The numbers are making me crazy! Help with pricing please!

[carj]

I have been pricing a trip to WDW from August 2-7. We have 2 children ages 7 and 9 at the time of the trip, and 4 adults, my husband, parents and I. 6 total.
I have been playing with the numbers and trying to decide which is better, the new QS dining pin or the gift card offer.

This is what I have come up with
Free dining@ Pop
$1183 for 2 adults upgrade to reg dining adds $150 I think
$1607 for 2 ad 2 kids upgrade to reg dining adds $180 I think
Grand total of $2790 or $3120 with the upgrade to reg dining

Gift card@Pop $300 X 2 rooms
$1177 2 adults
$1577 2 adults 2 kids
Grand total of $2754 plus $600 in gift cards which would most likely be used for meals but could be used for souveniers.

Can someone help me decide which one offers the best value? It really seems like they are very similar.

Should we do one room with free dining and one with the gift card offer?
If so, who should we put in which room? I am thinking that more people in the free dining room, right?

Also, my parents are not going to be able to tour commando style. I know that they would love doing the character meals so we will probably do 2-3 of those.

Thanks for any help!

 

[beth_cam]

You need to figure out what kind of meals you are going to eat and check the pricing for them.

Are you going to eat the same reguardless of on the plan or off the plan?

you said the parents are only going to eat 2-3 character meals. But what about the rest of you? Will you be eating one every day?

 

[MickeysFans]

Not to complicate your stiuation, but also consider the discounted room rate with tix from Undercover Tourist or like. We had all the same questions! We aren't big mealtime eaters, so we are going with the room discount, but never got the pin code for meals. If we get it, we may do it for the first time.We save the amount of the gift card, almost exactly, for the number of nights we have (9?). By saving, we can spend it where we want instead of being locked in to WDW rules.
GOOD LUCK! It is overwhelming trying to figure all of the options!!!

 

[carj]

I think that the meals will be the best part for my parents as they will be able to experience the Disney Magic without having to walk all over the place all day.

I'm now leaning towards just going with the kids and my parents for 4-5 days. If we do that, I think that we can stay at Port Orleans with a trundle bed for about $2000 with the upgraded dining plan. We can be much more flexible with dates because my huband is works all summer. (I'm off, yipee!!) If we do this, we will probably drive from Texas and stay for a few days with relatives in Alabama. Not my husband's idea of a fun trip!

I am wondering if we can buy a single park ticket to get the free dining promo and then upgrade the my tickets and the kids once we arrive. I know that everyone has to be on the same package, but I didn't know how that worked once you arrived. Can you upgrade some of the tickets? I don't know that my step-father will want to go to the parks every day.

 

[beth_cam]

You can upgrade the tickets individually as needed once you arrive. I haven't actually tried this, but I see the posts about it and have never seen anyone say it didn't work.