Oh, and we'll go ahead and add some AP's to Universal while we're at it ($884) so we have something else to do each day once we've used our 3 FP's!!
Wait until you renew those APs. If you're talking Preferred, the renewal price on them for the last 3 years has been $170 each. Score!
You could also hit Uni first, then once it closes head over to WDW with the FP+s already arranged. Maybe catch an evening parade (thereby using even more resources by standing there to see the parade, and already having eaten most/all of the day's food outside of WDW) as well.
Funny, I don't think many people here think he is ridiculous at all. This really makes sense. FP+ has, as part of its purpose, changed the availability of rides and the need to standing in longer SB lines, it forces a change in touring strategy and attempt to manipulate your behaviour, the reaction is to limit the control the system has on you, and extract the most from it while minimizing the cost to yourself.
I totally agree.
But it isn't "not-great" now. Really. FP+ works fine. If I can take my family of 6, and ride tons of rides in a day during moderate to busy times including all headliners multiple times -- then seriously what is the deal. It's really fine.
That was you on your trip(s). I go with my family of THREE and we have a lousy time. I go with a friend of mine, who is much more go with the flow, and less dependent on regular feedings, and we had a pretty-good time that pulled me from "I hate this" to "with the right people this CAN work out OK", but really, the only thing I remember from what made it "pretty good" was somehow snagging mine train FP+s inside an hour from when we got on it. After trying for weeks and weeks (we got tickets late in the game) to get ANYthing for that ride. That is the only thing I remember from the trip, FP+wise, and I truly cannot remember why I changed my feelings on it so much.
That was our trip, our group.
We were probably in the minority in finding the dining plan worth it but that's only because we figured out how to derive the maximum possible value from it in order to save a few bucks a day. So rather than $175 a day we'll spend less than a hundred and eat at places like Capitol Grill.
And with your son about to age up to "adult", the
DDP was going to get worse. As my son has gotten older, his urge to go to a character meal have gone to almost zero. So there go the buffets that might have brought the DDP into being OK for us. But actually it wasn't OK for me and DH, because we both do Weight Watchers and cannot gorge like we sort of used to be able to do. Doing so hurts now.
Not that you're in that WW situations, but with a son aging up and possibly out of character buffets, you might not have retained the positive opinion of the DDP for much longer.
I'm going to have to look into that. Last month I think we paid roughly $250 a night to stay at RPR but that was over New Years and was peak pricing; I haven't seen yet what sort of AP discounts they offer.
http://uo.loewshotels.com/en/booking/uo?hotel=UEPBH,UEHRH,UERPR
Bookmark that site.
Check it regularly. Use "APH" in the field code to see if there are AP rates for your dates at the time you're looking. (I think they are into March for AP rates right now...) If there's an AP rate, it will show it. If not, it will show the next publicly available rate. Though always check without APH, because especially with a longer trip, Stay More Save More is often less. Our 8 night rate in early January was 155.80/night plus tax; the AP rate would have been 164 base rate.
And if you went with Preferred or the next up, you get a percentage of almost all food and almost all merchandise. Ask wherever you're spending money if they have a discount (assuming preferred or higher...Power Pass doesn't have discounts other than hotel), just in case.
Mind if I ask what your fascination with Common Core is in response to an adult never subjected to it?
Just because they didn't call it CC back then, the CC way of doing math is an old school way of doing it. I'm pretty sure it's how my mom was taught math, and she was born in '44. My aunt, born in '42, learned the way I did in the 70s; we call it the "just do it" method. Put the numbers on top of each other, carry, borrow, whatever, just do the problem. My mom couldn't help me with math once I hit 5th grade because she said I had the "new math" and she had NO idea what I was doing. The CC method works very well for my husband and son; their minds work in that way, and they can do math WAY faster than I can. It takes more time for me to do it CC style, but as I make myself do it (afterall, I homeschool my son and kind of have to know it to teach it, and it's the method that makes his brain happiest) it makes more and more sense, especially for mental math.
lake is slamming CC, but it's actually decent, especially if the teachers know how to teach it AND especially if the parents could have video of what's being taught, so they know what the kids were taught about it. I cannot imagine how hard it must be for parents trying to help their kids when they haven't had the lessons! They must end up like my mom, dangling me in the breeze with math, because they simply do not comprehend what is being taught.
Oh and it's also very similar to Singapore Math from what I've seen, which is like how DH was taught when he was in school in Taiwan. He went back to the States probably two grade levels ahead of his former and then current classmates in math, because of how they were taught. It truly isn't a horrible way of doing math. It's just hard to catch on when you weren't there in class for the lessons.
