Will we really save money by checking in a day early?

[CatNipRules]

Originally we were scheduled to fly in on October 5th. Therefore, we would miss the free dining promotion by one day.

Well, I got an email from my Travel Agent this morning letting me know about it. She informed me that if I got my reservations changed to fly in on the 4th instead of the 5th she could possibly get us on the free dining offer.

We are on the Deluxe plan. I don't want this to change. Is it possible to get the free dining discount and still stay on the Deluxe plan? I've never done the DDP before and am not sure how it all works.....

But, with the cost of changing the airline reservation and then adding a day of hotel, I'm thinking that it will still save us money, but my TA is supposed to send me all the updated info. I'm just wondering how it works and if it will really save us money by changing our dates. I'm thinking that it will, but either way it's an extra day at Disney.... LOL!

 

[qtsugarangl]

I'm having my Mom check in on the 4th so she and my Grandma can take advantage of the Free Dining, it's saving them roughly $100 per night.
They are staying at Port Orleans so they are getting the free Reg Dining Plan. They did upgrade to the Deluxe Dining on my suggestion. To upgrade you just need to pay the difference of the plans.
So if you stay at a Value resort you would get the Quick Service Dining and would upgrade to Deluxe from there.
HTH

 

[CatNipRules]

I'm having my Mom check in on the 4th so she and my Grandma can take advantage of the Free Dining, it's saving them roughly $100 per night.
They are staying at Port Orleans so they are getting the free Reg Dining Plan. They did upgrade to the Deluxe Dining on my suggestion. To upgrade you just need to pay the difference of the plans.
So if you stay at a Value resort you would get the Quick Service Dining and would upgrade to Deluxe from there.
HTH

There are three of us. We are staying at POFQ. I've already been on the Deluxe plan. So I'm thinking that we are still going to save money. We would have gotten the Free Regular Dining.

She's supposed to send me an email detailing everything later today when she has it all worked out. I can't wait to see if I actually save. I'm thinking that I will because the difference between the regular and deluxe is quite a bit.

Guess I will wait and see what she comes up with. LOL!

Thanks for the input.

 

[geckodani]

I've got a spreadsheet going and can plug the numbers in for you if you want. Just need to know how many nights you are staying. Keep in mind as well that at the moment the only rooms that seem to be available at POFQ for the free dining plan are Garden and River View rooms.

 

[CatNipRules]

I've got a spreadsheet going and can plug the numbers in for you if you want. Just need to know how many nights you are staying. Keep in mind as well that at the moment the only rooms that seem to be available at POFQ for the free dining plan are Garden and River View rooms.

Thank you for doing that for me! I really appreciate it!

We are now checking in on October 4th and checking out on the 13th. So, it looks like we are going to be there for 9 nights.

I'm hoping that it's going to save me $$ or break even. If you could do it for me I would really appreciate it.

 

[geckodani]

Okay, I ended up just plugging stuff into the Disney site so I could see what rooms/categories were actually available. I used a 9 day base ticket on each one just to be consistent:

Your Current Reservation:
POFQ Standard Room.
10/5/12 - 10/13/12. 8 nights. 9 day base ticket. Deluxe Dining for 3 Adults:
$4,800.60

If you change for Free Dining:
POR Riverside (No FQ available). Garden View Room.
10/4/12 - 10/13/12. 9 nights. 9 day base ticket. Upgraded from Free Regular Dining to Deluxe Dining for 3 Adults:
$3,974.01

If you went with the regular dining plan the total would be: $3,056.55

So yes, I'd say that that would save you some money!

Edit: I appear to have accidentally over-written a previous post of mine. Hadn't realized I was editing! It was just me being a dork and misreading dates, so I'm not too worried about it.

 

[CatNipRules]

Uh oh. I just checked the web site and the free dining dates don't include 10/4/12.

"Moderate Resort for stays most nights from 10/19-11/1/12, 11/24-11/29/12, and 12/10-12/13/12." Am I missing it somewhere?!?

I'd be more than happy to run it for you, but it doesn't look like your dates are included.

EDIT: IGNORE THAT ABOVE! I'm a dork. I didn't read carefully enough. "Sept. 30 - Oct. 4, Oct. 19 - Nov. 1, Nov. 9 - 15, Nov. 23 - 29, Dec. 10 - 13" So sorry! Hang on, I'll run the numbers.

LOL!! You had me worried there. I was thinking that my TA was wrong or that I was imagining things. Thank you again!!

 

[geckodani]

LOL!! You had me worried there. I was thinking that my TA was wrong or that I was imagining things. Thank you again!!

Yeah, sorry about that! And then I dorked out and over-wrote that post with an edit. I need more coffee. I did run the numbers for you though - look above to the accidentally over-edited post.

 

[CatNipRules]

Yeah, sorry about that! And then I dorked out and over-wrote that post with an edit. I need more coffee. I did run the numbers for you though - look above to the accidentally over-edited post.

I'm hoping that she was able to work the free dining with the POFQ and that maybe all the available rooms are already booked. Because she changed my arrival date and she changed it from a standard room to a River view.

I guess I will just have to wait and see when she sends me to rundown later today. I hope she didn't just increase the cost big time for me because of it. If she did I'm going to be really worried.

Keeping my fingers crossed. Because I did tell her that I only wanted to do it if I was either going to come out ahead or if the cost of the trip wouldn't change.

 

[heartse]

We added a day at the beginning of our trip last December to get the Free Dining and it saved us some money... not a ton, but we also got the extra day in Disney!

 

[geckodani]

I personally think you'll end up saving a chunk, although it depends on how much the airline dings you for changing your tickets.

 

[CatNipRules]

I personally think you'll end up saving a chunk, although it depends on how much the airline dings you for changing your tickets.

She is at a meeting for her daughter, but she emailed me and said that I am getting a credit. So, I will wait and see what's going on when she sends me the info tonight. I'm not a good waiter though. LOL!!

At least I know that I'm getting a credit so it's all good. I was worried for a bit there. LOL!

 

[tina.tina]

I'm nosy. I want to know how much your credit is.

 

[CatNipRules]

I'm nosy. I want to know how much your credit is.

I do to! I'm still waiting, not so patiently, for my TA to send me the email telling me about it. LOL!!

 

[CatNipRules]

Okay, so I didn't get back that much of a refund. It breaks down to this:

We did get the free dining. She had to upgrade our rooms to a River View. Then since we were already on the Deluxe plan, she upgraded us to that.

When it was all said and done I ended up with a $108 refund. Not as much as I thought, but hey! I'm going to Disney and I'm going a day earlier than I had originally planned!

 

[Happyjen27]

An extra day, plus and upgraded room? And you're getting some cash?

Sounds like a win/win to me. I'm glad it worked out for you.

I wonder if airlines brace themselves for many changes on July 12th? I bet there were quite a few.

 

[TDC Nala]

One would have to add in the cost of changing the airline tickets, if they'd already purchased them. There's only a couple of airlines that don't charge change or cancellation fees on non-refundable tickets.

 

[vinotinto]

Is the $105 after the cost of changing the tickets? The airlines we fly charge $100 to change each ticket, plus the change in airfare> I assume that has already been factored in, but if it hasn't you may want to switch your reservation back.