Should I Switch to the Free Dining Pkg? *LONG*

[klwdisney]

Hi... this is probably going to come out sounding confusing but my brain is swimming at the moment! haha

I currently have a reservation at POP Century with a AAA Discount for 10/1-10/8/05 for just DH and I. I only have a little bit left to pay on my balance.

I just booked my airfare this week with JetBlue and we plan to take ME.

The only thing I had left to worry about was my tickets. (we have 1 day left on our hoppers from our last trip)

I just read that WDW is re-offering the MYW with FREE dining package and am contemplating switching my reservation over to that. It said on the offer I read $425/pp for 7 days 6 night. We're staying 8 days/7 nights.

Currently my pricing looks like this:

hotel: $438
airfare: $330.80
passes: $573 (unless we buy early) for 6 day passes- may change that to 5 day passes with park hopping and plus options.

So leaving the airfare out of it, I'm looking at rougly $960 total for 2 of us. I think the package may be less but I"m not sure I'm understanding it right.

What do you all think I should do?

TIA for your help!

 

[Brian Noble]

You lose your AAA discount, but you get to eat for free. If you would ordinarily spend more on food for the two of you in one day than your discount is worth (about $18 per night) it's hard to argue against the free dining plan.

 

[Fridye]

You can price it out at the Disneyworld "special package" site and see what the difference in price is -- http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/special/offerDetail?id=AugSepMYWOfferPage

I would think you'd come out ahead with the free dining.

 

[klwdisney]

Fridye! Thanks for that link!

I did a price up on the WDW site... and it came out to $1172.20 to do the package. I was estimating $972 doing it myself (not including food)... which is just $200 more.

Hmmm... I think I may go for it!!! Thanks so much!!

Now... if I call CRO, will they switch my money over to the new reservation? How do I go about doing that?

 

[Juligan]

You can price it out at the Disneyworld "special package" site and see what the difference in price is -- http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/special/offerDetail?id=AugSepMYWOfferPage

I would think you'd come out ahead with the free dining.

According to this link the package includes a moderate resort instead of a value.

 

[klwdisney]

actually i used that link and plugged in my hotel (pop century) to get that price.
i'm going for it! calling right now!!

 

[klwdisney]

Ok they didn't have any package availability at POP so offered me ASMu and then couldn't transfer the funds I"ve already paid but would have to refund me the money and I'd have to repay it back. Too much of a hassle for ASMu haha. I told them forget it.

I may try and call back another day to see if I can get POP.

BOOOOOOOOOOO

 

[Fridye]

Not much chance of getting Pop. I couldn't get it for that time period during the first free dining offer. Had to get Music.

I noticed on Mousesavers that a special Food and Wine package is being offered for Magic Your Way Dining package holders. It would be worth it if you want "Party for the Senses" because you get to book in advance of the public sale on July 25. http://www.mousesavers.com/foodwineaddon.html

 

[kath1210]

Not much chance of getting Pop. I couldn't get it for that time period during the first free dining offer. Had to get Music.

Yep. Me, too.

It looks like they extended the dates to book it, but did not add any more rooms to the resorts. For my dates, about everything is sold out except Music, Sports, CBR, AKL and the Grand Floridian (Yeah, right!).

 

[klwdisney]

Yeah they offered me a moderate with the pkg but the idea was to save money... not replace the saved money with more money spent. hahahaha as tempted as I was to upgrade... haha

Thanks everyone!!

 

[klwdisney]

Ok I still have that nagging feeling about the decision I made.

Do you think I should SETTLE for ASMU just to get the package? I was really looking forward to POP... but honestly the main reasons that I didn't want to switch to ASMU is 1) the shared bus service and 2) it's an older resort so might not be in good shape.

HELP!! Assure me that I'm making the right desicion or convince me to change my mind!!

 

[eeyore45]

I'll only add to your confusion I'm sure!!

I was holding out for the FL code, maybe $89 a night for POR - I paid pretty much in full at rack rate(wanting to hold the extra money for food when we got there!!) Then the darn free dining... but I was going to get a discount and bought ROOM ONLY - we received a tax refund, and I sent it to disney!! I even prepaid my tickets thru wdw.com!!

Then I did the math!! We were definately going to CRT, LTT, Ohana, Le Cellier... with tax and tip at these places it was close to $30, for just one meal... so I figured it would save us... and I made the call... that cm reserved a room with the free dining, and told me I had 24 hour hold ...

Now I had to get the refund, and redo the whole money thing!! I called ticket reservation, and they told me they could refund my money since I was putting it back ( not sure why, just glad it worked out!!) The whole thing took about 10 days - from them to me, back to them again!!

Now I have all my ADR's made, and for us, we're going with my parents, and I know we'd do a lot of the sit down meals, this is adding to our magic!

I see in your sig line its your last trip alone? Read the posts on the All Stars, only you can make the descion, on whats best for you!! Good Luck!!

 

[CarolynNC]

klwdisney, I was just able to pull up POP and get a quote. They didn't seem to have a standard room but it came up with preferred.

I'm really in a quandary now. I'm making my first solo trip the end of August. I booked the Educator's rate at Swan for 3 nights. I just put in for a quote for the special (at value resort) with dining and it's showing up about $40 cheaper than my room only at Swan. The quote also includes a one day non-hopper ticket and Magical Express. Something I'm not getting at the Swan. (I have tickets left from an earlier trip so I only put in a one day non-hopper.)

My thrifty side is telling me to save money and eat practically free. My tired side is telling me I deserve to be pampered at the Swan (someplace I've always wanted to stay), eat when I want to eat, and not worry about making ADR.

I guess I'll think it over. Maybe by the time I decide all the reservations at the value resorts will be booked.

Any words of wisdom out there?

 

[SB in KY]

Well being the hungry hound I am....I would go value and free dining. We have stayed at the Swan before...nice rooms and terriffic beds with to die for bedding....but they have those darn movement sensors on the thermostats so the room is never cool when you come back in (it cools off pretty quick, but it is always stuffy on return)... and this time of year I HATE that.

The rooms at the values are obviously not as nice and if you plan to spend your time in the room reading and napping and having room service I would stick with the Swan.

If you plan to spend your time wandering the parks, shopping and eating, then I would do the value with free dining.

There is a lot to be said in the pampering dept for having a nice meal and ordering anything you want off the menu without considering cost.

I like the Swan but it is just like staying at a nice Sheraton or Westin anyplace...and even solo I don't think I would spend that much time in the room at WDW...but if I was planning to spend a lot of time in the room it would be the way to go I guess.

 

[thelionqueen]

Ok they didn't have any package availability at POP so offered me ASMu and then couldn't transfer the funds I"ve already paid but would have to refund me the money and I'd have to repay it back. Too much of a hassle for ASMu haha. I told them forget it.

I may try and call back another day to see if I can get POP.

BOOOOOOOOOOO

You got a CM who didn't know what they were talking about!! We changed our reservation 2 times and transferred the $$ to the new resort & new ressie with no problems. Call again, ask for a supervisor if need be, they can easily transfer reservations and monies paid to new ressie. If you get a CM that absolutely won't do it, then take the refund, ask them to send it to themselves for the new ressie see what they think of that idea!

 

[NYMomof4]

We were also able to just apply our paid money to the new reservation and had the choice of the refunded difference or a credit when we arrive. I've called several times for ADRs, a few reservation changes, etc.. and I noticed that there was quite a bit of variation in the helpfulness of different CMs.