Any disadvantages booking with extenrnal websites (and not with disney.com)?

[winthropf]

Another disadvantage of non-Disney sites is that you normally cannot use on-line check-in. To use on-line check-in you need the reservation number from the Disney system which most times the external sites cannot give you.

 

[bellanotte10]

I agree 100%.

I booked two nights through hotels.com for the end of our Feb stay, and noticed the difference...I think it's just incomplete info. I fully expect to have free parking and free wifi.

We're using them because we have free (or what hotels.com calls free) nights with them and I wanted the stay to be cheap.

I was able to book ME through ME's website (which is given on the hotels.com website way down at the bottom of the main page for that hotel), using the reservation confirmation number hotels.com gave me. I have not, however, been able to get it to show up on disneyworld.com. I plan to contact hotels to get the disney confirmation number (for my records, mainly) and I'll see if I can get it onto My Reservations.

I'm trying to find the ME page that you're talking about but I can't seem to find it. I think I'm missing it.....

 

[fla4fun]

Another disadvantage of non-Disney sites is that you normally cannot use on-line check-in. To use on-line check-in you need the reservation number from the Disney system which most times the external sites cannot give you.

Not true for all sites. I've booked three times through Expedia. Each time, I was given an Expedia itinerary number, and the Disney confirmation number. I used the Disney confirmation number to do online check in without any problems. The Disney confirmation number appears in the itinerary a day or two after the booking. You would also use the Disney confirmation number to have your third party stay appear under My Vacations on the home page of the Disney website (I find it works best if you select "other" instead of selecting that you booked through a travel agent when adding a new reservation to the list).

Also, you get all the benefits of being a Disney World resort guest, including the free parking and the wifi. It may be that the third party just isn't listing all of the benefits under every resort, but I wasn't treated any differently booking through Expedia than I was when I booked direct with Disney. Same parking pass, same resort ID, and the few room requests I made were met.

If the difference in price is small, I generally will book direct with Disney, just so I don't have to go through a third party to modify or cancel the reservation (if necessary). But I'm not a big resort changer anyway, so that hasn't really been an issue. The few times I have booked outside of Disney it's been because I could save a significant amount of money (which overrode any concerns over changes or cancellations) or because I needed a Disney TA that would watch for discounts for me because I had a lot going on at the time (I've booked through Disney TA's twice).

I do think the biggest thing is the fact that you typically do have to pay for the trip up front with most online third parties, and many people may not be prepared to do that, or if you want to book packages that the third parties don't always handle. Each family has different requirements when it comes to flexibility and payment, so you have to do what works best for you.