Should I purchase AP and TIW ?

[donkortajr]

Next January our family is heading to bay Lake Tower with another family for a week. Using my points, we will be in a Grand Villa. There are 10 of us going and by that date all kids are at least 11 or 12 so all are considered Adults by Disney. When we went in Oct. 2008, we did the dining plan. We did 1 table service and 1 counter service each day. Felt like I was always eating and stuffed.

We were considering doing the new 2 counter service version of the dining plan this time and a couple of sit downs (Ohana and Liberty Tree) or no counter service and still 2 sit downs. Either way, we will still have food in the room since we have a full kitchen (sandwich stuff and microwave stuff mostly)

Does it make sense for me rather than getting a length of stay like the rest of the group to get an AP and TIW ?

Just looking for others thoughts.

 

[rlovew]

If you plan on eating breakfast and snacking in the room than to me the dining plan is a lot of food- also it will be expensive to have so many children on the dining plan. I would think an AP with TIW might be better for your group as adult beverages are also discounted. It won't help much with counter service but it will help with any TS you do.

 

[dmoore22]

AP is cost effective for stays over 10 days. The TIW works better for us because my DW and I often split an entree, appetizer, and desert. Plus we will have a libation once in a while which also is discounted.

 

[NewJerseyDVCMembers]

We feel we get a great value out of TIW. We call it our tip card... we normally leave 20%... the card reduces the bill by 20%, but then adds an 18%gratuity.

We had a server tell us one time that they added the 18% because people weren't tipping enough or on the discounted total. We found the comment slightly rude, I guess it was the way it was said.

Now, if the service is standard, we leave exactly what the discount + 18% is. If the server goes above and beyond we always leave a few extra bucks cash.

In this economy every little bit helps. You will re-coup the cost of the TIW card after a few meals. You can even re-coup it in a single trip.

 

[DVCGeek]

With that large a group I'd get the AP for you & TiW. We had a group of 6 in Feb. and I was glad I went that route! I try to do two Disney trips a year, and the way I scheduled things I actually got three out of that AP already, totaling 18 days / 15 nights, so I more than got my money's worth out of the combo. Have fun!