Booking seperatly was cheaper, why?

[Disneydreamer5]

I was playing around on the Disney wedsite and when I purchase tickets and room seperatly it came out 300 cheaper then when I did a package.
Anyone know why that is? Also what if any disadvantages would there be in booking seperatly?
How are the crowds, weather, in November? When to christmas decorations go up?
Thanks all

 

[Desnik]

The Christmas decorations go up in early November. Usually right before the first MVMCP. I believe that was November 12th in 2007.

The weather in November is a mixed bag. It can either be cool or hot. Usually the weather is in the high 70's, low 80's with little rain. It was cool in November 2007 and we had only 2 pool days.

The crowds depend on what part of November you plan to go. Thanksgiving week is extremely crowded. The week around "Jersey Week", Food and Wine Festival, Super Soaps Weekend and Veteran's day bring in large crowds. We usually go the week before Thanksgiving and have little to no waits on attractions and it's our favorite time to go.

The advantages to booking separately are you can cancel your room only reservation 5 days before your trip instead of 45 days before if you booked a package. Also, you are paying for exactly what you want and not paying for extras you will not use. I have never booked a package in all our trips. I don't really know of disadvantages to booking separately.

 

[mom2aredhead]

The only other disadvantage is that you cannot get the dining plan if you book a room only reservation. DDP can only be added on to packages, so you would need to add at least a 1 day ticket for everyone to get it.

We've book both ways - usually a room only reservation using AAA discount and tix thru undercover tourist works out best for us, but our last trip (Dec) there was a really good discount for packages which was cheaper than the AAA and ticket discount so we did it.

I'll book whichever way saves me the most money!

 

[Disneydreamer5]

Well we did the DDP last trip and even though we are big eaters it was way too much food. My 2 youngest could have easily shared many meals and the only dinner I must have would be coral reef. Other then that I will be fine with hot dogs and hambergers, it is vacation after all. Fancy dishes mean little to nothing to me. I cook a great home cooked meal 7 days a week and we got out to dinner at least 1 a month so no DDP. So I would be better off trying to get a room discount and then just buying my tickets you think?
If I can save $300 bucks I am going to do it that way, plus I like the idea of having more time to canceal need be{had to canceal this past Sept due to DH work injury} so if I had the extra time that would be awsome. I was looking at the week leading into Thanksgiving. What do you all think?

 

[Desnik]

I am looking to go the same week, week before Thanksgiving. I know from experience that the weekend before thanksgiving and the weekdays right before are very crowded. This year Thanksgiving is on the 27th so by the 22 is when those crowds start coming. I really hate crowds but we love going in Nov so I've been trying to decide which week is best to avoid SS weekend, Jersey Week, F&W festival, Vet's day crowds, Thanksgiving crowds. I thought I had it figured out, then I checked the crowd predictors and it is much higher than I expected for the week before Thanksgiving.

Sorry I forgot the fact about the DDP. I'm a DVC'er and we can book the DDP with no package. We also will not be using it anymore because it is a ton of food, but since the changes it just isn't worth it for us.