So annoyed with myself, please make me feel better about this.

[mariza]

I swear, planning my wedding drove me less crazy than planning this trip! I had us booked at POP with 2 connecting rooms (not willing to give up the extra room) under the kids stay & play free package with Plus Dining and it was $27hundred something. Yesterday DH and I were driving to my Moms and discussing the trip and I convinced him we really didn't need the dining package. I know the kids will want to eat at T-Rex (not coverend under Dining plan). I convinced him we could just load up a Disney gift card with $600 to use as our own "dining plan" that way we could re-load if needed or if there was money left over, it could always be used at the Disney store.

So, we get to my Moms and ironically, there is mail for us there from Disney, with a Free Dining PIN :dizzy: I called to compare it to our existing package and before I knew what was happening we were booked under the new free Dining. It canceled out the Kids Stay & Play Free promo and only ended up saving us $100. I am kicking myself, thinking I should have kept the 1st deal and canceled the dining plan altogether (would have been only $1700 oop now).
We ended up paying $2651.78 for 2 connecting rooms at POP, tickets and Dining Plus for the 4 of us. Tell me I'm nuts and to stop nickel and dimeing (sp?) everything! I tried to switch it back, but since the Kids Stay and Play free promo ended, we can't :duh:
We are booked for about 3 Character meals so I guess it will be worth it. Right?
ETA: we are staying for 6 nights/7 days

[egoldber]

I think financially it is often a wash.

The thing *I* don't like about the dining plan is that it gives you little flexibility in your toruing plans because you are tied to your dining reservations and it is so hard to just walk into any restaurant now without a reservation.

[TwinFoxes]

Let it go. You did fine. :) Time to sit back and get ready to have fun!

[mariza]

I think financially it is often a wash.

The thing *I* don't like about the dining plan is that it gives you little flexibility in your toruing plans because you are tied to your dining reservations and it is so hard to just walk into any restaurant now without a reservation.

This is exactly what I was thinking, but I guess I'm stuck now. At least I booked ADR's in the Parks that we are visiting those days, so no running from park to park. I'm pretty sure we are going to stick to the parks I've laid out because we must see Star Wars weekends and the other park are scheduled based on avoiding tour groups there for the week we are going.

[DietCokeLover]

I say to totally let it go and start focusing on the fun and great memories your family is going to have!

[egoldber]

And if it were me, I would strategize to totally max out the value of that dining plan! :)

[bnme]

It will be great. It is done and just be happy you don't have to think about spending money for food. Make a bunch of reservations to be excited about. Make a few extra so if you can't make one you have a plan. Don't do 2 dinner ressies for one night, though. I think they won't allow it. But make a lunch or breakfast towards the end of your trip so you have an option in case you miss a dinner. We missed a dinner and ended up having a nice breakfast the last day at our hotel.

[JTsMom]

That's a great deal! Is it the regular dining plan, not quick service? You can't beat free dining at a value cost-wise unless you have a ton of kids. I've played with the numbers for our family so many times on every possible deal, and the lowest cost is always free dining at Pop. Now, free QS is even lower than free TS b/c of the tips, but if you want to do a bunch of sit-downs anyway, free reg. dining is great. Did you check all of the details? Did anything change- like did you have trip insurance on one and not the other, or park hoppers or anything?

[Neelloc]

We are going in September with free dining and I found it was a better deal for us than the kids stay and play free. Load up on those character meals and you will get your money's worth!!!! ;)

[Neelloc]

Also, you could try calling Disney Reservations directly to see if they would reinstate your former reservation under kids stay and play free.

[mariza]

Thanks guys, I feel better already. I did try to call and have them change it back but they wouldn't/couldn't.
Oh, well. We are going to come back fat & happy :ROTFLMAO:

[JTsMom]

I could be wrong, but I don't think you would have eaten for $600, especially with 3 character meals and T-rex. All of those Mickey ice cream bars add up you know! :) Just maximize your value, and I think you'll really enjoy it. We did the regular dining plan the past two trips, and although we won't do it again unless it's free, we enjoyed it. It's nice to just order whatever you want without considering the cost, and not worrying about whether the kids are eating their $15 pancakes b/c they're too busy with Mickey.

[AngelaS]

We budgetted $1000 for food since we weren't on the dining plan. I really should total up those receipts.. but I think we were close. :D