Disney Vacation Package or booking separate?

[Blndiebby25]

I am looking at booking a family trip to Disneyland for October/November 2008. I am trying to decide between booking a Disney Vacation Package through Disney or booking everything myself separately. What are the pros and cons of both?

Thanks in advance!

 

[mystic_path]

Well im gonna let someone else discribe going through Disney itself because there might be perks I am not aware of. But the last time I went to DL I looked into packages through Disney and I found it to be even more expensive then booking seperately.

This is what we do so you can ball park it.....

We have been to DL several times now and each time we go onto either "Travelocity or Orbitz" and book our flight and hotel. *The more people to a room, the cheaper it will be* and for us a round trip flight and hotel for 10 days was around $600 CDN per person. Then we have food and spending money, and we usually take around $4-500 for all that.

We then go to getawaytoday.com and get our 8 day passes to DL for $209, and for univeral around $50 because its SOOO much cheaper there then anywhere else I have found. They even have city passes (DL, the zoo, sea world etc) which are a great deals.

So per person (All Adults) with everything combined (Flight, food, hotel, spending money passes) its about it costs us around $1200.

If you have kids with you it could be much different cause some places kids eat free, or you might be able to get a package through a travel agent where kids fly free. There are options for you. But I like to pay seperatly for everything.

 

[InLoveWithTheBeast]

One pro of booking everything separately is that you'll probably be getting a better hotel room rate on a discount website than you can get directly through Disney. I did a search for the same nights in September, the discount site doesn't have October yet, and for that site Paradise Pier is $230/night, while booking directly through Disney is $264/night. I'm not sure exactly what you're looking to book. I don't know if the meal plan can only be booked directly through Disney, but you can save money on the hotel booking through discount websites.

 

[Blndiebby25]

Thanks for the tips! Our group make up would be 2 adults, 4 kids (infant, 8, 10, 16) so I will keep an eye out for the kids fly free promo. Thanks for mentioning that I totally forgot about that promo, we used it on our last trip and my parents saved tons (that trip was 6 adults and 6 kids).

Just did a google search for the kids fly free promo and it looks like they usually only offer it during the spring months. Oh well. I really want to go in October/November to see the Halloween decorations and got to MHT so that won't work.

Not really interested in the meal plan since it seems like you are pre-paying for food, although it would probably make it easier for budgeting purposes. We will probably not stay at a Disney hotel unless they have a really awesome deal, we are looking at a Good Neighbour hotel close to Disneyland since we will have a 10-11 month old with us.

 

[mystic_path]

OH Blndiebby25 I see your from AB, Im from BC Vancouver actually so chances are in the country we will all have similar ads in the paper for that kind of kids fly free deal. I dont know if you get a province paper in AB, but watch the papers, they have it in there often. Even check around by calling local travel agents. They can tell you their up coming promos and if they offer the kids fly free as well. Their rates will differ so thats something to consider as well.

 

[bumbershoot]

Remember, you can also book the vacation package through places like AAA and Costco travel, and they all use WDTC (Disney), so you get many of the same perks, like vouchers for a pin and lanyard for each paid guest (not sure those under 2 get those), vouchers for Mickey's ToonTown Morning Madness (with a toddler or slightly older child those can be worth the package alone, LOL...it lets you into toontown an hour before it normally opens, and they have a ceremony and parade to open TT), discount vouchers, things like that.

When I booked through costco, they included a character breakfast. For some people, the cost going through other sites was the same as the costco package, so the character b'fast was truly an extra. For me, when I booked, it was almost exactly the cost of the others PLUS the cost of the character b'fast, so for me I didn't save money over AAA or disneyland.com, but I knew I would nickel and dime myself out of that character meal, so it was still a good deal for us.


But, once I really got into planning (after booking), I realized that if I didn't want those little extras, I could have saved money.

Let me back up and state that I did NOT book flights through the package, those flights were FAR more than I would pay normally.

You just have to figure out what you want...do those little extras (and I think that getawaytoday dot com uses WDTC too, so you get the perks through them as well...but I might be wrong) mean enough to you that you're willing to possibly pay more for the package? Do those perks mean nothing to you...if so, check into booking everything separately. It's just up to what yo want from the vacation.

Oh, another aspect for me was that this was the first time as adults that we were going to stay there; our other trips were one day trips, no hotel stay, while visiting my brother. And I just wanted a sort of "done deal", nothing to think about, for our first big stay.

 

[shoppingmom]

We book our flights seperate and our hotel, passes, and many extras through Disney Vacation Planning! These people are in our opinion Gods! Laugh if you want but for our trip last year I called Disney Vacation Planning in May and booked our hotel (Paradise Pier) and our hopper passes, then the wonderful person on the other end asked if I needed anything else, not only did she take down the list of restaurants we wanted to eat at and which days she also took our Fantasmic Information and called back 60 days prior to our arrival (Nov 07) and advised that we got all of the restaurant reservations we wanted, she also called back 30 days prior to advise that she got un not only 8 seats on the balcony for Fantasmic but she got us 8 seats in the front row of the balcony. She arranged for some birthday surprises for my nephew, she decided all of the kids on the trip needed something special and throughout our trip each child received under the door an autographed picture of some of the characters, she arranged (at my cost) to have treats and baskets in each of the rooms. As well this Booking Godess also managed to get us reservations at a couple of restaurants in DTD which was going above and beyond the call of duty. When we booked through Disney we got the lanyard, a pin, luggage tags etc., extras that made the trip fun. We will be going again November 08 and I will be calling Vacation Planning in May to book.

 

[Danauk]

We have booked our trip oursleves rather than doing a package as we don't need the extras the package offers so we would rather spend the money on other things. We booked the hotel direct with Disney (AAA rate) and the wonderful lady who took the booking also recommended restaurants, tours etc for us. She also noted it was our anniversary whilst we were there and asked what our favourite characters were, said she would arrange for anniversary and 1st visit pins for us. She also recommend we phone vacation planning nearer the time to arrange the meals, tours and extras etc. So if you want to stay on site and not book a package you can still take advantage of the vacation planning team too.

 

[RuthieT]

You can look into HOJO and getting a great room rate such as $54 to $69 a night. The get this rate you must have an entertainment book. I have found that ARES travel has pretty good prices for hoppers and include a one day EE pass.

 

[kittysmommy]

One thing to keep in mind when booking separately is the WDTC packages include the resort fees for the DLR hotels as well as taxes. That is one thing I haven't taken into account before, and found out how much the taxes, etc. really cost! Plus you can't put a monetary value on some of the perks (like preferred seating) that you don't get when you book separately.

I have done both, but find it easier just to do the packages now either through AAA, WDTC, or getawaytoday (I change which I go with almost every trip).

 

[CableKC]

In my experience....if you have the time and patience, I have found that it is always better to book everything ( airline, hotel, tickets and car ) seperately. Usually the packages through Disney is more expensive.

A good example is when my Sister-In-Law booked their entire DisneyWorld / Disney Cruise vacation directly through Disney itself. Everything was bundled together in a neat little package and was probably easy to book. They ended up flying through Delta ( I'm guessing one of the Disney carriers ) and stayed at one of the nicer resorts at DW and one of the better cabins on the Disney Cruise. The problem was that they paid more cuz they were booked into the higher end room/cabins, the flight was not direct ( not a good thing when you have kids ) and they had to pay for a 7-night pass even if they were only staying for a 4 night Land stay.

When I booked the same type of trip a year before....because I booked everything on my own...I had the flexibility to book a direct flight, I booked a stay at one of the value resorts in DW and I had the option to choose a moderately priced cabin on the Disney Cruise. I ended up saving alot more money because I did it this way.

The moral of the story?

Although it may take alot of research, effort and time to do everything yourself.....you have the flexiblility to book the trip according to your own budget, whatever type of hotel you want to stay at and decide everything based off of your own preferences. Admittedly, I prefer to do everything on my own...mainly because I enjoy the planning part as much as I enjoy the trip itself.

However, if you don't have the time nor $$$ isn't a real problem for your family....then it's easier to just call the Disney agent up and book a package through them. No hassle and you probably get some perks....but it will probably cost a little bit more then if you did everything on your own.

 

[kittysmommy]

I have to agree about the airfare. I have only found one trip (out of about 20) where WDTC could get me airfare for the same price as booking it myself. So, I never have them book airline tickets. I do that myself and get a package for everything else...except rental cars too, now that I think about it.

 

[shoppingmom]

Something else I have noticed when booking hotel through Disney is that at the PP the standard room is I believe on the 7 floor or higher

 

[techno]

The last two visits, we've purchased packages for a few different reasons:

1. Convenience
2. Perks in the package (pins, coin, preferred seating, coupons, gift card, etc).
3. We drive and don't require airfare. The difference in cost is negligible between the package and purchasing separately (especially when factoring in the added perks).

Last year we booked our package from Disney directly (via their web site).

This year we booked our package through Costco. The price was the same as Disney direct, but it also included a $20 Disney gift card. Bonus!

 

[Lillybelly]

I've also found that for some of the "bigger" rooms (ie sleep 6) getawaytoday.com has better prices that direct from the hotel. Just like anything else, there is no one best way to get the best price, you've got to do the leg work and shop around. Luckily all our DIS friends always post when a great deal comes out.

 

[drag n' fly]

I am looking at booking a family trip to Disneyland for October/November 2008. I am trying to decide between booking a Disney Vacation Package through Disney or booking everything myself separately. What are the pros and cons of both?

Thanks in advance!

Since you have been before I highly recommend doing it yourself. You can book through Disney. At that time of year you can get the 4th night free promo. If you have AMA you can get the room only discount and cheap park passes. You can make your own PS etc!
On occasion Co-op travel, AMA travel, Flight Centre or the board sponsor Dreams Unlimited can plan a great package for you. Some of these agents can get you a really good deal.

 

[Nora94]

when I booked out Disney World trip using Dreams Unlimited (The Disney travel agency), the price was about equal then if i did it seperately.

BUT my Dreams Unlimited person (Sue Ellen) got us Cinderella's Royal Table the day after I put down my deposit - literally less than 8 hours later. I don't know if they have a special number to get the ressies or get to call earlier or what, but having that hard to get reservation handled by someone else, and secured immediately was worth everything to us. She also checked up with us and booked everything we wanted, so that was nice.

I will be using her again.
Nora

 

[hyena29]

I can tell you from current experience, I wish I had booked it myself. I booked through AAA Travel/Disney and our trip was to be Oct 27-Nov 1. Of course, it happened to be a the height of the fires when there was a health advisory due to the poor air quality from the smoke for children. School was cancelled, football games cancelled, many activites in Anaheim. I have a 6 month old infant, a 3 year old and a 5 year old. So I call to cancel due to the fires, and all I have gotten is the run around and only an offer of 50% of my Land portion refunded (so a refund of $1519 out of a $4358.10 package!!!!). If I had booked the trip myself, I would have had no cancellation fees at Disneyland Hotel and Alaska Airlines and full refunds due to the fires. Now I am having to deal with the travel insurance and file a claim!!!