having to move our disney vacation, yet, again...this will be move number 4 in two years due to economy and jobs changing. we were booked for
free dining in august, but getting ready to cancel and reschedule our trip. it looks like christmas at disney? Even then, not sure. We always do the water parks...is that possible at christmas? I know the weather can be warm, but not guaranteed...any suggestions? Also, what are the odds of getting a PIN for that time of year?
I did receive a pin for free dining for the days before and right after thanksgiving. Rebooking our free dining trip.... the same trip for december, and without any dining will cost us about $700 more...it was at a moderate, so we may decide on value. The boys loved all star sports....any advise, suggestions is appreciated!
First of all, I'm sorry that you have to postpone your vacation again
That being said, if Christmas is what you are planning, it is a totally different, amazing experience compared to August
Granted, I have never been in August, but I live on an island that get extremely hot and humid in the summer so I can only imagine Disney in August! I have been in December before (middle of December) and it's absolutely beautiful with all the different Christmas shows, activities and decorations. We fell in love with it and are now planning on spending Christmas in the World this year!
There are a lot of things to take into consideration regarding Christmas/December in the World -
Prices get higher the closer you get to Christmas. It's much pricier overall, to spend Christmas there. Price out a room only package for the dates you are interested in to see the price range. We are going from December 13th to 27th and the price per night for us ranges from $95 to $110 to $169 so it gets higher the closer you get to Christmas. This is for ASMovies.
If you decide to stay at a Value resort (which is what we are doing to keep the cost down) and you receive Free Dining, you will only get the QSDP and will have to pay extra to get the regular
DDP (with one table service per day). This is something to take into consideration when pricing out the packages in regards to staying between Value and Moderate! For 14 nights we will have to pay about $550 to upgrade, for 2 adults and 2 kids. BUT overall this will still save us almost $1400 compared to if we had to pay for the Dining Plan ourselves.
When are you planning on arriving in December? From what I can tell, from the FD pins that have been received by other people, the last day for FD is December 13th. This is the reason we are checking in December 13th for two weeks. Now, if/when the GP FD is offered, those dates might be slightly different. Each year the dates have slightly varied for FD. Oh, and yes, there are good chances that FD or some sort of room only discount will become available for sometime in December.
In regards to the waterparks...the last time we went in December, we had water park tickets left over and used them on the first sunny 'warm' day, which turned out to be sunny and freezing. The water at the waterpark was definitely not warmed up or heated at all, in my opinion. Just my opinion, but for a December trip I would not use my money on the waterpark option, but instead put it towards park hoppers, since it's a known fact that parks can and will get crowded (with the possibility of closing) during busy December days around the week of Christmas and New Years.
Have you ever been during Christmas before? This is our first time and from what I can gather, it can be done, but a lot of planning and preparing goes into it.
Also, if you are planning to use the DDP and need to make any ADR's, the 180 window is just around the corner. Mine for our Dec. 13th check in was just last week Saturday.
Hope I was able to be somewhat helpful!
If you have any more questions, ask away
