Am I better off booking hotel separately?

[Daisy14'sDH]

Playing online and it seems like I can save a few hundred bucks booking a good neighbour hotel and buying tickets seperately as opposed to booking through the DL website... what are your experiences with this?

 

[gerilyne]

The first year we went, I got everything separately. We stayed at a good neighbor hotel which I booked through Orbitz or Expedia (I can't remember which for sure but it was whoever had the lowest rate for where we wanted to stay), the tickets through a discount site through my employer, and flights from the airline as they were the cheapest. I can't remember how much I saved over booking through the Disney site, but it was enough that we could put that money towards our time in the parks. The only downside is everything had to be paid when we purchase it. The last 2 years we did it through Disney mostly because we make payments over time while securing our rate for the hotel onsite and tickets. That's the one benefit to doing it that way I think is that the discount travel sights you can't make payments but with Disney Travel, you can.

 

[Sherry E]

I moved this thread over to our main Disneyland planning forum.

 

[Butterfly123]

We always book separately. I try to book my hotel enough in advance that I can get a slightly lower rate. We never have to pay in advance, just secure the reservation with a credit card. We stay off site on Harbor.

We get our tickets through Getawaytoday. We get them early, then buy the $20.00 insurance. If we can find a cheaper ticket price before our trip they will price match.

It has always seemed cheaper to us to purchase separately. Plus we like the flexibility.

 

[Imdboss]

I find that it's always cheaper to book separately. I know a lot of people that say "I got a great deal for DL on Costco". I've never found that to be the case, in fact while pricing our upcoming trip it was several hundred more. I compare prices on many different sites and usually find the best rates by booking the hotel directly vs a 3rd party site. Also if you are staying several nights check prices for each night individually. Our first night is $20 more than our next 5 and had I booked it altogether Hilton was going to charge the higher price for all nights so I booked the first night separate from the other 5.

 

[Butterfly123]

I forgot to mention that we are using our Best Western Rewards points to help pay for our upcoming trip. I'm not sure I could do that if we booked through a package. We have earned $125.00 from previous hotel stays that we can use towards this trip.

 

[offwithyourhead]

I would always book separately. The cost of the Disney hotels isn't worth it to me. What we saved staying offsite made it reasonable to stay for 2 weeks instead of half of that or less.

 

[Daisy14'sDH]

Great points so far! Thank you all for your input. Are there any actual advantages by booking through Disney? I don't see any listed on the website?

 

[lalasmama]

Great points so far! Thank you all for your input. Are there any actual advantages by booking through Disney? I don't see any listed on the website?

In some cases, I believe you can make payments via the Disneyland website. And I think you can get a lanyard and luggage tag sometimes... but I can't remember for sure! All I know is that payments have never been an issue for me, because I book/buy as the money is there--so with one check, I might make the reservation and pay the first night's stay at the hotel. Then, the next paycheck, I might buy my plane ticket. And then the next paycheck, I might buy my entrance media. And so on and so forth until I have everything paid for. (At least, this is how I did it when I was single and going on solo trips or just DD and I.) I had about $100-200 "entertainment money" each paycheck (because I cancelled cable, did internet through my phone's wifi hotspot, never went out to the movies, etc!), so I just broke reservations/travel needs into chunks that would meet that budget.

So, in short, even with a lanyard and luggage tag, and the ability to make payments, it's just never justified the cost difference for me. Of course, this is different for every person, for every family.

 

[BrianL]

On my first trip I did it through Disney at a Good Neighbor hotel. The hotel was further out than I would have liked, but the ART transportation was okay. The second time I went I just booked Tropicana, and it was GREAT! It was less expensive and right across the street! The only difference was that with booking Good Neighbor through Disney I got a little booklet of vouchers for things like priority seating at Aladdin the Musical (which is really the only thing that came in handy). When I go back, I'll hit the Tropicana again for sure.