It's been a number of years since we have been to WDW. Things seem to have changed drastically since then, leaving me with logistical questions as well as trying to budget out the trip. I'm trying to come up with a workable plan, and any help, guidance, or advice would be lovely. I apologize in advance if this becomes long.
Basics: We are a large family, 6 in total. 5 adults and 1 child by Disney standards. The sheer number of us seems to be a budget buster. We are looking at a weeks stay, on property, and it has to be in January due to DH's work. I want it to be January 2020, however, I may not be able to save up that much money in one year, and if I can't make my goal, it will be January 2021. The tickets alone are going to cost about $3k (they have to be Park Hoppers). Lodging will be a minimum of $2k. Plus travel, food, and spending money. I don't want to be eating PB&J in the hotel room, so I'm budgeting $3k for travel, dining, and souvenirs. This leads me to my questions.
I obviously cannot go online and book or price this vacation, but I believe I can (correct me if I'm wrong), call them and book January 2020. But I think that's a room only reservation. I'm not sure exactly what that means, other than I can't book the tickets. Could I add the tickets later? At what point could I add the tickets? I'm also aware that I could buy tickets from another source (not sure if I'm allowed to name it here), but I also have no idea how that works in today's world with all of the MDE online stuff. Is it a pain to add tickets bought from somewhere else to your reservation? Does it make things more difficult with the fast pass bookings and such? We didn't book fast passes the last time I went, so that's new to me.
Also, my biggest question is this: If I do book for January 2020, and at some point add my tickets, but I feel like I'm running short on money and want to postpone until January 2021, how does that work? Is it even possible to do that? Will I lose any money I've paid? Will I lose a deposit? What I'm hoping, and I could be completely off base, is that if I decide to postpone the trip, I could just call them and reschedule, with whatever funds I've paid going to the later trip.
Any insight is greatly appreciated! Feel free to talk to me like I'm a child when trying to explain things since I just want a better understanding of how Disney works these days.
Basics: We are a large family, 6 in total. 5 adults and 1 child by Disney standards. The sheer number of us seems to be a budget buster. We are looking at a weeks stay, on property, and it has to be in January due to DH's work. I want it to be January 2020, however, I may not be able to save up that much money in one year, and if I can't make my goal, it will be January 2021. The tickets alone are going to cost about $3k (they have to be Park Hoppers). Lodging will be a minimum of $2k. Plus travel, food, and spending money. I don't want to be eating PB&J in the hotel room, so I'm budgeting $3k for travel, dining, and souvenirs. This leads me to my questions.
I obviously cannot go online and book or price this vacation, but I believe I can (correct me if I'm wrong), call them and book January 2020. But I think that's a room only reservation. I'm not sure exactly what that means, other than I can't book the tickets. Could I add the tickets later? At what point could I add the tickets? I'm also aware that I could buy tickets from another source (not sure if I'm allowed to name it here), but I also have no idea how that works in today's world with all of the MDE online stuff. Is it a pain to add tickets bought from somewhere else to your reservation? Does it make things more difficult with the fast pass bookings and such? We didn't book fast passes the last time I went, so that's new to me.
Also, my biggest question is this: If I do book for January 2020, and at some point add my tickets, but I feel like I'm running short on money and want to postpone until January 2021, how does that work? Is it even possible to do that? Will I lose any money I've paid? Will I lose a deposit? What I'm hoping, and I could be completely off base, is that if I decide to postpone the trip, I could just call them and reschedule, with whatever funds I've paid going to the later trip.
Any insight is greatly appreciated! Feel free to talk to me like I'm a child when trying to explain things since I just want a better understanding of how Disney works these days.