

I am worried about the decorations for Christmas though, I was told that everything but the santas would be available that first week of November. I understand they need to switch over so it wouldn't have been an instant thing.

Taking my mom with us and wanted to give her the best vacation possible doing as much as we can! Food and wine is more for me

I saw somewhere that if you checked in during a free dining promotion and it ended during your stay you would still get it for the length of your stay?

Definitely open to any additional planning advise . Thanks!

 

[Takasa]

I had planned on visiting family while down in fl. Would there be a better check in day that would be better assurance of Christmas decorations? I would still want to aim for checking being somewhere in that first week of nov to get food and wine.