New Travel Books - Unlimited Pass Included

[poffles]

Maybe this is happening only here in NS, but our travel books are all coming out with the Unlimited Disney Passes included in the price. This is really frustrating when trying to compare prices, you are unable to separate the trip cost without the pass, it requires contacting an agent. One book gives prices for every other hotel in the book except Disney resorts, so they make sure you call them for prices. Ugghh... what's the point of providing me with a book to reference if you don't provide prices.

I don't know about anyone else, but I prefer to get my own passes be it 7 day, or AP. At least if I don't use all 7 days, I can carry days over for another trip. Or, if you get an AP, you might use it again within the year. Comparing past years and seeing how much more the package is with all included, it definitely appears the price is inflated ALOT to add the passes to the package.

Why would they do this?!!!! This almost makes me not want to stay onsite (I said almost). It certainly makes me very upset with the travel agencies or whomever is responsible for this change, as this looks like a way to make money. Yes the arguement can be made that this makes it easier for those that want everything taken care of in one package, but how hard is it to obtain the passes separately. It definitely makes me want to book everything separately myself, going so far as to call Disney directly. I will be sure to do the math before making any committment, that's for sure.

I would be curious to hear from others who are observing the same thing. What are your thoughts on the change and will it impact how you go about booking your trip?

 

[MikeJ]

Yes the arguement can be made that this makes it easier for those that want everything taken care of in one package, but how hard is it to obtain the passes separately. It definitely makes me want to book everything separately myself, going so far as to call Disney directly.

One of the advantages to this web site is that people can be well-informed about how to book a WDW vacation to their best advantage. It's not that hard to purchase the passes separately, you're right, but many people are clueless (no slight intended) about what their options are. Our first trip with the kids was in 1995 and we, being neophytes, took the package deal offered from a travel agency. With two small children the one-stop-shopping aspect was incredibly convenient.

It was only when we made plans for the second trip that we discovered how much more we were paying for that convenience. Since then our planning methods have changed - we own at DVC and go twice within a 12 month window with our APs.

Depending on when you're planning to go, I bet that if you book your room, airfare, and passes a la carte you'll find that you save a great deal of money, particularly if Disney is offering the great rates on rooms that they are now. Some people don't like the hassle of doing everything for themselves (but for others the real excitement is in the hunt - just check out the Budget Board ), but for many of us, we'd never go back to packaged vacations again (at least, not as far as WDW is concerned. )

- Mike

 

[Toad]

You can almost always be guaranteed a lower price / better deal if you book airfare, rental car, hotel, etc. individually. I too booked a package the first time I went to Florida and found I could have saved over $200 (I'm not kidding) if I had done it on my own.

Another consideration with the Unlimited Magic Pass is that you pay for the day you arrive and the day you leave, which for us was two wasted days since it included travel time, settling in to the hotel, grocery shopping, etc. And our flight home was around 11am.

I know it is so much easier to book through a travel agent, and I would not try to discourage that business, but for our experiences, we have found that spending an evening or two making phone calls, searching the web, etc. to book ourselves added to the excitement. Also, if anything goes wrong, we have only ourselves to blame.

Have fun!!

 

[diz karen]

I saved a lot of money booking the trip myself. If you want to buy the tickets yourself, it really is not much harder to book the resort and air yourself. It is really nice to book it yourself because then it's much easier to get exactly what you want. You can shop around for deals on the individual portions which I have found is always much cheaper than any package.