Changing from Room Only to Package ?

[schlepsnort]

Today I booked our Room Only for March 2-9th 2008 at ASMo. Very excited!
So then dh and I started figuring out if we really needed to change to a package in order to have the dining plan. So we plugged and chugged numbers and for our family the dining plan would save us some moolah.
So now what is the LATEST you can change your room only ressie to a package deal? Can you do it two weeks before your arrival? (I know we would have to pay the balance immediately which would be fine). Or does Disney Travel require more time than that to change it?
Thanks for any info/insights!

 

[CanadianGuy]

Changing from Room Only to Package requires cancelling your room only reservation and booking a new reservation with the package.

You don't want to wait too close to your trip to do this .. because there may not be much availability left. And since they are cancelling your old reservation, you may end up with 'no reservation'.

Personally, I'm against booking room only reservations as place holders. I don't think it makes much sense most of the time. But that's me.

Either way, once the package rates for 2008 come out at the end of July or in August of this year, you should call and switch your room only to a package. You are travelling at a peak period that WILL sell out .. sooner rather than later in all likelihood.

You MUST have booked the dining plan no later than 4 days before check-in.

But I stress once again, if you wait too late to convert your room only to a package, you might find yourself out of luck! And nobody wants that.

Good luck!

Knox

 

[n2mm]

I'm curious, when you crunched your numbers for the DDP how do you know what the new prices will be yet? Did you factor in the rumored (unconfirmed by a CM changes)? We are planning our January 08 trip and have not decided if we will do the ddp anymore if the rumored changes are true. I'm waiting to hear more. I spoke with a CM last week and she said the 2008 ddp has not been announced yet. We already decided that if we have to pay gratuity on top of the 2008 price, we may pass....especially since we already own the dde card.

 

[schlepsnort]

I'm curious, when you crunched your numbers for the DDP how do you know what the new prices will be yet? Did you factor in the rumored (unconfirmed by a CM changes)? We are planning our January 08 trip and have not decided if we will do the ddp anymore if the rumored changes are true. I'm waiting to hear more. I spoke with a CM last week and she said the 2008 ddp has not been announced yet. We already decided that if we have to pay gratuity on top of the 2008 price, we may pass....especially since we already own the dde card.

What we did was sit down and figure out what Character meals we were going to do and based on it the prices listed on Allears.net We also ballparked figured how many counterservices we would be getting and the estimated prices for that and then rounded up to include the taxes and tips. This did not include any snacks however. With our plans the total out of pocket (not using the dining plan) would have been nearly $800. But if we do the dining plan (again it is only based on the current plan pricing) it turns out to be a savings. Plus as the Unofficial Guide tells it, one way to think of whether the diningplan is something you would want/need is can you get your food each day for an adult under $35 a day? And under $11 a day for a child? We like to eat breakfast and dinner (snacks for lunch) So just breakfast alone at one of the resorts is about $8 for a child so by adding on dinner (especially if it is a character meal) we wouldn't be able to do that. Plus we plan on doing at least 5 character meals which are not cheap!

It is that convoluted Disney math but we enjoyed the ddp last year (of course it was also FREE then..) and it did make it easier for us. I'm waiting to see what changes actually DO happen to the plan and make our decision from there.

And I also wasn't so sure if it was worth doing the room only ressie but I was getting nervous about not seeing any packages for 2008 yet and people saying that it is a peak time when we are traveling so I got the itchy trigger finger and just for my peace of mind made the ressie. At least I know that we have a ROOM. Hopefully the packages will be out SOON and depending on how they are for 08 I will make my decision then about changing to a package.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Even if the dining plan goes up some or the tips aren't included anymore, our family definitely will save money using the dining plan. We paid just over $800.00 for the dining plan and, when I added up all our meals and snacks, we would have spent over $1,400.00! Definitely a savings for us.

With the dining plan, we were more apt to try different restaurants and different foods. We were also able to book as many character meals as we wanted whereas before we would just book one, maybe two.

It was also nice to sit down to a meal (we booked dinner table service meals) and rest a bit.

Lisa

 

[n2mm]

What we did was sit down and figure out what Character meals we were going to do and based on it the prices listed on Allears.net We also ballparked figured how many counterservices we would be getting and the estimated prices for that and then rounded up to include the taxes and tips. This did not include any snacks however. With our plans the total out of pocket (not using the dining plan) would have been nearly $800. But if we do the dining plan (again it is only based on the current plan pricing) it turns out to be a savings. Plus as the Unofficial Guide tells it, one way to think of whether the diningplan is something you would want/need is can you get your food each day for an adult under $35 a day? And under $11 a day for a child? We like to eat breakfast and dinner (snacks for lunch) So just breakfast alone at one of the resorts is about $8 for a child so by adding on dinner (especially if it is a character meal) we wouldn't be able to do that. Plus we plan on doing at least 5 character meals which are not cheap!

It is that convoluted Disney math but we enjoyed the ddp last year (of course it was also FREE then..) and it did make it easier for us. I'm waiting to see what changes actually DO happen to the plan and make our decision from there.

Don't get me wrong, I'm probably the biggest fan of the DDP. I've used it for our last 6 trips since last year (twice during free ddp 05 & 06 and at least my last 4 DVC trips this year and last year). We love the DDP, but we've been crunching the numbers and if they do take the gratutity away, I doubt if we break even anymore. We figued $78 for the two of us. If the price goes up about $5, plus we have to add on about $15-20 tip, we will be at $100 a day for the 2 of us. With our dinners truly costing about $60 and our CS costing about $20, if just will not be cost effective for us. We are DDE holders so get the discount for our TS. While using the ddp our TS is generally about $100, but that is because we both get everything we are entitled too. Without the ddp, we won't be getting the appetizers and I can do without the desert. Plus I won't be compelled to get the most expensive thing on the menu. I guess we'll have to wait and see. When we eat at Cape May the bill is usually about $50 for the two of us after the tip is included and the DDE discount applied. We won't want to use the ddp and pay $100 per day if our TS meals and CS meals don't break even. I will miss the DDP, so hopefully all of the rumors are wrong and the price increase will be minor. Time will tell!

 

[Luv2Roam]

I think generally the ASMo sells out before the other All Stars. (Not sure compared to Pop. And only judging by what I read here and our past experience.)
At least you have a room. And if that is your worse case, then that is still good!
But agree, don't wait until the last minute to re-book with a package.

And -- everyone is waiting for 2008 packages to be released. I can't help but think, again judging by what I read here, then they will want to wait for postcards, e-mails and special rates anyway.

 

[stitchlover]

The one thing I want to add is do the switch ASAP if you have already paid money on your room only. The reason I say this is because they cannot transfer money from room only to the package. The refund your money and then you have to turn around and pay it. So if you wait too close to time of arrival you won't have that money back yet! It is worth it to us because we use it as a savings account. I have already paid $1000 towards my room only and in a few months when the packages are available we will switch. When the money hits our debit card we will just turn right around and repay it. It works great for us. Some people consider it a hassle.
We are especially glad we did it this way for next springbreak because we just realized we will be there the week leading up to Easter. So rooms are going to be hard to come by!
Good Luck!

 

[stitchlover]

One more thing...We LOVE DDP and really hope the rumors aren't true.

 

[schlepsnort]

Ok, well now we don't plan on waiting til the last moment to switch, as soon as the 08 packages are out we will switch the ressie (I'll find the codes later!) to the package.
I honestly don't think they are going to change the dining plan too significantly. In my mind they've already changed what restaurants are elgible, they've already changed the prices at some restaurants, I think if they then throw on top of it an additional cost to the plan PLUS you have to pay your own gratuity then they will lose revenue because people will be turned off of the program. It's like a mental game of how much can we change and increase prices before the public balks at it. But if they introduce these changes slowly and piecemeal like then we are more likely to not notice and continue paying more anyways.
At least that's my take on it. May not be true, may not be right, but it makes sense to me