Considering doing it myself - some questions

[jaff87]

Over the years, I have always used a travel agent for the room/tickets/dining. I always did the airfare because I could find better rates and always did the car rental as well. I am now thinking about just doing this all on my own thru Disney for our possible trip next year. Some questions:

1. Hotel Reservations - would this be a Room only reservation?
2. If I were to receive a discount code, could I apply it if I already made a reservation?

3. Will I be able to add the Dining to this?
4. How is the Trip insurance handled? Can I do this through Disney as well or on my own? In the past, when I have used AAA, they added the trip insurance for me.

What are the advantages/restrictions to doing a room only as opposed to the package deal? Am always looking to save a little bit of money. Any help is much appreciated! Thanks!

 

[tkldisney]

Room only is just room only, and if you have AAA then Disney can give you that discount if it's available. If a discount code comes out and available for your resort yes, it can be applied to your reservation. You can't combine AAA & code.

You can add dining to room only ressie, but then it becomes a package. You have to purchase at least a 1 day myw ticket for each person in your party. With room only you don't have to purchase tkts. directly from Disney.

Disney can do travel insurance if you want it.

I don't see a real $ advantage doing room only. I just like booking everything myself then I know what I have and can call Disney anytime for any changes/requests and not have to go thru TA. The dining is a great thing, but we just don't eat that much and I've priced both ways and not worth it for just two. When I've taken nieces then it's worth the dining. I booked through AAA when I did that.

 

[bradk]

You can add dining to room only ressie, but then it becomes a package

a little backwards and perhaps misleading, especially if you try to make these changes later on after making the initial reservation, but overall, it's correct.

here's the rundown.

the TA really isn't doing anything for you that you can't do yourself except in the case of AAA. AAA can get you a room discount on the package plus a couple of perks. Now if you do room only, you can get the AAA discount, but for a discount on a package, you must go through AAA. another perk to a TA is you have someone presumably working for you. who will immediately get any related discounts applied as well as make your ADRs for you.

at a minimum, a package is a room + tickets. the dining plan is an addon to packages. the only way to get the DDP without a package is to be a DVC member or a guest of a DVC member (e.g., renting DVC points - which if done in a careful and early process can actually save you a LOT of money).

yes, if a discount comes out, it can be added to an existing reservation. bear in mind however that discounts are often limited in quantity as well as where they can be applied, so you may have to make accommodations for it if one becomes available.

you can do trip insurance through disney, but it's not well advised. it's fairly limited and expensive. it's oft recommended to go through insuremytrip.com for a list of policies from various agencies. disney insurance doesn't cover airline either, even if you book through them.

also, there are differences when it comes to payment terms when booking room only vs package. they are:

* Room only requires a 1 night stay deposit payable at the time of booking. You must cancel more than 5 days out for a full refund. The balance is payable upon check-in.

* Package requires $200 deposit within 2 weeks of booking. the balance is payable by 45 days prior to check-in. Cancellation policy depends on when you cancel (more than 45 days out is a full refund all the way out to losing your deposit).

 

[jaff87]

Thanks to both of the replies I have received. They have helped me to better understand how it all works. When we go down, it would be myself, DH, DS11, DD9. Dining plan works for us, especially now that my DS is eating more adult like food and in greater quantities. I figure I will get thru our upcoming trip in August , then start to think about next year!