Booking room only vs a package?

[ammag]

Looking at cost I am wondering if there is any benefit to booking separately? Looking at the fall when there might be a discount. Staying at pop or AoA most likely....so the discount or free dining will not be a huge savings however anything helps. Any other benefits to doing room only or a package?

 

[bumbershoot]

The only thing you get with a package is having to pay in full sooner, and maybe some package extras like a DQ ticket if they are still doing that. And maybe souvenir luggage tags.

 

[kytiam]

In my experience, there's no savings at all (even with so called special offers) to book a package rather than room only. If you book a package you have to be paid in full 45 days before your trip and there's a pretty big penalty if you cancel or change your reservation after that. With a room only, you can change/cancel up to 5 days before your trip. If you do a package, you can get the dining plan, but I have never felt that the dining plan is any savings for my family. I buy my park tickets from Undercover tourist so I save a few bucks there. The coupons that they send when you buy a package have never been anything that appealed to me so no incentive there.

 

[ilovebassets]

I've done room only once and packages the other times. It's true that packages are less flexible in terms of changing dates, but I have never had to make changes to a vacation so I'll probably keep doing packages. Also, it's not like a cruise. If you absolutely had to change the date because of some emergency, it's not like you lose your entire payment. To me, the small savings by buying tickets elsewhere aren't worth the potential of losing them in the mail or having other problems with them. We also do use the coupons for DisneyQuest and minigolf that come with the package as well as the dining discounts at Joffrey's coffee and the other downtown disney places.

 

[Mikie]

I definitely don't understand Disney's rules and structure to a "package". Anywhere else, you'd usually expect a package to save you some money, but at Disney it's just souvenir luggage tags, some discount coupons for things like boat rental, fishing, mini golf and I think one restaurant at DTD. Then you have the longer window where you have to be paid in full. I often get the dining plan, so I book a package, but I don't see any other real benefit.

if a discount becomes available, you can still call to have it applied to your reservation; if you booked a package, but the discount you want is a Room Only, they can convert your reservation and get you the discount. I guess if the discount you want is free dining, you may not want to buy tickets elsewhere - when you stay at a Value, the free dining discount is often more $$ than a room only discount, but it requires purchase of a hotel stay plus tickets. If you purchase offsite tickets now, and later want the free dining, you'd have to buy yet more tickets, possibly negating any savings.

 

[Dis703]

Every time I've priced a package vs. a room only the package actual cost a little bit more (like $8 so not much) and still don't quite understand why unless you are paying towards those coupons. We like that with a room only if necessary you can make changes a lot closer to your trip dates. But then in order to get FP at 60 days you need to pay for your tickets by then anyhow. So it's kind of a wash in regards to when you pay.

The deposit may be less or more as well depending on what resort you are staying at. We put a $200 deposit down on a package and then changed to a resort only where the deposit was only $126. But last year at BC and BWI the deposit was over $300. This is because for room only the deposit is the amount of your first nights stay.

 

[nkereina]

You'll need to do a package if you want a dining plan - whether for a free dining promo or if you're paying for it. If that's not a concern, you'd miss out on the extra perks that have been mentioned, which aren't all that great.

Room only has you pay in full while you're there, so you have more time to save money for it. You will have to put down a one night deposit, which can be more than the $200 deposit a package requires. You also have more time to cancel without penalty on a room only reservation.

 

[siskaren]

If a discount becomes available, you can still call to have it applied to your reservation; if you booked a package, but the discount you want is a Room Only, they can convert your reservation and get you the discount.

A room discount can be booked as a room only reservation or a package. If you already have a package booked and a room discount comes out, you can call and have it applied to your package (if there's availability for your resort and dates); there's no conversion involved. If however you have a room only reservation and a discount comes out that requires purchasing a package (like free dining), then you would have to cancel your room only reservation and book the package as a new reservation, because Disney doesn't have the ability to convert a room only reservation to a package.

I book packages because I have a Disney Visa and I take advantage of the 6 months interest-free financing.

 

[tinkerbella16]

A room discount can be booked as a room only reservation or a package. If you already have a package booked and a room discount comes out, you can call and have it applied to your package (if there's availability for your resort and dates); there's no conversion involved. If however you have a room only reservation and a discount comes out that requires purchasing a package (like free dining), then you would have to cancel your room only reservation and book the package as a new reservation, because Disney doesn't have the ability to convert a room only reservation to a package.

I book packages because I have a Disney Visa and I take advantage of the 6 months interest-free financing.

This was exactly what I was going to say. I book a package either way because I like having everything booked at once without having to do anything seperately. I am hoping for a room only discount for my November trip, so I still booked my package as I always do and will wait for it later and get that money taken off of my balance and the same if I wanted free dining. For me, the package is a convenience. The discount later is the added bonus if its available for my resort and room type.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

We don't get the dining plan anymore so have booked room only the last few onsite trips.

 

[ammag]

Thanks all! I am looking at the disney visa as well. We might pay for the trip with out tax return...if I decide to pay it now can I still call for the discount if there is one? Or should I just wait to pay until later? I've gone twice, once we stayed offsite and ordered from UT the second time we booked a short package with no flexibility for resort so the discount didn't effect us. (We wanted AoA LM room) my mom also paid for the latter one so I wasn't really involved

 

[J.C.&ALI'SMOM]

25+ trips onsite and I have booked a package once. We don't like the dining plan, often have APs, so room only is the way to go for us. It is cheaper and I like that!

 

[tzolkin]

This June will be the second time our kids have done the YES Individual Enrollment classes, so we have booked room only since we buy the tickets through the program. This is the one way we are able to "stack" discounts by getting a "room only" discount on the accommodations and the discounted tickets as well. Last time we had 25% off the room and saved almost $800 on the tickets.

Previous trips we have done packages because they offered the better deal-- buy4get3, free park hoppers, free dining, etc.

We don't have a preference for package or room-only, I just figure out which will be the cheapest for when we want to go.

 

[tlmadden73]

With the MyDisneyExperience stuff and the ability to make Fast Passes and reservations yourself, I don't see the need for a ticket/resort package. The room-only reservations only need a 1 night deposit and you can cancel 5 days before your trip. Pretty flexible to me. If you play on going to the parks only 2-3 days... just buy 10-day no-expiration tickets (if you can afford that lump payout) to also give you some flexibility and a slightly cheaper per day rate.

Granted, there may be some discounts/deals with a package ... so like anything .. just do the math (which a lot of people don't do and end up paying more than they need) for your own personal needs.

So .. yes .. if you want to get the dining plan .. get the package (but really, is the dining plan worth it besides the convenience? You probably would spend less if you just paid for all your meals individually), otherwise go with the flexibility of room-only reservation and find your tickets (probably discounted) elsewhere.

I am hoping to go back to WDW in August .. booking 4 nights (room only) at a resort hotel and just using the no-expiration tickets we bought and used for our October 2014 trip .. I am able to book now with little money down and the flexibility to change the dates or cancel if need be.

 

[PeasandCarrots]

I always do room only. It's not so much about the price but about the flexibility. We don't like the dining plan for us, so there's no pressing reason to get a package and the ability to cancel or change dates at the last minute with aging parents is a huge plus. We don't intend to change, but life throws you all kinds of surprises.