When and what to book for best discount options

[BJSforVols]

Hi all,

I am new at this since this is my family's first WDW trip. We are planning to be there 10/8/12 - 10/13/12. We've also pretty much determined we are either booking at YC or POR. (We want YC, but budget may require POR if there are no discounts.) We also plan to get the dining plus package and the park hopper option.

Knowing this, what do you suggest as to when and what to reserve. Should we book now and modify when/if discounts come out, or wait until we see discounts before booking?

If we're hoping for a "free Dining Discount," and we book now, would we still be able to get free dining if it became available after we booked? Would we be better off to book without the dining plan and then add it later once we've seen the available discounts for our time frame?

The last decision is do we book the moderate "POR" and upgrade when/if discounts come out, or do we book the Deluxe and then consider downgrading if no discounts every come out?

I know ultimately, we have to answer these questions for our situation, but what is everyone's opinions on this?

 

[ADisneyQueen]

Really think about if you want the dining plus package. It's a lot of food and time consuming to go to all those ADRs. especially since you have a short visit. Unless you have no kids and are doing signature dining? Anyway, for a first visit, I would go with regular dining and POR if you don't think you will spend much time at the resort.

You can change the res. if you get a discount. I never book early b/c I always think I will have a better chance of getting a pin code discount if they are trying to entice me to come to WDW!