*** Official August 2021 thread ***

[MomOTwins]

We do, too. We're a family of 4 Disney "adults" (2 adults, 2 kids over age 9), and on our last trip in February 2020, we saved over 33% -- a whopping third of our dining costs -- by _not_ using the DDP, and that was with 1 TS (including a signature restaurant that would have cost 2 DDP "credits") and 1 CS per day, plus snacks, some alcoholic beverages and a couple visits to lounges for drinks and appetizers. Nor were we ordering the cheapest stuff: we ordered whatever we wanted, and for two in our party, that's usually an expensive seafood or steak dish. We would never get any value out of the DDP unless it was given to us for free. (I know others report different experiences.)

Our experience 100%!

Actually, I don't think it's that others report different experiences. I think if you have kids over 9, but who are not adults, everyone pretty consistently reports that DDP is not a good value unless you have free dining.

It's not hard to see why. The most recent price of the DDP was $30.51 per day for a child age 9 or younger, but $78.01 for ages 10 and up. That's almost a $50 jump in price! My twins are turning 10 this year, and I guarantee they won't consume roughly $50 more per day in food once they turn 10 than they do now at age 9--in fact they'll most likely still be ordering off the kids menu. On the flip side, currently I'd be hard pressed to spend under $30.51 per day for my kids when you factor in meals, fountain drinks at the resort (you get a refillable drink mug included with DDP), and snacks. And that's just basic restaurants--if I do a character or AYCTE meal, standard kids price is $36 for kids under 9, so you are getting a discount on that meal and all other food and drink that day for free. So I don't think it's a case of people reporting different experiences--I think everyone is reporting the same experience: if you have kids 9 and under, DDP is a great value, if you have kids over age 10, it's a terrible value.

Kept this specific to kids because for adults an added consideration is the included two alcoholic drinks per day, which can make the adult price "worth it" for a true adult, even if it would not be for a "disney adult" ordering the same things without alcohol.

 

[123SA]

I noticed that the Fireworks at on the July calendar, but not the August calendar. Is it just a matter of waiting for the next update to the calendar?

 

[scrappinginontario]

I noticed that the Fireworks at on the July calendar, but not the August calendar. Is it just a matter of waiting for the next update to the calendar?

I would guess so. The ‘normal’ hours have been released but extended hours should still be coming.

 

[MomOTwins]

I noticed that the Fireworks at on the July calendar, but not the August calendar. Is it just a matter of waiting for the next update to the calendar?

Yes. The August calendar predates the fireworks announcement and they just have not updated it yet. If they were not planning on continuing fireworks, they would have said something like “for a limited run.”

I wonder if they are kind of waiting a bit for August to decide how to sequence boo bash and fireworks.

 

[123SA]

I'm really hoping for some extended hours. The parks are just different at night. One of my favorite memories is wandering around AK in an almost empty park, it was so very dark and absolutely pouring rain. It was so much fun.

 

[disneymom0104]

I'm really hoping for some extended hours. The parks are just different at night. One of my favorite memories is wandering around AK in an almost empty park, it was so very dark and absolutely pouring rain. It was so much fun.

Me too! We haven't seen Pandora yet at all and will be sad if we don't get to see it at night!

 

[Ecomommy09]

Me too! We haven't seen Pandora yet at all and will be sad if we don't get to see it at night!

I took my friend who doesn’t love Disney as much as me. She was tired and wanted to head back to the resort but I convinced her to stay for our FOP FP. When we came out, it was dark. She was awed. It’s so beautiful.

 

[The13thLetter]

anyone trying to make adrs right now? it doesnt seem to be working

 

[Juventus]

Canadian here. Just booked Aug 15 -21 at the swan. 7th year in a row going, first time since kids going without kids (!), and first time in awhile staying onsite.

I usually go in March, so with regards to AK at night, it currently closes at 6:00 I think; could they extend the hours enough for it to be dark out? Wouldn't that have to be an 8 or 9:00 closure??

 

[Juventus]

anyone trying to make adrs right now? it doesnt seem to be working

Try not using the app; use a browser. I found the app can be finniky.

 

[The13thLetter]

Try not using the app; use a browser. I found the app can be finniky.

the app actually was the only place it ended up working. it was super weird on the web browsers. Wasnt showing my days available. Oh well. Got almost everything i wanted.

 

[MomOTwins]

the app actually was the only place it ended up working. it was super weird on the web browsers. Wasnt showing my days available. Oh well. Got almost everything i wanted.

It might have logged you out so didn’t recognize your resort stay and just showed you 60 days from now. I’ve had that happen before.

 

[weather_lady]

anyone trying to make adrs right now? it doesnt seem to be working

I had the same issues this morning. I tried right at 6am on my desktop computer, and when that wasn't working, on the app on my phone. Both were glitching, logging me out, kicking me back to the start page, etc. Took me a full 3 minutes to make the first ADR! Fortunately, we got what we needed in the end.

 

[123SA]

Canadian here. Just booked Aug 15 -21 at the swan. 7th year in a row going, first time since kids going without kids (!), and first time in awhile staying onsite.

I usually go in March, so with regards to AK at night, it currently closes at 6:00 I think; could they extend the hours enough for it to be dark out? Wouldn't that have to be an 8 or 9:00 closure??

Sunset on August 15 in Orlando is 8:04 pm....yes, it will not be fully dark until around 9pm. I would love hours extended until 9pm, but unless there is a significant increase in capacity, I personally do not think it is likely. I would love it if they added more after hours events. After hours we did at AK a few years ago was awesome. We rode FOP twice (I can't handle any more than that), dinosaur and EE so many times. EE is wild in the dark and even wilder in the dark and rain. PLus Pandora and the tree are so pretty at night.

 

[Mr. X]

Why are the phone line hold times so long?

 

[MomOTwins]

Why are the phone line hold times so long?

Perhaps the fireworks announcement today has people calling in to try to book or modify trips (either in the summer to see HEA/Epcot Forever before they switch the fireworks shows to the new ones on Oct 1, or in the fall /winter for the new shows).

 

[Mr. X]

Perhaps the fireworks announcement today has people calling in to try to book or modify trips (either in the summer to see HEA/Epcot Forever before they switch the fireworks shows to the new ones on Oct 1, or in the fall /winter for the new shows).

I'm just trying to find out if the room I have booked at the Poly is a DVC Studio or a Moana themed room.

 

[MomOTwins]

I'm just trying to find out if the room I have booked at the Poly is a DVC Studio or a Moana themed room.

Is your reservation linked in MDE? Your resort should say "Disney's Polynesian Village Resort" if you are in a Moana (i.e. hotel side) room, and "Disney's Polynesian Villas and Bungalows" if you are in a DVC studio.

 

[The13thLetter]

It might have logged you out so didn’t recognize your resort stay and just showed you 60 days from now. I’ve had that happen before.

I had the same issues this morning. I tried right at 6am on my desktop computer, and when that wasn't working, on the app on my phone. Both were glitching, logging me out, kicking me back to the start page, etc. Took me a full 3 minutes to make the first ADR! Fortunately, we got what we needed in the end.

It was super weird. i was on the restaurant page and tried changing the dates, and it would not let me go past by 60th day. i did at one point refresh and was logged out so i logged back in, but same thing. i switched to the app and had better luck but some of the time it forgot my saved credit cared so i had to enter it again. i checked again on the website just to see, and if i clicked the "check availability" on the restaurant page instead of just clicking the date to drop down the calendar, that second window let me choose my week. it was just super weird and i was starting to panic lol. but luckily we got almost everything at a good time. just need to move via napoli back a bit later and find yak & yeti for dinner (set up resrvation alerts for them), but worse come to worse ill get a landry's card for yak & yeti

 

[Gary Stocker]

It was super weird. i was on the restaurant page and tried changing the dates, and it would not let me go past by 60th day. i did at one point refresh and was logged out so i logged back in, but same thing. i switched to the app and had better luck but some of the time it forgot my saved credit cared so i had to enter it again. i checked again on the website just to see, and if i clicked the "check availability" on the restaurant page instead of just clicking the date to drop down the calendar, that second window let me choose my week. it was just super weird and i was starting to panic lol. but luckily we got almost everything at a good time. just need to move via napoli back a bit later and find yak & yeti for dinner (set up resrvation alerts for them), but worse come to worse ill get a landry's card for yak & yeti

Something similar happened to me on my last trip and I started getting reminders about the ADRs I thought I cancelled.

I called Disney and went over line for line any reservations I thought I kept vs. the ones I thought I cancelled. It was a complete mess as most of my "cancellations" were still open and not on MDE and had to be manually removed by the cast member.

You might want to do the same as you don't want to have an unexpected no-show charge appear when you are there.