Need Advice!

[cougar242]

I am in sort of a dilemma. I got the duty of getting accomodations at disney for a group of approxiametely 200 people. Our girls are going to play in the USSSA tournament at Disney Sports Complex. The parents are also wanting to make this into a vacation for them as well with park tickets and dining plan included. SO I need to find the best deal to include all this, so I though no problem I love Disney we have been many times we should be able to get a group discount etc.. So I have called Disney groups and since we are doing the USSSA tournament we are being referred to their travel agent, and at this point they are telling me they are not incuding the park tickets and since we are going through USSSA we cant do the dining plan. URGH!! On the positive side for every five rooms we get two free, but I would like to put together a reasonable package. What am I missing?? Any advice on how to work this out and get a good deal? The dates are July 29th through August 4th?

 

[Marionnette]

I am in sort of a dilemma. I got the duty of getting accomodations at disney for a group of approxiametely 200 people. Our girls are going to play in the USSSA tournament at Disney Sports Complex. The parents are also wanting to make this into a vacation for them as well with park tickets and dining plan included. SO I need to find the best deal to include all this, so I though no problem I love Disney we have been many times we should be able to get a group discount etc.. So I have called Disney groups and since we are doing the USSSA tournament we are being referred to their travel agent, and at this point they are telling me they are not incuding the park tickets and since we are going through USSSA we cant do the dining plan. URGH!! On the positive side for every five rooms we get two free, but I would like to put together a reasonable package. What am I missing?? Any advice on how to work this out and get a good deal? The dates are July 29th through August 4th?

You have more pluck than I do! There is no way that I would try to put together a vacation package for so many families. All their expectations would rest with you and your ability to come through. I'd rather leave it all up to a TA to put it together.

In addition to the rooms, are you going to try to get discounted tickets for them too? Or will you just point them in the direction of the YES thread and tell them to set up their own individual enrollment? If you buy the tickets in bulk for everyone, would you collect their money first or would you ask them to pay you when they pick them up?

What about transportation? Are you going to research airfares and ground transportation for the group? Or will you leave it up to each family to figure out how they will get to the airport, what airline they will take and what times they will fly?

And dining is a whole 'nuther problem that I wouldn't even want to touch. You're going to end up with people who don't want a dining plan or those who only want QS and then others who want DXDP.

I recommend that you turn it all over to a TA who would be more than happy to make the arrangements with Disney for a large group. You can still be the point person with the TA and handle all communications for the group. But I, personally, would leave the headache of dealing with so many families with someone who does travel planning for a living.

 

[tlh0726]

I am in sort of a dilemma. I got the duty of getting accomodations at disney for a group of approxiametely 200 people. Our girls are going to play in the USSSA tournament at Disney Sports Complex. The parents are also wanting to make this into a vacation for them as well with park tickets and dining plan included. SO I need to find the best deal to include all this, so I though no problem I love Disney we have been many times we should be able to get a group discount etc.. So I have called Disney groups and since we are doing the USSSA tournament we are being referred to their travel agent, and at this point they are telling me they are not incuding the park tickets and since we are going through USSSA we cant do the dining plan. URGH!! On the positive side for every five rooms we get two free, but I would like to put together a reasonable package. What am I missing?? Any advice on how to work this out and get a good deal? The dates are July 29th through August 4th?

As PP said you need to refer everyone back to the travel agent.
At this point it all has to be purchased seperately.
Dining plan is out because you cannot get a package.
Tickets can be bought either when they arrive or give them undercover tourist's info.

 

[daisyduck123]

Red lights are flashing here. I see nothing but trouble with this arrangement. No way would I try to book for so many families.

I would tell every family to book their own trip.

Good luck! Although I'm sure your family will have a great trip, as you know the ins & outs of Disney planning.

 

[cvjw]

Disney has their own travel agent that handles sports bookings. We did this with our soccer team. One person (probably you) needs to talk with the travel agent first, and decide on where your team wants to stay. They handle Disney resorts and other resorts in the Orlando area. Our team picked 2 different choices, and then let each family book at one of the resorts. You will get a nice price on Disney rooms, and they sell heavily discounted Disney tickets that go along with the sports bookings.

Pick your resorts early - our team waited too long, and the majority of the rooms were already filled by different teams. You won't have much to do - with the Disney travel company, each family must book and pay separately. Stress to your families that Disney only has so many rooms at each resort at the discounted price. If they wait too long to book their room, they will be out of luck.

 

[njmom47]

Disney has their own travel agent that handles sports bookings. We did this with our soccer team. One person (probably you) needs to talk with the travel agent first, and decide on where your team wants to stay. They handle Disney resorts and other resorts in the Orlando area. Our team picked 2 different choices, and then let each family book at one of the resorts. You will get a nice price on Disney rooms, and they sell heavily discounted Disney tickets that go along with the sports bookings.

Pick your resorts early - our team waited too long, and the majority of the rooms were already filled by different teams. You won't have much to do - with the Disney travel company, each family must book and pay separately. Stress to your families that Disney only has so many rooms at each resort at the discounted price. If they wait too long to book their room, they will be out of luck.

This is pretty much how it worked for the baseball tournament (although we didn't have 200 people!). Some of us flew, we had a couple families drive so they could carry cases of drinks and some of our equipment, some of us added extra days onto our trip (and extra days to our park passes), and we had one person in contact with the rep from Disney that was assigned to our team.