Official August 2007 thread

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

We're at Wilderness Lodge Aug. 15-24. We booked Free Dining on the bounce back special.

 

[Blue Skies]

We are staying at POFQ from 8/24 - 9/1.

We are lucky that DS's school doesn't start until after Labor Day! We had hoped to be able to take DS out of school for a trip, but it didn't work out for us this go round.

I am dreading the heat/humidity/rain.... but we have been a few times in December, and boy can it get COLD! Plus I hate flying when there is bad weather. Our last December trip we ended up on the tarmac in Detroit for 6 hours due to snow and ice.

I also have my fingers crossed for free dining.... we are getting the DDP anyway, but I always love a good deal!

 

[stemikger]

Just posting again.

August 13 to the 23rd. I am hoping for free dining, but going any way.

Pop Century here I come. My home away from home.

Now gotta go to the Hippie Dippie Pool and Petals bar and have myself a Lava Lamp. Life is Good.

 

[Cookie Princess]

Add us to the list for CR during the last week in August. I am hoping for another year of free DDP!

 

[warriorboy648]

I am very busy planning my family's August vacation ( we are presently booked from the 12th to the 25th at the Dolphin with the teacher's rate of $149.00 a night (2 rooms))

With all this talk of free dining I want to be prepared to stay the course or change plans.

With free dining, I figured that we could stay at WL and break even or save up to $1000.00. Not sure how expensive it is for a family of 7 to eat each day.

If I decided to be more frugal, again with free dining, I could stay at CSR and save at least $2000.00.

Curious what other people would do in this situation??? How much do families usually plan on spending per person per day at the resorts?

Does the dining plan make you feel super focused on eating and getting your moneys worth?

Lastly, do you need a lot of reservations at this time in August or can you just show up??

Thanks for any help you can give me!! (My dh thanks you too, he is tired of talking about it...)

 

[crystalblue705]

Hi, just checking in with our dates. We'll be at CBR from July 26 - Aug 11. Can't wait!

 

[harleyquinn]

I am very busy planning my family's August vacation ( we are presently booked from the 12th to the 25th at the Dolphin with the teacher's rate of $149.00 a night (2 rooms))

With all this talk of free dining I want to be prepared to stay the course or change plans.

With free dining, I figured that we could stay at WL and break even or save up to $1000.00. Not sure how expensive it is for a family of 7 to eat each day.

If I decided to be more frugal, again with free dining, I could stay at CSR and save at least $2000.00.

Curious what other people would do in this situation??? How much do families usually plan on spending per person per day at the resorts?

Does the dining plan make you feel super focused on eating and getting your moneys worth?

Lastly, do you need a lot of reservations at this time in August or can you just show up??

Thanks for any help you can give me!! (My dh thanks you too, he is tired of talking about it...)

I'll answer what I can.

1. How much money for food is a tough thing, especially in August. it depends on how much you're family eats and in August we tend to eat a lot less since its sooo hot.
At the same time the DP allows you to take nice AC breaks (hopefully for free).

2. If the DP is free then its up to you how dining focused you want to be. You have a long trip, so your sure to see everything and have time for nice long meals too. I paid for the plan in January and I was extremly focused on getting the most for my money (I made a spreadsheet!). It was just me and DH and we "saved" over $1000 using the DP. I put saved in quotes, because on our previous trips we had never eaten at a table service restaurant. We never would have had the opportunity to eat at so many AWESOME places without it.

3. Ressies are always best at any time of the year to be sure you get what you REALLY want. if you really want to be able to decide on the fly and not be tied to a ressie schedule, I suggest you make a few ressies for the things you really want.

There is an entire board devoted to the DP. Have fun spending a bunch of time with it and learn what you need to, so you can be ready to move to a different resort if you need to.

 

[warriorboy648]

Thanks for your help. I found the dining board and it is a big help!!

 

[kutchyone]

My daughter and I love to eat at the nicer locations in DW and she has always enjoyed eating "adult" meals instead of the normal kid fare. Since 1997 I have always budgeted $50.00 per person per day for food. Granted some days we didn't spend that but others we were over so it was always a good guide. With seven people I would think free dining would save you a ton of money and it would be well worth it to stay at a moderate. Notice I didn't say a value which would be even cheaper, I just can't stand them so I can't recommend that anyone stay at them. CSR is a wonderful resort. It is the newest of the moderates and Disney learns from some of their mistakes. POFQ is another great moderate. POR is just OK and CBR is far, far, far, far, far behind it. Hope you are able to get the deal you and your family need.

 

[RivaLJ]

My DS6 and I will be staying at the Poly August 17-28. Also hoping for the free dining. It really worked out great for us last year.

 

[stitchgal]

We will be staying at Port Orleans French Quarter August 25-Sept 1

 

[ncbyrne]

F

I am very busy planning my family's August vacation ( we are presently booked from the 12th to the 25th at the Dolphin with the teacher's rate of $149.00 a night (2 rooms))

With all this talk of free dining I want to be prepared to stay the course or change plans.

With free dining, I figured that we could stay at WL and break even or save up to $1000.00. Not sure how expensive it is for a family of 7 to eat each day.

If I decided to be more frugal, again with free dining, I could stay at CSR and save at least $2000.00.

Curious what other people would do in this situation??? How much do families usually plan on spending per person per day at the resorts?

Does the dining plan make you feel super focused on eating and getting your moneys worth?

Lastly, do you need a lot of reservations at this time in August or can you just show up??

Thanks for any help you can give me!! (My dh thanks you too, he is tired of talking about it...)

I would opt for a WDW resort. For our family the dining plan, even if we pay for it, is the best thing that WDW had ever offered! Everyone eats whatever they want, which makes the kids very happy. The best part is that is is paid for in advance, tips too, and we don't even have to think about the prices when we look at the menu. It frees us to eat when and wherever we want. And to answer your question, no, we don't think about eating enough to get our money's worth. And YES, always make PDRs any time of year. We learned that the hard way and wound up eating more counter service meals because we couldn't get a table.

 

[stemikger]

It is official!!!

I just booked my trip for August 13 through the 23rd.

Pop Century Preferred Location. All parks included (water parks) too. Flying from Newark Airport on Continental and getting on ME. This will also be the first time I am doing the meal plan.

If they do offer it for free, I will get reimbursed, but the price seems worth it too me.

Can you tell I'm excited.

 

[Harambe]

Thrilled to join this thread!!!!

We booked over the weekend - August 22-30 at the Poly.

Our last trip to the Poly was right after 9/11. We had to take a train, since DH wouldn't take the kids on a plane, and that alone ruined our trip. Ate up four days for travel and we hated the 28 hours each way. So we want to go back to the Poly and try to erase those memories.

Sound funny talking about erasing ANY Disney memories, but every time we mention the Poly (and we loved the resort), we inevitably mention that dang train trip, then the twin towers, then . . .

 

[snowman]

While on my winter vacation from work (woohoo for vacation time that resets with date of hire - June for me) I put the deposit down for our August 26-Sept 2 POFQ stay. It will be DSO, DNephew and DAdoptedNephew (he's Nephew's best friend and calls himself our adopted nephew because we treat him with as much love as we do Carl. This is his first time trip to WDW so we want to make it special for him.) heading out to celebrate my 40th bday.

With a 13yo and 14yo boy free dining would be a blessing, so keeping my fingers crossed for that.

 

[ncbyrne]

It is official!!!

I just booked my trip for August 13 through the 23rd.

Pop Century Preferred Location. All parks included (water parks) too. Flying from Newark Airport on Continental and getting on ME. This will also be the first time I am doing the meal plan.

If they do offer it for free, I will get reimbursed, but the price seems worth it too me.

Can you tell I'm excited.

Ahhh, you are flying Continental from EWR....that means a direct, non-stop flight! We are using Sky Miles for 4 free tickets for our August (22-28)trip. I would have loved to get that direct flight, but alas, there were no Sky Saver nonstop flights to be had. We're flying out of Newark on Delta with a layover in Atlanta. On the way back we are routed thru Cincinnati! Oh well, it's free and that price is allowing me to take my DGDs to WDW. We are also staying at POP - first time at that resort for us.

 

[kldmom2000]

Jumping in now that it's official.....we'll be at the Yacht Club August 17-24

 

[ncbyrne]

anyone else?

 

[disneyjunkie]

Now that I have the park hours I can start planning.

 

[ntburns22]

Now that I have the park hours I can start planning.