My Friend needs the hlep of all you experts!!!!

[ldc12377]

My best friend and her family along with myself and my family are planning a trip to WDW in May. We already have our resorts figured out. (Pop for a week with the "buy 4/ get 7" deal and then to BCV for our first stay as DVC members) My friend isn't so lucky. She is having a really hard time deciding where to stay. They are definitely staying at CBR in the pirate rooms for the last week of the trip. She wanted my advice on the first week but I'm not sure which of her options is best. Here are the choices:

Yacht Club - standard view room with deluxe dining
Yacht Club - club level room with basic dining
Port Orleans - water view room with deluxe dining


The price difference and the differences in dining are really a major concern. She is mostly worried about the differences in the rooms and the differences in transportation and access to the parks.
What would you guys tell her? I need help with this one.

[SBETigg]

Lori, unless they plan to do a lot of Signature dining, I would pass on the Deluxe plan. I think the Club Level Yacht Club would be lovely, great location, wonderful resort.

[mouseketeer mom]

That one was easy. Yacht Club/Club level with basic dining.
We love staying club level at WDW resorts. LOVE IT!
and..
Deluxe dining is insanely too much food. We did deluxe dining once in August and we would never do it again, and we love our dining. My family insists we never do deluxe dining again. We ate and ate. Sat and ate, sat some more and ate. No thank you. Not again. If we do a dining package at all again in the future, its back to the basic dining plan for us.

[leighe]

Well I personally would do regular dining and a standard room and use the money I'd saved for spa treatments or something. But then I think that Disney's Club Level is insanely overpriced for what it offers.

[Luv Eeyore]

We absolutely love the Yacht Club, but it will be a little bit of a let down going from a deluxe resort to a moderate resort. Is there any way they can switch the order of the resorts?

[BMan62]

Deluxe dining is a waste unless you 1) want to be eating your entire stay or 2) do nothing but the 2 TS meals (character meals, HDD, SoA, MBYBBQ, signature dining.)

Hopefully, your friends don't think they can just use some of the meals the first week and save the rest to cover their second week @ CBR. The plan doesn't work that way - midnight of your 'departure day' (in their case 'resort change day') whatever is not used is lost.

[SBETigg]

Deluxe dining is a waste unless you 1) want to be eating your entire stay or 2) do nothing but the 2 TS meals (character meals, HDD, SoA, MBYBBQ, signature dining.)

With the exception of Cinderella's Royal Table, the character meals are one TS, not two. Just wanted to add that.

[Figment78]

It's always so hard for me to answer these types of questions without asking a few of my own.

My gut instinct is to say Yacht Club - club level, regular dining. BUT, there are so many other questions I have before giving a real answer.

First, if your friend is staying for 14 days, are they getting Annual Passes? If so, I would recommend that they get the Disney Dining Experience card (or Tables in Wonderland, which is the new name, I think) and use that, instead of the Dining Plan. I have done both the DDP and the dining card and actually found we saved more money with the card. I felt like we had more flexibility - we coudl have an appetizer if we wanted, or skip dessert and not feel guilty, even alcohol is included. If you are getting the buy 4 get 3 deal, you can still get an annual pass, just get 1 day tickets with the package. But you would have to price this out to see if it makes sense cost-wise.

Another thought is to have your friend stay in the Pirate rooms the 1st week of the trip, so that they can be near you at the Yacht Club during the second week and you can spend pool time together at Storm Along Bay. Again, this may not be possible with availability, but a suggestion.

I'd also have to ask if your friend's family would be spending a lot of time at DHS and Epcot. If so, I would go with the Yacht Club. I know they was my sister's and my favorite parks when we used to go. I'm also not sure of the children's ages, so I can't make any recommendations based on that either.

I hope I didn't confuse you/your friend more!