Save the money and sacrifice queen beds?

[gappedout]

What if someone wants an appetizer for their meal?

I don't do the plan because it does NOT allow is to eat wherever we want.

Very true!

 

[gappedout]

Why would they need two separate tickets? Just book the first reservation with room, dining and entire length of stay tickets (would do the summer meal plan at the value first to attach tickets and take advantage of the promo) and then room and dining only (ticketless package which you need to call in) at the mod.

So you can do room and dining only? If a room discount comes out, can you still apply it?

 

[gappedout]

Very true!

And would I have to pay for two memory maker packages?

 

[heidijanesmith]

No double beds for us! We sleep on a king at home, but for some reason a queen works at WDW! I think it's because we are so exhausted

 

[happymommy]

What if someone wants an appetizer for their meal?

I don't do the plan because it does NOT allow is to eat wherever we want.

Good point!

I never order dessert with a meal, but would prefer to snack a couple hours later.

Portion sizes are really large, so DD and I very often share a meal, just get appetizers, or a bit of both.

I've enjoyed the free QSDP, but wouldn't pay for it!

We almost always order water to drink, or I'll get a glass or two of wine or a beer.

Last trip, we took home 14 bags of snacks with leftover credits from the plan!

Going out of pocket is almost always cheaper.

Why not buy Disney gift cards and use them to pay for your meals? They'd still be essentially prepaid then.

I saw that free meal deal, but wasn't sure it was something you could upgrade to the dining plan from anyway. Thought it was just one meal a day, which really isn't a huge offer (but for a family of 4, I guess works out to be not so bad). I'd take that deal and pay the rest out of pocket.

 

[DG25]

When we have the whole family go we have always done the dining plan. When it was just one or two we figured we really was not going to use it the same way and there fore was wasting money. When we are all together we do a lot of character meals, due to the kids. So if you do a lot of character meals, buffets yes dining plan is a plus. If not, here is a way I do dining. I figure out what the dining plan cost for the 1 or 2 of us. On my upcoming trip for myself it would be $1010, it is a 16 day trip. There is no way I am going to eat that much, but what I do, so I don't pinch and save like you said your husband knows you will do. I go to target, and with my target card I buy $1000 worth of Disney gift cards, for dining. Now remember tables also have to have tips, so I try to add tips in also and get $200, but that only cost me $150 because I already saved 5%. Now I have prepaid my dining just as if I bought the dining plan. I can tell you, that I always have left over, and by chance you don't, you will be very close. I find at regular resturaunts if I buy the dining plan, I try to maximize the meal and order things I would not have, and go home gaining 10 pounds from the milkshakes and chocolate cakes for everyone. When we pay with Disney cards, we order more conservative, and either share dessert or skip it and get a snack later. With the money left over last day, you have some choices, I have saved enough to put a deposit down on a bounce back, before I own DVC, I have taking a tour we wanted, or gone horse back riding over at fort wilderness, or I buy suveniors. Over all, I have done a great job, I ate less, spent less, went home without having to go on a diet, and did not penny pinch.

Now if you want to save an extra 5% on the hotel, you can do that with target cards also. I am staying 7 days WL and 8 days BRV, for less than $1900. I have an AP rate of 35%, then I got my target cards to pay for my hotel at WL, saving me an extra $100. For a saving of 40%, my rate is $230 a night with the savings, that is cheaper than POR or POFQ. Some people can tell you how to get that up to 7% or more with target cards, but I don't want to do the work.

So, I get 16 days, 15 nights at WL/BRV for a grand total of $2800 with food. I got an AP gold for $549 last June and went 15 days, now I go in May for 16 days, costing me less than $17 a day for my park hopping. I can buy a pass for about $480 this year, which I am debating but not sure I will go again twice in one year so may just wait till next year but will have to pay the same price.

This is the only way I can afford Disney, but the more and more they up the prices, the less and less I will be able to go. I think I really need to find someplace else to go every other years because it is starting to really add up to much.

 

[DG25]

Oh one other thing you could try is to rent points thru Dave, I'm told you can save and have all the same benefits as a hotel. BRV is just steps from he lobby of WL. And you can use all the same amenities. The room to me is just as nice. You have a queen bed, the 14 yo would have a pull out sofa that both my kids in there 20's have used and say it is comfy, and you 6 yo would have a pull down single bed that everyone fights, we have to allow each grandchild to switch each night. Depending on your discount, the room may come out the same or less, I have heard of people paying a lot less, we never rented since we own, but I have heard good things.

 

[DaniMoon]

We do double beds. My kids are 10 & 8 and each one of us sleeps with a kid. This will be our longest trip (11 nights). More park days are worth it, for us. My husband is the same with the dining plan, I was saving Gift Cards to pay for our meals. My daughter and I would split meals and what not. But he wants the dining plan, because if not he'd nickel and dime everything and he would eat lettuce the whole trip because he would order by price and not by what he would really enjoy. So since he foots the bill, who am I to argue.

We will be at Pop in June and have the QS meal plan, upgraded to the DDP.

 

[scrapquitler]

Last year, our family of four (mom, dad, 14 year old and 6 year old) stayed at Wilderness Lodge and fell in love. We currently have it booked for this year again but finances may not be as plentiful as last year. We can save $1,900 by moving to Pop with the summer meal deal that ends tomorrow (would upgrade to the regular dining plan). We have stayed at Pop before...when the six year old was in a pack n play and I shared a bed with then then 8 year old.

A moderate would only save us about $660 assuming a 30% discount on WL and 20% discount on a moderate that is likely to come out next month.

I would love to save the money but the thought of 12 nights in double beds makes me cringe. I know we can bring along a blow up mattress.

What would you do??? It's a huge savings...do I sacrifice the comfort for the savings? Maybe switch to Pop tonight while the deal is still out and upgrade if extra money turns up?

I'd stay at Pop. $1900 is a LOT of money.

 

[buzznina]

Last year, our family of four (mom, dad, 14 year old and 6 year old) stayed at Wilderness Lodge and fell in love. We currently have it booked for this year again but finances may not be as plentiful as last year. We can save $1,900 by moving to Pop with the summer meal deal that ends tomorrow (would upgrade to the regular dining plan). We have stayed at Pop before...when the six year old was in a pack n play and I shared a bed with then then 8 year old.

A moderate would only save us about $660 assuming a 30% discount on WL and 20% discount on a moderate that is likely to come out next month.

I would love to save the money but the thought of 12 nights in double beds makes me cringe. I know we can bring along a blow up mattress.

What would you do??? It's a huge savings...do I sacrifice the comfort for the savings? Maybe switch to Pop tonight while the deal is still out and upgrade if extra money turns up?

I believe the Mod discount is only 5% less then the deluxe. So if Deluxe is 30% the Mods would be 25%. I have also seen WL lumped in at the same % of the Mod resorts. So your Mod savings would be more then what you calculated.

 

[DG25]

I missed you are staying for 12 nights. If you did a split stay, pop /WL, you book one as a package, get tickets dining and so. You can then book the other as a room only, as room only you can still get 30% off even better, make one of your tickets an AP, you would then definately get 30% or more off, which would pay for the upgrade of the AP, then you would get 10 or 20% of on a lot of your food. You could easily save $1000 to $1500 depending on how to,u do it.

 

[McKelly]

I would stay at a moderate for as long as you're staying. If it was a shorter 3-4 days trip, I could probably do it, but 12 days.........No. Also, look at the menus and run the numbers before purchasing the dining plan. I did this yesterday, and the dining plan would cost us $400.00 more than paying out of pocket, plus it made us eat more than we probably would anyway. That might save you some money.

 

[Chrelaine]

This is the exact reason why we won't stay at a Value. No one would get any sleep in doubles.
Only you know your family. If you think everyone could handle sleeping in doubles with an air mattress, I say do it because $1900 is a boatload of money! If you honestly know it won't work, book the moderate and still save while knowing your family will be more comfortable. It is vacation after all!

 

[Figaroo]

DH and I slept in double at POP with no issues. I barely noticed it wasnt a queen. That being said, we are fairly thin people and not super tall either. Im sure being comfortable in a double would depend on your size and sleeping habits. My DD had her own double so I cant speak on kiddos sharing. FWIW the difference between a queen and double is six inches in length and width.

 

[AllieBoo]

We stayed one night at AS movies and would not do it again. The double beds are just a deal breaker for us. I would either stick with WL or go with a mod, especially since you are there for 12 nights.

 

[nkereina]

Yes - have thought about that but dining plan is a must for us and don't want to have to purchase tickets on both reservations - which I think we would have to, right?

Why would they need two separate tickets? Just book the first reservation with room, dining and entire length of stay tickets (would do the summer meal plan at the value first to attach tickets and take advantage of the promo) and then room and dining only (ticketless package which you need to call in) at the mod.

I don't know whether the free dining promotion is a possibility for the OP, but if it is, there's a good chance there may be a ticket requirement in order to get free dining. But if free dining is not in the picture, then yes, a ticketless package would be the way to go for a split stay.

We only stay deluxe by renting DVC points. If you're not into that option, my next choice would be the moderate resort. If you're already miserable thinking about the double beds, imagine how you'll be when you're there sleeping in it. You'll be kicking yourself - maybe literally! lol! And IMO, the moderates are closer to deluxe resorts in terms of amenities, quality, theme, etc. It's easier to transition down to a moderate from a deluxe than it would be to a value, IMO.

 

[RADOPT]

moving to Pop with the summer meal deal that ends tomorrow (would upgrade to the regular dining plan).

Since the summer meal plan ended yesterday, what did you decide? I am trying to decide also.

 

[sweetmama17]

It's not just the fact that Pop is doubles but they are also hard as a rock. We stayed for 1 night this past weekend and probably never again. We could deal with the size but not how uncomfortable they were. And while I love WL with all my heart I would also being doing something different to save $1900. I would look at a Moderate or even something like Swan/Dolphin.

 

[dancin Disney style]

Because my husband knows me all too well! If we did not pre-pay the dining plan, he knows that I would be nickle and diming everyone while we are there. Waters for the whole table, no desserts! Pre-paying the dining plan let's everyone eat what they want without me worrying about the cost while we are there.

I actually don't think that's a bad thing. We always order water at meals because you can easily get dehydrated at WDW and no one needs dessert at every meal. We will never pay OOP for the dining plan, if we get it free then that's fine. We spend far less per person than what the plan costs. We bring breakfast items to have in the room in the morning. This saves time and also if it's a sleep in day no one wants to go out and get food. The rest of the day we pretty much eat what we want but don't go overboard. We do occasionally share a meal or order kids meals.

As far as the double beds VS the queen beds. Only you can decide that. We have stayed many times at all the value resorts and only once did we get a bad bed. All the other times the beds were perfect. We have also stayed at the mods many times and really there isn't a ton of difference. We decide which level of resort we are staying at based on what the trip plans are. A trip that includes several days in the parks would be a value level room. A trip that is mainly hanging out at the pool would be a mod level room.

 

[disneyvoice]

LOL!! The bed issue is the reason why we finally decided to give up going to Value Resorts. My DH finally decided he couldn't take another night in a double bed!! Have you looked at the Family Suite all All Star Music? There is either a king or queen bed in the master bedroom (can't remember which) and then a pull out sofa and futons in the other room. I wouldn't be happy on a pull out sofa but my 15 year old son doesn't mind them. You also get two bathrooms. I haven't comparison shopped the suite vs. a moderate for while so I don't know if they are comparable. We actually love the Family Suite at Music when we travel with our son because my DH and I have the privacy of our own bedroom without having to spend money on two rooms or a more expensive option with separate rooms at a more expensive resort.