Need help deciding on a package plan???

[twinx4]

Hi

I'll be going to Disneyworld in December and staying for 7d/6n. In the past I would just book a room only and purchase my park hopper tickets at the Disney store days before my trip. This will be my 4th yearly trip and this time besides going to the parks daily, I also want to venture out and do something a little different. Any suggestions????????????

We will be trying different restaurants and this year I want to go and the circus and go to Disney Quest.

One suggestion that was offered to me was to split my vacation and do half at the basic plan(room only) and the other have with the silver plan package. But I have never used the packages. So does anyone have any suggestions on the packages. Should I really invest in one or will I come out just as well purchasing everything separately.

I hear some people don't like them b/c they say that you can't do half of the things that they have available to do b/c you don't have enough time.

HELPPPP

 

[disneysteve]

We always book everything seperately, but we also drive down, stay offsite and eat relatively casually the whole time.

If you are considering a package deal from Disney or from a travel agent, you need to do a detailed review of what the package includes. If you realistically think you will make use of all the package offers, then price everything out seperately and see which is the better deal. Sometimes, if the package includes even one feature that you don't want or won't be able to use, it makes the package price not a good deal. So you just need to do your homework and be realistic about what you can actually accomplish during your stay.

Steve

 

[meowchi]

I can 2nd the prices from travel agents for the packages. I got our prices and doing everything separate with hotel, plane and parkhoppers save between 500-1000.00 I was booking 3 separate trips to get these differences and one was for 2 and one was for 4 people for 7 nights.

 

[hogie1]

My wife and I went with a package last year on our honeymoon, and now I swear by them. 2 other couples, and my wife and I just booked a trip for next Aug 2004 for 8 days/7 nights thru AAA. We got the Dream Maker Silver Package for $3027 (w/ no airfare but includes Ultimate Park Hoppers, standard room at the Swan, Magical Wishes, and travel insurance) and booking thru Disney it was about $650 more for the same thing. This price is per couple. We booked without airfare because Jetblue is gonna fly out of Boston to Orlando starting 2004 for about $79-99 each way. The sliver package is great because w/ 2 magical wishes per person per day, you can use it for meals, or certain activites such as watercraft, Circ de Soleil (sp), spa treatment, etc. We'll use it mostly for meals because we like to eat well, but there are some good choices. If you go with a higher package, you might not spend as much time in the parks if you're trying to everything else. We used our package on our honeymoon very well, but we did have a higher package , Golden I think, and we had all of our meals included, all fishing, watermouse rentals, etc included. Some stuff we didn't even bother to use, but I estimate we did well over what we would have spent if it was all out of pocket.
That's just my 2 cents, enjoy what ever you end up doing!!

-Paul & Christine Hogan
Dec 2000 Dolphin
Oct 2001 Swan
Sept 2002 Grand Floridian
Aug 2004 Swan