Trying to price this thing out! Help!!!!

[xdramaqueenx]

Hey everyone

Im new here!! And I am going to WDW for the first time in November with my boyfriend.

This is my first vacation without mom and dad so it is my first time PAYING...

I am trying to figure out if what I will be paying is reasonable or not.

This is kind of last minute (we havent even booked the hotel yet, do I need to do that NOW...am I running the risk of there being no rooms available in the value resorts?!?)

So we are going from Nov. 18 -30, I called and they priced the All Star Movie resort for 12 nights and a 10 day park hopper plus travel insurance and dining at $3010.58

we we also planning on going to Universal for the other two days ( shuttle plus tickets...+$210 or so?)

I work for WestJet airlines so I fly there SUPER cheap

So now it is working out to 12 nights in WDW 10 days at Disney 2 at Universal + dining + park hopper for $3392 for the both of us...

Now add souveneirs meals not covered by the dining plan ....

Is that ridiculous or reasonable???? I have NO idea?!?!?

Any thoughts, suggestions, tips?


Thanks guys!!

 

[PictureJumpr]

It is more than you would pay if you left after Thanksgiving (the week of Thanksgiving is one of the highest-priced weeks to be there) but I am pretty sure you guys chose that as part of your trip because of being off work/holiday... we sometimes get caught paying holiday rates for that very reason too.

And yes, you better get on the hotel reservation thing immediately, and the dining thing too, because that is also one of the most-crowded and most-booked weeks of the year.

Please do not underestimate the need to book your dining immediately - or you may be shut out and find yourself eating mickey bars and dole whip all week.... I have told everyone I know to book every table-service meal immediately but I cannot tell you how many of them think it's not nearly that critical and then end up not being able to get a table =anywhere=.

Have a blast!

 

[mickeysgirl17]

Well first of all, try not to stress over it all too much.

I don't know how important it is to you, but we always skip the park hoppers. It saves quite a bit of money. If it were me, I'd skip it since your going for 10 days and you'll be able to do all the parks easily.

Even though I know I should, I don't get the travel insurance either, but it saves $$$.

As far as meals go, I don't think you'll need to pay for extra meals Out of pocket since your on the DP. The DP will get you a lot of food and if you make your reservations in advance, you shouldn't have any problems. I'd use the snacks for breakfast, the counter service for lunch and the table service for dinner each night and we never had to pay for any meals.

One last thing about souvenirs, I know it would be great to buy a bunch of things to bring home from your trip, but what I usually do is just go all out on 1 thing I really like and then just get small stuff for family and friends. (We were able to get 4 adorable mugs at Mickey's Mart in Downtown Disney for $10. It's sort of like a dollar store at Disney World). You could also get "free souvenirs" such as restaurant menus, park maps, tickets, etc. to help save a bunch.

We stayed at Pop Century in 2006 (Me, DH and DD) for 8 nights/9 days and only spent $1800 total including gas for our car and our refillable mugs! There are ways you can defentely save!!!

 

[Lynne M]

And I'll second what PictureJumpr said....book the hotel NOW. Don't wait. Do it this weekend.

And you also need to book your dining reservations right away. Since's it's a busy holiday period, you may need to be flexible with your choices of restaurants and times, availability is probably already limited. I know it sounds crazy to a first-timer, but the WDW table-service restaurants book up months in advance.

 

[stitchlover]

I would NOT skip Park Hopper passes. It is $50 a ticket...period. What is that $5 a day extra. It is totally worth it. Especially since you don't have little ones with you. I know we spend each day in a minimum of 2 parks and sometimes 3. It's nice to have. I think the $100 for the two of you is worth it!

 

[carol-lamb]

I would definitely purchase the hopper option, especially if I was going to be at WDW as many days as you. I would hate to spend entire days in the parks without not being able to "hop" around to the different parks in the same day. I don't think it adds that much to the ticket. It's the "no expiration" option that really brings up the cost. Granted, there will be some days where you probably will be in a park for the whole day, but I can't imagine there will not be some days where you will want to go into a certain park just to do a fews things or see a show, and then hop over to another park and do something else. We usually always hop on the nights of extra evening hours. We will usually do a different park during the day and then go over to the park with the extra hours and hang out there for a while.

I would definitely make your reservations at the resort - especially value resorts as they usually fill up fast. I just booked a Christmas trip for the second week of December under some special room only deal and there weren't any value resorts left. We usually stay at CBR, but I just wanted to check availability at a value since were are doing a quick 4 night trip and probably won't be at the resort very often.

You might also want to look at some of the menus of your favorite restaurants and see what you might possibly order and do the math and see if the dining plan is for you. We have found that we do not eat as much food as allowed on the plan and it is usually cheaper for us to pay out of pocket. On my June trip, we had a table service lunch every day and a counter-service dinner and we did not spend as much as it would have cost us for the dining plan. We usually do not order appetizers and if we order dessert, we usually order two and share between 4 people. We were a party of 4 adults. That might save you some money. Definitely make your dining reservations, especially if you have your heart set on a certain restaurant. My DH and I are going with my parents for our Christmas trip and my Dad says he doesn't want to plan his days in the parks around meals. I think I'm going to try and make a couple of reservations just in case because it will probably be impossible once we are there.

 

[Donald is #1]

Everyone has given excellent advice. As the other posters have mentioned, you need to book your dining reservations very quickly. So, make sure that you check out the menu's on-line so that you can pick restaurants that appeal to both of you. Here is a link to the menus on allearsnet AllEarsNet menus

 

[timben]

AS we are coming from Europe it is really hard to ge profound information on WDW vacations here. Obviously Disney wants us to go to Disneyland Paris.

So we decided to book our whole vacation through "Small World Vacations" and they arranged everything even the ADRs. And the best is, I don't know how but our package price is about $ 700 below the official price when booking on the website.

And as I had a real good e-mail communication with them and they really helped us with all questions and to find the best solution.

 

[trivial]

Going during Thanksgiving is going to mean paying higher rates and having to put up with higher crowds, but if you're determined to go during that time, the best advice I can give so close to your dates (because there's so little time to research and dinner reservations are going to be challenging as it is) is to book with a good Disney travel agency, such as Dreams Unlimited or Small World Vacations.

 

[cocoswife]

Since you work for an airline, why don't you call Disney to ask if you qualify for an Interline discount? Interline discounts are given to qualifying airline employees and it's from 40-50% off rack rate. Since you are going over Thanksgiving it may not be available for your entire stay, but, it might be available for part of your stay.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Since you work for an airline, why don't you call Disney to ask if you qualify for an Interline discount? Interline discounts are given to qualifying airline employees and it's from 40-50% off rack rate. Since you are going over Thanksgiving it may not be available for your entire stay, but, it might be available for part of your stay.

But if you are getting the dining plan (not a good choice this late and you will get it for all 12 nights you are staying at Disney), you'll need to purchase a package from Disney that usually doesn't include any discounted room rates except for AAA travel packages.

 

[fun4disney]

I think that $3010 sounds high....PM me and I can help you out....

 

[timben]

But if you are getting the dining plan (not a good choice this late and you will get it for all 12 nights you are staying at Disney), you'll need to purchase a package from Disney that usually doesn't include any discounted room rates except for AAA travel packages.

We booked the dining plan, as already said with a travel ageny and got also a discount. But whatever you do and how I would say do it as soon as possible. Our first plan was to go in January 08 and even in July our favorite hotels were already booked. Regarding the ADRs for December we made them a week ago and I must confess we should have listened to our guide books and make ressies earlier. Most important thing in my opinion. HURRY!

 

[Mickiethepooh]

But if you are getting the dining plan (not a good choice this late and you will get it for all 12 nights you are staying at Disney), you'll need to purchase a package from Disney that usually doesn't include any discounted room rates except for AAA travel packages.

This is not correct there are many specials throughout the year that give discounts on packages that include the dining plan, separate from the free dining specials, the Season special that just expired and under which I am going in NOV gave a huge room discount but the package includes the tickets and the dining plan at regular prices. Total still about $450 less than the same package booked without the special.

.

 

[DISshopkeeper]

I would NOT skip Park Hopper passes. It is $50 a ticket...period. What is that $5 a day extra. It is totally worth it. Especially since you don't have little ones with you. I know we spend each day in a minimum of 2 parks and sometimes 3. It's nice to have. I think the $100 for the two of you is worth it!

I second this!

 

[pkondz]

Please do not underestimate the need to book your dining immediately - or you may be shut out and find yourself eating mickey bars and dole whip all week....

And this is a bad thing because...?

Seriously, if you can, book at a different time. Since it's not Thanksgiving in Canada you may have thought that it would be a cheap time to travel. Can you book some other date? Take a look here:http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/disney-rates-2007.htm and you'll see when it's cheaper to book (eg. Nov 25 - Dec 19 is the cheapest).

 

[PictureJumpr]

Maybe a good thing in theory... but take it from one who has done entire days on dole whip... it's fun while it lasts but the sugar buzz hangover is brutal

 

[CanadianGuy]

This is a better fit on the Disney Resorts / CODES & RATES board.

They can analyze your trip a little better over there; I'm moving this there.

Thanks,

Knox

 

[Kristina]

Remember too you can always split your stay into several reservations. We did this on our last trip and stayed first 10 days with the dining plan and Magic Your Way hopper tickets then began a separate room only reservation for the final 5 nights. We have done this before and both times didn't have to change rooms . You would be able to do this and get the last two nights without dining, and your dining credits would be good until midnight on the 11th night, and your park tickets are good for 14 days as well.

This year the Dining Plan is a very good deal but next year, not so great . If you are flexible you can surely, hopefully still book into the restaurants you'd like but give Disney Dining a call and see what they advise. If you book dining and then find you don't want it, I'm pretty sure you can have it removed from your ressie before you arrive, but always double check anything I say just to be sure!

But a travel agent is your best bet and doesn't cost anything extra if you want to go that route, and I would if I were you. Dreams Unlimited you can find right here on the Dis are good and we have used Small World Vacations and liked them a lot too!

Good luck!

 

[Deb & Bill]

Remember too you can always split your stay into several reservations. We did this on our last trip and stayed first 10 days with the dining plan and Magic Your Way hopper tickets then began a separate room only reservation for the final 5 nights. We have done this before and both times didn't have to change rooms . ...

But there is no guarantee that you won't have to move if you split up your reservation.