Which deal would you choose??

[supradupafast]

Free Dining at either CBR or CSR.
Even though it's shortened by a day, sometimes you're able to get early morning flight for your arrival, and later departure time.
Love Free Dining , It's a Must

 

[dminnie]

A few thoughts:
I think they really make the package deals confusing to figure out if you're saving. They are making you get park hopper for about $130 more to get free dining. As a first time visitor, I would skip park hopping and just go to one park a day. I think park hopping is more fun for people that are more familiar with the parks and overly time consuming for first timer. (I also think that while TAs are looking for deals for you, they do make more if you spend more.)

If they do come out with say a 25% room only discount, you could get the room for your original dates(13-20) at CBR for about $1200. Your tickets would be $692 without park hopping. At that point, you can figure out if you want a dining plan for $553. That's a total of $2,445 and you still get 7 nights instead of only 6 withe the free dining options. It's possible you'd save more by skipping the meal plan if you just want to have 4 or 5 sit down meals during the time you're there. (For us, we save by paying OOP over the dining plan. Also be sure to consider that you have to add tips either way, but it's more with the dining plan since you'll "spend more" when you order on it.)

Also, I'd go with either CBR or CSR. CBR is the one that has most recently had renovations. I wouldn't pay more for POFQ. All the other mods have been refurbished more recently and POFQ only has one pool that has a very small slide. You can use the pools at POR also if you stay there though, but then you'd have to walk there. If your son likes swimming, he will be unimpressed with the FQ pool.

 

[dmband]

If you are not aware/notice, with the free dining you are also losing a day and depending on your flights you are losing a day of tickets or with the original plan you would need a extra day
flight times can have you needing 5 days - 8 days ticket wise so check that out too

follow dminnies advice too.
many people swear by free dining but it really depends on where you eat and how much you eat. Just because you are saving $x a day on food, you have to see if you would have even spent that much to begin with.

 

[Nancyg56]

Befoe you decide which offer you need to decide what you want to do and how you are going to dine. Free dining can be a good deal, but only if you use it. For a seven YO, you may want character dining, and those meals are expensive, so I suggest you check out Debs all ears, to see the menus and prices. Have your TA help you choose which offer is the best for you when you consider meals, and touring plans. As has been pointed out, you have to buy hoppers and the water parks option to get free dining. That may be paying for options you do nto want to use, so a Room only discount may be better. Have the TA see if you have a PIN in your name. For a moderate, there are sometimes up to 25% off the room, wna for two in the room, that can be the better value, even if you buy the DDP.

 

[Disny_newbie]

O my! Thanks for all of the replies, I'm even more confused than before I started this thread, lol.

 

[Disny_newbie]

A few thoughts:
I think they really make the package deals confusing to figure out if you're saving. They are making you get park hopper for about $130 more to get free dining. As a first time visitor, I would skip park hopping and just go to one park a day. I think park hopping is more fun for people that are more familiar with the parks and overly time consuming for first timer. (I also think that while TAs are looking for deals for you, they do make more if you spend more.)

If they do come out with say a 25% room only discount, you could get the room for your original dates(13-20) at CBR for about $1200. Your tickets would be $692 without park hopping. At that point, you can figure out if you want a dining plan for $553. That's a total of $2,445 and you still get 7 nights instead of only 6 withe the free dining options. It's possible you'd save more by skipping the meal plan if you just want to have 4 or 5 sit down meals during the time you're there. (For us, we save by paying OOP over the dining plan. Also be sure to consider that you have to add tips either way, but it's more with the dining plan since you'll "spend more" when you order on it.)

Also, I'd go with either CBR or CSR. CBR is the one that has most recently had renovations. I wouldn't pay more for POFQ. All the other mods have been refurbished more recently and POFQ only has one pool that has a very small slide. You can use the pools at POR also if you stay there though, but then you'd have to walk there. If your son likes swimming, he will be unimpressed with the FQ pool.

Great point about being a first time visitor, I think I'll forego getting the park hopper. When do they usually release the dates for Winter discounts? I'm afraid of pulling the trigger too early but I'm also afraid of missing out on a good deal. BTW, I do not mind sharing a king bed with my 7 year old, it would be no different than being at home, lol.

 

[Kevin355]

If you are not aware/notice, with the free dining you are also losing a day and depending on your flights you are losing a day of tickets or with the original plan you would need a extra day
flight times can have you needing 5 days - 8 days ticket wise so check that out too

follow dminnies advice too.
many people swear by free dining but it really depends on where you eat and how much you eat. Just because you are saving $x a day on food, you have to see if you would have even spent that much to begin with.

That is why I hit the buffets. Trust me, I get my monies worth of food. Then I have to start a new diet again.

 

[Disny_newbie]

Another burning question, is wine available at DW restaurants?

 

[dminnie]

Another burning question, is wine available at DW restaurants?

I think it's available at many DW restaurants, but maybe just Be Our Guest if you're in Magic Kingdom. Many in Epcot and the resorts offer it. This is one reasons why it's good to look over the menus to figure out if the dining plan would be a good fit for you. It comes with a main course, non-alcoholic drink and dessert. If you're someone that really likes ordering appetizers and/or wine with dinner, you have to add that cost on. For our family, it didn't work for us because we didn't want a pop and dessert with every meal, we're happy sharing a main course and appetizer sometimes and it was just too many sit down meals for us(taking time away from other stuff we'd like to do). It is nice being able to order almost whatever you want from the menu and getting character buffets though. We still do character buffets, but just maybe 1 per trip. On the dining plan, sometimes we would be so full from the main course and then the desserts would come...4 full sized desserts when we'd rather wait a couple hours and just get some ice cream somewhere later.

 

[Disny_newbie]

Update: I contacted the TA again and asked her to run the numbers without the Park Hopper and for the dates I originally wanted, this was her reply

"
I played around with your dates and tried to find free dining for you at Caribbean Beach Resort, but there is no availability sorry.

The resort is available though as regular rate!

December 13, 2015 – December 20, 2015
Magic Your Way
7 day base passes

Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort – preferred room - preferred rooms are located closet to Old Port Royale and the feature pool
$2,766.61"

Should I wait until Summer to see if any room discounts are announced?

 

[dminnie]

I haven't traveled there in December, so I'm not as familiar with whether discounts will come out. You could book now and cancel it if a better deal comes out.
I wouldn't go for the latest deal the TA gave you. It's about $466 more to stay in the preferred section for the week. We always just get a standard room. That would be $2,321 with the 7 day tickets for the two of you. You can request to be in building Jamaica 45 or Aruba 51 and it's just a pleasant walk across the bridge to the pool and food court. Those are standard rooms. You can look up a map of the resort on-line to see where these are. Martinique buildings are the "preferred"...the rooms are the same...just closer to stuff. Room requests are not guaranteed, but we've never had a problem getting the building(or close to it) that we asked for.

The TA's latest offer is why I personally don't care for working with a TA. When I look on Disney's site, there are 3 classes of rooms less expensive than the preferred. Why not give you the choice of whether you want to pay almost $60 more per night to be closer? Some of the Martinque(preferred) rooms are not that much closer than Jamaica 45.

 

[Disny_newbie]

I'm leaning towards just going with the DW site directly. I saw that they will have a Mickey Mouse Christmas party, I definitely want him to experience that.