GirlDreamer
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2011
I've just booked POFQ for 14 nights for September 2nd - 16th
If you bring your dates forward you might see a more budget friendly price for this resort. We’ve booked 10 days from the start of the month with tix and DDP and it came in at less than £3600. Plus we don’t have to worry about transport to and from the airport. It’s possible to ask for a partial savannah view and save. Some cash that way. Having never stayed there before we are looking forward to our vacation now.I'm still debating today whether to book AKL. We've never stayed there but we're eloping next October so feel like we would be happy to spend a bit more money on a deluxe resort but can I ask, do you think £5,306 is a ridiculous amount for 2 weeks with a savannah view?
Thank you. We've already booked now but went with a standard room to save some money. It would be nice it we were able to get a partial savannah view but if not … hey, I'm in Disney!If you bring your dates forward you might see a more budget friendly price for this resort. We’ve booked 10 days from the start of the month with tix and DDP and it came in at less than £5000. Plus we don’t have to worry about transport to and from the airport. It’s possible to ask for a partial savannah view and save. Some cash that way. Having never stayed there before we are looking forward to our vacation now.
I booked nine days (eight nights) at Coronado Springs and upgraded our dining plan to the deluxe (as this is what we've had previously and really enjoy the freedom it offers). We're back in the World in August 2020.
Hiya. Can I ask what your thinking is for DxDP? We're staying AKL CL for two weeks in September 2020 with free DDP, and I'm trying to figure out whether it would be beneficial to upgrade to DxDP. Not so much from a cost perspective, but because a) we both like apps as well and b) so many restaurants we want to eat at are 2 credits.
We are staying AKL - Not CL but SV in September 2020. Two of us to upgrade for 10 nights to DxDP cost £580. We are the same as you - I prefer apps to desserts and want to do a ton of signatures as it is an adult only trip. The DDP we would end up paying for a lot of OOP appetisers - maybe use one of the dining plan calculators. So you can see whether it is worth it and how many meals you would need to pay oop for if not - for us as we are only upgrading the plan we save an absolute fortune.
Well if staying at lots of 2 credit places then I guess it can make a bit more sense, but really most of the 2 credit places are not good value. But as you say cost is not your issue here. If it was to eat table service breakfast lunch and dinner and you get starter as well on delux plan it’s a hell of a lot of food and time spent in restaurants. But if most days were 2 credit evening meals and you’re the sort to eat twice a day plus couple snacks then I can see the principle of it.
our last UK free dining package was in 2017 - and it was brilliant.
But half a year ago we decided to buy DVC - so no more UK free dining for us.
August will be our first DVC stay as owners. Looking forward to it!!
.
Adapt is what we did Beth, after all you will be going back year, after year, after year.
We now eat much more Quick Serve, and get an Instacart shop in.
We found you eventually get pretty sick of rushing around for ADRs to average restaurants at inflated prices, and our teenage kids just are not bothered. So we maybe do 4 -5 table service on a 2 week stay, and it’s enough. Our holidays are actually more relaxed and enjoyable these days. We even take sandwiches into the parks for lunch some days, some days we eat there, other days we are back for lunch, especially if we are staying in an Epcot resort or BLT.
Our stays are pretty cheap now, apart from tickets, and that’s quite good to say we are staying in suits at Deluxe hotels.
I agree most if not all of the time the regular DDP is not worth it. The only plan that can be worth it is the DxDP but you still need to do the math on beforehand to make sure it really is worth it. If you are not a foodie then even the DxDP might not worth it - too much food. Using credits on signature dining is a poor use of credits cost-wise but not experience wise. When you use the DxDP credits on signature dining you still only get 1 drink not two even if you use 2 credits.This is very hypothetical as obviously we are still in the planning stage but.. if you were paying full price for the DXDP $117 (rounded up) each credit would cost $39 each.. I think you could easily spend $80 pp at a signature just looking at the menus - and those you don't you would easily recoup elsewhere. That doesn't include snacks either ( and you will be paying no where near the $117)
I think it is a bad deal on the DDP as the apps are not taken into account.
For example one of the days we are planning:
California Grill Brunch (2 Credits) $80 + QS at MNSSHP $17 with drink - technically not the best use at $97 + Snacks ($10)
But another day we are planning:
Tusker House ROL Breakfast : not sure of ROL price but say $39 + drink at $5. and Jikos Dinner roughly $85? + Snacks ($10) = $139
So they cancel each other out - and end up at $123 per day.
I would suggest getting allears or the WDWinfo menus up and just roughly working out if it is worth it... you know your eating habits - I am a seafood girl, bf loves a fillet steak so I just calculated that for each meal. When I say each meal I mean..every night he will order steak -pretty much a guarantee. If not just average out the cost of the entrees and starters etc.
This is more or less how we do our vacations at WDW. Bring our own food to the park and/or visit a restaurant offsite for dinner. Breakfast we eat in our room.Adapt is what we did Beth, after all you will be going back year, after year, after year.
We now eat much more Quick Serve, and get an Instacart shop in.
We found you eventually get pretty sick of rushing around for ADRs to average restaurants at inflated prices, and our teenage kids just are not bothered. So we maybe do 4 -5 table service on a 2 week stay, and it’s enough. Our holidays are actually more relaxed and enjoyable these days. We even take sandwiches into the parks for lunch some days, some days we eat there, other days we are back for lunch, especially if we are staying in an Epcot resort or BLT.
Our stays are pretty cheap now, apart from tickets, and that’s quite good to say we are staying in suits at Deluxe hotels.
I’ve booked 16 nights for August 2020 at Port Orleans French Quarter in a Garden view (standard not in offer) for family of 4 for £6,820. This is with dinning plan upgraded to regular.
Hope you get what you want, good luck.
No it does not include airfare.£6,820 now thats a lot of money, does that include airfare?
I'm sorry when I get to think about it, I have never spend that much money on any vacation.
Last year I took my teens on a trip for both NYC and WDW we spend a tad more that 50% of your cost and that includes the annual dues on our DVC, NYC stay, food, tickets, airfare, car rental and spending costs.
If you on a regular basis spend that much on WDW i'd advise that you look into buying DVC. In the long run you will save money(hmm maybe not if you tend to go more often)
£6,820 now thats a lot of money, does that include airfare?
I'm sorry when I get to think about it, I have never spend that much money on any vacation.
Last year I took my teens on a trip for both NYC and WDW we spend a tad more that 50% of your cost and that includes the annual dues on our DVC, NYC stay, food, tickets, airfare, car rental and spending costs.
If you on a regular basis spend that much on WDW i'd advise that you look into buying DVC. In the long run you will save money(hmm maybe not if you tend to go more often)
I think to some extent it depends on how you want to holiday. The more times you’ve been you probably start to go less days from rope drop to park close and maybe venture offsite to eat more. So then the dining plan become less of an advantage. I also suspect that having a larger party also changes the numbers, I have done numbers in this respect looking at offsite villa hires where once you are at 10-12 becomes cheaper but for 4 is not.that's why we bought DVC last august...
in 2017, we did a 3 week stay at SSR for 8 of us in two 2 bedroom villas there (free dining) and as you can imagine it was stratospherically expensive!!!!
my son brought up the possibility of DVC so we sat down and crunched the numbers comparing UK free dining and DVC.
DVC came out much cheaper and since they're constantly raising prices i knew that i wouldn't be able to continue paying for everything.
With DVC, it was even cheaper than if we stayed at Pop and ate really spraringly.
So we took the plunge and bought DVC resale.
No regrets. We bought enough points so that we can go every 3 years (using 3 years of points - banking and borrowing).
I think you should call Disney and ask them, this is a very unique position and one you need them to agree will work.The last two years I didn't get round to booking until September/ beginning October. They were still offering free dinning but only $100 gift card, however I was able to book OKW with the free dining.
Planning on going at the end of June 2020 with a friend and her two daughters, really want to book OKW with free dining for 5 or 6 nights and then will be using my DVC points for the rest of the trip.
So should I wait until I see an OKW room to book or should I book now before the current free dining offer ends and then change the booking? The problem I have is that at the moment we would need to book two rooms, but I would really like a two bed at OKW. If I was booking the two rooms now, should I book it as one reservation or should I book one room and my friend book the other. I am assuming if I book it all as one reservation it would be easier to change the booking if we want to go into one room. Will the free dining still apply if the free dining offer is no longer available when I want to change rooms?