To make a more fair assessment of hotel prices, all you should include are hotel prices, right? I am staying off-site as I think they are both too expensive.Just for fun, I went and priced the trip we having coming up at Universal to see how much it would cost at Disney. We are staying at Royal for 7 nights in a King Suite (one bedroom with King bed, and other room with pull out sofa). So, I searched around Disney to find a hotel that offers a Suite close to the same that Universal offers and the price was SHOCKING! Both prices include tickets:
Universal - - Roughly $2840.
Disney - - One bedroom king suite at Coronado Springs (a MOD) $6973.55!!!
So, for the price of roughly the same room type (one bedroom king suite) for the same length of stay and tickets, we can do Universal TWICE and still have $1293 left over in cash! I can't believe people will spend that much money on a room at Disney! Are people really that crazy to pay almost $7000 for a room and tickets for 7 nights?!?! I thought the price of our suite was insane, but now I feel like Universal is just giving it away, lol.
Well, based on your countdown timer, it seems like you are going in Sept. This happens to be when Disney is offering a FREE dining plan for hotel guests which make staying onsite (even at a value) well worth the cost becuase your food is free! First seven days in Sept are $2072 at Pop with tickets and free dining.
Now, I went and priced just the hotel for both places.
The same dates at pop with just hotel will cost $692.
The same dates at coronado with just hotel will cost $1314
The same dates at AK Lodge with just hotel will cost $1991
At Universal, Royal will cost $1207
Now, the Royal hotel offers more perks and is the same quailty as AK Lodge, so it is a lot cheaper to stay at Universal than at a comparable room at Disney.
Now, just for fun becuase the price of a package with FD at Pop seemed REALLY high considering the room was only $692 and I was shocked to see the outcome. If you were to book your tickets and room not on the package your price would be $1896. So, the "Free Dining Plan" is not really free. You are in fact paying $176 for it. I have noticed this with Disney for nearly every package offer they ever do. It seems like you are getting a better deal since it is a "Package" but you normally end up paying more. This is the main reason why we never book packages, becuase 90% of the time it is cheaper to do it alone. Granted, you will eat more than $176 worth of food, but it is not "Free" like Disney claims.
Now, if you are paying anything close to $692 for your hotel room offsite, I would suggest staying onsite. It is much better than staying offsite becuase of the bus system and not having to pay for parking and stuff.
I already own park tickets because when we went last time we bought 10 day water park/park hopper no expiration tickets. Also I cannot stay at pop because I have four kids, unless we get two rooms. Believe me I have been trying to convince myself that staying on site would be the smarter option lol. DH likes the busses and it would mean less for me to do but including tips and everything we would be paying about 750 more for onsite at POR (which is our cheapest option since my youngest doesn't count right now since she is under 3, so we can stay at AB @ POR)
As far as the 176 this promotion is called the memories promotion and includes the purchase of a 20 page photopass photo book so that bumps the price up (though admittedly 176 for a 20 page book is )
The off site condo is about 450 so I think it is what we are going to stick with it. I cannot lie though, I compare numbers and try to make them work in favor of onsite
We must have been at two different parks then, becuase I was there Christmas day and the day after and the lines were huge! Not as big as summer, but they were still long. I remember seeing Spiderman with a 75 minute wait.
I also disagree about the Disney comment. Have you been during the summer months? You can only get a fastpass every two hours, or after your current one is up. Its not possible to get a Fastpass for every ride...you are going to have to wait, and the lines at disney can be insane sometimes. I get there the moment the parks open, and still wait in line.
I bet 99% of the people that use this forum have waiting in a line to ride something for longer than 30 minutes. Its a theme park, lines are to be excepted unless you have the Express pass, which cuts the wait time down to 5 minutes or less.
Who really waits in lines?
If you use fastpass correctly/get there when the park opens you should never have to wait in line anyway...
Did IOA day after Christmas (super busy time) the only thing in the entire park that had a wait was HP. Everything else was 5 minutes or less so Universal front of the line is pointless since there were no lines.
But staying at a value only gives you free quick service dining. So anytime you want to eat at a table service restaurant, you are on your own.
I am really not comparing hotels per se,just cost of trip and benefits-as I have said previously,I personally will not pay $150+ to "sleep" anywhere-We vacation for activities,not hotel rooms.FD at WDW beats ANY US/IOA package,discount,or anything they offer,that's a fact can be disputed,but unsuccessfully.
We stayed at Pop last year and got FD. We upgraded to the Table Service and it was only $200 for all 4 of us. So it isn't a lot more but it does add up!
Just priced a 10 night stay at Royal Pacific-$2463.80. No tickets,no nothing!! Someone PLEASE let me know how to do this!
Stay off--site. Seriously. I rent a four bedroom home with a pool that is ten minutes from disney every time I go down there. I pay $475 for the week, more if I need pool heat.
Yeah, I don't get any towel animals. What I do get is not being crammed into a tiny room with the whole family. instead we each have our own room to watch what we want at the end of a long day, our own pool to float in, in a screen porch. Our own kitchen, a pool table, a lovely gated community...
Seriously. I did the stay at Disney(port orleans), it is so not worth it. Stay off-site, save bunch of money doing so and you will not regret it. Oh and having your own car to leave when you want to instead of waiting for standing room only buses? It rocks.
Care to share where you find a 4 bed with a pool for $475? I've looked quite a bit at those rentals and don't believe I have ever seen that cheap.
My apologies, I was going from memory. It was actually $485 and that was with the returning customers discount. I will PM you the link.
Stacy
We were in Disney last October. Got to DHS and went to Toy Story 30 minutes after the park opened. Fast Passes were GONE for the entire day.
Stay off-site, save bunch of money doing so and you will not regret it. Oh and having your own car to leave when you want to instead of waiting for standing room only buses? It rocks.
im still herelurking, but wanted to comment re the FDP for U regulars considering WDW as a noob to DP...
don't forget to factor in OOP costs of 18 - 20% tip on TS meals. The servers really depend on the them to survive. A typical 'bill' on the DP for 4 'adults' is approx $200 per TS meal = another $40 a day to be budgeted.
Stay off--site. Seriously. I rent a four bedroom home with a pool that is ten minutes from disney every time I go down there. I pay $475 for the week, more if I need pool heat.
Yeah, I don't get any towel animals. What I do get is not being crammed into a tiny room with the whole family. instead we each have our own room to watch what we want at the end of a long day, our own pool to float in, in a screen porch. Our own kitchen, a pool table, a lovely gated community...
Seriously. I did the stay at Disney(port orleans), it is so not worth it. Stay off-site, save bunch of money doing so and you will not regret it. Oh and having your own car to leave when you want to instead of waiting for standing room only buses? It rocks.
get there at 8 I guess?
I will say that TSM at DHS is ridiculous...The nice thing at DCA is that there is no FP and the line rarely gets over 50 minutes...and in my opinion the only ride that is worth it.