SPD calculator?

[Baklava]

I know there are tons of Disney related calculators out there. Does anyone have one that will calculate Stay, Play and Dine savings?

We're staying at POR for 11 nights in January. We're 3 adults and 1 child and doing a deluxe dining plan. I'm looking for something that will tell me if we're better off going for a room-only or SPD if/when it's offered.

(Yes, I can just wait until the discounts get offered, but I'm a planner.)

 

[PsychoCelloChica]

Unfortunately, there's no straight up formula for SPD. It varies with date and resort. Some folks on here put in a ton of time last year to try and figure it out and manageD to get a range, but no actual formula ever emerged.

 

[Baklava]

Oi. I was afraid of that. I can't even figure out a rough estimate based on the fall discounts because the rooms are all sold out so Disney won't even show me what the prices were.

 

[Judique]

Oi. I was afraid of that. I can't even figure out a rough estimate based on the fall discounts because the rooms are all sold out so Disney won't even show me what the prices were.

There was some way to get a chart of all the prices using Disney's website. I used it last year when I was playing around trying to figure out what time of year I wanted to go. Perhaps someone else knows how to bring it up on the website, You would look for the season pricing and it showed the whole month/year and days the price changed for each resort by room type.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

Is the SPD promotion the same as in years past where the kids are staying/playing/dining for free? If so, can't you just price out vacations for the same time period both with and without the kids and then you'll know what the potential savings is. You could also view the rack rate for the room and make a note of it, so you would know what a potential room-only offer would save you. You can price out tickets and such easily, and check prices at Undercover Tourist as well.

 

[supersnoop]

Is the SPD promotion the same as in years past where the kids are staying/playing/dining for free?

Nope. Sometimes it was "everyone pays kids price" and sometimes it was "kids play free." Lately, it's been some strange percentage that varied across compoents; room, tickets, and dining. Disney hasn't released the forumla, and they seem to change it every time.

 

[pittsburghmom]

I asked this question a while back over on the Resorts/disounts board: http://disboards.com/threads/has-anyone-cracked-the-stay-play-dine-code.3436256/

 

[Baklava]

Okay, best I can tell:

If there is a RO discount, for my moderate resort it will be roughly 20% of the room cost which is about $500.
If there is SPD it will be roughly 50% off the price of the regular dining plan which comes to well over $1000. (The dining discount may be 45% it may be 55% there may be an undetermined small savings on the room...)

So the broad strokes suggest to me that if the SPD stays true to past years, that is a MUCH better deal for my specific family on this trip. I'll be interested to see what comes up and will report back with how accurate this is.

 

[supersnoop]

Okay, best I can tell:

If there is a RO discount, for my moderate resort it will be roughly 20% of the room cost which is about $500.
If there is SPD it will be roughly 50% off the price of the regular dining plan which comes to well over $1000. (The dining discount may be 45% it may be 55% there may be an undetermined small savings on the room...)

So the broad strokes suggest to me that if the SPD stays true to past years, that is a MUCH better deal for my specific family on this trip. I'll be interested to see what comes up and will report back with how accurate this is.

That's a very broad stroke, because it assumes that the dining plan is actually worth the price charged for your family.

If 20% of a moderate room is $500, then you're spending $2,500 on the room. At a moderate, that's a really long trip; 10+ days. It's very, very easy to outperform the dining plan by $500 over that time.

 

[Baklava]

That's a very broad stroke, because it assumes that the dining plan is actually worth the price charged for your family.

If 20% of a moderate room is $500, then you're spending $2,500 on the room. At a moderate, that's a really long trip; 10+ days. It's very, very easy to outperform the dining plan by $500 over that time.

The dining plan will be purchased so fretting about whether you believe it's a good idea (it is) is not necessary. For these purposes, red herrings like "don't get the dining plan/stay somewhere else" are not part of the equation.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

http://www.disboards.com/threads/stay-play-dine-calculation.3339097/

You can see the exact calculation of this discount worked in 2014 at the link above... hope it helps!

If you have any questions I'll be happy to try to explain further.

 

[Baklava]

http://www.disboards.com/threads/stay-play-dine-calculation.3339097/

You can see the exact calculation of this discount worked in 2014 at the link above... hope it helps!

If you have any questions I'll be happy to try to explain further.

Yes! Your post was linked in the other thread someone gave me and it was very helpful! Thank you for that.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Yes! Your post was linked in the other thread someone gave me and it was very helpful! Thank you for that.

That's great that it helped! I'm debating on whether I want to spend the time figuring it out this year if it comes out again. This is one of the most complicated deals Disney puts out and they don't give you any hint of how it works. It took A LOT of time basically creating dozens of vacation packages with different configurations but I do enjoy math problems and spreadsheets (good thing I'm in banking in an analyst role I guess, haha!)

Many people cite the adults pay kids prices on this one but it's a common misconception. It just so happens that for many room configurations it roughly equates to adults at kids prices +/- 10% or so.

Anyways, glad to help and can't wait for new discounts to come out in a few weeks or less (hopefully??)

 

[Baklava]

That's great that it helped! I'm debating on whether I want to spend the time figuring it out this year if it comes out again. This is one of the most complicated deals Disney puts out and they don't give you any hint of how it works. It took A LOT of time basically creating dozens of vacation packages with different configurations but I do enjoy math problems and spreadsheets (good thing I'm in banking in an analyst role I guess, haha!)

Many people cite the adults pay kids prices on this one but it's a common misconception. It just so happens that for many room configurations it roughly equates to adults at kids prices +/- 10% or so.

Anyways, glad to help and can't wait for new discounts to come out in a few weeks or less (hopefully??)

I'm hoping it will be soon and I have a Disney Visa which sometimes means a jumpstart. >crossing fingers<
I figure even if my math is off a little, the disparity between the two discounts is pretty huge. I'll double check, but I'm guessing right now that SPD is going to be the winner by a healthy margin.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

DISNEY VISA DEALS ARE OUT!! Call and Book SPD or Room Only.

Last year I started a thread where we determined how the discount worked http://www.disboards.com/threads/stay-play-dine-calculation.3339097/
Until this goes live on the website I can't dissect it BUT I can tell you it definitely isnt' as good as the SPD last year. At a VERY ROUGH Glance It looks like maybe 50% off on dining with no other discount OR 5% off Room and 40% off dining.
Regardless...The discount from what I can see is definitely worse than last year and for those on the fence of a room only OR SPD discount in past years the better deal this year may be room only however YMMV depending on how you choose to dine.

 

[Baklava]

So I booked my discount and here's how it broke down:

There was a reduction in savings because I had to switch room types and add hoppers. I figure I lost roughly $110 on the room and the hopper upgrade was $256, so $366 in upgrades.

We saved $700 and got $366 in upgrades on a 11 night stay at POR. That's about $1000 on a $9000 package. Not to shabby. Even figured at $700 it's still a nice break.
Room only would have saved us $400, would not have required the $256, but I'm not clear on whether we'd have had to change rooms.

 

[potterfanatic]

When I called to book it, it put my 6 night room only at POR from 1,739 to 1516. a $223 dollar savings. However I do not care at all about getting a preferred room, and Rack Rates for a Garden view are cheaper than this discount (by about $20). I don't have my heart set on POR, so I'm going to wait until everything comes out online to check it all out.

 

[Baklava]

When I called to book it, it put my 6 night room only at POR from 1,739 to 1516. a $223 dollar savings. However I do not care at all about getting a preferred room, and Rack Rates for a Garden view are cheaper than this discount (by about $20). I don't have my heart set on POR, so I'm going to wait until everything comes out online to check it all out.

There were no discounts available on preferred rooms when I called (because we had one.) We had to upgrade to a Royal. It's actually less ideal for our family, but the savings are enough that I'm going to find a solution to the problem and Cupcake just had a full scale Squee Attack when I showed her our new room.

 

[potterfanatic]

There were no discounts available on preferred rooms when I called (because we had one.) We had to upgrade to a Royal. It's actually less ideal for our family, but the savings are enough that I'm going to find a solution to the problem and Cupcake just had a full scale Squee Attack when I showed her our new room.

I bet you will have a wonderful time! I wonder if it's because there are 5 of us? Maybe because we can't get a royal room they have to offer it for the preferred.

 

[Baklava]

I bet you will have a wonderful time! I wonder if it's because there are 5 of us? Maybe because we can't get a royal room they have to offer it for the preferred.

I figured you probably just called before me and had more choices.