Subsonic Radio

Those of you who have flexibility in travel might be able to plan a trip - Disney is discounting late-summer travel. See this:

http://theadultsideofdisney.com/2013/04 ... ced-today/

I find this particularly interesting:





Clearly the push is to fill the resorts less popular with families with young children.

I prefer the Disney Meal plan.

I would venture to guess the value resorts are probably pretty full year 'round as they are the most economical of the rooms. Plus they probably are more popular with families with school aged children who likely won't be traveling after school starts. And those families that are going to take their kids out of school, are probably still going to be staying at the cheaper rooms. The more deluxe resorts probably have a much higher markup on the value of the rooms as well, so they can afford to be more generous with the discount.
I'm with Goofyfan, the free dining plan is a real treat and more enticing than a room discount. Even though it probably isn't as good of a deal, it really made our meals more carefree

Hmm seems like the usual and in fact that would pretty much be an extension of the Spring and early summer promotion Disney ran this year. To me it seems like a way of getting everybody to up themselves by one in an effort to increase occupancy on property. For instance people who would stay off property would now take a value resort. Those who originally were thinking of going with a value may now book a moderate as it is "more affordable" for them. Finally, people in moderates might now splurge to experience a Disney deluxe resort. This is how I personally look at it when Disney runs these kinds of promotions. I do think that the free dining in the end works out to be the better of the offers though. It's just a matter of wanting the savings up front or over the course of the vacation.

... Those discounts look so low to me after paying 60% off for four years.

Hopefully free dining is next. That's always a huge one and I don't see Disney giving it up this year.

The only time the meal plan is a better deal than the room discount is when you have at least 4 people and you were already going to pay for the dining plan. Even if you tried your hardest, it would be difficult to eat $55 of food per day, per person. Plus you still have to tip...so it's not like you pay nothing. I guess a Quick Service Meal Plan would avoid tipping...but then you'd still have to pay out of pocket for any Table Service meals.

I'd rather pay for my meals as I go...charging them to my room...and then paying for it all at the end with a credit card to get points or cash back...or with a prepaid Disney gift card. It's easier to just charge to your room than it is to tell the server you are on the dining plan anyway...plus you don't have to keep up with how many of what you have left. When you think about it...it doesn't save you any extra time or energy because you're constantly running the numbers in your head about how many of which credits you have left.

When we travel in our big extended family groups, the dining plan is the most simple to figure. Besides, my stepdad and mom pick up the tab... and the tips... Everyone should be so lucky.

Hubby and I are considering renting DVC points and doing meals "ala carte" on our next trip, which is probably in a year or two. Even if we took the girls with us, we still would do meals out of pocket rather than on the plan because we don't need to eat quite that much.

I know that during the late summer, Discover offers 5% cash back on theme parks. So we just charged our meals to our room and then paid it all at the end using our Discover card. If we spent $500 on food and drinks...that's $25 back in our pockets.

I really wish the Disney Visa had perks like that...where you got more Disney Rewards Dollars if you used the Disney Visa there in the parks or on DisneyStore.com.

I'm glad we made our reservations on Easter Sunday - we got a better deal for mid-May than we would have for dates after June 14.

The one thing that is nice BIG, is the remaining meal and snack credits are printed right on your receipt, so you don't have to do too much mental math. F1gment and I definitely don't come out ahead on the free dining as we generally end up sharing a quick service meal anyhow as the portions are so large. But it was nice for her as she didn't have to worry about how much something cost. If she wanted a more expensive sandwich, it didn't matter, as it was still just one credit. Plus it's just nice to hear the "free" applied to something in connection with Disney
We both use our Discover cards for sure

theBIGyowski wrote:The only time the meal plan is a better deal than the room discount is when you have at least 4 people and you were already going to pay for the dining plan. Even if you tried your hardest, it would be difficult to eat $55 of food per day, per person. Plus you still have to tip...so it's not like you pay nothing. I guess a Quick Service Meal Plan would avoid tipping...but then you'd still have to pay out of pocket for any Table Service meals.

I'd rather pay for my meals as I go...charging them to my room...and then paying for it all at the end with a credit card to get points or cash back...or with a prepaid Disney gift card. It's easier to just charge to your room than it is to tell the server you are on the dining plan anyway...plus you don't have to keep up with how many of what you have left. When you think about it...it doesn't save you any extra time or energy because you're constantly running the numbers in your head about how many of which credits you have left.

That is actually my exact reason for never doing the dining plan or even the free dining. Free dining is only beneficial to those who want to strictly adhere to it.

Part of the late summer discounts may be more in keeping with the fact that so many schools are starting in early to mid August, I would guess that there is a bit of a drop off in domestic travelers during that part of the summer.

disneyda wrote:Part of the late summer discounts may be more in keeping with the fact that so many schools are starting in early to mid August, I would guess that there is a bit of a drop off in domestic travelers during that part of the summer.

I would tend to agree with that statement from actually going there at different times throughout the summer. Two years ago I was there from 8/19-8/27 and I did notice that it was a bit less crowded when compared to July. However, it still was pretty busy with Northeastern kids having summer vacation until Labor Day.

We recently vacationed in the Florida Pan Handle and had to pay out of pocket for each meal. It almost ruined our trip as your painfully aware of how much of cost for a large family to eat every meal and for my 7 year old to order his meal and then not eat a quarter of it. Free Dining is psychologically better for us as we just enjoy having our meal and not worrying about the money.

rphillips14 wrote:We recently vacationed in the Florida Pan Handle and had to pay out of pocket for each meal. It almost ruined our trip as your painfully aware of how much of cost for a large family to eat every meal and for my 7 year old to order his meal and then not eat a quarter of it. Free Dining is psychologically better for us as we just enjoy having our meal and not worrying about the money.

My Mom also enjoyed not having to worry about the prices on the menu. Would your 7 year old be ok with sharing something from someone else's plate? That could help maybe...