Planning a Family trip around a Work Conference at Disney

[PaulaSue]

Last week at our conference (every year) they announced the next one will be in Disney with our family (First time family was invited and first time we knew more than 2-3 months ahead of time as in the location or the week) and even gave our dates and the Hotel.

So needless to say I am happy to be planning again....

Hoping to get conference rate the rest of the time we will be there. Can you call ahead to book the rest of the week directly though Disney so would I have to wait for the Conference Travel Agents to contact us since we will be staying onsite?

We have a ton of Disney $s I want to use up to extend our stay/tickets/meal plan if I can. Can a regular travel agent help book, call Disney or will I have to get the GC to use for the extras at the parks and for the other meals

Who has done this before? Any tips?

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

I would wait. When attending a conference at WDW you will get a discount code for tickets.

 

[PaulaSue]

Would that include the room/tickets/meal plan deal that we usually get?

Example the conference is for Mon - Wed (leave Thurs) and we want to extend and arrive Sat and leave the next Sat.

TIA!

 

[Sadie22]

When DH had a Monday-Friday conference, we went from Saturday to the following Saturday or Sunday and were able to get the convention rate for entire trip. We had to book through a link provided by the convention organizers to get that rate. It was a room-only reservation. We could have ordered tickets at a special convention rate as well, but it was during Give a Day, Get a Disney Day and using that worked out better for us than the convention ticket rates.

During DH's convention many of his meals and a couple for me were included. Since it's a room-only reservation to get the convention rate, I don't think there's a dining plan option.

 

[PaulaSue]

Very Cool! Thanks for all your info! I know everything could be different for our group but it is helping me think of all the options. I would hate to wait for last minute (2-3 months) to plan when I know I need to make ressies 6 months in advance for our family for the special meals, etc... especially when we need a bigger room for our family of 5.

I want to be ready with Plan A, B and C

 

[snarlingcoyote]

I've been to a training seminar at the Yacht Club before, but didn't tag a vacation on it (that seminar, actually, was the start of my Disney love); I seem to remember that you can tag a several days of hotel reservations before or after the conference though and that Disney actually touts this as an incentive to get businesses to schedule Disney Work Conferences ("get your employees special rates for their vacations").

When you get information about booking, it will have the rate, who to call about booking and how long before and after the conference you can extend your stay. Conference tickets at a discount are for after 2PM and 4PM, I remember that much, but I want to also say they offered special rates for families, maybe? Not much off, maybe as much as you can get through Undercover Tourist?

Someone else who has actually done this will need to answer that part!

Enjoy your conference!

 

[Marionnette]

We've been to conferences at Disney several times. The rooms are always at Deluxe resorts with convention centers and the rates are phenomenal (similar to the "group" rates that a certain TA offers). When the host resort fills up, they open up rooms at alternate resorts and offer private transportation to the meetings from the alternate resorts. I believe that we could book up to 2 rooms at the convention rate.

We were offered the ability to book for 3 days prior to the meeting and for 3 additional days following the end of the meeting. They had both "after 2 PM" and "after 4 PM" tickets available for us to purchase, as well as discounted MYW tickets. The "after 2PM" and "after 4PM" tickets aren't worth purchasing unless you have no plans to visit the parks for more than a couple of days. They also have expiration dates, so if you don't use them, you will lose your "investment". The MYW convention tickets were about the same as UT through the Mousesavers link.

Like others have mentioned, we booked directly with Disney using a link provided by the convention planners. However, we are private business owners and would not have used a corporate TA anyway. Disney will confirm that you are registered with the convention/meeting in order to keep people who are not going to the meeting from abusing the discounts. If the meeting planners have arranged for any special events (fireworks dessert party, etc.), you should be able to book it through the same link.

Since these are special room-only rates, getting the dining plan is not an option. TBH, we found that paying OOP for our meals worked out better for us since we like to order appetizers but avoid desserts.

In all, we've found that the convention room rates can be awesome if you normally stay at deluxes. If you normally stay at moderates, the rate is comparable to what you would pay for a moderate room with a public discount code.

 

[akcire]

We've been to conferences at Disney several times. The rooms are always at Deluxe resorts with convention centers and the rates are phenomenal (similar to the "group" rates that a certain TA offers). When the host resort fills up, they open up rooms at alternate resorts and offer private transportation to the meetings from the alternate resorts. I believe that we could book up to 2 rooms at the convention rate.

We were offered the ability to book for 3 days prior to the meeting and for 3 additional days following the end of the meeting. They had both "after 2 PM" and "after 4 PM" tickets available for us to purchase, as well as discounted MYW tickets. The "after 2PM" and "after 4PM" tickets aren't worth purchasing unless you have no plans to visit the parks for more than a couple of days. They also have expiration dates, so if you don't use them, you will lose your "investment". The MYW convention tickets were about the same as UT through the Mousesavers link.

Like others have mentioned, we booked directly with Disney using a link provided by the convention planners. However, we are private business owners and would not have used a corporate TA anyway. Disney will confirm that you are registered with the convention/meeting in order to keep people who are not going to the meeting from abusing the discounts. If the meeting planners have arranged for any special events (fireworks dessert party, etc.), you should be able to book it through the same link.

Since these are special room-only rates, getting the dining plan is not an option. TBH, we found that paying OOP for our meals worked out better for us since we like to order appetizers but avoid desserts.

In all, we've found that the convention room rates can be awesome if you normally stay at deluxes. If you normally stay at moderates, the rate is comparable to what you would pay for a moderate room with a public discount code.

Hi. Tried to send a PM. Can you advise the TA that has group rates? Feel free to send a PM if you can.

 

[AndreaDM]

When DH had a Monday-Friday conference, we went from Saturday to the following Saturday or Sunday and were able to get the convention rate for entire trip. We had to book through a link provided by the convention organizers to get that rate. It was a room-only reservation. We could have ordered tickets at a special convention rate as well, but it was during Give a Day, Get a Disney Day and using that worked out better for us than the convention ticket rates.

During DH's convention many of his meals and a couple for me were included. Since it's a room-only reservation to get the convention rate, I don't think there's a dining plan option.

This is the exact same scenario we had too! It was 2010 and we used the Give A Day promotion, DH just went to the parks that one day then I upgraded mine and DD's. We had a convention rate at CR, so no dining plan, plus DH's meals were all paid for or reimbursed. We did a grocery delivery that trip since we didn't have a car or the dining plan.

Enjoy!

 

[NotUrsula]

The presumption is that attendees will be in meetings from morning until mid-afternoon each day, and that they will also be attending evening events.

Block the days at work, but don't buy any travel until you get the details of the conference rates. If your corporate travel agent is allowed to make your family flight reservations, then have them check, but don't be surprised if the rate you can get on your own turns out to be better for flights. (However, be prepared that your DH may be flying on a different airline than the rest of the family; if the company has a group rate contract, they may insist on his taking that airline.)

The dining plan is not going to be an option on a convention booking (for one thing, WDW assumes that the conference is feeding attendees, so there isn't much need for it.) You also usually cannot choose to stay at a hotel other than the official one hosting the conference -- UNLESS you want to purchase a second room on your own dime in order to get the dining plan. (I've done this when I wanted to stay onsite and the conference was at the Marriott; I checked into but did not sleep in the room that the conference provided for me. This usually isn't a loss for the company, because it is common for the conference rooms to be provided for free if they book a certain number of guest rooms.)

If the conference is at S/D, an extra bed for a family of 5 will not be a problem; there are very nice rollaway beds available there.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

Very Cool! Thanks for all your info! I know everything could be different for our group but it is helping me think of all the options. I would hate to wait for last minute (2-3 months) to plan when I know I need to make ressies 6 months in advance for our family for the special meals, etc... especially when we need a bigger room for our family of 5.

I want to be ready with Plan A, B and C

Can you go ahead with your multiple plans and then in the end cancel all but the one that works best? We have done a Bar Assoc. conference at Disney (many years ago) and the discounts were really significant--better than we would have gotten on our own.

 

[Padstack]

We've been to conferences at Disney several times. The rooms are always at Deluxe resorts with convention centers and the rates are phenomenal (similar to the "group" rates that a certain TA offers). When the host resort fills up, they open up rooms at alternate resorts and offer private transportation to the meetings from the alternate resorts. I believe that we could book up to 2 rooms at the convention rate.

We were offered the ability to book for 3 days prior to the meeting and for 3 additional days following the end of the meeting. They had both "after 2 PM" and "after 4 PM" tickets available for us to purchase, as well as discounted MYW tickets. The "after 2PM" and "after 4PM" tickets aren't worth purchasing unless you have no plans to visit the parks for more than a couple of days. They also have expiration dates, so if you don't use them, you will lose your "investment". The MYW convention tickets were about the same as UT through the Mousesavers link.

Like others have mentioned, we booked directly with Disney using a link provided by the convention planners. However, we are private business owners and would not have used a corporate TA anyway. Disney will confirm that you are registered with the convention/meeting in order to keep people who are not going to the meeting from abusing the discounts. If the meeting planners have arranged for any special events (fireworks dessert party, etc.), you should be able to book it through the same link.

Since these are special room-only rates, getting the dining plan is not an option. TBH, we found that paying OOP for our meals worked out better for us since we like to order appetizers but avoid desserts.

In all, we've found that the convention room rates can be awesome if you normally stay at deluxes. If you normally stay at moderates, the rate is comparable to what you would pay for a moderate room with a public discount code.

This is great info for conventions at WDW, except for the part in bold. I had a convention at Coronado Springs and that is where most of the attendees stayed. The convention rate was only for this resort and it was a substantial savings, especially given that this was during summer. We purchased our tickets through the YES Program which saved us over $300 over the convention rate tickets.

 

[Marionnette]

This is great info for conventions at WDW, except for the part in bold. I had a convention at Coronado Springs and that is where most of the attendees stayed. The convention rate was only for this resort and it was a substantial savings, especially given that this was during summer. We purchased our tickets through the YES Program which saved us over $300 over the convention rate tickets.

Sorry. I should have made my statement more clear by saying that all of OUR rooms have been at Deluxe Resorts with convention centers. I kind of thought that it was understood that I was relating my OWN experience. As with anything in life YMMV. I think that I'm going to add that to my signature.

 

[PaulaSue]

Thanks for all the info Everyone!

Making Plans on a budget is so much fun is a weird sort of way.

 

[Bildmouse]

DH and I have had a convention the last three years. When I compared convention rate to specials at the time I was better off booking through Dreams Unlimited. We extended our stay and were able to get free dining two years and even the ticket prices were better. This was at Coronado which we liked a lot.