Newbie-Just locked in date! Frustrated and need advice

[pdnorm]

Thank you all for your responses!!!! I booked the flight for November 1 - November 6!

I am pretty sure that we got the basic dining plan at AOA and payed an upgrade for the dining plus which brought us within $100 of POR resort.

If I can catch a POR deal with dining plus free I will save a lot of money. We are hoping and praying for someone to cancel and free up a spot. This vacation is costing us sooo much already.

 

[pdnorm]

oh I just thought of another option

If you google Magical Vacations Travel they have an Agency Exclusive for Jersey Week (nov 3-10) if your dates fall into there somewhere. You could request a quote they have room blocks with dining plan and tickets for

Disney's Polynesian Resort - Garden View, Garden Club
Disney's Beach Club Resort - Garden View
Disney's Art of Animation - Little Mermaid Standard Rooms, Cars Family Suite and Lion King Family Suite

Family of 5 will fit at any of those resorts so it might be worth pricing out. If you go to the site click the top where it says agency exclusive then jersey week and you can request a quote from there. I got a Labor Day quote from them in a timely manner but we decided to wait this year. You can search Dis for people that have used them with confidence.

Thank you. I went to this website, but I hate giving out all that info, especially since I kinda booked already.

 

[pdnorm]

Really? Free Dining saved about $1,700.00 off rack rates for our upcoming 9 night trip to WDW. A room only discount would have only saved us about $700.00 off full price rack rates. $1,000.00 is a pretty big discount to me. And, really, unless the OP decided to upraged to a deluxe, a free dining discount is going to save them more money at a moderate or a value resort for a family their size.

I figured we would save about $1000! Thats huge. I will keep calling and hope for the best.

BTW is there an acronym cheat sheet somewhere? I figured out most, but can't figure out BOG?

 

[MMS1125]

I figured we would save about $1000! Thats huge. I will keep calling and hope for the best.

BTW is there an acronym cheat sheet somewhere? I figured out most, but can't figure out BOG?

Be Our Guest

 

[MMS1125]

Thank you. I went to this website, but I hate giving out all that info, especially since I kinda booked already.

I just put my name and email address when I did it. No sense in people having my address and phone number if I wasn't 100% sure I was using them

 

[pdnorm]

I just called and we can save $824 if we "give" one of our children to the other couple we are going with and stay in connecting rooms at coronado springs. Disney said that is OK and we wouldn't need to be with the other family all the time. Each person gets their own park ticket and meal voucher?? I thought each room has their own pass? I cant remember from last time we went (2007)

 

[Simba's Girl]

Does that 8hundred and change include what it will cost the other family to add your other child to her room? It will end up being her "ticket". I'm sure you'll still end up saving a bunch though!

 

[Luv2Roam]

The tickets and meal entitlements are on the room card. (Guess you could have guest relations remove the park ticket.)
Seems complicated to me.
And if the kids are picky eaters, and don't eat much, I probaby would not bother with a dine plan. Just pay OOP.
But that would also depend on how much counter service vs table service you plan to eat.
OOP offers versitility since you do not wonder about switching/tracking credits, what happens if someone is sick, can't make a dinner res, etc.
Meal plans just depend on individual's needs and habits.
Not that meal plans are complicated. But we see many times here on the Dis where people make it complicated.

 

[pdnorm]

The tickets and meal entitlements are on the room card. (Guess you could have guest relations remove the park ticket.)
Seems complicated to me.
And if the kids are picky eaters, and don't eat much, I probaby would not bother with a dine plan. Just pay OOP.
But that would also depend on how much counter service vs table service you plan to eat.
OOP offers versitility since you do not wonder about switching/tracking credits, what happens if someone is sick, can't make a dinner res, etc.
Meal plans just depend on individual's needs and habits.
Not that meal plans are complicated. But we see many times here on the Dis where people make it complicated.

Thanks all. We decided against splitting with another family. Maybe we should stick with no FD. My kids eat very little. We wanted to do one quick service type meal per day and 1 nice sit down. My concern with paying OOP was this: If you go to a table service place do you pay a price fixed amount per person no matter what the kids eat or do you order from a menu at varying costs? I thought even if the kids got a small plate of whatever it would still cost a lot? Sometimes when we go out one of our kids wont eat at all or just pick from our plate.

 

[pdnorm]

Well I just priced out AOA without meal plan only $300 savings.
Allstars was about $500 savings.

Seems like it is worth keeping what we have. I would guess we will eat at least $500 worth of food. I would guess we would spend 700-800 OOP?

 

[stargazertechie]

I agree it might be a good idea to try and snag a DVC rental.

All-star movies (room only) Family Suite for your date- $1,283
2 rooms at ASMU- $1142
1-bedroom at OKW (room only) is 126 points. At $10 a point that's $1260, at $11 a point it's $1386.

Well worth the upgraded accommodations- the only thing you lose out on is daily housekeeping.


If your kids really are light eaters, I'd consider just paying out of pocket. Most lunches can be split between two kids or 3 meals between 1 child and 2 adults.

The DVC units come with a kitchen, so you could plan breakfasts or lunch in the room, and have groceries delivered for snacks.

 

[stargazertechie]

Well I just priced out AOA without meal plan only $300 savings.
Allstars was about $500 savings.

Seems like it is worth keeping what we have. I would guess we will eat at least $500 worth of food. I would guess we would spend 700-800 OOP?

If you post the restaurants you have booked ADRs for (and the times of day (breakfast, lunch, or dinner) I can do a rough check of how much you will spend on meals. I enjoy manipulating numbers. I do statistical analysis for a living, so running numbers for someone else's vacation is like a field day for me

 

[pdnorm]

If you post the restaurants you have booked ADRs for (and the times of day (breakfast, lunch, or dinner) I can do a rough check of how much you will spend on meals. I enjoy manipulating numbers. I do statistical analysis for a living, so running numbers for someone else's vacation is like a field day for me

Awesome! Thanks!

Breakfast: Hollywood n Vine

Lunch: Tuscan house, Fantasmic

Dinner: Hoop Dee, Garden Grill

 

[pdnorm]

I went to DVCREQUEST.COM and it looks like a 1BR was $13 x 126 = $1638
Family of 5 park tickets = $1589

total $3227

We are at 3534 at AOA with TIX and upgraded dining. Maybe I am expecting too much and this is what it costs for a family of 5. I really appreciate all the help you guys have been.

 

[MMS1125]

I'd stick with the AoA suite and FD. Regardless of if your kids eat little or not with at least 1 TS a day you will spend well over $500 in food. 1 TS buffet for a family of 5 is easily $150+ dollars. With Free Dining you won't have to worry about paying for a meal your kids waste. You could try pricing out the new fall room discount and adding up what you think you'll spend OOP for meals and see if you come out better. People can order off the kid's menu even if they are over the age limit. We've done that in the past to save money and b/c it's what my picky kid wanted at the time.

 

[BuzzandWoodyMom]

I went to DVCREQUEST.COM and it looks like a 1BR was $13 x 126 = $1638
Family of 5 park tickets = $1589

total $3227

We are at 3534 at AOA with TIX and upgraded dining. Maybe I am expecting too much and this is what it costs for a family of 5. I really appreciate all the help you guys have been.

DVC rental is not going to save you money over the free dining discount you are getting. Even if your children are picky or dont' eat much, they still have to eat and you and your spouse certainly have to eat, so if you plan on doing at least 1 table service/character meal per day, then the free dining discount is going to save you the most money in this scenario. Since POR is sold out for free dining discounts during that timeframe, the only other cheaper option would be to get 2 connecting rooms at All-Star Movies, and that's only a coupld of hundred cheaper, but it's probably worth that to try out the new resort. You will have more room in the AoA suites than a 1 bedroom villa, 2 bathrooms and you won't need a kitchen because you are using the dining plan.

 

[pdnorm]

DVC rental is not going to save you money over the free dining discount you are getting. Even if your children are picky or dont' eat much, they still have to eat and you and your spouse certainly have to eat, so if you plan on doing at least 1 table service/character meal per day, then the free dining discount is going to save you the most money in this scenario. Since POR is sold out for free dining discounts during that timeframe, the only other cheaper option would be to get 2 connecting rooms at All-Star Movies, and that's only a coupld of hundred cheaper, but it's probably worth that to try out the new resort. You will have more room in the AoA suites than a 1 bedroom villa, 2 bathrooms and you won't need a kitchen because you are using the dining plan.

Thats exactly what I was thinking. Well said. Guess we will enjoy our stay at a new resort.

So excited to go!

 

[ADisneyQueen]

OP, I just wanted to give you some of my experience with my girls. When they were younger they were very light eaters, however, they did eat more at WDW. Unless your kids are in strollers, they will do a lot of walking and need more food throughout the day. Also, so much of the food there is kid friendly and when something is in the shape of a mickey it is more appetizing!