Yes - I am considering giving up FD

southjerseymom

DIS Veteran
Joined
Nov 17, 2004
Yes. That's right. I have Free Dining with Savannah View and my guys do not want to stay there. Have a back up room only POR Royal Room ressie and they want to stay there. Help me convince them! Mostly, they hate that the buses as the only transportation option. Ugh. FD is awesome but I'm conflicted about being locked into ADR's. We've done FD before and enjoyed it but my guys are older now and prefer signature restaurants and we all like the freedom to share and "graze." I'm figuring OOP at a moderate would be more cost effective. Thoughts?
 
Are there any discounts left for any rooms at POR? Look at how much you're paying for room and dining at AKL vs the POR room and having to pay OOP. For a decent baseline on dining cost, how much would the DDP cost if you had to pay for it?

AKL + free dining or POR + paying for dining?

Also, at POR, outside of the boats to DS, getting to anywhere else will also be a bunch of buses.

All else fails, throw them off the pier at Brigantine and go by yourself :D (I'm joking!)
 


Yes. That's right. I have Free Dining with Savannah View and my guys do not want to stay there. Have a back up room only POR Royal Room ressie and they want to stay there. Help me convince them! Mostly, they hate that the buses as the only transportation option. Ugh. FD is awesome but I'm conflicted about being locked into ADR's. We've done FD before and enjoyed it but my guys are older now and prefer signature restaurants and we all like the freedom to share and "graze." I'm figuring OOP at a moderate would be more cost effective. Thoughts?
Honestly, I would start crunching the numbers. Realistically figuring out how much you think you guys would spend on food and then figure that into the resort rate of where you guys want to stay. Free dining really isn't that great of a deal anymore (maybe if you like to have a drink with each meal now this upcoming year), and if you can get a room discount, which I would think you'd be able to, I'm sure itd be cheaper to do that and pay out of pocket for dining at a resort they'd rather be at (especially considering it's a mod).
 
Alternatives to buses include the following. Maybe they'd be amenable to using buses some and the alternatives occasionally when timing is especially important.

1. Uber/Lyft
2. Taxi
3. Rental car

Honestly, the transportation options at POR don't look significantly more diverse than AKL. Good luck convincing them.
 
I could not give up such a great free dining room. Think about renting a car and driving. Also consider a couple days of Signature dining and then using your quick service for the other days. We got free dining and upgraded to dxDDP. Just hard to think about going from AL with Savannah view to POR Royal Room. Will they guys really enjoy a royal room?
 


Yes. That's right. I have Free Dining with Savannah View and my guys do not want to stay there. Have a back up room only POR Royal Room ressie and they want to stay there. Help me convince them! Mostly, they hate that the buses as the only transportation option. Ugh. FD is awesome but I'm conflicted about being locked into ADR's. We've done FD before and enjoyed it but my guys are older now and prefer signature restaurants and we all like the freedom to share and "graze." I'm figuring OOP at a moderate would be more cost effective. Thoughts?

Buses are the only transportation from both resorts. (With the exception of the boat to Disney Springs.)

I would keep the AKL reservation. Next trip, you can stay at POR.
 
The buses at AKL are more efficient than at POR because there is no lengthy internal bus system there. Both resorts only have bus service to the theme parks.
 
STAY!!!!!! The rooms are amazing and with a Svannah view you can not beat it. Seeing the animals from your room is very unique and the theming of the hotel is wonderful. The buses are really efficient. I have never had a problem with them at all. And, as previously noted, you will have bus transportation to the parks from POR too. Unless it makes more sense for your budget to stay in POR I would stick with AKL. To be honest, I would choose AKL over any resort on property every time if I could!
 
you can change your exsisting FD ressie to another resort, if they have availibility. you can keep trying. but if you move to a mod, you will only get CS plan.
 
You have created an amazing trip!...I would have my family suffer with the gift of a great Disney trip, or cancel it. Disney trips are so hectic to plan, and you deserve to not agonize once it is done.

Since is appears that they have not stayed there from your signature, they do not know how amazing it will be.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Latest posts

Top