Florida Resident and DDP

[duckyspawn]

I hope someone can help me. I am considering getting the dining plan but it is not available with a Florida Resident discount. I am going to the Magic Kingdom and MGM for 4 days in June with my wife and 3 year old daughter.

The cost of the hotel/dining plan/tickets will be $1,400. The hotel alone is $500 and if we were to buy tickets for the park, Florida Residents can get a 3 day pass for $240 for adults and $99 for child. So that would be $840. The difference is $560.

Typically when we have gone in the past (before child), we never did table service restaurants at the park. But having a young child, I plan to stay at the park for dinner and would prefer to do the table service so we can all relax for an hour or so.

Is it worth if for me to pay the $1,400 for the dining plan (which has the advantage of not having to pull out cash constantly) or should I just pay for meals as I go? If we were to do Breakfast/lunch/dinner/snacks at the park, all counter service, would we spend $560 or more? I would prefer to do some sit down meals though.

Basically, it will cost me $160 more for tickets if I dont take advantage of the Florida Resident discount.

Any advice or opinions?

 

[beattyfamily]

Did you try figuring it out with just buying one base ticket thru Disney with the package? You only have to buy one day rather then 4 days.

It might not be worth it since you get such a good Florida discount. The dining package always part of a package where you must buy tickets and pay rack rates for the resort too.

 

[kcashner]

Bottom line, Disney is going to make their money somewhere. DDP is not available with CM, FL resident, AP, or other discount plans. It was just made available (April 1) to DVC members.

If your concern is having to carry cash or a credit card around the parks, this can be a "non-issue." If you are staying at a WDW resort, you can have charging put on your KTTW card. You present the KTTW card anywhere in WDW to charge it to your room. THis card is paid off at check out with the credit card you put on the account when you checked in.

What you can get as a FL resident is a DDE card. You pay for this card (I believe FL residents are $85), but you get 20% off food and beverage purchases at most sit down restaurants and some CS restaurants--the list is on the WDW web site or at themouseforless.com.

We had the DDE card in December. I ran the numbers for our proposed meals for our next trip, and it comes out about the same--DDE vs. DDP. Personally, with your family, I'd be tempted to do the DDE. It is valid for one year, and you can still use all your FL resident discounts on hotel rates and park tickets. If you go to a table service restaurant and share with DD, there will be no charge. Of course you pay for each person at buffets and "all you can eat" places. My thinking is that a 3 year old eats so little that it isn't worth a dinner for her at a regular TS restaurant where you order from the menu.

 

[duckyspawn]

What do you mean by one base ticket?

 

[beattyfamily]

What do you mean by one base ticket?

To get the dining plan, you must book a package through Disney that includes resort and tickets BUT with this package you do NOT have to buy the tickets for every night you stay; you can just buy one base ticket per person rather then tickets for the whole trip.

For example, I already have APs for this year so if I want to do the free dining package this August I would book the package with the resort but only ONE day base ticket per person and use my AP for the trip. I'd save those one day base tickets for another trip or I could use them in the future to upgrade to a different ticket.

 

[duckyspawn]

Since we have no intention of leaving the park as that can be a pain with a 3 year old, I tried to figure out how much I would spend if I had 1 table service meal, 1 counter service meal and a snack. I estimated it would cost me $520 for the three of us (1 Dinner at Downtown Disney, Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner for 2 days, and Breakfast for the third day).

Since I am spending $500 on the hotel, I can look at it one of two ways: if I utilize the Florida resident discount, it would cost me $339 for tickets for the three of us (unless I say my daughter is two which saves us $99). so that would be $839 for hotel and tickets. The package deal is $1400, resulting in a $561 difference. In that case, The cost difference between paying for my own meals and the package is $41. But I seem to be getting more on the plan as I only counted getting one appetizer with dinner as opposed to two. I think it is a breakeven proposition more or less.

If I dont get my daughter a ticket, I save $99 and the meal plan of $35.97. But I think I would spend that on her for meals and snacks over 4 nights, 3 days.

Does my logic sound about right?

 

[bksmm]

With the dining plan, Florida residents do not get a discount on the hotel, but they can still get discounts on tickets. Just buy the 1 day base ticket (per person) with the dining plan package, and use those tickets to upgrade to whichever FL resident tickets you want.

 

[duckyspawn]

the base ticket would need to be purchased for 3 days if we intend to go to the park for 3 days, correct? So let me see if I have this right: I have a 4 night hotel stay. The DDP is linked to the hotel stay. I can buy a one day base ticket for $67 (or whatever the cost is) and get the dining plan for the 4 days. Then when I get to the hotel, I can change/upgrade my one day base ticket to a 3 day play pass for Florida Residents and pay the difference? Will they allow me to do that? It doesnt seem like they would because they wont give the discount for the entire package. Please advise.

 

[kcashner]

They will allow you to upgrade the one day base ticket to a multi-day ticket or to an annual pass. Sorry, I don't know if they will allow the upgrade to the FL resident pass.

 

[lowie]

I hope someone can help me. I am considering getting the dining plan but it is not available with a Florida Resident discount. I am going to the Magic Kingdom and MGM for 4 days in June with my wife and 3 year old daughter.

The cost of the hotel/dining plan/tickets will be $1,400. The hotel alone is $500 and if we were to buy tickets for the park, Florida Residents can get a 3 day pass for $240 for adults and $99 for child. So that would be $840. The difference is $560.

Typically when we have gone in the past (before child), we never did table service restaurants at the park. But having a young child, I plan to stay at the park for dinner and would prefer to do the table service so we can all relax for an hour or so.

Is it worth if for me to pay the $1,400 for the dining plan (which has the advantage of not having to pull out cash constantly) or should I just pay for meals as I go? If we were to do Breakfast/lunch/dinner/snacks at the park, all counter service, would we spend $560 or more? I would prefer to do some sit down meals though.

Basically, it will cost me $160 more for tickets if I dont take advantage of the Florida Resident discount.

Any advice or opinions?

this is how i did it... (let's just leave out my 10 year old and use my 5 year old) florida play 3 day passes, same price as yours, total of $340.00. renting points at SSR $432.00 for 5 nights. DDP (cause i can while renting points) $352. total (with tax on hotel and food included, tips on food too!) $1124.

 

[duckyspawn]

this is how i did it... (let's just leave out my 10 year old and use my 5 year old) florida play 3 day passes, same price as yours, total of $340.00. renting points at SSR $432.00 for 5 nights. DDP (cause i can while renting points) $352. total (with tax on hotel and food included, tips on food too!) $1124.

What is points at SSR? Ok, so you ordered a base ticket, booked a hotel and did the DDP. THen when you went to the park, you went to the ticket window and changed it to a Florida 3 day pass?

 

[bksmm]

They will allow you to upgrade the one day base ticket to a multi-day ticket or to an annual pass. Sorry, I don't know if they will allow the upgrade to the FL resident pass.

Yes, you can upgrade your 1 day base ticket to a FL resident ticket. We went last September during the free dining and upgraded our 1 day base tickets to FL resident seasonal passes.

The rules on upgrading are:
You can only use 1 ticket to upgrade to a new ticket (or pass)
The new ticket must cost more than the old ticket
If your ticket has options for park hopper or water parks and more, the new ticket must also have those options.
There are deadlines for upgrading when a multi-day ticket has been partially used.

 

[lowie]

What is points at SSR? Ok, so you ordered a base ticket, booked a hotel and did the DDP. THen when you went to the park, you went to the ticket window and changed it to a Florida 3 day pass?

SSR is the saratoga springs resort, which is a disney vacation club resort (timeshare) i rented someones points as they couldn't use them. it came to $432. i didn't need a base ticket as disney vacation club (DVC) members and renters can get DDP without a base ticket. so, the 3 day play pass was sufficient. hope this helps!
p.s. the same room at SSR, with just a plain ressie is over $250 per night! and i paid no tax either!