Switch for Dining or no?

[BattyKoda]

I love the beauty of the resorts, but I'm mainly here for the parks! And I don't like stressing about the meals!

Based on your above quote, I def recommend switching:

We were trying to decide the same issue last week; do we keep our BC reservation or do we switch to CSR with Free Dining (with a difference of $400). In the past we always switched for the FD... but this trip we aren't. The main difference is that this trip we are planning on spending a lot more time at the hotel (Storm along Bay, actually). If this were a normal trip and it was all about the parks, I would switch to FD and not think twice about it.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[Em's GiGi]

I understand the dilemma - AKL vs CS with free dining. AKL is on my bucket list, but not this year! We're taking advantage of the free dining which I have never had, so I can't predict how complicated it is going to be to keep track of meal credits! I like the idea of not having to worry about most of our food and paying it up front, plus this is the year we really need to stay at AoA Cars suite for my grandson's sake...

Once you add in a reasonable amount of food - and my experience in Disney is that we are always hungrier and thirstier and always eat more extras, like Dole Whips/snacks and food is always more expensive than I predict - I think you would definitely save money by purchasing the meal plan.

But some trips are not about saving money, they are about the experience! And when I do AKL (and Poly) - and I WILL!! - it will not be about saving money. So decide whether this is a wonderful unique experience or a great experience with a little less worry over money. I hate to be stressed on vacation nickel and diming every snack and beverage, but you may have a better way to manage it.

 

[Bullseye]

CS is my favorite moderate and free dining is nice but we own at AKV and you will really enjoy that resort... especially if you have a Savannah room. I wouldn't give up AKV either way. It's African, it's remote and they have great pool areas. And get yourself a BOMA reservation if you haven't already. Great Meal!

 

[Just1Princess]

CS is very pretty, several pools, one of which is awesome and fun. Quick service is easy, with a tex-mex kind of twist, which I love. The resort is spread out and people complain about the size, but I didn't think it was worse than anywhere else. It had several bus stops so that walk was shorter than the one we had experienced at any value resort.
The rooms seemed nice enough to be at a deluxe, not kid themed at all, and 2 years ago everything seemed brand new. The door separating the sink area from the beds doesn't seem like a big deal, but it adds a lot more privacy for growing kids and adults than the curtain you normally get.
For as many rooms as there are the resort often seems empty since many guests are at conventions instead of going to the parks every morning.
Check out this fan site for more info and pics www.buzz2k1.wix.com/Coronado

 

[Hikergirl]

I think it really depends on what is important to you. If saving money is then switch (based on what you calculated your OOP food expenses are). If you don't have to worry about budgeting and costs and just want to have a "deluxe" vacation then stay at AKL and spend the extra couple hundred in food and enjoy your vacation!

 

[pooch]

No brainer for me. CSR is a beautiful resort and no way will you feed your family for $500 for a week without eating a lot of sandwiches. I've done free dining for years. It's easy and I love not looking at prices on the menu. Now that you can switch out the dessert for an additional side or drink with your CS meal, we easily split breakfast & lunch CS meals between 2 of us, have a lovely TS Meal of our own plus a snack each day so we cover 3 meals a day. We always have enough credits left to take lunch to eat at the airport and a few snacks to take home.

 

[vinotinto]

So, what has changed since you originally booked? Based on what you've posted, it would be about $100 more per day to stay at AKL than Coronado, including food (whether with the free DDP or OOP). (This assumes that you'll spend $1200 in food for the week, a difference of $700 between AKL and Coronado). That is the same additional cost per day than when you originally booked a room at AKL, instead of a room at Coronado. It costs more to stay deluxe, so what has changed?

 

[Disneylover99]

CS is my favorite moderate and free dining is nice but we own at AKV and you will really enjoy that resort... especially if you have a Savannah room. I wouldn't give up AKV either way. It's African, it's remote and they have great pool areas. And get yourself a BOMA reservation if you haven't already. Great Meal!

I think this is the dilemma for many families in deciding whether or not to take Deluxe or moderate with Fd, when you have a family of four. I could take a Deluxe with a great rate, but I can't justify or enjoy spending almost $200 for a meal. I'd rather stay at a moderate and visit AKL and dine at Boma for free.

 

[Bullseye]

I think this is the dilemma for many families in deciding whether or not to take Deluxe or moderate with Fd, when you have a family of four. I could take a Deluxe with a great rate, but I can't justify or enjoy spending almost $200 for a meal. I'd rather stay at a moderate and visit AKL and dine at Boma for free.

Believe me I've been sitting here arguing with myself ever since I posted because dining is my favorite part of vacation . The one year I had the dining plan I loved eating TS every day and not worrying about meals. Plus I do love the feel of Coronado also. The Southwest/South America/Mexico theme has a feel of romance and mystery. Also, CS is centrally located so it's very convenient to get much of WDW. Plus OP said they didn't expect to be at the resort much anyway. It's a dilemma . One thing that weighs on my mind is if OP is within 180 day mark and how far?

 

[Delphinidae]

So, what has changed since you originally booked? Based on what you've posted, it would be about $100 more per day to stay at AKL than Coronado, including food (whether with the free DDP or OOP). (This assumes that you'll spend $1200 in food for the week, a difference of $700 between AKL and Coronado). That is the same additional cost per day than when you originally booked a room at AKL, instead of a room at Coronado. It costs more to stay deluxe, so what has changed?

I'm not sure exactly what you're asking. The only thing that's changed is that I can now get "free" dining, but it will cost about $500 more than what I'm paying right now to stay at AKL at a room discount with tickets.

I think this is the dilemma for many families in deciding whether or not to take Deluxe or moderate with Fd, when you have a family of four. I could take a Deluxe with a great rate, but I can't justify or enjoy spending almost $200 for a meal. I'd rather stay at a moderate and visit AKL and dine at Boma for free.

Yes this is it exactly! We did eat at Boma on our last trip and loved it. On our last trip, though, we did have the dining plan and we did several buffets and TS meals without even looking at the price, so I think that's part of why I'm having issues and sticker shock now trying to budget for food.

 

[HopperFan]

LOVE CSR and AKL!! So you can't go wrong either way.

Yes, you are giving up a beautiful exotic hotel BUT you say you don't spend much time there. If that is the case I'd rather enjoy my meals. Note: CSR has a great pool area, your family will love it. Story: Our second stay at AKL, I worked hard to get us a discount and thought the family would be psyched. We are all floating in the pool and DH says "where is the pyramid?" Say what? If I knew you wanted that pool I could have saved some money. CSR is the deluxe of the moderates and beautiful in it's own right.

Look at it this way, you may be giving up a pretty hotel but why not take this as an opportunity to treat your family to lots of great meals - max those credits out. AKL will always be there and probably always have some discounts. Free Dining - is becoming harder and harder to get due to the supply of rooms. Disney restaurants are getting crazy expensive! QS are even off the charts now. With the DDP you can book restaurants you would never want to spend the money to eat in. Treat yourself to nice restaurants this trip, hotel will always be there. ENJOY!

 

[Disneylover99]

Yes this is it exactly! We did eat at Boma on our last trip and loved it. On our last trip, though, we did have the dining plan and we did several buffets and TS meals without even looking at the price, so I think that's part of why I'm having issues and sticker shock now trying to budget for food.

We're staying at the Poly for three nights before our FD kicks in at CSR. We're going to lie by the pool and eat Dole Whips for three days. Once we get to CSR, we'll go back to the Poly and eat at Ohana. It just makes sense to save money wherever you can.

 

[ellie05]

Well so right now it will be about $400 more to book AKL vs CS. Maybe try taking the tickets away and buying them from a reseller like parksavers and save some money to keep the akl reservation. Akl is my favorite resort and we didn't dislike CS but CS had the longest walk we ever expirience and at the end of the night the extra 3 bus stops does add time. Not to mention walking in hot sun to and from the bus stop. I think AKL is worth the extra $400.

 

[snayak]

My opinions is that it depends how your family eats!

We generally like a light breakfast (literally just coffee for me, DW will have whatever is available), a light lunch, and a larger dinner, plus random snacks. I don't think we'd be able to fully use the dining plan without either being stuffed (and uncomfortable) or wasting credits. Plus, we enjoy a drink or 2 (not covered by DDP) and TS tips aren't included either - but I'd imagine the tip for a dining plan meal (app, entree, dessert, drink or whatever) isn't that inexpensive either, it might be a flat 18% or something, I don't know exactly what is included with the plan, or if tips are automatically charged.

So, we choose to be the master of our own destiny - I bought Disney gift cards in the past for food so I didn't have to worry about it, and we were easily able to buy some souvenirs with the money that was left over. So that would be my suggestion. My new preferred method is charging it to the room and getting double credit card points for hotel/travel expenses (thank you Chase!)

I do not think that $500 would cover food for a family of 4 for a week, but, AKL is deluxe, and that $500 doesn't include any tips or booze so it's likely more than that. In either case, I'd stick with AKL because it's an awesome resort and I like to watch the animals (note how my choice has nothing to do with dining)

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

You're comparing apples to oranges. One amount includes food cost while the other does not. For a fair comparison you need to factor in the cost of dining OOP at AKL, then compare that to your total cost at CSR. It will likely come out cheaper at CSR. Then you just need to decide if the AKL upgrade is worth it or not.

 

[coozieman]

CSR has beds, showers and all of the other amenities as AKL. If you weren't going to the parks every day and planned on a "resort vacation" then I'd stay put.

But it's a no brainer to make the switch. There is no way you can feed a family of 4 for a week for less than a $1,000 at Disney unless you committed to pizza and burgers. The dining plan rocks and gives you peace of mind.

Make the switch - you'll be glad you did!

 

[vinotinto]

I'm not sure exactly what you're asking. The only thing that's changed is that I can now get "free" dining, but it will cost about $500 more than what I'm paying right now to stay at AKL at a room discount with tickets.

Yes, but the difference in price between AKL and CSR now (for the entire thing) is the same difference in price as when you first booked - about $100ish per night (Assuming you have a discount at both AKL and CSR, with the AKL discount translating into a higher discount).

 

[wdwrule]

It really depends on outweighing the pros and cons and everyone is different. We personally are at the parks most of the time and love, love, love dining together there whether it's in a park or at any resort. We've always had the dining plan more so for the convenience. We love the air conditioned break with a sit down table service restaurant. We order what we want (both kids are huge steak eaters) and just chill together. Every year I look back and it's one of our most bonding moments. We've stayed at WL several years then CSR the past 2. We love CSR and are booked there again. We stay BC there which includes continental breakfast then snacks and beer/wine/sangria in the evenings which is perfect for us because we rope drop parks and get back to CSR around 7:30-8:00pm. The kids (and us) love the pool and pool slide way more than WL's. The cabanas location at CSR is very close to the pool, main building and bus stop. Beautiful grounds!! I'm sure wherever you choose your family will have an amazing time together!

 

[Delphinidae]

My opinions is that it depends how your family eats!

We generally like a light breakfast (literally just coffee for me, DW will have whatever is available), a light lunch, and a larger dinner, plus random snacks. I don't think we'd be able to fully use the dining plan without either being stuffed (and uncomfortable) or wasting credits. Plus, we enjoy a drink or 2 (not covered by DDP) and TS tips aren't included either - but I'd imagine the tip for a dining plan meal (app, entree, dessert, drink or whatever) isn't that inexpensive either, it might be a flat 18% or something, I don't know exactly what is included with the plan, or if tips are automatically charged.

So, we choose to be the master of our own destiny - I bought Disney gift cards in the past for food so I didn't have to worry about it, and we were easily able to buy some souvenirs with the money that was left over. So that would be my suggestion. My new preferred method is charging it to the room and getting double credit card points for hotel/travel expenses (thank you Chase!)

I do not think that $500 would cover food for a family of 4 for a week, but, AKL is deluxe, and that $500 doesn't include any tips or booze so it's likely more than that. In either case, I'd stick with AKL because it's an awesome resort and I like to watch the animals (note how my choice has nothing to do with dining)

I can't remember how the tip works now lol, been too long! I wish I would have done like you and bought disney gift cards gradually to use for food. This trip was a semi-last minute decision so I didn't have as much time to plan as I would have liked. AKL is on my wishlist of resorts to stay and Coronado Springs has barely been a blip until now, so there's that, haha. I just wish I could get free dining and stay at AKL for what I'm already paying. HA! Wishful thinking

You're comparing apples to oranges. One amount includes food cost while the other does not. For a fair comparison you need to factor in the cost of dining OOP at AKL, then compare that to your total cost at CSR. It will likely come out cheaper at CSR. Then you just need to decide if the AKL upgrade is worth it or not.

You're right, and I did play with the dining calculator to get a general idea and even after deleting a lot of TS restaurant choices it still came up to over $850. I plan on actually looking at some more menus and getting a better idea too so we'll see.

 

[DisCatGirl]

My vote - AKL. The dining plan is too restrictive for me - I want an appetizer and no dessert most of the time. I end up buying food out of pocket or else eating much more than I otherwise would.

AKL is magical. Set yourself a fun but reasonable food budget and stay there.