Making Room Only to package with dining - Q's

[Bridge203618]

I have a room only reservation for May 27-June 4 at POP. I booked it at 30% off. I was hoping that I would get a FQSD pin and pack rack rate for the hotel.

We have tickets for 3 of the 4 of us. My youngest DD (3 1/2) needs a ticket. That is the main reason I didn't do a package. We will be back in about 5 years.

I really liked the idea of a dining plan only because I will stress over what people are ordering and how we are doing on our dining budget without it. If I have it I don't have to be the bad guy saying WHAT are you ordering that for, didn't you see how much it is??

If I want to have a dining plan, I have to add one day park tickets that I really don't need which cost me about $325.00. Some of which I would use to upgrade my DD so I am still spending about 300 of unnecessary money that I won't reap the benefit of for 5 years. But I am considering it.

Lets just assume I do decide it is worth it to spend the money now and save them -

Can i just call up my room only reservation - keep that rate and add the tickets and dining? I have about 40ish days left so I know that I have to pay when I book it. Is it ok to wait till like the week before we go? If so can I get my ADRs now? I have a few but would need more because I think we would get the regular dining plan. Is there any charge for adding the dining plan and tickets late? And also is there any chance at all I could lose my discount on my hotel which is pretty good and better than what is out right now?

I was REALLY hoping I could get 1 day tickets and then use them to upgrade with my GAD vouchers but I believe I can't do that bummer!

What would you do? Would you pay the extra for these tickets for later to get the dining plan. I know in my mind I would probably spend less if I didn't have the dining plan but the flexibility might be worth it. I don't want to be bitter cuz DH ordered something expensive

Also are the tickets attached to my room key? I don't have to use the new tickets if I have older tickets right? I can save them????

Please give me any advice or point out things i haven't heard of.

Also can you tell me how pizzas work? IF I order a large pizza say at the resort - is that table service or quick service? How many credits?

If you have the dining plan how much OOP do you normally spend?

 

[beth_cam]

I don't have answers for all of it but I can try to help with some -

When comparing the numbers you may want to go to wdwinfo.com and get a good idea of how much you will actually be spending on food.

I'm not sure quite what you are planning with the tickets so just putting this in incase - I think you can only use one ticket to upgrade, you can't combine the tickets for the upgrade

Yes the tickets are attatched to your room key. But, you don't have to use the new tickets. They remain as is until they are used at the park gate the first time. So you can just save them. Some people say you can have them separated from the room key just to make sure you don't get things confused and accidentally use the wrong one. A word of caution that came to mind but may never be an issue but maybe a consideration since you aren't planning on being back for a long time - Several years ago they changed the way they do their tickets. You could still use any tickets you had purchased in the past, but only for exactly what they were purchased for - no upgrading. They may never do that again, but I would atleast think about it.

Changing form a room only to a package isn't necessarily as easy as it sounds. I'm not sure if it has changed or not, but it used to be a common advice on here that you had to be careful about it. My only real comment on it would be to modify as soon as you decide to so that you have the best chance of getting what you want.

I personally wouldn't plan for a future 5 years from now with the tickets. It looks like from what you are saying that purchasing the quick service dining plan for now will cost you an extra 1000. Will you spend that much on food? Yes you will have tickets left for next time. But what if you want a package then and can't use those tickets? I do like the idea of having the package prepurchased and not worrying about it. But in this case, I'd really have to think it out and figure out if it is going to really be the savings I am hoping for. I too would probably drive everyone craze with why are you ording that without the qsdp. That has always figured into the fact that I purchase it everytime.

 

[su_A_ve]

Switching from a room-only to a package will require a cancellation and rebooking, and a change in the deposit and cancellation fees/times. A package requires a $200 deposit and balance due 45 days prior to arrival. AFAIK, a room-only requires a one night deposit and balance due 7 days prior to arrival.

Now, a package only requires a 1 day base ticket regardless of the length of stay. Water/Hopper options are not required. (APs, FL residents are another story). That said, you 1 Day Base ticket will only amount to $84.14 x 3 + $72.42 = $324.84. The thing is the tickets DO NOT EXPIRE. You can use these in the future. At check-in simply request those tickets in paper format for the 3 of you. You can upgrade your youngest DD base ticket to whatever.

You'll need to do the math for your stay to see if it makes sense or not. QSD for 3 adults and 1 child amounts to about $100 a night. However your OOP cost would go up to the room rack rate, and the $250 in tickets.

Finally, you can upgrade the GADs to whatever length you want. Or use them as all-day FPs.

 

[Bridge203618]

Switching from a room-only to a package will require a cancellation and rebooking, and a change in the deposit and cancellation fees/times. A package requires a $200 deposit and balance due 45 days prior to arrival. AFAIK, a room-only requires a one night deposit and balance due 7 days prior to arrival.

Now, a package only requires a 1 day base ticket regardless of the length of stay. Water/Hopper options are not required. (APs, FL residents are another story). That said, you 1 Day Base ticket will only amount to $84.14 x 3 + $72.42 = $324.84. The thing is the tickets DO NOT EXPIRE. You can use these in the future. At check-in simply request those tickets in paper format for the 3 of you. You can upgrade your youngest DD base ticket to whatever.

You'll need to do the math for your stay to see if it makes sense or not. QSD for 3 adults and 1 child amounts to about $100 a night. However your OOP cost would go up to the room rack rate, and the $250 in tickets.

Finally, you can upgrade the GADs to whatever length you want. Or use them as all-day FPs.

So when i booked my room only reservation I could have added tickets and a dining plan but I can't now? So I would have to cancel and pack rack rate? Why?

Are you saying I can take my one day tickets thru the package and use my GAD voucher to upgrade them to 6 day tickets? That isn't what I read on here somewhere... I read you can't upgrade tickets thru a package with a GAD voucher...

 

[mickeynut1]

So when i booked my room only reservation I could have added tickets and a dining plan but I can't now? So I would have to cancel and pack rack rate? Why?

Are you saying I can take my one day tickets thru the package and use my GAD voucher to upgrade them to 6 day tickets? That isn't what I read on here somewhere... I read you can't upgrade tickets thru a package with a GAD voucher...

You should be able to add tickets and dining to your current ressie to make it a package, but your room only ressie may have to be cancelled/refunded and the package booked, keeping the 30% off on the room portion only. This would require full payment since you're 44 days or less prior to arrival . If you were to get a free QSDP pin and change deals, that would require you to pay rack rate for the room as you can't use more than one discount (i.e., free dining AND % off the room). As far as upgrading park tickets......I'm not familiar with the GAD tickets so I can't help there......but for the 1 day tickets from the package, only 1 ticket per person is allowed to be put toward the upgrade.....so you can take your DD's 1 day ticket from the package and apply that to a multi-day ticket and save the other 3 for a future trip .

 

[Luv2Roam]

The ticket upgrade I am pretty sure is a 1:1 ratio.

And as mentioned you would need to book the package you want and pay the deposit requirements. Only when you have booked the package you want would you want to cancel the room only res.
A room only res is not through WDTC. A package is WDTC. This is why it may not possibly be as simple as adding tickets and dining to make a package. Travel packages all have certain requirements, such as payment and deposit policy. And there is no such thing as a room only res with tickets and dining added. If there is dining, it is a package. (With a few exceptions, such as staying on DVC with points.)
Some find going from a room only res to a package as fairly seamless. But they are comparing apples or oranges.

If you are not planning on using the tickets for 5 years, I would probably stick with the room only. You seem to have a rate you like.
However as mentioned, those tickets on the package would not expire, as long as you do not use them.