How to get best price on a return trip...

[Chavaleh]

I'm taking my family for a week in the Cars suites Mother's Day week but would like to return and stay for the last week in August with my husband to celebrate our 20th. We're hoping to have the money for that second trip at the end of March but I'm wondering how we should handle making reservations in order to get the best price possible. We'd really like to stay at a deluxe resort for the anniversary trip and if we can get a sizable discount off rack rate it gives us more options.

We're hoping to get the trip done in the $3-4k range and I think that even without a discount we can do a standard WL room package with a normal dining plan for that but we're also tossing around the idea of doing club level, upgrading to the DxDP and thinking about the Contemporary or maybe even Poly (though I imagine we'd have to get a seriously good bargain to make that happen).

Anyway, what's the best way to get the trip booked at the lowest rate? Should we wait till May to see if there's a bounceback offer in our room at AoA or should we go ahead and book something in late March and they can apply a discount if there is one in May? It'll be the first time the husband and I have been away for a week alone together since.... well, probably our honeymoon 20 years ago so I'd like to make it as special as possible.

 

[Shaden]

I'm taking my family for a week in the Cars suites Mother's Day week but would like to return and stay for the last week in August with my husband to celebrate our 20th. We're hoping to have the money for that second trip at the end of March but I'm wondering how we should handle making reservations in order to get the best price possible. We'd really like to stay at a deluxe resort for the anniversary trip and if we can get a sizable discount off rack rate it gives us more options.

We're hoping to get the trip done in the $3-4k range and I think that even without a discount we can do a standard WL room package with a normal dining plan for that but we're also tossing around the idea of doing club level, upgrading to the DxDP and thinking about the Contemporary or maybe even Poly (though I imagine we'd have to get a seriously good bargain to make that happen).

Anyway, what's the best way to get the trip booked at the lowest rate? Should we wait till May to see if there's a bounceback offer in our room at AoA or should we go ahead and book something in late March and they can apply a discount if there is one in May? It'll be the first time the husband and I have been away for a week alone together since.... well, probably our honeymoon 20 years ago so I'd like to make it as special as possible.

Hey there, Sounds like a great plan. There is a whole board dedicated to budget trips, which I have spent a LOT of time looking over, but I will give you some of what I have been able to pull out ...

The Optional, first off, the meal plan is not a good deal for most people. There are several people over on the budget board who have run the numbers, but generally paying OOP at Rack rate seems to actually be cheaper for most people. HOWEVER, like my family, many people just like having the food paid for in advance and not having to worry about how much things cost, so fair enough.

A second note to this, IF, if you get Annual passes (which I will discuss in a second) you save 10% on food and most purchases in the parks, If you had a Tables in Wonderland card (I think thats what its called) the food savings increases to 20%. If you do this, I really can't see the dining plan being a good deal for you, and the TiW card I think should last for both your trips.

The APs: These depend a lot on how many park days you are going to have, APs are 610/person, they allow unlimited entry into all the parks, you can do the math yourself for a 7 day non hopper for 2 its $784 at rack rate... so you would be saving if you got 2 APs, on top of that there are usually AP rates for rooms etc, so likely you would save off your room for your Aug trip as well (although there will also likely be a general public offer as well).

We are considering doing a return within a year as well, and after doing the math, this would def be the most inexpensive way for us to do it:

Buy APs and the TiW card, pay OOP for meals saving 20%, also saves 20% on alcohol. Book a room only return visit (since we will already have our APs)

Lastly, Bounceback ! Not sure what the current bounceback offer is, but you should def inquire about it while you are there, sometimes there isn't even an offer in your room, but if you ask at the front desk they can give you the information.

Hope this helps.

 

[Shaden]

info on the TiW card: http://www.wdwinfo.com/disneydiningexperience.htm

 

[Chavaleh]

We used the dining plan on our last trip a few years back and really loved it because while we could probably have saved more paying oop (which when we added up we wouldn't have based on what we got), we really liked the fact that it was all prepaid and not something we had to worry about making sure we had additional money for while on the trip. It's also nice to not have to go into each meal thinking 'I'd really like X but it costs ... more than Y." then having that whole internal debate about spending unnecessary money. It just makes the whole trip feel lighter to us from a guilt about splurging perspective. It's more of one big pretrip splurge rather than daily individual choices about specific meal splurges if that makes sense. I can certainly see why other families like paying oop but to us it just ends up being worth a possible bit of extra front end cost.

I am definitely hoping for a bounce back offer. I'm just unsure how the timing works out with making reservations at the end of March as opposed to waiting till May and if they can apply discounts to previously booked packages or if there's a time frame where they can do that (or can't). I'd hate to book in March and get stuck paying rack rates.

 

[plutolovr]

Disney has already released the discounts for May. Staying club level and the deluxe dining plan will not be that cost-effective. You can pretty much have breakfast covered with the club level offerings.

 

[Shaden]

We used the dining plan on our last trip a few years back and really loved it because while we could probably have saved more paying oop (which when we added up we wouldn't have based on what we got), we really liked the fact that it was all prepaid and not something we had to worry about making sure we had additional money for while on the trip. It's also nice to not have to go into each meal thinking 'I'd really like X but it costs ... more than Y." then having that whole internal debate about spending unnecessary money. It just makes the whole trip feel lighter to us from a guilt about splurging perspective. It's more of one big pretrip splurge rather than daily individual choices about specific meal splurges if that makes sense. I can certainly see why other families like paying oop but to us it just ends up being worth a possible bit of extra front end cost.

I am definitely hoping for a bounce back offer. I'm just unsure how the timing works out with making reservations at the end of March as opposed to waiting till May and if they can apply discounts to previously booked packages or if there's a time frame where they can do that (or can't). I'd hate to book in March and get stuck paying rack rates.

I think your experience with the DDP is pretty common, thats the real value of the DDP in my opinion, its not a savings, but its a comfort and convenience.

As for when to book, you could always book now to ensure you have the room you want, even at Rack rates, and then generally they can apply any AP or Public discount to that reservation later.

IF a bounceback is offered that you can take advantage of you could book that while you are at Disney, and then just cancel your other reservation. If not, hold onto it and wait to see if a discount is offered.

I have played with several reservations, booking rooms at rack rate to ensure I had them reserved, only to book another under a promotion and then cancel my previous reservation. Its not hard at all and it doesn't cost you a dime.

 

[Shaden]

Disney has already released the discounts for May. Staying club level and the deluxe dining plan will not be that cost-effective. You can pretty much have breakfast covered with the club level offerings.

Yes, there is also this.

In fact you lose a lot of value either from the Club level, or the DDP if you have both ...

 

[Chavaleh]

Yes, there is also this.

In fact you lose a lot of value either from the Club level, or the DDP if you have both ...

Yeah, we're leaning towards doing a woods view in a normal room at the WL and the DxDDP because I'm just not sure the extra money for club level would be worth it to us, dining plan or not.

So there's no cancellation fee if you just reserve a room and have to cancel? I know they told us there was with our May trip package after a certain point when we booked it. You just add the package on later?

Thanks for your patient answers. I've read a TON of threads but the information gets all muddled up in the old brain box after a while.

 

[Shaden]

Yeah, we're leaning towards doing a woods view in a normal room at the WL and the DxDDP because I'm just not sure the extra money for club level would be worth it to us, dining plan or not.

So there's no cancellation fee if you just reserve a room and have to cancel? I know they told us there was with our May trip package after a certain point when we booked it. You just add the package on later?

Thanks for your patient answers. I've read a TON of threads but the information gets all muddled up in the old brain box after a while.

That is correct, there is no penalty. For a package I think its up to 30 days out (it might be closer), for a room only ressie its 5 days out no penalties ...

Like I said I have canceled several ressies, it does take a couple days for your money to get returned, but there is no penalty.