deviate or hope for discounts?

[miatamel]

I posted this on the cruise thread, but thought I'd try here, too, since y'all are so knowledgeable about discounts.

I won a cruise on the Dream, plus tips, airfare and transfers. The win is strictly for the dates the cruise is booked. We want to come a day before like we usually do and then add a few days after to visit the parks and just make a week out of it. After talking with the marketing department, it appears not to be that simple. I figured we'd change the flight with no biggie since it's still coming and going--not asking for upgrades, etc. Well, no. So, here's what they are telling me:

If I book thru Disney for all of it and tack on a stay before and a resort stay after, there will be NO deviation fees for flights BUT I will pay rack rate for all: Hyatt MCO ($215) and whatever the going rate is for the resort I pick, which right now is WL, so about $1100 for 3 nights.

If I just deviate the flights, I will pay $104 per person, so about $400+. I then have to hope for a resort only pin or discount code from Disney and a Hyatt rate on Hotwire.

We are used to flying SW with no baggage fees and they have me set up thru Delta, so that is also an extra cost. I'm just trying to figure out the best way to go. DH is getting a little anxious that our "free" vacation is now costing us some $$

Please give me your opinion on what YOU would do of these two options because I honestly have no earthly idea.

 

[Donnainnj]

I posted this on the cruise thread, but thought I'd try here, too, since y'all are so knowledgeable about discounts.

I won a cruise on the Dream, plus tips, airfare and transfers. The win is strictly for the dates the cruise is booked. We want to come a day before like we usually do and then add a few days after to visit the parks and just make a week out of it. After talking with the marketing department, it appears not to be that simple. I figured we'd change the flight with no biggie since it's still coming and going--not asking for upgrades, etc. Well, no. So, here's what they are telling me:

If I book thru Disney for all of it and tack on a stay before and a resort stay after, there will be NO deviation fees for flights BUT I will pay rack rate for all: Hyatt MCO ($215) and whatever the going rate is for the resort I pick, which right now is WL, so about $1100 for 3 nights.

If I just deviate the flights, I will pay $104 per person, so about $400+. I then have to hope for a resort only pin or discount code from Disney and a Hyatt rate on Hotwire.

We are used to flying SW with no baggage fees and they have me set up thru Delta, so that is also an extra cost. I'm just trying to figure out the best way to go. DH is getting a little anxious that our "free" vacation is now costing us some $$

Please give me your opinion on what YOU would do of these two options because I honestly have no earthly idea.

I think I would downgrade to a moderate or Budget resort and book through Disney. You are coming from a cruise ship cabin, everything seems big after that. It will make a big difference in price, and you already have the cruise to relax on so with only 3 nights how much time will you spend in the room? Both CSR and POFQ have queen size beds if that is important, or you could get a suite in the ASMu which would allow a king size bed for the adults. (guessing only two adults) I think I would be more comfortable with a known price then trying to make up the flight deviation fee with a discount. If you are not flexible on resort it might also help to know when the trip is, to see what the discounts are likely to be. If you are likely to go with the change fee another thing I would consider is the value that they are putting on the flights for tax purposes. If the taxes are high enough, with the $104 fee, and the $25 per bag/each way fee, it might make sense to see if SW will be less in the end. That again is guessing that they would allow you to refuse the flight part of the trip.
Oh and Congratulations!
Donna