Question: Room Only or Package???

[Little_Sister]

HI!

I currently have a ROOM ONLY reservation booked and I’m trying to determine if I would get a better deal to change it to a Package.

I called the Disney Reservation line, but the cast member I spoke with said there were no rooms available at my resort so she couldn't do a price comparison (which I thought was odd)—and said I would have to cancel my Room Only Reservation and rebook it as a package—and that just freaks me out so I said don’t bother.

I’m pretty sure it’s cheaper to do Room Only reservations…but I’ve always booked packages in the past—so I’m hoping one of you guys will have some good advice.

Here are the details of my trip as it is currently booked:

Total for Room and Tickets: $4,799.41

--Room Only
--Jan 30 – Feb 6, 2013
--8 days / 7 nights
--2 adults
--Contemporary, Magic Kingdom View
--Room Rates are: $506/Night Week nights and $532/Night Weekends (2013 Value Season Rates…YIKES! )
--TOTAL Room: $4,043.25

--Tickets: 8 Day with Park Hopper
--TOTAL Tickets: $756.16

We won’t do a dining plan unless we get Free Dining—so I wouldn’t book this with my package.

Any advice you can offer is very much appreciated!!
Thanks!!!

 

[vicki_c]

You can save a bit on tickets by buying from a reseller like Undercover Tourist. But no free dining possible then without buying additional tickets from Disney.

 

[Little_Sister]

Thanks for the tip! I can save about $16 if I buy tickets through UT.

I think I'm just gonna roll with my a la carte reservation....I don't think it will be a significant savings but every little bit counts!

 

[McKelly]

I prefer room only because I like the cancellation policy better. There is no real savings with a package, except you get all of the little extras, which we don't use that often anyway; and the ones we do, (the arcade card and the mini-golf) don't save very much. It might be worth it, if you were planning on using all the coupons you get with a package.

 

[danceintherain]

If there's no availability with a package, then I don't understand what the problem is?
If Free Dining is released, there probably won't be any availability with that either. I suppose it's possible that something could open up, but it's not really relevant now...

I would leave it as is for now. If Free Dining is released, you can change it into a package then. This is especially important if Disney releases a discount AFTER your 45 day mark (unlikely, but it happens). If you have a room only, then you can cancel with no penalty all the way up to 6 days before. This means you can change it over to a package at any point after the 45 day mark without penalty. If you already have a package, they could legitimately charge you $50 for any changes after that point.

 

[Little_Sister]

There would be availability to book a package IF I wanted to cancel my current reservation and rebook it as a package....

But I just wanted them to do a side-by-side comparison between my current reservation and if it were booked as a package instead....but she said she couldn't.

Since I've always booked packages I didn't know if there were any cost savings compared to an a la carte reservation.

But I think y'all are right, no real benefit to a package unless you utilize the coupons and want a dining plan--so I'm not gonna sweat it.

Thanks for the feedback!