Making a summer reservation now, adding tickets later

[ewasilau]

Hi,

We're being optimistic and planning a summer trip to WDW, which we hope will actually happen.... However, being a little nervous about planning right now, we were thinking of making a room-only reservation (actually a split-stay between the Doubletree at disney springs for 3 nights and Caribbean Beach Resort for 5 or 6 nights) and then adding park tickets later. We can do that, right? Is there any reason not to, as long as we add the tickets before our 60 day FP+ window would start? And if we book both hotels, can we then buy 7 day park hopper plus tickets and have them valid for the whole stay? (we would just get 7 days because we plan to use the water parks, etc since we'd be buying the "plus" tickets).

Thanks for any advice.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I would book your first stay as a package so you aren’t purchasing tickets separately and having to pay for them in full at time of purchase. You can book Doubletree as a package through WDW, but room costs may be higher going that route. Any reason you aren’t staying at CBR the whole time? WDW has changed the PIF date for packages to 7 days prior to arrival for the time being, so there’s not a huge advantage to booking room only at the moment.

 

[ewasilau]

I would book your first stay as a package so you aren’t purchasing tickets separately and having to pay for them in full at time of purchase. You can book Doubletree as a package through WDW, but room costs may be higher going that route. Any reason you aren’t staying at CBR the whole time? WDW has changed the PIF date for packages to 7 days prior to arrival for the time being, so there’s not a huge advantage to booking room only at the moment.

We were planning to do part of our stay at the Doubletree to save money, so we can afford a longer stay overall. Do you think it would be hard to link up a Doubletree reservation made through Mousesavers or through Hotels.com with a CBR package purchased through WDW? We would get 3-4 nights at Doubletree and also book 4-6 nights at CBR (if buying tix with package, it would be 7 or 8 day tix with PH+). Doubletree stay first, then CBR. Total nights to be 8 or 9.

What is PIF? Pay in full? Meaning that you don't have to pay in full until 7 days prior to arrival anyway so we could cancel up to 7 days prior to arrival? Would we be able to cancel tickets and room at that point?

 

[DisneyWishes14]

We were planning to do part of our stay at the Doubletree to save money, so we can afford a longer stay overall. Do you think it would be hard to link up a Doubletree reservation made through Mousesavers or through Hotels.com with a CBR package purchased through WDW? We would get 3-4 nights at Doubletree and also book 4-6 nights at CBR (if buying tix with package, it would be 7 or 8 day tix with PH+). Doubletree stay first, then CBR. Total nights to be 8 or 9.

What is PIF? Pay in full? Meaning that you don't have to pay in full until 7 days prior to arrival anyway so we could cancel up to 7 days prior to arrival? Would we be able to cancel tickets and room at that point?

I have never made Doubletree reservations through Mousesavers or Hotels.com, so I can't answer the question regarding linking that reservation to My Disney Experience. It looks like the Mousesavers link puts you directly onto the Hilton site, which, I personally, would prefer as you will probably have better change/cancellation options. I like to avoid purchasing any travel components from third-parties (unless it's theme park tickets as I find Undercover Tourist to be very reputable).

The problem with doing a package stay at CBR after the Doubletree is your tickets will be dated-based and you wouldn't be able to use them until your CBR check-in date. The way around that is to do CBR first as a package and Doubletree second. The other way around it is doing two room-only stays and buying tickets separately, but those tickets would be non-refundable (though they would hold their value) which is why I suggested doing a package so you don't have a huge outlay of cash.

I'm trying to find clarification of the new cancellation policy - I may have spoken too soon as that may only apply to existing bookings.

The normal WDW package cancellation policy is balance is due 30 days prior (again, I'll check to see if the new 7 day would apply to a new reservation). If you cancel 29 - 2 days prior, you lose $200, if you cancel 1-day prior, you lose everything. You can always modify and not lose any money.

 

[ewasilau]

I have never made Doubletree reservations through Mousesavers or Hotels.com, so I can't answer the question regarding linking that reservation to My Disney Experience. It looks like the Mousesavers link puts you directly onto the Hilton site, which, I personally, would prefer as you will probably have better change/cancellation options. I like to avoid purchasing any travel components from third-parties (unless it's theme park tickets as I find Undercover Tourist to be very reputable).

The problem with doing a package stay at CBR after the Doubletree is your tickets will be dated-based and you wouldn't be able to use them until your CBR check-in date. The way around that is to do CBR first as a package and Doubletree second. The other way around it is doing two room-only stays and buying tickets separately, but those tickets would be non-refundable (though they would hold their value) which is why I suggested doing a package so you don't have a huge outlay of cash.

I'm trying to find clarification of the new cancellation policy - I may have spoken too soon as that may only apply to existing bookings.

The normal WDW package cancellation policy is balance is due 30 days prior (again, I'll check to see if the new 7 day would apply to a new reservation). If you cancel 29 - 2 days prior, you lose $200, if you cancel 1-day prior, you lose everything. You can always modify and not lose any money.

Thank you for this - very helpful. So, I just checked and the Doubletree through Hotels.com is cheaper for the end of our trip anyway ($118/night!), so that may be the way to go. And I'm guessing that if I book a 6-night stay at CBR, I can buy 7 day or 8 day park hoppers and they will be good long enough to cover a 3-night Doubletree stay at the end. I got this from the ticket thread:
7-Day Ticket Any 7 days within 10 days beginning on the start date (11 days with PH+)

Would we have any trouble getting our FP+ at the 60 day window for all of our ticket days? We would have the doubletree linked into MDE by the 60 day window, assuming there are no glitches with linking it.

Thank you!

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Thank you for this - very helpful. So, I just checked and the Doubletree through Hotels.com is cheaper for the end of our trip anyway ($118/night!), so that may be the way to go. And I'm guessing that if I book a 6-night stay at CBR, I can buy 7 day or 8 day park hoppers and they will be good long enough to cover a 3-night Doubletree stay at the end. I got this from the ticket thread:
7-Day Ticket Any 7 days within 10 days beginning on the start date (11 days with PH+)

Would we have any trouble getting our FP+ at the 60 day window for all of our ticket days? We would have the doubletree linked into MDE by the 60 day window, assuming there are no glitches with linking it.

Thank you!

Yes, if you book a 6 night CBR package with tickets, a 7 day PH+ ticket would be good for 11 days starting on your check-in date and the 8-day PH+ would be good for 13 days starting on your check-in day. As long as the Doubletree is linked in MDE, theoretically, you should have no issue booking FP+ for both stays at 60 days prior to the CBR reservation check-in date.

I'm sorry, I misspoke in an earlier post. Only existing reservations as of a few days ago qualify for the new, 7 day prior to check-in balance due date. New reservations are under the old policy of balance paid 30 days prior. You don't mention your dates, but all reservations with check-in dates up to June 30 now have a 1-day cancellation policy. If it's July 1 or beyond, it's a 30 day cancellation policy. This could all change depending on when they actually open everything back up, of course.