I'm copying this from a post I did earlier on this site...you can find that thread at
www.disboards.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=82040
First of all, I don't advocate buying the airfare inclusive packages. From what I've seen, those can be horribly overpriced even beyond what the airlines themselves give at "rack rate."
I understand that, for most people, (meal) packages don't make sense. I know that when my family went when I was younger, there is no way we would have "gotten our goodie" out of a package! I totally respect that and understand that mentality.
However, for some people, packages are a great deal. I know there is such a "package = bad" mentality on these boards that many are going to laugh and call me naive when I say this, but it is true.
Think of it like I did. We're getting the Discovery Magic package for our upcoming honeymoon. 8 days, 7 nights of bliss!! When I figured it out, it worked out to be about $30-35 a "magical wish." Yes, for many of the available items, that is way too much money. However, we want to do lots of nice lunches and dinners--this will be our honeymoon and we will want it to be special!!! Considering that we would normally drop $100-150 for dinners like this, $60-70 is a steal!!!
The other part isn't a $$ savings...it's a stress savings. I love visiting these boards and other sites like MouseSavers that help people save and enjoy WDW. However, I know that as our wedding date of 9/14/02 approaches, my time and patience to look for every little deal I can will become non-existant. To me, it's TOTALLY worth the $200-300 that we might "waste" on the parts of a package that we might not use to not have to worry over ever little penny for these next 13 months!!
So my advice for you is to look at yourself and your situation. Do you have the time to investigate for every little deal? Are you going to WDW for something where you'll want to splurge a little? Only you can answer such questions. Only you know how you and others in your party eat. So do what I did...sit down with a piece of paper and a calculator and figure out what each wish or meal will be approximately worth. Then ask yourselves if it's worth that to you. Only you can know that.