Costco Package

[Meldev]

Have many of you booked through Costco?

I'm drawing up a spread sheet to see what makes most financial sense...

 

[Zbugz]

Costco is usually the same price as booking through WDTC. You do get some extras with it, including a gift card and character dining vouchers, which can be used towards meals at other restaurants (must use an entire voucher for one meal, or lose the remaining value). Booking a la carte often comes in cheaper overall but not always.

 

[Imdboss]

I've looked into booking a Costco package several times and I can always get a much better deal booking separate. We only stay at Hilton properties now, due to DHs diamond status, so maybe not all Good Neighbor hotels can be found cheaper elsewhere but Hiltons for sure. With Hilton I just book our room, usually 9 months out, then check prices daily to see if there's a rate change and rebook at the lower amount. Almost always I find a better price than when I first book.

 

[OneThree]

Have many of you booked through Costco?

I'm drawing up a spread sheet to see what makes most financial sense...

Since we are staying on property we got a bit better deal booking through Costco because of the gift card, meal voucher, etc... thrown in with the Costco package. The room price and ticket prices were the same as if we booked directly with Disney.

 

[azdisneylover]

Booked with Costco too, and like OneThree said, we got a better deal with the added goodies and you can book through them even if you have an AP. They will take the cost of the tickets off.

 

[GenGen22]

I agree with lmdboss I check costco, AAA, getawaytoday.com and separate and I rather book separate or through getawaytoday as I always get a better deal this way. I also prefer hilton hotels if I can get a good deal.

 

[avalon451]

I've done it both ways. I found it was less expensive to book everything separately. But then, I don't stay onsite.

 

[mpadilla89]

WE just booked our third trip with costco. We save about $250 at least not counting the extras like premium dining, ART passes, and other discounts inlcuded in the booklet they give us. Always the better option for us.

 

[twodogs]

If you book an onsite hotel and tickets through Costco, do they control the reservation like other travel agents, such that if you want to make room requests or change dates, you have to go through Costco?

 

[Gretchen1973]

If you book an onsite hotel and tickets through Costco, do they control the reservation like other travel agents, such that if you want to make room requests or change dates, you have to go through Costco?

If you need to make any changes you would call Costco Travel. We have booked through them for years for the extras. Any time Disney does a hotel deal after I have made my reservation I just call Costco and they can adjust my reservation to reflect the new pricing. Very easy to deal with.

 

[Darkbeer1]

Just to clarify, The Walt Disney Travel Company is the actual source for Disney Travel Packages for COSTCO, AAA, GetAwayToday and most Travel Agents.

So the packages are always ABOUT the same, though each of the large groups get special deals and perks, so you do need to look at all your choices.

But since I have a lot of Frequent Flyer Miles, Frequent Hotel Points and tend to want to do things other than just Disney when I travel, such as Universal, SeaWorld, etc. I tend to find the best deal for me is to book each part separately and make my own package.

 

[twodogs]

I have also always done mine separately, mostly to control the reservation, as well as that we often use Military Salute tickets (when my parents travel with us), so that complicates the packages from Costco that include tickets. I think others have said that they can then call and Costco will remove the tickets from the package (for example, if you have an AP), but this also stresses me out. I think it would save us a little money, with the dining vouchers (or maybe a lot) and the gift card (would not be much since we can only stay 4-5 nights). If an offer from DLR comes out, and my reservation is through DLT, they don't "modify" it, as I understand, but rather cancel and rebook if the room/dates are still available. Is it the same with Costco, that the room/dates have to still be available when an offer comes out to receive the offer price?

 

[azdisneylover]

We like to book through Costco when staying on site. I save approximate 5% by purchasing Disney gift cards from Target using my red card, then combine them on the Disney website. Once combined, I would make monthly payments through the Costco website until my package was paid off.

 

[Flickor]

The COSTCO packages used to be better but they're still slightly better than say just booking directly with Disney (unless you got an exclusive offer) I know Costco used to do 2 character dining per person on packages and now it's one or none depending.