Booking hotel & ticket question

[clanmcculloch]

Is there any benefit to book the hotel (good neighbour hotel) and tickets through the DLR site or a TA vs going through the hotel's website and then getting the tickets through Disney or even Costco or ARES travel, or waiting and using a GAD ticket and upgrading at arrival?

 

[bumbershoot]

Since you'll have the GAD ticket, if you upgrade from that, you get the value of a one day one park ticket credited to the upgrade. So that's going to be the best way to go with tickets.

To get a package, you have to buy tickets, but since you'll have the GAD ticket, it's probably not your best bet.

You just want to know exactly what your'e getting and for how much, so really research the hotels you are thinking about and find the best price! Compare it to the packages, and go from there.

 

[clanmcculloch]

I haven't actually done the GAD volunteer opportunity yet plus I'm likely going back to WDW before the end of the year so I can always use it there as well if it's a reason to get the tickets from a specific location (such as needing to for a package of if buying a certain way gets some kind of benefit like an early admission while another way doesn't). I know WDW really well but I'm a newbie when it comes to DLR.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

I always book our hotel on my own directly with the hotel or priceline.com (used priceline twice last year) when we need hoppers (we're on our 2nd year with APs) I buy them from GAT or ARES http://arestravel.com/77_DisneylandResort.html next time we need them (our upcoming visit) I might buy them at my grocery store ~ they're hard plastic cards and they're cute.

 

[clanmcculloch]

So there is absolutely no benefit to booking the hotel through Disney? I'm definitely finding cheaper rates going directly to the hotel. I like the look of the rooms at the Best Western Park Place Inn.

I see that ARES has 5 day Park Hopper Bonus tickets on sale for $164 so that would be even cheaper than the GAD and upgrading. I'm looking at heading down April 24 so that's within the dates of these tickets. It looks as though we'd still get the one Magic Morning admission with this, correct? Is there anything at all different about these tickets compared to tickets bought at the gate or through a package or directy through Disney? I'm still unsure of the types of benefits beyond just regular park admission.

OK, I'm now on Mousesavers and I'm even more confused. Based on some things I've been reading I was planning to do Mon-Fri at the park. Well, I now see that the Southern California Select Annual Passport is $169. We'll likely be back to visit my DSD and DSil at some point in the next year so would it make sense for us to get that rather than the 5 day hopper? What difference is there with this? Can I use a GAD voucher to upgrade to the Southern California Select Annual Passport? Am I even eligible since I don't live in CA (though I suppose I could use my DSD's address though I don't know if that's considered wrong; I'm honestly not trying to do something sneaky, I just don't know the rules so I'm asking).

Thank you again for all your help!!

ETA: I just checked the actual dates on the Southern California Select Annual Passport on the DL website and I see that the Friday of my trip is blocked so I'd only get 4 days. In order to get the days I want, I'd need to get the Southern California Annual Passport at $219 though I'd also be able to pop on on the Sunday which I hadn't planned to do. If I can apply a GAD voucher to this then it's still cheaper than buying the ARES tickets but it also means I won't have the GAD voucher for a future WDW trip. Not that I'm worried about that since I usually end up booking a package deal at WDW because those tend to be the best discounts for my family at WDW. What do you think about this?

 

[DisneyMomma81]

The S CA APs are for S CA residents only. You live in the North East ~ sorry. No matter who you buy your park hopper through it's all the same, go with the best deal.