So confused..can I book already..

[Jill2150]

for 2011(October)? Can you book now to secure a room and then add free DDP when/if it comes out next year? Also, what if discounts come out next year for those rooms?
Basically, what is the advantage of booking now vs waiting till next year to book?

Sorry, I am not up with all the ins and outs of things. Last we went was April of 2008 and we stayed off site.

 

[MHSweb79]

We added free dining to our existing reservation, twice now. (Of course, we had to pay more for the privilege since we lost our room discount. So much for "free" )

What happens is that if a discount or special offer comes out during your week, you can call and try to apply it to your existing reservation. Since these offers usually apply to a limited number of rooms, time is of the essence so call as soon as you hear about it.

 

[bamajenn]

Disney is great about allowing you to apply promotions and/or discounts after you've booked. So, if you book now just to get it all out of the way and taken care of, and free dining comes around or there is a room only discount etc., 9 times out of 10 they'll let you call back and apply the discount which will lower the total amount you owe 30 days prior to your trip.

Me... I don't like to book until I have the money for the whole trip in my hands. I hate chancing the idea of booking and then having something happen at the last minute where I can't afford to pay the trip off after the deposit. That's just me though.

 

[Jestocost]

If you book a room-only reservation now and then want to book with dining or any other package promotion later they technically cancel your room reservation and rebook you a new reservation. They don't "add" the package features to your existing reservation. As a PP noted, you generally have to pay rack rate to get "free" dining so if you had booked a room at a discount and then wanted to get free dining, you would pay a higher price than you would have for the discounted room and you just need to figure whether that increase is less than it would cost you to purchase dining and hold on to your discounted room.

Booking now for next October, however, you likely won't be getting any kind of a discount and if you go to a package they will cancel and rebook you, so it's not like you're "saving" a room with your reservation. Realistically the only time there's probably a benefit to booking far out is if you are going at a peak time when there's a risk the resort will be sold out. In those cases getting discounts and promotions later is less likely too and if they do come out with something it's because they have rooms to sell.

 

[bamagirl@hrt]

Although you'll read here a lot about adding a discount code to an existing reservation, it's not always that simple. One year I had a reservation at the WL. I waited for a discount and called the day one became available for the time I was traveling. I was told that there was not a discount available for my resort. They couldn't just apply the discount to the ressie I already had; there had to be discounts available for that resort. It IS confusing. Since then, I've not seen any advantage to booking before the discount is released, unless it's a specific room type that you want and will pay for regardless of the having a discount or not.

 

[Neri-Beri]

If you book a room-only reservation now and then want to book with dining or any other package promotion later they technically cancel your room reservation and rebook you a new reservation.

This is no longer accurate.

As of 7/18/10, Disney made an excellent change to how they accept reservations.

In the past, it's true that if you wanted to book your room in advance, you had to book it as a "room only" reservation. There were two problems with this: 1) You had to pay a full night's stay deposit 2) When you were ready to book a package, the travel company had to cancel your room only reservation and rebook it as a package.

Thankfully this has changed!

You can now book your rooms early with a "basic" package. Essentially, the Basic Package allows you to book your room as a package so when future dining/ticket prices come out, you can simply add those on to your package. There's no longer a need to rebook - you keep the same reservation number. And the best part? You only have to pay the $200.00 deposit.

 

[bamajenn]

It's funny to me how different the point of views on this subject are. I guess it all depends on the luck you have with your particular situation. I have never had an issue but boy it sounds like some have!

 

[jmm476]

I was under the impression that 2011 prices were coming out within the next few weeks? I'm waiting to make Jan reservations until that happens, so we can book our package all at once. Then hoping I get a PIN as it gets closer, so that can be applied and save me some $$! At this point, I don't see the benefit of booking before things are released in August. But maybe that's just me...

 

[bamajenn]

I was under the impression that 2011 prices were coming out within the next few weeks? I'm waiting to make Jan reservations until that happens, so we can book our package all at once. Then hoping I get a PIN as it gets closer, so that can be applied and save me some $$! At this point, I don't see the benefit of booking before things are released in August. But maybe that's just me...

I think they actually just came out....

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2511729&highlight=2011

 

[jmm476]

I think they actually just came out....

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2511729&highlight=2011

I saw this thread too, but it looks like it's only room rates and only over the phone. The website hasn't been updated yet and apparently won't be until the ticket prices and dining plan prices are released. I'd rather just book it all at once, since we aren't really set on a specific hotel at this point. Although we are thinking WL and it's over the marathon weekend... so we'll see what happens. For once, I'm going to sit back and not over-plan the Jan trip because my Sept trip is taking all my energy right now!