Paying for resorts in advance

[afterezra]

Hi everyone! I just recently joined the boards and I've found out such great information. You guys are invaluable!

We just booked a package at CBR. We paid our down payment, but I was wondering if we could go ahead and pay in full. It's an odd question, I know.

Thanks for all your help,
Tara

 

[leighe]

First of all

WELCOME TO THE BOARDS!

You will find so much good information. I always pay for the room in advance. It just makes me enjoy vacation more if that part's all taken care of. You can call CRO and give them your debit/credit card over the phone or you can mail a payment to the same place you send the deposit. I have done this for the last few trips and it has worked perfectly every time!

Have fun!

 

[got2lovedisney]

I called and paid off the balance of my 3/30 trip also. I'm glad I did because as I was verifying the information, it turns out the CRO agent I spoke with in Jan did NOT apply the new code so the res was still showing about $27 too high. Luckily, I was able to get the better code applied to my res but if I hadn't of called to pay...I would've been one upset customer at check-in. Not the way I want to start my vacation.

 

[Castillo Mom]

Welcome to the Dis Tara! It's not an odd question at all. I've been paying on our resort since 12/02 and it'll be paid off by April. Actually, most of our trip expenses with the exception of spending money will be prepaid. I can't imagine getting the entire bill at the end of the trip.

 

[afterezra]

Thanks so much everyone. I agree that I'd rather not end my vacation with a big bill. Especially since we're going in October and when we get back it will be Christmas shopping time!

Have a great weekend,
Tara

 

[BrerMama]

We paid off the balance of our package for our June trip a few weeks ago (love that tax return!). Now we can focus on saving money for our food and extras. It's a lot easier to think, "Do I want to go out to eat for lunch or do I want to buy the kids something at Disney?" when the bulk of it is paid.

 

[mudnuri]

Thats exactly what we did! Thank you Uncle Sam!

I paid for ASM on CC Wednesday, and will mail the check to CC next week, got our park hopper, sea world, and gator land tickets already, paid off that CC...

now all thats really left is the other hotels, and food/spending money...

And I agree- "do you want to order pizza, or do you want a toy at disney?".....simple answer here in my house!

Brandy

 

[debster812]

There are some that disagree with this method, but not only can you pay for your stay up front, you can actually overpay your reservation, then you have some of your spending money already taken care of. What I did this year:

Booked our room at rack rate, and sent Disney a check every 6 weeks or so. We were able to apply an AP discount code, and had a few hundred dollars extra. We kept that on our account, and used it for some food, and souveniers, etc.

Good Luck, have a great trip, and welcome to the DIS

 

[jenr812]

Originally posted by debster812
There are some that disagree with this method, but not only can you pay for your stay up front, you can actually overpay your reservation, then you have some of your spending money already taken care of. What I did this year:

Booked our room at rack rate, and sent Disney a check every 6 weeks or so. We were able to apply an AP discount code, and had a few hundred dollars extra. We kept that on our account, and used it for some food, and souveniers, etc.

Good Luck, have a great trip, and welcome to the DIS

I like this idea

 

[KIRSTIN'S MOMMY]

I'm hoping that we can do this too! I have paid my reservation in full, bought my AP's with the tax refund, and set aside $800 for food ($100 per day). But, so far, haven't been able to save any spending money! Come on AP rates!!!!

 

[pumpkinboy]

Wow, interesting thread, and replies! As a self-professed Finance Wonk, I am more inclined to pay anything on which I am not accruing interest charges as late as possible. That way, I use today's money to pay-down debts that are accruing interest charges. An example:

I have a home equity line which is at the wonderfully low rate of 3.75%. That is my cost of money, since I would hope that my other obligations would be long-term fixed ones like my mortgage. When I have cash in hand, I have a choice: I could immediately pay off a vacation I am taking in November (for which final payment is due in September), or I could use that money to pay down my home equity line; then when september rolls around, I pay the vacation bill out of my home equity line. In this transaction I am up maybe 6 months worth of interest (maybe $5,000 * 3.75% /2 = $93.75). And that's with a really low interest rate. If I had outstanding credit card debt (heaven forbid!), paying that down for a few months is an even bigger payoff.

So, do I set the money aside to pay for the vacation? Yes!!! Do I pay it off any sooner than I have to? NO! And getting those AP rates is a good thing too.

 

[brentalex]

I am not as much of a financial wiz as pumpkinboy, but I am of the feeling that I would rather keep the money in my account, making interest for me, rather than giving it to Disney letting them get the interest. We pay our credit cards off in full each month, and put everything we can into one savings account or another. It adds up little by little and then when it is vacation time we have the money. It is only the hotel that needs to be paid. the airfare is all paid, we have all our tickets for the parks, but the rest will be paid at the end, which is coming up faster and faster. We did just save $600 by using the Disney VISA discount. A great deal