Torn between Deluxe without dining or value with dining?

[Luv2trav]

Which would you choose? Right now we are booked value with dining. Now I am 2nd guessing myself. I would really perfer a deluxe hotel and eat less..... However, one of my favorite things about Disney is the food....

I've only stayed deluxe in the past and I guess I am just nervous about POP.

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

Which would you choose? Right now we are booked value with dining. Now I am 2nd guessing myself. I would really perfer a deluxe hotel and eat less..... However, one of my favorite things about Disney is the food....

I've only stayed deluxe in the past and I guess I am just nervous about POP.

What about a moderate with dining? You can get AAA discounts on the room part of the package if you book through AAA and get dining.

 

[CPer'sMom]

Which would you choose? Right now we are booked value with dining. Now I am 2nd guessing myself. I would really perfer a deluxe hotel and eat less..... However, one of my favorite things about Disney is the food....

I've only stayed deluxe in the past and I guess I am just nervous about POP.

It's such an individual choice. We always stay at a deluxe, usually YC/BC or BWI. I've made so many trips to WDW since December that, for our last trip 2 weeks ago, I decided I should save a bit of money & book a moderate. I chose CSR based upon comments on the DIS boards. We were all very disappointed with our stay there. Yes, I realize that you can have a disappointing stay anywhere ~ but ............
So, I will be back to booking our favorite deluxe for our next stay (s)

 

[golfgal]

We figured out that one table service meal/day paid for the dining plan easily, then you also get the counter service and snack, so the dining plan is worth using if you are going to eat at Disney. We were able to share meals, etc and got breakfast, lunch and dinner each day we were there doing that-and still had plenty of left over food.

 

[mommykds]

If $ is an issue (as it is with our family) I would go for the value with dining not doubt. It's a great deal & there are alot of very good reviews about POP.

Also moderate would be a good choice if you want a step up & still keep dining. That is what we are doing.

 

[minnie61650]

Try the ALL Star resorts. I love them.
Here is a site with a map of All Star Sports and All Star Music.
http://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/allstarmap.htm
Scroll down.All Star Music is at the bottom of the page.
The Calypso buildings at All Star Music are #1 and #10 are nearest to the food court and bus stop.
They are the preferred buildings and cost about $12 extra per night.
The Calypso pool at ASMU has Donald Duck.

Here is the map of All Movies.
http://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/allstarmovie.JPG
The Fantasia Buildings are the preferred buildings.
The All Star Movie Fantasia pool has Mickey.
The buses are wonderful.
Bus rides are shorter from the ALL Stars than POP according to PassPorter.com

All Star Buses------------Pop buses
MK 20 min---------------MK 25 min
Epcot 10 min------------Epcot 20 min
MGM 10 min--------------MGM 15 min
AK 10 min----------------AK 15 min
DTD 15 min---------------DTD 20 min
Which is one the of the resons I the All Star Resorts --they can't be beat. I have visited WDW more than a dozen times with the 1st time in Oct. 1971. It was brand new. I've stayed at FW, Disney Inn, a few the of Hotels on hotel Blvd., CBR and the towers at the Contemporary. I got to see the MK from my balcony at the Contemporary and I'm happy I got to experience it once. I just prefer the All Star Resorts.
The theaming is pure Disney.
My last 4 visits have been at The All Stars and this fall when we take dd,dsil, and our grandson age 3 we are staying at the All Stars Music. I thought about AKL and even though we can well afford AKL I just wanted Alex to experience the Disney Magic at the All Stars on his first visit. I can hardly wait.
Linda
Just 61 more days --But who's counting?? Me
_

 

[MOMOFMNM]

EASILY value with dining...I think the dining is a great plan and we just have too many in our family to do mod or value really but if we could I would choose POP or ASMO...never been mind you but that is my op...

 

[CEDmom]

Without a doubt I'd pick a deluxe w/o the dining plan. I enjoy good food but I wouldn't give up staying in a deluxe resort for it.

 

[FINFAN]

I have not read up on the dining plan as we do not have a trip this year, sigh, but one thing that would be a problem for us at least some of the time, is that we like to wing it w/meals, and base ourselves on the rides/attractions and then fit eating in there when we choose. So say we were really having a great time at MGM and outr seating time for Sci-Fi is approaching, but we have a FP for TOT or RR during our eating time, we would opt for the ride, but now we would have missed out on our time for our free meal. I may be way off base, there is probably flexibility to the plan, but we do not like to be resricted to a set plan. Even tho DH can truly eat a LOT and it would be an advantage $$$ for volume of food, we would probably go for the delux and have eating flexibility.
Please correct me is I am misunderstanding the dining plan, as I said, I have not researched it so I may have no idea in how it really works.


PAM

 

[Lewisc]

What will the dining plan cost you, how many adults and how many childrenin your party?

The real question is will you be able to eat, the way you want to, for less than the cost of the plan. Unless you have children that pay the adult pricing but don't eat very much I don't think you'll be able to.

I certainly wouldn't stay in a deluxe resort if it meant eating breakast in my room, bringing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches into the park for lunch and having a CS meal for dinner every night.

 

[minnie61650]

I have not read up on the dining plan as we do not have a trip this year, sigh, but one thing that would be a problem for us at least some of the time, is that we like to wing it w/meals, and base ourselves on the rides/attractions and then fit eating in there when we choose. So say we were really having a great time at MGM and outr seating time for Sci-Fi is approaching, but we have a FP for TOT or RR during our eating time, we would opt for the ride, but now we would have missed out on our time for our free meal. I may be way off base, there is probably flexibility to the plan, but we do not like to be resricted to a set plan. Even tho DH can truly eat a LOT and it would be an advantage $$$ for volume of food, we would probably go for the delux and have eating flexibility.
Please correct me is I am misunderstanding the dining plan, as I said, I have not researched it so I may have no idea in how it really works.
PAM

You can use your credits however you want.
Such as 2 sit downs one day and 2 counter services another day or even get counter instead of a table service. Say you decided to ride and you missed your PS at the sit down resturant you can still get a meal at the counter.
Of course you get more value for the plan with.
table service.
Linda

 

[Badllamamama]

CSR or POP with a meal plan would be my choices in a heart beat.

 

[FINFAN]

Thanks minnie61650!

 

[FINFAN]

Thanks minnie61650!

 

[princess mom of 4]

I had the same dilemma, but ultimately went with PopC and dining plan - As it turns out, we later modified our October reservation and got the dining plan for free! I booked two rooms at PopC for our party of 5, which was way cheaper than one room at deluxe which could have slept 5, and now we get the bonus of two bathrooms and free food!! I am a little nervous about a value resort though, as we have never stayed other than deluxe...

 

[Leota]

I just faced the same dilemna of my Favorite Deluxe with no dining (Dolphin) or a moderate with free dining. I would not do Value again myself if at all possible. But I stayed at a moderate once (CSR) and absolutely loved it! I ultimately choose the mod with free dining as my 16 yo would certainly eat more than enough to make it worth while even if we bought the plan. I am saving alot of money this way. Money that I will put toward our Split Deluxe stay in December. HTH

 

[MommyBoo!]

We are staying at a deluxe with dining. We got the AAA discount on the room and the dining plan because we booked through a AAA agent. I know we saved over $300.00 off the price quoted by Disney. That pays for a third of our dining plan. Maybe you could look into that option?

The dining plan works out well for us this time because we want planned meals with the little one (dd1). We also want to eat early with her so we can still enjoy stuff after dinner. So, most of my adrs are for around 5-5:30.

 

[minnie61650]

Thanks minnie61650!

My pleasure.
Linda

 

[minnie61650]

I had the same dilemma, but ultimately went with PopC and dining plan - As it turns out, we later modified our October reservation and got the dining plan for free! I booked two rooms at PopC for our party of 5, which was way cheaper than one room at deluxe which could have slept 5, and now we get the bonus of two bathrooms and free food!! I am a little nervous about a value resort though, as we have never stayed other than deluxe...

Don't be nervous they really are quite nice.
The room size is a little smaller. But we don't spend much time in our room anyway.
You will have 2 rooms and 2 bathrooms so you will have lots of space.
The food court has many choices . Of course with free dining you will most likely be eating away a lot.
The pools are nice with plenty of lounge chairs. If your family enjoys slides or hot tubs they may miss that.
I miss the hot tubs but I enjoy the All Stars so much I would rather stay there. I did not really care for CR towers or CBR but I fell in love with the All Stars.
I'm sure you will have a great time.
After all you will be at Disney
Linda :

 

[missypie]

If you have the patience, go to allearsnet.com and pull up the menus from a few of the restaurants you're interested in. Add up the cost of what your family would TYPICALLY order and see if that is more or less than what you'd pay on the plan. Sure, you can go to each menu and add up the most expensive items and "come out ahead" but see if you'd come out ahead ordering like you normally do.

Consider also that on the dining plan, each person gets an appetizer, entre and dessert at the TS restaurants. It takes TIME to be served all those courses. If your kids are small, they may get antsy while you sit that long at the restaurant. I personally get antsy waiting for courses when I know that there is a park out there waiting to be toured, rides waiting to be ridden. On a day at Epcot, for example, it might be nice to have a entree salad at Le Cellier, ride some rides, then have French pastries or a crepe later, rather than sitting longer at Le Cellier, and eating an appetizer, entree and dessert.

Also, consider that you'll be paying adult prices for any 10 and 11 year olds. If your 10 year old lives on chicken nuggets and mac and cheese, she's NOT going to eat $35 worth of that in a day.

Next, think about if and how you like to snack. The list of permitted snacks on the plan is pretty short. If your family loves Dole Whip, churos or other snacks not on the plan, what will you do? Make them get snacks on the plan, or buy extra snacks?

We were in the fantastic position of having $1005 in Disney Visa dollars and I designated that all for food and snacks. Since it was "free money" our family of 5 ordered whatever we wanted (including such delights as the expensive coke floats with the light up ice cubes) at restaurants; we typically had one TS and one CS meal per day, plus lots of fun snacks. When I got home, I totalled it up and we spent several hundred dollars less on food than the dining plan would have cost.

Granted, we didn't have an appetizer and dessert with every meal, but we ordered exactly what we wanted. For example, we thought it was a lot more fun to get a Dole whip for dessert after lunch than to get the cup of pudding or cookie that the CS places offered. Sometimes my DD12 and I would split a hamburger meal. It was plenty of food for us. On the plan, each of us would have had our own meal, but food would have been wasted. Think about your family's eating habits.