Without FD we will still go, we will still stay on-site and we will still get the DDP. I'm prepared for that expense, but hopeful that without FD, we would at least get a good room discount. These are our choices (we're going for 14 nights 2 adults, 4 kids aged 17, 14, 13, and 9, 8 day tix with PH+):
1. CBR, 2 rooms, $2100 in gift cards, DDP = $16,842. FD cost = $11,637.36
We will only keep our CBR reservation if we can get both gift cards and free dining. Without that, we'll switch resorts:
2. Pop! 2 rooms, DDP = $13,184.34 Free dining with DDP upgrade cost = $9135.66
3. If we can't get that, ASMu, family suite, DDP = $13, 302. FD cost with DDP upgrade = $9254.34
4. If we can't get any of those, we would stay in another value resort - AoA then ASSp in order of preference.
ASSp = $8650.52 with free dining, $12,698 without
AoA = $12,481 without FD, $10,023 with free dining
So, I've done a lot of math, and we're pretty flexible in dates, I'm hoping we can land SOMETHING with FD. It's an expensive vacation for us that we've been saving for over 2 years - but our 17 year old will be a high school senior in the fall and we want one great family vacation before she goes off to college. We've only been a merged family for about 2.5 years, so we have a lot of time to make up for and this is our once in a lifetime last great hurrah family trip.
I think Chris and I are going to upgrade our tickets to APs when we're there, and get a TiW card for where appropriate. We'd like to go on another trip in the winter with just the two of us so we could get a lot of mileage saving on what we do buy OOP for the 6 of us, our alcohol with meals, and then he and I would not get the DDP when we go back. We don't eat that much anyway so we're more likely to eat at signature restaurants and then order a few apps and split an entree without dessert. DDP doesn't make sense for just us, but with a family of 6 it's a huge savings.
And actually, now that I've typed all of that out, I'm not sure CBR makes sense for us at all. I guess I need to sit down and look at it all again.