Priceline POP cheaper than Disney AllStar?

[Serrina89]

I recently booked a stay at Disney for Aug 7-13th for a split stay (Going to Universal before hand).


We payed about $2379 for Hotel + Tickets at AllStar Movies. Tickets 7 days plus WP+M

I recently looked at Priceline and saw that a stay at POP would be $1150ish for the same nights and I could get discount tickets through my work (Lifecare) that would make it around the same price in total as what we booked with Disney.

I was hoping to pay out of debit card account evenly every month until we leave. If I chose the other option (priceline), I'd have to pay up front (which I could do with our savings and pay back that portion month by month---- (wouldn't come close to draining it).)

What would you do? Is there some risk not booking directly with Disney? I wish we could stay at AOA but can't justify the additional price HOWEVER, POP would be much preferable to any Allstar...Thoughts?

 

[mz-s]

I always book through AAA, Costco, or sometimes Disney. Whatever is cheaper.

 

[loves to dive]

No there is not a risk but when you go through 3rd party they are like a travel agent so everything has to be done through them. If you want to change anything, you will need to go through Priceline not Disney. I never buy packages with Disney. I usually buy my tickets from the Frog and book room only. I have booked rooms through Orbitz and have no problems. I'm assuming you are thinking of changing because of the sky liner, is that correct? Be aware, depending on the time of year you are going the sky liner can be shut down if there is thunder or a lot of wind in the area. When that happens, they do not tell you in advance, you basically get to the sky liner station and find it down then have to backtrack to get to a bus. I stay away from sky liner resorts, I'm not a fan and actually find the buses much more relaxing.

 

[Serrina89]

No there is not a risk but when you go through 3rd party they are like a travel agent so everything has to be done through them. If you want to change anything, you will need to go through Priceline not Disney. I never buy packages with Disney. I usually buy my tickets from the Frog and book room only. I have booked rooms through Orbitz and have no problems. I'm assuming you are thinking of changing because of the sky liner, is that correct? Be aware, depending on the time of year you are going the sky liner can be shut down if there is thunder or a lot of wind in the area. When that happens, they do not tell you in advance, you basically get to the sky liner station and find it down then have to backtrack to get to a bus. I stay away from sky liner resorts, I'm not a fan and actually find the buses much more relaxing.

Thank you! For saying this. I'm reconsidering staying at ASM based on this. We really wanted to stay at AOA because we are recreating a Dream 2013 trip so at least with POP we could visit AOA and have access to the skyliner. I've always had the notion that all star resorts were packed with tour groups, and team sports, which is why I wanted to stay away.

 

[ahamlet]

Seems to me there are options that make booking direct cheaper om this case. You said the price for tickets and hotel would be the same. You could keep the reservation and pay with discounted Disney gift cards. You could change to a room only reservation. Pay that with discounted gift cards. Then purchase the discounted tickets.

 

[Serrina89]

Seems to me there are options that make booking direct cheaper om this case. You said the price for tickets and hotel would be the same. You could keep the reservation and pay with discounted Disney gift cards. You could change to a room only reservation. Pay that with discounted gift cards. Then purchase the discounted tickets.

Thank you! I forgot about the pay with gift cards. I totally will do that. I was more hesitant about staying at an all-stars but now I'm really excited about staying somewhere new. It seemed it was cheaper to book offline hotel and pay the same amount for Pop vs All Stars with Pop originally being more preferable.

 

[Brett Wyman]

At Disney it doesn't matter. At other hotels/resorts third party bookings from discount sites are "bottom of the bucket" when it comes to upgrades/room moves/other promos/etc. But Disney doesnt have any of those anyway.

 

[Mle8308]

Also, generally booking through Priceline means if you cancel, no refunds. You might be able to plead your case to Priceline, the refund won't come from Disney because you did not pay them directly and it could take a long time. Priceline, especially with their discounted rates, can be very difficult to get a refund from, if they will do it at all.

 

[Ed Burnett]

I recently booked a stay at Disney for Aug 7-13th for a split stay (Going to Universal before hand).


We payed about $2379 for Hotel + Tickets at AllStar Movies. Tickets 7 days plus WP+M

I recently looked at Priceline and saw that a stay at POP would be $1150ish for the same nights and I could get discount tickets through my work (Lifecare) that would make it around the same price in total as what we booked with Disney.

I was hoping to pay out of debit card account evenly every month until we leave. If I chose the other option (priceline), I'd have to pay up front (which I could do with our savings and pay back that portion month by month---- (wouldn't come close to draining it).)

What would you do? Is there some risk not booking directly with Disney? I wish we could stay at AOA but can't justify the additional price HOWEVER, POP would be much preferable to any Allstar...Thoughts?

I wouldn't be worried. POP seems to be a no brainer.

 

[Yarbogash]

Also, generally booking through Priceline means if you cancel, no refunds. You might be able to plead your case to Priceline, the refund won't come from Disney because you did not pay them directly and it could take a long time. Priceline, especially with their discounted rates, can be very difficult to get a refund from, if they will do it at all.

Currently all of the Disney resorts on Priceline offer free cancelation. I booked a night at AKL on Priceline last month. With a publicly available discount coupon saved about 13% vs booking direct. Linked to my Disney profile no problem.
Later my dvc request went thru so I canceled the Priceline booking and got a full refund. It was easier and faster than canceling a direct booking; no phone call, did it all online.
The Priceline blind booking offers are usually non-refundable but haven’t seen any of those for Disney resorts for a long time.

 

[SL6827]

Currently all of the Disney resorts on Priceline offer free cancelation. I booked a night at AKL on Priceline last month. With a publicly available discount coupon saved about 13% vs booking direct. Linked to my Disney profile no problem.
Later my dvc request went thru so I canceled the Priceline booking and got a full refund. It was easier and faster than canceling a direct booking; no phone call, did it all online.
The Priceline blind booking offers are usually non-refundable but haven’t seen any of those for Disney resorts for a long time.

The only coupons I can find for Priceline are for their "express" rates I think? What am I missing?

 

[Yarbogash]

The only coupons I can find for Priceline are for their "express" rates I think? What am I missing?

I used a code from retailmenot. Got me 6% off plus the regular price was already a bit lower.

 

[HerzerHerrick]

I just got all star sports through priceline for next week for 110 a night(it was 160 on disney site.. Confirmation code worked fine for linking to my disney app to.