Choice of hotels reducing by the day

[chmurf]

Originally Posted by first-timer

Of course I mean free dining, why else would anybody stay on site?

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well, I'll use the same tone
If your nickname reflects your experience of WDW, then I guess you still have a lot to learn from pre-trippies and trip reports.
There are so many reasons why one would choose onsite, and even choose to PAY for the dining plan ... yes, some actually pay to stay onsite AND pay for the dining plan

the very first thing to consider, is to respect their choices.

I might just sack the Disney resort and stay offsite, better hotels, more room and a fraction of the price.

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if you want to go to Clarion Inn, or even a Motel 6, then yes, you'll do it at a fraction of the price. If you can stomach 2.5hrs+ of transportation everyday if you don't rent a car (and pay $25+ a day for parking at the parks, and needing to eat most of your meals on disney property if you don't want to take the car to an offsite restaurant for lunch break ... and don't get me started on packing your own sandwiches ... I've been there, and I would never plan that again, as we ended up at CS places after just under a week)

if you want better hotels and more room, you won't make it any cheaper than disney does.
you'll get more space, alright, but price-wise, it won't make much of a difference, and when you have weighed the drawbacks, at the end of the day, it's personnal choice, and again, it doesn't start with disrespecting the choices of others.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by first-timer

Of course I mean free dining, why else would anybody stay on site?

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Because it is convenient, don’t want to drive, early morning hours, 60 day fast pass booking or maybe they just like it.

Loads of people stay onsite without free dining. We have just returned from 14 days with no free dining, we liked the freedom of paying OOP and not having to consider what restaurant we were allowed to go to and what to pick off the menu.

Next year we are going again in December and won’t have free dining, at this point I have purchased a dining plan but I am thinking of dropping that and paying for each meal as we go.

[AnnieB]

This morning the choice of hotels is the smallest yet. We cannot afford to spend a five-figure sum of money on a club level room at AKL!

We have planned our August 2020 trip to Disney for over two years but they really do seem to be making it more and more difficult to arrange an affordable holiday. It looks like we might have to stay offsite, which was not our first choice.

Add in the silly flight prices and a holiday to Orlando during school holidays is becoming virtually impossible for the average family unless they want to really break the budget.

[sha9]

It’s coming towards the end of the free dining offer which is why limited availability. I’m not sure if it’s a ploy so people panic book or if it’s genuine but this is the reason people recommend booking when the offer is released. If it’s about changing hotel it’s worth keeping an eye out after the offer is finished and seeing if availability changes. Last year the Disney staff essentially said if it’s on the website it’s available. You still keep the original conditions though so would keep free dining and any gift cards.

[dx4100]

Originally Posted by AnnieB

This morning the choice of hotels is the smallest yet. We cannot afford to spend a five-figure sum of money on a club level room at AKL!

We have planned our August 2020 trip to Disney for over two years but they really do seem to be making it more and more difficult to arrange an affordable holiday. It looks like we might have to stay offsite, which was not our first choice.

Add in the silly flight prices and a holiday to Orlando during school holidays is becoming virtually impossible for the average family unless they want to really break the budget.

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You have waited to the final days of major promotional offer our USA friends would kill for and you are surprised when you find your options limited ?

ok...

[Divy]

I suspect (hope) that the reason availability is so low at the moment is because we are coming to the end of the free dining offer and that more rooms will be released next month. The US site has a ton of available resorts so there's definitely affordable rooms out there.

[AnnieB]

Originally Posted by dx4100

You have waited to the final days of major promotional offer our USA friends would kill for and you are surprised when you find your options limited ?

ok...

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I was looking out for Saratoga Springs which finally showed up a few days ago, but has now disappeared again.

I am also reluctant to book anything when flight prices are £1000 per person. If they stay this high we won't be able to go.

Last time we went a few years ago, flights cost £500 so things really have changed a lot.

I'm no expert on how these things work, no need to be mean.

[Divy]

Originally Posted by AnnieB

I was looking out for Saratoga Springs which finally showed up a few days ago, but has now disappeared again.

I am also reluctant to book anything when flight prices are £1000 per person. If they stay this high we won't be able to go.

Last time we went a few years ago, flights cost £500 so things really have changed a lot.

I'm no expert on how these things work, no need to be mean.

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If it's Saratoga Springs you're looking for it might be worth looking at renting DVC points. I'm not sure what the cost would usually be for SS on the Disney website with free dining but know from other resorts I've looked at that it usually works out cheaper/comparable just to rent and pay to add on the dining plan.

[GoofyK]

Originally Posted by AnnieB

I was looking out for Saratoga Springs which finally showed up a few days ago, but has now disappeared again.

I am also reluctant to book anything when flight prices are £1000 per person. If they stay this high we won't be able to go.

Last time we went a few years ago, flights cost £500 so things really have changed a lot.

I'm no expert on how these things work, no need to be mean.

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I’ve always go ahead and book the resort I want as soon as they become available. Then work out the prices of flights. There’s so many ways of doing the flights to try to keep the price down. Whereas avail of onsite hotels are becoming more and more limited.

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by first-timer

Of course I mean free dining, why else would anybody stay on site?

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There are other offers at different times of year. Sometimes Disney do "free" nights - 4 nights for the price of 3 or something like that - which basically equates to a 20% to 25% reduction in the price. For some, these other offers are better than free dining.

Free dining is not offered for stays over the Christmas and Easter periods and yet these are the busiest times at the resorts. So clearly there are quite a few people who choose to stay onsite without getting free dining.

For us, the main reason we're choosing to stay at an onsite resort for half of our holiday is because of convenience. The free dining is a nice little extra.

BTW, I booked POFQ at the end of June back when the resort was available. Unfortunately, as time goes on, the availability tends to get less and less as more and more people book.