It's Cheaper, But Is It Worth It?

[NengZuoDuoYuan]

Hi Everyone!

I just booked a room-only resort reservation for early 2018. Originally, I had booked a MYWP, but it turned out that it was $35 dollars if I bought the tickets and the room reservation separately. Not a big deal, but every dollar counts, right? I also cancelled the package because I want to be able to add a discounted room rate offer if one comes out soon.

Anyway, I still plan to purchase my tickets from Disney's website, but I'm wondering: can I still book my FastPass+ reservations 60 days in advance if I don't have an official package? I'm still a Disney resort guest, so I should be good, right?

If I do wind up getting a room-only discount, can I just call Disney afterward and add tickets? Would it then become vacation package?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Alice Sr.]

Hi Everyone!

I just booked a room-only resort reservation for early 2018. Originally, I had booked a MYWP, but it turned out that it was $35 dollars if I bought the tickets and the room reservation separately. Not a big deal, but every dollar counts, right? I also cancelled the package because I want to be able to add a discounted room rate offer if one comes out soon.

Anyway, I still plan to purchase my tickets from Disney's website, but I'm wondering: can I still book my FastPass+ reservations 60 days in advance if I don't have an official package? I'm still a Disney resort guest, so I should be good, right?

If I do wind up getting a room-only discount, can I just call Disney afterward and add tickets? Would it then become vacation package?

Thanks for your help!

Yes as long as you have your ticket and a room you are good to book at the 60 days. Welcome, may you have many more posts!

 

[Alesia]

You can save even more money if you buy your tickets from an authorized reseller like Undercover Tourist

 

[seashoreCM]

As a rough rule, it is better to book a room separately unless the equivalent package comes with a significant bonus such as free dining or free park hopping/water parks. Sometimes the extra is just a tee shirt or a framed photograph or a round of mini-golf for two persons, which in my opinion would not swing my choice in favor of a package.

You would not want to simply and blithely "add tickets" to a room since that would do an automatic cancel and rebook together with repricing of the entire thing which now becomes a package. Instead you can order tickets as a separate transaction. Or, after researching new package options that were freshly advertised, you might see one you liked and proactively cancel what you had before and book anew.

Note that packages have a much earlier date deadline that you can cancel without a penalty compared with room-only reservations.

 

[NengZuoDuoYuan]

Thanks for the replies, everyone!

Did think about getting tickets from Undercover Tourist - they're about $10 dollars cheaper there - but would I still get the usual MagicBand from Disney? I'd rather not have to carry around an actual ticket card (and worry about losing it).

SeashoreCM, I did notice that the cancellation policy is stricter for the MYWP. I think there's a $200 penalty starting 30 days ahead of arrival. I assume though, that tickets purchased separately (even from Disney) are non-refundable, right? That might work out worse in the case of an unexpected cancellation. I'd need to buy 9-day PH tickets at least 60 days before arrival for the FP+ booking, so that would work out to be about a $530 non-refundable purchase.

 

[momto3pirates]

You get magic bands by booking onsite hotel stay. It has nothing to do with your tickets.

 

[Alesia]

Thanks for the replies, everyone!

Did think about getting tickets from Undercover Tourist - they're about $10 dollars cheaper there - but would I still get the usual MagicBand from Disney? I'd rather not have to carry around an actual ticket card (and worry about losing it).

Yes, everyone who stays onsite gets a magic band. The only difference is the price.

 

[NengZuoDuoYuan]

You get magic bands by booking onsite hotel stay. It has nothing to do with your tickets.

OK, perfect! Thanks for the clarification! I usually go with my family, and we always purchase a MYWP, so I wasn't sure exactly how one qualified for the MagicBands.

 

[kymom99]

If you look at UT for tickets, be sure to sign up for mousesavers newsletter and use the link from there. Also UT prices include taxes where the prices you initially see on disneys site do not. At least that's the way it was in the past.

 

[NengZuoDuoYuan]

Thanks for heads-up about MouseSavers! I was just looking at UT, and I noticed that you can book Disney resort stays there as well. The same room reservation that I have with Disney (for Pop Century) would be ~$6 cheaper per night through UT. Does anyone have experience booking through them? Is there any downside?

 

[firefly_ris]

Yep you'll be fine. I'm going for a short stint in the fall, I did the following:

- Booked a room at POFQ through Orbitz. They were a little cheaper than Disney's site, and at the time they had an additional 15% off code that I used.
- Purchased tickets from Boardwalk Ticketing, 3 day hoppers, I saved about $50 vs. the Disney site. They have a use-by date of December 2018 as fas as I know.
- Everything is all hooked into MDE, that includes the resort reservation, tickets (made my 60 day FP selections a few days ago), and MagicBand customization order.
- I booked Magical Express online and received luggage tags fairly quickly.

Just dot all your I's and cross your T's, and make sure everything gets properly hooked into MDE and you'll be all set. The only hiccup I had was that the Confirmation # that Orbitz sends to your email is not the same number that the MDE app is looking for, so I had to contact Orbitz via Twitter (you could call or email of course) to get the correct number, they were pretty prompt and had no trouble after that. I'd book through them again. I also used Rapid Rewards points to book 2 round-trip flights... my last "budget to-do" is to purchase a few Disney gift cards at Target using my RedCard to get 5% off, bring them to the parks to help pay for food or a little souvenir or something.

 

[Jdsomers]

I just booked a room from UT, and it was great. I had my resort reservation number in just a few minutes and it linked no problem with MDE. The only weird thing is the reservation number changed to some super short 5 or 6 digit number in MDE, but I have been able to do everything including FP. If I had to call in I just referenced the reservation ID I got from UT. No problems at all, and I saved a couple hundred by booking through them.

 

[Monykalyn]

Yep you'll be fine. I'm going for a short stint in the fall, I did the following:

- Booked a room at POFQ through Orbitz. They were a little cheaper than Disney's site, and at the time they had an additional 15% off code that I used.
- Purchased tickets from Boardwalk Ticketing, 3 day hoppers, I saved about $50 vs. the Disney site. They have a use-by date of December 2018 as fas as I know.
- Everything is all hooked into MDE, that includes the resort reservation, tickets (made my 60 day FP selections a few days ago), and MagicBand customization order.
- I booked Magical Express online and received luggage tags fairly quickly.

Just dot all your I's and cross your T's, and make sure everything gets properly hooked into MDE and you'll be all set. The only hiccup I had was that the Confirmation # that Orbitz sends to your email is not the same number that the MDE app is looking for, so I had to contact Orbitz via Twitter (you could call or email of course) to get the correct number, they were pretty prompt and had no trouble after that. I'd book through them again. I also used Rapid Rewards points to book 2 round-trip flights... my last "budget to-do" is to purchase a few Disney gift cards at Target using my RedCard to get 5% off, bring them to the parks to help pay for food or a little souvenir or something.

I usually do this same thing-except I also go through ebates portal for cash back (orbitz and UT), and get gift cards from BJ online (also through ebate portal for more cash back and ends up ~6% savings)

 

[firefly_ris]

I usually do this same thing-except I also go through ebates portal for cash back (orbitz and UT), and get gift cards from BJ online (also through ebate portal for more cash back and ends up ~6% savings)

Can you tell me more about the ebates portal? I don't know much about it but would love to use in the future if beneficial.

 

[starry_solo]

Can you tell me more about the ebates portal? I don't know much about it but would love to use in the future if beneficial.

Basically you sign up for eBates, then search for "undercover tourist" in their portal (search engine).. Tons of people here have it and have referral codes too (not sure what eBates gives you since no one's signed up under mine, lol) but it's just another way to earn funds. At the end of every quarter (3 months), eBates sends you a BIG FAT CHECK (seriously, that's what they call it!)

 

[danielocha30]

I just booked a room from UT, and it was great. I had my resort reservation number in just a few minutes and it linked no problem with MDE. The only weird thing is the reservation number changed to some super short 5 or 6 digit number in MDE, but I have been able to do everything including FP. If I had to call in I just referenced the reservation ID I got from UT. No problems at all, and I saved a couple hundred by booking through them.

do you have to pay all in front? I know sometimes one can get a better deal from authorized vendors, but the payment flexibility of booking directly is a nice perk

 

[firefly_ris]

Basically you sign up for eBates, then search for "undercover tourist" in their portal (search engine).. Tons of people here have it and have referral codes too (not sure what eBates gives you since no one's signed up under mine, lol) but it's just another way to earn funds. At the end of every quarter (3 months), eBates sends you a BIG FAT CHECK (seriously, that's what they call it!)

Thank you for the info, sounds like I'll be signing up.

 

[starry_solo]

Thank you for the info, sounds like I'll be signing up.

Before you do, ask around with your friends to see if anyone already has it. If they do, they can give you a referral code. I looked and right now, it's $10 for a friend referral but sometimes they give you up to $25 per friend referred.

 

[Jdsomers]

do you have to pay all in front? I know sometimes one can get a better deal from authorized vendors, but the payment flexibility of booking directly is a nice perk

Yeah, I had to pay up front and also checked with UT directly. That is the only option they have. I agree that Disney is really flexible with their payments which is nice.

 

[MrsPete]

You can save even more money if you buy your tickets from an authorized reseller like Undercover Tourist

Okay, just verifying: No matter where I buy my tickets (Undercover, TicketMania, whatever), I can sign up for Fast Passes 30 days out (if I'm staying off site) or 60 days out (if I'm staying on site). I do not need to purchase a Disney package or tickets from Disney themselves to take advantage of Fast Passes.