booking direct with disney us

[susie2]

hi, we have booked direct with disney us for our holiday in two weeks, has anyone else booked direct and if so, do you still get travel documents, we havent got anything yet and are getting worried with all the postal strikes, i know they no longer send out magical express vouchers but do you still get the hotel vouchers, we have printed of our invoices to show we have paid in full so hopefully this will be ok, thanks for any advice susie

 

[wayneg]

Hi Susie
Yes you should get a package thru with hotel vouchers, ticket vouchers etc.
Some people have posted recently they have not arrived until a day or 2 before leaving but they are not needed. If they don't turn up you can still check in OK, you will be on the system.

 

[stephensmum]

We booked with Disney uk for last August and although they sent our documents through, we forgot them (actually Norman forgot them). Everything was fine as we were on the computer and they even replaced our freebies for us (arcade, golf etc).

 

[susie2]

thats great thanks, we where getting worried incase they didnt turn up so its nice to hear even if they dont it wont be a problem, thanks again susie

 

[wayneg]

If they have not arrived with 5-7 days to departure I would ring them and ask. Nice to have even though not needed.

 

[2Tiggies]

Aaahhh! I couldn't believe it when I saw the title for this thread. I have been considering booking through Disney US for a very long time. Did you save by doing that? Would you be willing to let us know what you found the benefits to be (rather than using Disney UK) and whether you paid on a UK credit card for it? I am very keen to find out. The only thing that has held me back is concern about receiving documents in the mail but I wonder if they could email some of the things to us here. I considered it quite seriously when i booked our trip for 2010 as the Dining Plan (QS) has gone up £5 per adult and a couple of £££ for a child while the US one has only gone up $2 per adult. It doesn't really make economic sense when you are buying it here but redeeming credits in dollar value. I know it is a nominal difference but over a two or three week holiday it adds up per person per night! I did it through UK anyway and just paid it up as I got fed up with all the thinking and wavering. Anyway, your thoughts would be welcome if you are happy to share.

 

[scottishgirl87]

Aaahhh! I couldn't believe it when I saw the title for this thread. I have been considering booking through Disney US for a very long time. Did you save by doing that? Would you be willing to let us know what you found the benefits to be (rather than using Disney UK) and whether you paid on a UK credit card for it? I am very keen to find out. The only thing that has held me back is concern about receiving documents in the mail but I wonder if they could email some of the things to us here. I considered it quite seriously when i booked our trip for 2010 as the Dining Plan (QS) has gone up £5 per adult and a couple of £££ for a child while the US one has only gone up $2 per adult. It doesn't really make economic sense when you are buying it here but redeeming credits in dollar value. I know it is a nominal difference but over a two or three week holiday it adds up per person per night! I did it through UK anyway and just paid it up as I got fed up with all the thinking and wavering. Anyway, your thoughts would be welcome if you are happy to share.

I can't really help with the whole booking side of things but I have also been looking into booking with the US website for our trip in May. Unfortunately none of the UK offers work for us But at the moment I find that it's quite a bit more expensive to book through the US site, whether it's down to the exchange rate or not I don't know. For example (pricing for 1 week May 10th-17th):
Pop Century - £434 (Disney UK) or £527 ($861 Disney US)
Coronado Springs - £651 (Disney UK) or £864 ($1412 Disney US).

However if a Disney US offer comes up that makes it cheaper for us I'll have no hesitation in booking with them

 

[2Tiggies]

Oh I should have known that faithful Scotland would help me out!

Thanks for the info. I actually remember doing a quote on the US site and it seemed quite a lot, but then it all depends what the exchange rate is at the time that you do it I suppose (applicable at the time that you actually pay). If I ever do find them to be cheaper I will post a thread and share. Many thanks.

 

[susie2]

hi, we did save by booking direct as we got the free qsd free (and upgraded to ddp) with our package in pop century and uk disney dont offer free dining with value resorts, i have had no problems with our booking and even if our vouchers dont make it we can get all we need at checkin, this is the third time we have booked direct and have never had any problems, infact we are hoping to get bounce back next year if we can, but even if we cant will still be booking direct so we can get the free dining, hope this helps, sorry forgot to say i used a prepayment card from the coop to book and then topped it up when i could to make payments on line, susie

 

[Elise79]

When we booked through the US they didn't send anything to us - we picked up our package stuff at check in.

To check in you will just need a photo ID

 

[susie2]

When we booked through the US they didn't send anything to us - we picked up our package stuff at check in.

To check in you will just need a photo ID

thanks, thats a great help saves me worring about the post now, thanks again, susie

 

[2Tiggies]

hi, we did save by booking direct as we got the free qsd free (and upgraded to ddp) with our package in pop century and uk disney dont offer free dining with value resorts, i have had no problems with our booking and even if our vouchers dont make it we can get all we need at checkin, this is the third time we have booked direct and have never had any problems, infact we are hoping to get bounce back next year if we can, but even if we cant will still be booking direct so we can get the free dining, hope this helps, sorry forgot to say i used a prepayment card from the coop to book and then topped it up when i could to make payments on line, susie

Did you do your original booking on the Disney US website? I am considering this quite seriously now as we really enjoyed All Star Music. It was fine for our needs and we were never in the room except to shower and sleep.

Can you tell me how you get a prepaid Co-Op card? Do you just pick one up and load it or do you get is online? Excuse my ignorance - I don't get out much!

 

[susie2]

Did you do your original booking on the Disney US website? I am considering this quite seriously now as we really enjoyed All Star Music. It was fine for our needs and we were never in the room except to shower and sleep.

Can you tell me how you get a prepaid Co-Op card? Do you just pick one up and load it or do you get is online? Excuse my ignorance - I don't get out much!

hi, yes we booked through the us website, its a $200 deposit, we then paid of the balance when we could, we got the prepaid co-op card in our local co-op travel agents, you just need your passport for id, i found this the best way for us, i found it very easy to book with disney us and we liked the fact that you could make payments when you wanted to on-line, it brought the balance down really quickly as any spare cash we just loaded the card up(in the co-op travel agents not on-line) and made a payment, after each payment we got an email invoice so we knew how much was left to pay, we have booked pop again as we liked it here and getting the qsd free was a bonus, hope this helps, susie

 

[PhilReid]

We booked through the UK site this year, and the US site last year.

We found no difference in when the vouchers etc arrived, it just depends on what offers are available on each site and the exchange rate at the time.

 

[2Tiggies]

Thanks, you have all been really helpful.

Susie2, did you have to buy your park tickets as a package to get the free dining? Just wondering as they only do 10 day tickets and we usually go for about 15/16 days. I don't drive so we really make the most of the parks. I am going to keep an eye on the deals for a while. It is true, though, the exchange rate obvioulsy plays a big part, not at the time you buy as much as at the time you pay! Thanks again!

 

[brer_rabbit]

I booked through Disney US last year and didn't get anything until check in. That was room only though - maybe it's different with packages

Booked room only with the UK site this year and got an envelope on Saturday with a print out confirmation of my booking and a booklet about the parks. When I booked room only 2 years ago we only got an invoice so it doesn't sound like there's a definite answer - as long as you have a booking reference number and confirmation I'm sure you'll be fine

 

[susie2]

Thanks, you have all been really helpful.

Susie2, did you have to buy your park tickets as a package to get the free dining? Just wondering as they only do 10 day tickets and we usually go for about 15/16 days. I don't drive so we really make the most of the parks. I am going to keep an eye on the deals for a while. It is true, though, the exchange rate obvioulsy plays a big part, not at the time you buy as much as at the time you pay! Thanks again!

hi, no we only had to get a one day park ticket, we are going to get the other days out there when we work out how many days we need, susie

 

[2Tiggies]

hi, no we only had to get a one day park ticket, we are going to get the other days out there when we work out how many days we need, susie

Thanks Susie 2. I take it that a one day base ticket is all you need. I could probably buy the 14/21 day tickets here then (the UK still offers a great deal on these for long term breaks) and buy the one day base to get free dining. Sorry about all the questions, but you have really helped me make up my mind. I was a little hesitant of the unknown and didn't want to come short and be asked "Whatever in the world made you......"

I am so excited - now I get to try something new!

 

[susie2]

Thanks Susie 2. I take it that a one day base ticket is all you need. I could probably buy the 14/21 day tickets here then (the UK still offers a great deal on these for long term breaks) and buy the one day base to get free dining. Sorry about all the questions, but you have really helped me make up my mind. I was a little hesitant of the unknown and didn't want to come short and be asked "Whatever in the world made you......"

I am so excited - now I get to try something new!

hi dont worry, i asked all the same questions myself lol, we are due to go again in ten days, so i will let you know how it went as we have two hotels this time both booked direct and both with free dining, we wouldnt have been able to do this without the free dining with pop century, which we only got by booking direct, please feel free to ask any questions you have, susie