Question about booking...?

[two*little*birds]

We booked our last trip through a TA, and purchased a room/ticket package and then our airfare separately.

Do you book your room, park tickets and airfare separately? I've been told this is cheaper.

If you book a ressie and then a promo comes out, will they honour that promo and apply it even though you have already booked?

Any other hints/tips from you DIS pros? I want to start planning our next trip for 2008, more than likely it will be the Poly.

Thanks.

 

[coastgirl]

We used a TA first time but ended up doing a lot of the legwork ourselves. Second time we did it ourselves. However, it's a hobby for us. Don't mind surfing, wading through emails and alerts to find the best deal. I got a significant rebate last time from Disney booking when a better rate came out, though I was the one watching and asking for the reduction.

Airfare I'd definitely do myself, if you are flexible you can find a huge difference in fares and to be fair, it'd be hard for a TA to know what's acceptable to me, there are so many different ways to skin a cat.

If you're staying at the Poly, an AP may be worth it so you can get the AP rates. We did this on both trips, and it easily paid for itself. Again, though, we were watching for the rates to come out, and got a few nights at the Poly at $80 off per night. Saved, oh, $50/nt at CBR on our second trip, more than 2 wks. We also got the Disney Dining Experience card, which gave significant dining discounts. (We're not dining plan people.)

Good luck!

 

[debbiet1]

can you just get a disney dining experience card and if so where and how much?

 

[coastgirl]

I think the DDE is only offered to annual passholders and Fl residents. So, it's kind of an add-on to the AP. It was about $40 as I recall. You do need to request it early, it took--I'm thinking 4 weeks?--to process it, though I've heard you can pick up a temp one at guest svcs if you don't get it in time.

 

[Debbie]

You can buy the DDE when you get to Disney, but it takes a time to get the temporary card. We did that this summer. I went to Guest Services at EPCOT in the morning, bought the card, and gave them my information. It was at the gate at 5:00 that night. Too bad that I was in Le Cellier at that time. Luckily, my DNephew used his card to get me my discount for THAT meal, and we used the temp card the rest of the trip. I got my plastic card when I got home-about 3-4 weeks later. It's good for a year, the same as the AP.