room only vs. package

[tzolkin]

Are there really any advantages of booking a package over a room other than just convenience? Are there any discounts we would not be able to take advantage of? (The only thing I can think of is free dining.)

Our issue is that (I believe) a package requires that everyone have the same tickets. We are thinking about doing a 10 day trip and having my MIL join us for maybe 4 days. There isn't much of a difference in ticket price between 4 and 10 days, but she's a FL resident so a 4 day ticket with park hopping would be significantly cheaper if she bought it herself. We do not plan to get the dining plan, so that is not an issue.

We've only been once and we booked a package through AAA, so I'm not familiar with getting everything separate. Thanks!

 

[taliategan]

It hard to say as there is a lot of different factors which can effect each family's decision including discounts and promotions. Room only rates are good if you already have unused tickets from a prior trip or if there is some other reason why it would work better than a package. Is MIL staying in your room? I think you could all get 4 day tickets, and then upgrade each other person's ticket to a 10 day ticket after you check-in. I am not sure about MIL's FL discount. If you list her as FL resident on your reservation, would she get the discount on her tickets? Not sure, but I would think if she is a FL resident there must be some way for her to get the discount on package if some people in your party are FL residents and some are not. I am sure somebody on these boards can answer this.

 

[su_A_ve]

If you book rack rate, and need to pay for tickets, there's no point in doing a room only rez. The reason being that if a promo comes out, you can easily add the promo code to the package rez.

But if you have a room only rez, you actually have to cancel the room-only rez and make a new one.

Also, if a promo for FD comes out, you will have to do it as a rez. For your case, (and others will have to correct me if I'm wrong) your best bet is to book a package with a 1 day base ticket only.

When you get there, you will upgarde your tix, and AFAIK, your MIL will be able to do upgrade at the FL rate.

My .02...

 

[djm99]

Not that I'm the expert but in my experience I personally like the packages. I like them because I stalk these boards like crazy. I have been pretty lucky in finding some great codes. If you would allow me to share my last room only code nightmare.

I booked a room only on Christmas Day in 2006 for our August 2007 vacation. AAA price during the first week of Value season. So the room price is like $66 a night. Sounds great hah - especially for my family of 3 - 2 adults one child then age 6. To book a package at the time it was about $1250. Anyway, every month after Christmas I purchased my tickets one by one. Early April, 2 girlfriends of mine wanted to go to Disney but wanted a package. I booked them one - both girls had one daughter - both daughters were age 9. Perfect. One very early morning I logged onto Disboards and a 'new' member listed a code. I immediately wrote them down, and before I could even see if anyone posted a reply to the thread the code was removed. Since it was before 7 am - central time, Disney wasn't open. As I drove to work I called Disney to see if I could use the code - BINGO - I hit the jackpot. It was the code for the 40% off discount. I was able to apply it to my girlfriend’s room and made a package for my family. I cancelled my room only and tried to sell my tickets on eBay. I did sell them on eBay, but for the price I paid for them. Unfortunately, I had to pay the fees on almost $825 of tickets (which was like $50). So, now I'm out of $50. The good thing was my package was still worth it. It was only $995. Under a $1000 for a 7 days 6 nights. I did have to move to Pop – Allstars was full with the code.

Long story short - I should have just booked a package. Every time I've stayed onsite it was with a code. So if I was you, I would book a package and just wait. Disney is offering some really good packages for next year and IMO more codes will come. Put it like this, EVERY month in 2009 has some kind of deal in 2009 (with the exception of July). My co-worker (whose Sister works for Disney in Florida) claims that Disney is about to release some really great deals, and she also thinks that will include the summer. She mentioned that they might have those free upgrades for summer, but she wasn't positive.

 

[brentalex]

I personally have usually found no advantage to buying a package. We go in April during our kids school vacation, and until 2009, there usually were no discounts available during our dates. So we would get a room only AAA discount and purchase tickets separately from one of the online discounters. I do not think a package could ever have saved us any money. Until now. We did take advantage of the buy 4 get 3 free package for our upcoming trip in April. But unless there is some special deal, getting something for free, I think that a package will not usually save you any money.

 

[mmmears]

We've never booked a package before now, since I always found it to be a better deal to get an AP and an AP rate or a AAA rate room-only reservation. Like the PP wrote, until now. We're traveling Easter week and the Buy 4 Get 3 Free Deal was too good to pass up. I did the math and it's saving us something around $1300 -- which is a bundle.

With the package, you only have to buy 1-day passes for everyone ($75/adult). Then you can upgrade them one by one to whatever you want them to be (like 10-day, park-hopper, or AP). Hope this helps!

IMO Free Dining is a better deal if you are staying in a value resort (since you have to pack rack rate for the room), but the 4/3 deal is a better deal if you're staying somewhere more expensive, since it's really a hotel discount (plus $9/pp if you buy the 7-day passes -- which is so minimal I'm not counting it).

 

[rt2dz]

I prefer to do room only ressies. I rarely see any advantage in a package.

We get APs, so tickets aren’t necessary—usually. APs expire and rarely (never, actually) has our next trip been within 30 days of expiration (which is when renewal is worthwhile) and tickets can then be upgraded. However, it is better to buy tickets, imo, at a discount than pay full price for them. Call me cheap.

I also prefer the more lax cancellation rules. On the same note, I like not paying until I check in. I prefer to have my money working for me.

It’s true that discounts come out on packages, but they also come out on room only reservations, in which case you can apply those discounts to your existing reside just as easily as you can a package discount code. Then, you have both tickets and room reservations at a discount. However, for our October trip, I found that having a package with unneeded one-day base tickets cost less than the room only discount. In which case, I booked the package and then canceled the room only reservation. All done in less than 5 minutes. I also have a package booked in June with the buy 4 get 3 free deal, but if a good room only code were to come out that would lower my bottom line, I’d so switch again.

One thing you can do if you decide to go with a package is not put your MIL on the reservation—if staying in the same room. Then when she shows up you can go to the front desk and add her to the room. No tickets necessary for her.

 

[tzolkin]

Thanks for all of the responses.

I knew it was possible to buy one day tickets and then upgrade them when we arrived, but I didn't know if my MIL could get the FL resident discount if we had already bought the original ticket with our package.

One thing you can do if you decide to go with a package is not put your MIL on the reservation—if staying in the same room. Then when she shows up you can go to the front desk and add her to the room. No tickets necessary for her.

I didn't know you could do this. That would make things easier.


Now I'm debating spliting our stay between two resorts. We are a family of 5, so if MIL comes for part of the time we would need two rooms at a value. If she doesn't come (or only for a few days), I think we would like to stay in one room with our kids like at POR. I'll have to talk it over with DH, but I wanted to understand all the options so we can figure out what will work best for us.