Stay Play Dine 2017 Calculation Thread

[SouthFayetteFan]

I have heard stories of people who were not just given a discount. I wouldn't mind upgrading from garden room to preferred if it
Means saving about 500 more

If you can see it online - they should be able to apply it to your existing reservation...HOWEVER if you have any experience with the call center CMs you know that sometimes you just get a bad one and they can't seem to do anything, haha.

 

[Evil dr pork chop]

If you can see it online - they should be able to apply it to your existing reservation...HOWEVER if you have any experience with the call center CMs you know that sometimes you just get a bad one and they can't seem to do anything, haha.

So you're telling me there's a chance!!!!

 

[Evil dr pork chop]

So you're telling me there's a chance!!!!

What do you mean see it online though?

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

What do you mean see it online though?

Meaning if you go on the disney site and price out your vacation package the way you want it. If it shows available there they should be able to apply it/make the changes over the phone to your exist reservation (no new reservation needed).

 

[Evil dr pork chop]

Meaning if you go on the disney site and price out your vacation package the way you want it. If it shows available there they should be able to apply it/make the changes over the phone to your exist reservation (no new reservation needed).

Thank you

 

[carolrie]

I am getting more and more confused so I hope someone here can help me. I am going to be at the resort from 12/30-1/7 (checking out on the morning of the 7th so not really using the parks or tickets) I thought it would be best to do two different reservations so I can apply the SPD discount for the 1-7. The more I am looking at numbers I'm not sure how to make it work and still save money. I am thinking I will upgrade my AP and do tickets separately, do room only for 30-31 and do the SPD for 1-7 (modified for no tickets with AP) Does that sound like the best strategy?

I think I just read that annual passholders don't qualify for SPD due to needing tickets with that promotion. So maybe I am back at square one.

 

[dmunsil]

I am thinking I will upgrade my AP and do tickets separately, do room only for 30-31 and do the SPD for 1-7 (modified for no tickets with AP) Does that sound like the best strategy?.

You must get tickets with the Play Stay Dine promotion. You can get tickets and then use them later toward an AP renewal, or you can get tickets that cover your whole stay and pick them up early on the 30th. The tickets you get with a package can be longer than the resort reservation. Normally the tickets wouldn't activate until you checked in to that package booking on the 1st, but package tickets can be picked up (or activated) several days early at a guest services window or I think at the concierge desk at your hotel.

 

[carolrie]

Thank you so much dmunsil! That is such valuable information and will help very much with my planning!

You must get tickets with the Play Stay Dine promotion. You can get tickets and then use them later toward an AP renewal, or you can get tickets that cover your whole stay and pick them up early on the 30th. The tickets you get with a package can be longer than the resort reservation. Normally the tickets wouldn't activate until you checked in to that package booking on the 1st, but package tickets can be picked up (or activated) several days early at a guest services window or I think at the concierge desk at your hotel.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I am getting more and more confused so I hope someone here can help me. I am going to be at the resort from 12/30-1/7 (checking out on the morning of the 7th so not really using the parks or tickets) I thought it would be best to do two different reservations so I can apply the SPD discount for the 1-7. The more I am looking at numbers I'm not sure how to make it work and still save money. I am thinking I will upgrade my AP and do tickets separately, do room only for 30-31 and do the SPD for 1-7 (modified for no tickets with AP) Does that sound like the best strategy?

I think I just read that annual passholders don't qualify for SPD due to needing tickets with that promotion. So maybe I am back at square one.

As usual Don's advice above is spot on. Let me ask this though to see if SPD is the best discount for you:
- what is your family breakdown (# of adults, # of kids & ages)
- what resort(s) are you interested in staying at?
- if not for the SPD discount would you be interested in purchasing the dining plan or would you just pay for meals OOP (out of pocket)?
- Are you planning to upgrade your tickets to an annual pass?

 

[carolrie]

As usual Don's advice above is spot on. Let me ask this though to see if SPD is the best discount for you:
- what is your family breakdown (# of adults, # of kids & ages)
- what resort(s) are you interested in staying at?
- if not for the SPD discount would you be interested in purchasing the dining plan or would you just pay for meals OOP (out of pocket)?
- Are you planning to upgrade your tickets to an annual pass?

Hello SouthFayetteFan! I appreciate your help.

It is me and my two daughters (18 and 16) so three Disney adults. We don't mind staying at the cheapest option in the values except my girls aren't really into All Stars Sports. We are going on a cruise on the 7th and we would love to go back to WDW but I can only make it happen if I find the cheapest way possible.

I am an annual passholder at Disneyland so to upgrade to the Premier dual park passport for me would only be about $410 more. From what I understand it will also give me photo benefits at WDW. So as far as tickets I could either upgrade my AP and buy tickets for the girls separately or add tickets on to a package. I don't anticipate we will be able to come back to WDW again within a year so my AP would just be for this trip.

When I crunch the numbers the dining plan seems best for us. We will be eating at Chef Mickeys, Cinderella's, 1900 Park Faire, Via Napoli, Fantasmic H&V, Be Our Guest for dinner, Crystal Place, and Akershus. I don't think we will get much of a discount with an annual pass on those places unless we buy the Tables in Wonderland. Is that correct? So when I add the price of the dinners with the cost of tables in wonderland then the cost of buying snacks and one other quick meal it seems the dining plan is winning out.

This is why my brain is hurting because I have a lot of various options.

1. Do room only with a discount of some sort (AP or code). If that's the case I will have to make two reservations because I don't think the 30 and 31 is included in any type of discount. So 30 and 31 full rack rate and 1-7 with a discount rate. Get an AP and tickets separately and pay for food out of pocket with AP discounts and tables in wonderland OR add on the dining plan at full price as an AP holder

2. Do room only reservations for 30 and 31. Book SPD for the 1-7 and buy tickets that are longer than the stay and activate early on the 30th. At that point we will still also have to pay for food for two nights or do the meal plan for two nights (unless that's not offered because we aren't annual passholders or for some other reason)

Does that sound like the two best options to you? Is my thinking faulty in any way or do you see any other options? Thank you for your help!! It is very appreciated!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Hello SouthFayetteFan! I appreciate your help.

It is me and my two daughters (18 and 16) so three Disney adults. We don't mind staying at the cheapest option in the values except my girls aren't really into All Stars Sports. We are going on a cruise on the 7th and we would love to go back to WDW but I can only make it happen if I find the cheapest way possible...

LOTS of great info here...but a lot to digest to. One more question and I'll try to put some thoughts around this:
- How many ticket days do you plan to buy & are you buying Parkhopper or not?

 

[carolrie]

LOTS of great info here...but a lot to digest to. One more question and I'll try to put some thoughts around this:
- How many ticket days do you plan to buy & are you buying Parkhopper or not?

Good questions. We won't be doing parkhoppers and we will be using 7 days

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Good questions. We won't be doing parkhoppers and we will be using 7 days

Ok here are some thoughts on this:
1) The cost of a 7 day base ticket is $394.05 (and can be found at a discounted price of $382.20) so I'm going to rule the upgrade to AP option out since that costs more. Also if you go with the SPD discount you all have to have the same ticket options so the AP upgrade isn't an option in that scenario.

2) I'm going to look at just your Jan 1 - Jan 7 stay portion - obviously you can book a room for 12/30 & 12/31 at the same rate in either instance. I would book 12/31 & 12/31 through a discounted site like Undercover Tourist/Orbitz/Cheaptickets to save something on those nights. I'm assuming your stay is at All Star Music in both instances to make for easy comparisons. If you're looking for the least expensive option it does not make sense to stay at a moderate resort (even though it includes the full dining plan) because the addition room cost offsets any dining savings.

3) Here's how the SPD components work for you:
Room = $805.69 (reg. price)
Tickets = $1,182.15 (reg. price)
Disney Pkg Adjustment = $4.19 (for some reason when you book a package with Disney it costs approx. $1.40 more per person than buying room & tickets separately - I know that's strange!)
QS Dining Plan = $500.40 (discounted by 40% - this is the only thing discounted in SPD package)
Upgrade to Reg Dining Plan = $377.82
TOTAL SPD PACKAGE PRICE = $2,870.25

3) Here's how room only discount would work for you:
Room = $707.03 (discounted) - You SAVE $98.66 vs. SPD (you could potentially save even more here by booking through Undercover Tourist (5% discount) or Orbitz/CheapTickets (which may offer a 10-15% discount) and those discounts stack on top of the Disney discount. So you could save another $35 - $105 there.
Tickets = $1,146.60 (discounted through Undercover Tourist - Mousesavers link, FYI you need to sign up for the newsletter to get this) You SAVE $35.55 vs. SPD Ticket cost
Dining = I'm not sure - you'd have to figure out what your dining cost would be for those 6 nights/7days vs. the dining plan above.
TOTAL PRICE WITHOUT DINING = $1,853.63

SO MY ULTIMATE CONCLUSION - if you can dine for those 6 nights/7 days for less than $1,016.62 the Room Only may be for you - also those additional discounts with Undercover Tourist/Orbitz/Cheaptickets could come into play and make that number even larger. Let me know what you think or any additional questions.

 

[carolrie]

Ok here are some thoughts on this:
1) The cost of a 7 day base ticket is $394.05 (and can be found at a discounted price of $382.20) so I'm going to rule the upgrade to AP option out since that costs more. Also if you go with the SPD discount you all have to have the same ticket options so the AP upgrade isn't an option in that scenario.

2) I'm going to look at just your Jan 1 - Jan 7 stay portion - obviously you can book a room for 12/30 & 12/31 at the same rate in either instance. I would book 12/31 & 12/31 through a discounted site like Undercover Tourist/Orbitz/Cheaptickets to save something on those nights. I'm assuming your stay is at All Star Music in both instances to make for easy comparisons. If you're looking for the least expensive option it does not make sense to stay at a moderate resort (even though it includes the full dining plan) because the addition room cost offsets any dining savings.

3) Here's how the SPD components work for you:
Room = $805.69 (reg. price)
Tickets = $1,182.15 (reg. price)
Disney Pkg Adjustment = $4.19 (for some reason when you book a package with Disney it costs approx. $1.40 more per person than buying room & tickets separately - I know that's strange!)
QS Dining Plan = $500.40 (discounted by 40% - this is the only thing discounted in SPD package)
Upgrade to Reg Dining Plan = $377.82
TOTAL SPD PACKAGE PRICE = $2,870.25

3) Here's how room only discount would work for you:
Room = $707.03 (discounted) - You SAVE $98.66 vs. SPD (you could potentially save even more here by booking through Undercover Tourist (5% discount) or Orbitz/CheapTickets (which may offer a 10-15% discount) and those discounts stack on top of the Disney discount. So you could save another $35 - $105 there.
Tickets = $1,146.60 (discounted through Undercover Tourist - Mousesavers link, FYI you need to sign up for the newsletter to get this) You SAVE $35.55 vs. SPD Ticket cost
Dining = I'm not sure - you'd have to figure out what your dining cost would be for those 6 nights/7days vs. the dining plan above.
TOTAL PRICE WITHOUT DINING = $1,853.63

SO MY ULTIMATE CONCLUSION - if you can dine for those 6 nights/7 days for less than $1,016.62 the Room Only may be for you - also those additional discounts with Undercover Tourist/Orbitz/Cheaptickets could come into play and make that number even larger. Let me know what you think or any additional questions.

Yes! That's what I was thinking with all of my calculations but then I had so many moving pieces I kept getting confused. Thank you for laying it out so clearly. I agree that room only would be best. Thank you for your help!

 

[sunsetbeachgal]

Thank you in advance for your help!

We are a party of four adults and one child 11 years old. Want two rooms at Value resort, prefer Pop. Arrival 14 February for three nights checking out 17 February (first three nights of vaca is at Cabana Bay Universal, the 11 year old wants Harry Potter!). Was thinking of buying two days park tickets so we have a day off in the middle of the trip, not sure if SPD requires three day park ticket?

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Thank you in advance for your help!

We are a party of four adults and one child 11 years old. Want two rooms at Value resort, prefer Pop. Arrival 14 February for three nights checking out 17 February (first three nights of vaca is at Cabana Bay Universal, the 11 year old wants Harry Potter!). Was thinking of buying two days park tickets so we have a day off in the middle of the trip, not sure if SPD requires three day park ticket?

SPD requires only a two day park ticket so you are good there.

How many adults/children (& ages) do you have in your travel party?

 

[sunsetbeachgal]

Two adults in room one, two adults and the 11 year old in the second room (total five in party), assume Pop.

glad they can do it with a two day park ticket!

 

[Mria_82]

We currently have a reservation for 1/16/17-1/20/17 at CB with 5 day tickets & quick service for 2 adults, 2 kids (10,14). What kind of savings are we looking at with this offer?

 

[1sttimedisneymama]

Can you book SPD online? I can't find. Link

 

[Donald - my hero]

Can you book SPD online? I can't find. Link

Currently only available to Disney Visa cardholders -- drops for general public tomorrow