Wait, I'm confused

[smorkovsky]

Based on research, I think the DDP is more than we'll spend on food, mainly because one of my kids is 10, therefore I'll pay for another adult on the DDP.

That said, we are planning our trip for 9/2014, so I expect DDP to be free! In which case, we'll take the dining plan and just pay OOP for extra stuff off the plan.

Is FD not offered with value resorts? We were thinking of staying at AofA, but I'm still debating over staying at the Poly. This will finally settle me debate if I'm understanding that FD is only offered with mods or deluxes.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Based on research, I think the DDP is more than we'll spend on food, mainly because one of my kids is 10, therefore I'll pay for another adult on the DDP.

That said, we are planning our trip for 9/2014, so I expect DDP to be free! In which case, we'll take the dining plan and just pay OOP for extra stuff off the plan.

Is FD not offered with value resorts? We were thinking of staying at AofA, but I'm still debating over staying at the Poly. This will finally settle me debate if I'm understanding that FD is only offered with mods or deluxes.

Right now, for select dates in September of 2013, free dining is available for select rooms at the resorts, but the Little Mermaid rooms are excluded from the free dining offer. The value resorts (except for LM rooms) get the quick service dining plan and the mods and deluxe resorts get the regular dining plan.

Who knows what will happen in 2014.

 

[figment_jii]

FD has been offered at values in the past, but there were select rooms at AoA that did not quality (if I remember correctly). The values were offered the QS plan, while the Moderates and Deluxes were offered the regular dining plan.

Note that when FD is offered, there is no room discount available, so you'll be paying rack rate.

 

[Dizneydaz]

We were lucky last year and were able to get LM room at AoA during free DDP. There was a very small window that they offered it for LM rooms. I don't believe they are offering it this Sept. Who knows about next Sept?

And yes, during free DDP you will pay non-discount rate for your room. However, unless they discount the rooms 90%-100% off then getting the free DDP has always been a good value for us. The QSDP is approx. $38/per adult/per night. With 3 in a room it would cost us $114/night if we paid for the QSDP. The rooms at AoA in Sept this year run from $118 to $127. The value resorts seem to get discounted about 20% so that would be about $23-$25 a night. So the way I look at it I am paying about $25/night for us to have the "free" DDP. A heck of a deal. And if you have a 4th person in the room the savings are even better.

Granted, if you are staying in a moderate or deluxe the room discount would be greater. But for us, staying in a value, it's always been a no brainer.

Of course, this does mean you have to buy a min. of a 2 day base tix for each person. If you are planning on getting tix anyway, this won't change things. If you aren't then you have to look at that. The tix never expire so we just save them for a later trip.

 

[bluejasmine]

Honestly with the tiny window that FD has been offered to GP this far I look for it to be phased out.. I wouldn't count on FD yet.. A room discount would be what I would look for..

ASMU/POR Dec 16-22, 2012 & CR Sept 8-15, 2013

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

As it is right now, and who knows what changes there could be, if you stay at a Value (other than Little Mermaid in most cases), you get the quick service plan for free during specified times.

But if you want the regular DP, you can upgrade for about $18 per adult per night. We found that when we added the $18/person x 4 "adults", our base price was basically equal to that of a moderate, less than $100 difference for our whole trip. So we're staying at POFQ this time instead of the values we've always done in the past.

 

[khaoskat]

Going to chime in on this...you said your child is 10..

Per Disney's website, the children's menu is only available for children ages 9 and under. Since this is our first visit, I am not sure how strictly this is enforced...but I see it probably as more of an issue at TS meals than QS meals....

others can chime in on this, as I know adults have been able to order kids meals at QS meals.

 

[aaarcher86]

Going to chime in on this...you said your child is 10..

Per Disney's website, the children's menu is only available for children ages 9 and under. Since this is our first visit, I am not sure how strictly this is enforced...but I see it probably as more of an issue at TS meals than QS meals....

others can chime in on this, as I know adults have been able to order kids meals at QS meals.

Most places are pretty accommodating and bring a larger portion of kids menu food.

 

[mickeynut1]

Most places are pretty accommodating and bring a larger portion of kids menu food.

This was our experience years ago when our oldest was very picky and nothing on the adult menu appealed to him. He would order something off of the kids menu, but would get an adult sized portion.

 

[angierae]

It really just depends - on what they offer, the make up of your party, etc. Last year we went at the end of March leading up to Easter, and there were no room discounts for moderates. However, we paid $234/night for POFQ and got "free" dining for three adults and that was basically like staying at POFQ for $60 a night. No room discount could touch that. And I wasn't willing to stay at a value and make my daughter and a friend of hers share a double bed.