Is this a good deal for Disney.

[MegCleary]

First timer for Disney in need of advice. £10,300 Lon - MCO 31/3/20 to 14/4/20 2 adults 12 year old and 9 year old. 10 nights port orleans riverside 4 nights Loews pacific & park tickets

I’d like to stay in the parks to use the early the magic hours and passes.

Is there Disney dining announcing on the 11/4? Is it worth waiting or just booking what we have now?
Any advice appreciated.

Bump

Wait for Disney Dining. In theory the price shouldn't go up and quick service food will be included. At POR, you'll have Quick Service / Counter Service (actually lots of food and choice! It's not all burgers). You can choose to upgrade to full Dining Plan which includes character meals and table service restaurants.

Check the prices of the next level up of hotel (moderate to deluxe) as full Dining Plan is included here and is sometimes cheaper than upgrading in the moderate hotel.

TBH, booking Disney is an absolute minefield and expensive no matter what! But so worth the money and planning. Go to www.thedibb.co.uk for much more detailed advice.

Wait for dining. It will save you a massive amount.

We did October last year. Saratoga springs for 10 nights and then 5 at hard rock. Disney and universal park tickets, dining and flights. 2 adults and a 10 year old. £7300. Easter more expensive and you’ve another adult (in Disney terms] so not a cheap price but not bad either.

Also double check your prices when dining comes out. We were cheaper in a deluxe resort with table service dining than being quick service in a different resort.

Am beginning to get stressed with holiday planning and that’s no fun.

Will this go up if I wait for the dining plan (if it is happening!) on the 11/4.

If I just book how much are meals there. (Disney virgin!) What I’d love is to be able to have breakfast in the hotel at least. If we don’t have a dining plan can we book character meals. Wise ones help...

They don’t usually put prices up. Imagine the outcry if they did.

I think port Orleans is a quick service with dining plan. That means you get two quick serve meals a day, a drink and 2 snacks. Quick serve means a bit like Macdonald. You go to a counter and get your food. But, it’s nothing like Macdonalds. You get lots of options.

Plan your snacks carefully as some are more than enough for a breakfast. Some of the pastries you can get are massive.

You will also get a refillable mug. This means unlimited drink while in resort. It really is worth waiting.

If you go for a deluxe resort like we did at Saratoga instead of 2 quick serves you get one quick and one table. The food we had was very good and we had more than we would eat. Table service meals include character dining.

It is stressful planning but honestly it is worth it when you get there. Have you joined any of the Facebook pages? I got lots of help there.

From memory the snacks cost around $6 each. Table service is about $13-15 each and Dinner credits, if you work them cleverly can be huge steaks and lobster. Then you’ve got drinks to add if paying yourself.

Garden grill, as an example is character dining. Cost is $32 per adult and $19 per child.

Gaston’s Tavern is quick service and a sandwich is $9.99. But with dining plan you’d get a drink and possible fries with that too.

A cinnamon roll is classed as a snack and is massive. Covers a side plate easily. With dining plan you can get that and a coffee whereas paying out of pocket will be around $11 each. That snack was more than enough for us as a breakfast.

The quick serve menu is online at Port Orleans with prices.

Photo to shoe you size of cinnamon roll.

Do you eat a lot? We go to Disney a fair bit and don't do the dining plans because we don't eat masses. We tend to just have a couple of kids meals for lunch, they are huge, or take sandwiches in. Are you in a room with kitchen facilities? If so, get groceries delivered for snacks/breakfast/beer. To be honest even in a normal hotel, I think you can pay for a fridge.

Discussed with DH and we are going to hang fire and see what the announcement is on the 11/4.

God it is a minefield though

For comparison I got this 2 years ago

Rt. Flights Manchester to Orlando
14 nights port Orleans riverside with dining
Car
Pre booked seats
€150 gift card
14 days Disney parks
14 dats universal parks

July school holidays family of four kids aged 12&10
£7500

Thomas cook

sunshine1239 was the hotel nice, easy to get to parks etc?

It’s gorgeous! We stayed on Riverside side and then asked to move mid holiday to the French side for a change! Both fab but preferred riverside. Apparently most don’t stay 2 weeks so they’re happy to swap

We had car which we used for water parks and universal but used disney transport for theme parks as quicker - car parks far away

Universal better than Disney tho! I wish we’d stated 3 nights on universal for their express passes - we queued min 1.5hr per ride!

The little boat down to downtown Disney’s lovely! I preferred port Orleans to the beach club my friend was in

We stayed at port Orleans french quarter last year and loved it. The transport is good, we loved the boat to Disney springs.

I'd check when spring break is and next year is going to be nuts as starwars land opens this autumn in Florida.

The dining plan is great, but after 10 days we were splitting meals and brought home a ton of sweets and treats using snack credits. We had something like 30 bags and big lollies! So paid for the treats for people looking after pets and dd's friends!

Ok you are cheering my funk greatly, thanks. Sounds like we are on the right track too with 4 nights staying at universal too fingers crossed.

Remember your 12 year old is classes as an adult at Disney when looking at prices.

Totally wait for free dining. Disney can be expensive to eat in.
We’ve done it a few times and we’ve never got through all our credits, although you get wise to using snack vouchers for coffees etc.
And do look at other resorts for an automatic upgrade on the dining plan. There are lots of great restaurants and I probably wouldn’t use them unless it was free.
You do still have to pay for tips for table service meals though, but it’s nothing compared to paying for the full meal.

Sigh now waited for dining plan flights gone up and might need to take sprogs out for 4 days to they the holiday for £11,400. Total first world problem I know but the planning and moving of parameters all the time stressing me out.