Booking Question- Tickets/Dining plan

[shanemc921]

Hi everyone,

I have a quick question. Is it possible to make a hotel reservation now, and then add park tickets and a dinning plan before arrival? The reason I ask is because I'm unsure of travel plans, but want to book a room to take advantage of the discounts available.

Thanks!
Shane

 

[Missytara]

Yes, you book with the first night's deposit.

Then you can convert to a package no less than 45 days before arrival, in order not to pay a penalty.

You can also apply any discounts to your room-only ressie as well and convert it to a package.

 

[shanemc921]

Thanks for the great information! What happens if I'm already inside the 45 day window?

 

[dansdad]

Thanks for the great information! What happens if I'm already inside the 45 day window?

I THINK you will be charged a $50 change fee. Not 100% sure though as I have never done it. Just going off memory of other DIS members experience.

 

[shanemc921]

I THINK you will be charged a $50 change fee. Not 100% sure though as I have never done it. Just going off memory of other DIS members experience.

If it's only $50, that would be well worth it for me. Any way I can figure that out for sure?

 

[NoOrdinaryPrincess]

If you have a room-only reservation you pay the first night's cost as a deposit, and then the balance is due upon arrival. If you want to add dining plan, this can be done up to 3 days before you arrive. There are a few caveats however.

If you are adding dining to a room only reservation, your reservation become a package. This means that the room you have is cancelled and rebooked leaving a small window where you could lose the room that you had (depending on the popularity of the resort/room type/time of year you are staying). If you are within 45 days of your arrival date, the full amount of your stay is due at this time.

Additionally, the deposit you paid for the room-only booking DOES NOT transfer over to your new reservation, and is instead refunded back to your account (they told me 2-3 days, it took 4 for me which isn't a huge deal).

Tickets can be added at this time or purchased at the gate. It doesn't matter.

We switched from room-only to a package last week and leave for our vacation in 11 days (I'm so excited!). We didn't have any problems with canceling/rebooking because we're going at a relatively slow time of year and there were a lot of rooms of the type we wanted available at that time. We have done this several times, each time with multiple rooms to change, and never had trouble with losing the resort/dates we wanted, but it is a risk that's good to know about.

If you're flexible, I think it's an excellent option.

 

[raraavis]

Thanks for the great information! What happens if I'm already inside the 45 day window?

the cm i spoke with said they usually waive the fee if you're upgrading (i.e., spending more money). but that could have just been that particular cm. good luck!

 

[mickeynut1]

If you book room only now and want a package with tickets and dining later, the room only will have to be cancelled/refunded and a package booked, requiring a new $200 deposit or payment in full if you are 44 days or less prior to arrival. You can't "convert" a room only reservation to a package just by adding tickets and dining as room only and packages are different reservation systems and money paid toward one cannot be applied to the other. Room only reservations have to be cancelled at least 6 days prior to arrival to avoid a penalty of 1 night room rate + tax, so if you cancel by that time and book a package, there will be no fee charged. A change fee for a package is only charged when you modify your package 44 days or less from arrival and the change causes the total cost to decrease.

 

[shanemc921]

Thanks for all the help and information. I'm thinking of going October 27-30th, using the 30% off October stays promotional rate, that needs to be booked by September 29th.

Since they cancel your original reservation, would that mean that I would loose my discounted rate? If that is the case, would it be better for me to book the room and tickets, and add a dining plan later (or is that still the same as my first scenario)?

Thanks for the help, I appreciate it!

 

[shanemc921]

If you have a room-only reservation you pay the first night's cost as a deposit, and then the balance is due upon arrival. If you want to add dining plan, this can be done up to 3 days before you arrive. There are a few caveats however.

If you are adding dining to a room only reservation, your reservation become a package. This means that the room you have is cancelled and rebooked leaving a small window where you could lose the room that you had (depending on the popularity of the resort/room type/time of year you are staying). If you are within 45 days of your arrival date, the full amount of your stay is due at this time.

Additionally, the deposit you paid for the room-only booking DOES NOT transfer over to your new reservation, and is instead refunded back to your account (they told me 2-3 days, it took 4 for me which isn't a huge deal).

Tickets can be added at this time or purchased at the gate. It doesn't matter.

We switched from room-only to a package last week and leave for our vacation in 11 days (I'm so excited!). We didn't have any problems with canceling/rebooking because we're going at a relatively slow time of year and there were a lot of rooms of the type we wanted available at that time. We have done this several times, each time with multiple rooms to change, and never had trouble with losing the resort/dates we wanted, but it is a risk that's good to know about.

If you're flexible, I think it's an excellent option.

Thanks for the info! Enjoy your trip!!

 

[NoOrdinaryPrincess]

Thanks for all the help and information. I'm thinking of going October 27-30th, using the 30% off October stays promotional rate, that needs to be booked by September 29th.

Since they cancel your original reservation, would that mean that I would loose my discounted rate? If that is the case, would it be better for me to book the room and tickets, and add a dining plan later (or is that still the same as my first scenario)?

Thanks for the help, I appreciate it!

I'm not 100% sure of the answer to this question. It may behoove you to call Disney and ask; however, if I were in your situation, I would book room/dining at the same time, and purchase park tickets later (tickets can be purchased upon arrival, dining plan has to be done in advance). Also, if you haven't already, make your Dining ADRs! They're easy to cancel if you end up not using them, but they're almost impossible to book if you want something last minute (you're not likely to get the more popular ADRs this soon as it is).

 

[shanemc921]

I'm not 100% sure of the answer to this question. It may behoove you to call Disney and ask; however, if I were in your situation, I would book room/dining at the same time, and purchase park tickets later (tickets can be purchased upon arrival, dining plan has to be done in advance). Also, if you haven't already, make your Dining ADRs! They're easy to cancel if you end up not using them, but they're almost impossible to book if you want something last minute (you're not likely to get the more popular ADRs this soon as it is).

Thanks for the help. I've been so focused on getting all the loose ends together for this trip, I've completely forgot about making ADRs!

I guess I'll give Disney a call tomorrow and try to figure this all out.

 

[mickeynut1]

Thanks for all the help and information. I'm thinking of going October 27-30th, using the 30% off October stays promotional rate, that needs to be booked by September 29th.

Since they cancel your original reservation, would that mean that I would loose my discounted rate? If that is the case, would it be better for me to book the room and tickets, and add a dining plan later (or is that still the same as my first scenario)?

Thanks for the help, I appreciate it!

If you book room only now and want to change to a package later, guest services should be able to do that for you without you losing the discount. CRO usually don't have access to promos after they have expired, but they can transfer you to guest services or put you on hold and go through guest services themselves to make the change.

I'm not 100% sure of the answer to this question. It may behoove you to call Disney and ask; however, if I were in your situation, I would book room/dining at the same time, and purchase park tickets later (tickets can be purchased upon arrival, dining plan has to be done in advance). Also, if you haven't already, make your Dining ADRs! They're easy to cancel if you end up not using them, but they're almost impossible to book if you want something last minute (you're not likely to get the more popular ADRs this soon as it is).

Tickets are required in order to get the DDP, with a few exceptions. AP holders can book a ticketless package (AP + Dine), DVC members staying on points can add the DDP without tickets, or someone renting points can have the DVC member book the DDP with their reservation without a ticket purchase. Also, I think the military discount can be booked with the DDP without a ticket requirement. Other than those exceptions, a minimum ticket purchase (1 day base with paying for dining, 2 day base for free dining) is required in order to get the DDP, so the OP could not book the room + dining and add tickets later.

 

[NoOrdinaryPrincess]

If you book room only now and want to change to a package later, guest services should be able to do that for you without you losing the discount. CRO usually don't have access to promos after they have expired, but they can transfer you to guest services or put you on hold and go through guest services themselves to make the change.

Tickets are required in order to get the DDP, with a few exceptions. AP holders can book a ticketless package (AP + Dine), DVC members staying on points can add the DDP without tickets, or someone renting points can have the DVC member book the DDP with their reservation without a ticket purchase. Also, I think the military discount can be booked with the DDP without a ticket requirement. Other than those exceptions, a minimum ticket purchase (1 day base with paying for dining, 2 day base for free dining) is required in order to get the DDP, so the OP could not book the room + dining and add tickets later.

My mistake. We always cancel/rebook in order to add military discounts.

 

[shanemc921]

If you book room only now and want to change to a package later, guest services should be able to do that for you without you losing the discount. CRO usually don't have access to promos after they have expired, but they can transfer you to guest services or put you on hold and go through guest services themselves to make the change.

Thanks for the info. I guess I'll have to call Disney tomorrow to figure everything out.

 

[MMS1125]

if you know you want tickets/dining and pretty sure of your dates then I'd just book a room now with a 1 day base ticket so it's a pkg. You'll have to pay that off since you are within 45 days then you can call and modify it without having to do a whole new pkg and wait for a room only refund.

 

[shanemc921]

if you know you want tickets/dining and pretty sure of your dates then I'd just book a room now with a 1 day base ticket so it's a pkg. You'll have to pay that off since you are within 45 days then you can call and modify it without having to do a whole new pkg and wait for a room only refund.

That is absolutely genius! That's exactly what I'm going to do. Thanks for the advice, I greatly appreciate it!