No more packages

[plucky]

I need some expert advice. After four years of doing Disney with a package, we are thinking that we might be able to save money by buying the tickets and room separately, paying for food out of pocket, and driving instead of flying from upstate NY. Am I crazy? I'm thinking that the package price ends up being more expensive, and that I'm paying extra for the convenience of having everything paid for in advance.

Is Undercover Tourist reputable? It seems that they offer discounts on tickets.

Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[Sassagoula Billy]

In my experience, a room-only reservation is always cheaper. Add in a 40% discount and it's a win-win situation. As for Undercover Tourist, I used them on my recent trip to the World and I would highly recommend their services.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

We're switching to a "no more packages" stance next year too. This year we have FD booked on a bounceback so even though we're at POP we'll still have the regular DDP. Now that they've changed their offer, the package is not the deal it once was, so we're going to stay offsite and go back to 10 day non-exp tickets (using 2-3 days each trip, plus 2 waterpark days) and eating only CS at the parks and lots of meals offsite. We always drive to WDW so we always have our own car, and this makes more sense to us.

I was able justify staying onsite because of Free Dining (and yes, I know I was paying jacked up room rates), but all of the changes WDW has made to the DDP and what they're offering over the years have made it harder and harder to justify.

We have purchased tickets from Undercover Tourist in the past and they are very reputable.

 

[BYC]

I would drive instead of fly except I don't have the time it takes to do that. Adds a few days onto the trip that we can't do. If you have the time to drive, then go for it! You will save on airfare, and you will have your own car, so you save there. And Undercover Tourist is great!

 

[Thumper_Man]

Is Undercover Tourist reputable? It seems that they offer discounts on tickets.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Undercover Tourist is very reputable. I bought all my tickets from them for our upcoming trip. They ship very quickly as well. All taxes and shipping fees are already included in the price of the ticket.

 

[Royal Oak Family]

I recently bought from undercover and had my tickets in 2 days. They rock!

 

[ccgirl]

You might want to also price out Mousesavers and AAA for tix. If you get your tix at AAA you get a preferred parking pass. While you still have to pay full price for parking, the parking is up by the handicapped spots. At my AAA in MA you only need to buy tix but in others you need to buy the entire package so call and check. If you are staying at moderate or above; I would think the room discount would be better. Driving you would definitely save money. I usually do non-package trips and they do come out cheaper. I definitely don't eat as much as I do when I have the DDP. Good luck with your decision.

 

[mrsltg]

The key is to do your homework. Figure out what you'll spend with an all inclusive type of package and then price out each piece separately. Driving will likely save money over flying but you need to factor in time and what it's worth to you. There really isn't a blanket answer because each situation is so unique.

 

[TaraBara]

We are driving from Baltimore. We decided to drive and buy all the components separately because it will definitely be cheaper for us. We booked our rooms on Travelocity and got a great deal. CBR was $75 a night and AKL was $144 a night, plus they had a promo for $50 off when you spend $400. We were able to use the promo code twice for our split stay since both reservations were over $400 so it saved us a total of $100(in addition to the great rates).

We are also buying tickets from Undercover Tourist. The difference will be substantial. For a 7 day ticket from Undercover Tourist it costs $863.81 and the same ticket (with tax and shipping) from WDW is $931.56.

For us, this is the best scenario. Sure, a package might be somewhat easier, but I enjoy searching around and finding the best price for everything.

Good luck with your decision!

 

[tinksgilrs251520]

maybe I am doing something wrong with my math I just looked at the comparison in both ways and for my 12 day trip I was only saving 30 between UT tickets and room only reservation ... And if the DDP (reg) is 40 something per day well for a family of 4 or 5 thats 1 counter service so if somebody else can break it down for me I would love to see the real saving .......PLEASE NO FLAMES PLEASE just an explanation

 

[dudelydude]

All the p.p.'s have some great advice. I just wanted to chime-in with a push for flying. Then again, me and my family drove most places growing up and I can't do it anymore. Check out Travelocity or Expedia or one these sites to see what you can do for flight deals. Southwest is also having some kind of crazy special.

 

[sharadoc]

That's what we do. Buying everything separately gives you until the week you check in to cancel, vs. paying 45 days in advance.

We've bought our tickets from AAA but I swear I spend more in gas going to the office to buy them vs. the discount. I think we save around $35 for a family of four (3 adults, 1 kid).

We don't like eating out that often, so we would never go with the Dining Plan - for us, we eat breakfast in the room then wing it.

We drive every trip, so I'll say it's easy. Once you're mentally prepared for the length of time you're in the car, that is. We've done it four times since January 2009 and it gets easier every time. For around $300 - $350 round trip it's absolutely worth it for us.

Come on over to the transportation board - there's a thread called "For 2000+ miile drivers only" that has more information and helpful tips than you can handle!! Plus you can ask lots of questions and get good answers. Best thread on the DIS!

 

[pepe of ohio]

We' done 43 trips to WDW and none have been a package......we always prefer the room discount. We haven't ever been impressed with Disney dining (TS meals) in our visits, maybe in the late 70's and early 80's Disney dining was something but it's gone down hill and we're not being suckered in and doing a dining plan. We know what we want and where to get it and we get just as much enjoyment, if not more, from our grocery stop in route and having a pool picnic every day at noon at the pool. In our book, breakfast is breakfast, not alot of choices and about the same price across the board on property, for us we share one and the price is very reasonable, dinner is a whole different ball game. There is nothing out there that interests us, let alone for the price they ask, so we opt for CS at alot of different places. We're not foodies, feel TS is mediocre at best for too much money, so we take the room discount, which we always stay deluxe, at 40+ percent, buy an AP and that's it. We stay on property 9-12 nights and the resort pool is enough for us but even if we decide to do a water park, paying out of pocket for the one time is cheaper than buying the WP and more that we'd never use, same for DQ, for us a waste. We've ran the numbers, know our dining habits and wishes and packages are not for us, to those that do them, more power to you!

 

[Tomh]

I think it all depends on your family. We are hardy eaters, so the DDP is well suited to us. For that reason, and the convenience it affords, we go with the package, and the free dining. We stay at POR, so we get the regular dining plan instead of the quick service, and it allows us to have 5 people in our room instead of the 4 at the other mods, and values. I'm happy with what we get for the package price, but I can also see the potential to save money if you don't eat as much as we do.

 

[cassandrap83]

This is how our original plan worked, I did not include my entire budget of tips, etc. b/c that is the same no matter what option we chose. I only included stuff that changed.

2 adults 2 children
6nights 7days
$2538 Wilderness Lodge & 6day base tickets + FREE DINING
$1100 Airfare + 4 checked bags each way
$50 rent a car for a day to go to Cocoa Beach
$50 for food while off site
$3738 Total

We considered driving & staying off-site also:

2 adults 2 children
7nights 8days
$600 off-site hotel + 1 day stop on the way
$1050 6day base tickets
$600 Food
$350 Gas (driving from PA)
$2600 Total

We ran into a good friend of ours with a time share & husband in the military, so here's how we really ended up:

2 adults 2 children
8nights 9days
$279 for our share of a 2bedroom, 1400sqft vila Time Share Rental
$600 Military Salute 4day park hoppers with water parks options
$600 Food
$350 Gas (driving from PA)
$200 MNSSHP
$2029

While we are definitely in a unique situation, our option #2 is definitely a viable option! You can most definitely save money by driving & staying off site.

Also, this is all during value/off season pricing in September.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

maybe I am doing something wrong with my math I just looked at the comparison in both ways and for my 12 day trip I was only saving 30 between UT tickets and room only reservation ... And if the DDP (reg) is 40 something per day well for a family of 4 or 5 thats 1 counter service so if somebody else can break it down for me I would love to see the real saving .......PLEASE NO FLAMES PLEASE just an explanation

For us, the savings would be substantial because we would not stay onsite. We would rent a condo at Windsor Hills for $750 for two weeks.

The only reason we stay onsite is to qualify for the free DDP. We're willing to pay rack rate for our rooms (we need 2) because we'll get 1CS, 1TS and 1 snack per person, per night. Now that WDW is only offering QSDP for the values, and is rumored to be excluding desserts from the plan next year, we can no longer justify the "perceived value" of staying onsite and paying rack rate for the room. We'll eat breakfast at the condo, CS at the parks plus a snack or two, and dinner offsite.

 

[TaraBara]

maybe I am doing something wrong with my math I just looked at the comparison in both ways and for my 12 day trip I was only saving 30 between UT tickets and room only reservation ... And if the DDP (reg) is 40 something per day well for a family of 4 or 5 thats 1 counter service so if somebody else can break it down for me I would love to see the real saving .......PLEASE NO FLAMES PLEASE just an explanation

Every situation is going to be different depending on time of year, which resort, type of room, etc. The dining plan/free dining was never an option for us because it just doesn't fit our needs. We have 2 young children and have no desire to have a TS meal every day. We are planning for 2 TS meals only. On the plan we would have to do a TS every day or none at all. Plus, we aren't huge eaters or drinkers. We wouldn't be needing a drink with every meal because we'll be bringing water into the park and we definitely won't want a dessert/side with every meal.

These are the differences for us:

Separately off travelocity/UndercoverTourist........
CBR-8nights:$541.00
7day MYW base tickets:$863.81
Total:$1404.81

Package.......
Magic your way plus free dining
CBR-8nights/7day MYW base ticket/free dining
Total: $2306

As you can see, for us it was a substantial difference of $900. We won't be spending that much in food and plus we won't have to pay the extra tips!

In the end, we actually decided on a split stay. Since we got such a great price on CBR, we decided we will also stay at AKL for 3 nights! Yay!!!!

 

[duffy]

We're done with packages too. I bought non-expiring tickets for my husband and I for 7? 8? I don't remember! days, and I keep a constant eye out for days available at the Swan or Dolphin using my Starwood points. Using my points, I can get a night for 4,000 points and $60. Next time we go, it will cost us just the $180 for 3 nights at the Swan, our tickets are paid for since last summer, and we may or may not just drive down. We're happy with counter service meals too-I've concluded that most table service meals take up huge chunks of time that I don't want to waste.

But that's just us.

 

[wnielsen1]

There is no need to book a package unless there is a nice promotion for it (such as free dining). In any event, always book airfare separately.

 

[ccgirl]

Every situation is going to be different depending on time of year, which resort, type of room, etc. The dining plan/free dining was never an option for us because it just doesn't fit our needs. We have 2 young children and have no desire to have a TS meal every day. We are planning for 2 TS meals only. On the plan we would have to do a TS every day or none at all. Plus, we aren't huge eaters or drinkers. We wouldn't be needing a drink with every meal because we'll be bringing water into the park and we definitely won't want a dessert/side with every meal.

These are the differences for us:

Separately off travelocity/UndercoverTourist........
CBR-8nights:$541.00
7day MYW base tickets:$863.81
Total:$1404.81

Package.......
Magic your way plus free dining
CBR-8nights/7day MYW base ticket/free dining
Total: $2306

As you can see, for us it was a substantial difference of $900. We won't be spending that much in food and plus we won't have to pay the extra tips!

In the end, we actually decided on a split stay. Since we got such a great price on CBR, we decided we will also stay at AKL for 3 nights! Yay!!!!

You hit the nail on the head. Great rates by the way! Have a blast!

For my trip this December, I originally booked 3 nights at a value with the 40% off monster pin. This morning I crunched the numbers and the difference b/w the 40% off room with Mousesavers tix and the full rack rate/ full rate tickets/ plus free QS dining was only $146. I knew we would spend more than that on 4 days of food/drink with myself, my DH, and my DD considering we get 2 QS, 2 snacks per night plus a refillable mug. That is still a lot of food so we are going to spread it out over 4 days as it is good until the midnight of the day you check out. We are not leaving, we are just going off site to a timeshare so we will still be there. So, for us it did work out. Plus, there are a lot of places where the meal is so large I can share it with my DS2. As this poster did, you just really have to crunch your numbers.