Tip for trying to book room only

[nobby]

I have been receiving quotes for room only that are more expensive than the package. The Disney telephone rep explained it as they offer a discount on the room only price if at least one person takes a pass for the duration of the stay. Here is a partial way to alleviate the issue of not being able to book room only&buy passports separately.

Assuming you have more than one person in the room, you can book the room but just take the tickets for ONE adult. The other party members are effectively room only, and they reduce the price for the room with package by the value of the passes. If you are staying 3 nights/4 days this is around £110 per person or the same as the cost (roughly speaking) of an annual passport.

You can then buy annual passports for the rest of the people in the room.

There are two advantages of doing it this way. 1) If you plan to visit again within the year, you can do the same and save ticket fees and 2) you can then use your passport to get discounts of 10% in shops and on food, plus if you see Buffalo Bill, 15% discount.

I have booked today using this method.

Hope this helps

 

[azimx]

we are about too book dlp for february at the santafe for 3nights 4 days...
2 adults and 2 children. it is costing us about £800 including flights tickets and hotel room. this is with the kids under 12 stay play travel for free offer.

am i right in thinking if we booked the same trip but only bought 1 ticket..but 3 annual passports it would be cheaper?

 

[PJackson]

That is really interesting to know nobby. I must say it does sound a bit complicated though - you must have got a good CM who knew their stuff as when I booked our trip last Sept I had a nightmare with the CM. I was telling him things he didn't even know (which I'd learned from this board!).

I must admit, reading it back I still don't really understand the ins and outs of it But it sounds good. We are probably booking shortly (hopefully) and wonder whether to buy APs/go RO this time....

I bet I would get a CM who says you can't mix RO and passes in the one room or something...

 

[nobby]

Hi All,

A bit difficult to explain - here's another go!

The original quote we had for 2 rooms and 5 of us was later reduced by £352 as we only booked the 4 day park passes for 1 person in each room. That £352 saving will buy 3 annual passports which will cost about the same.

Some will argue it is not worth it as there is no net saving - but if you go back again within the year you will benefit. Plus you get the discounts on what you spend, which can be quite significant!

Regards

 

[ghockley1981]

so let me see if im getting this right.

Your were originally being charged x amount for room only and a similar amount for the full package ( for this example say £800 )

you told them that 1 person in each room need passes but the rest did not as they had annual passes.

Because of this the cost was then reduced by the ticket amount for these AP holders only and 2 people took the tickets with the package?

Is that right or am i getting it all mixed up here?

 

[cap'njack.]

That sounds about right Glenn.

Does this way of working involve the booking having any AP disount or is it simply for room only with no AP discount?

 

[nobby]

Hi,

I originally asked for two quotes - one for room only and one inclusive of 4 day passes for all five of us. But the price for room only was more expensive than the package price. Hello? lol. I have yet to receive a commercial and common sense reason why this is the case, but comme dit les francais, c'est la vie.

However, I was able to then get the price reduced by around £117 for each person as long as at least one person per room took the 4 day tickets. This allowed the remainder to then buy annual passes at no net extra cost.

Regards

 

[mommy2ash]

thanks for that. i would have doing that if i had known about it but maybe next time!!!

 

[Ware Bears]

Glad you got such a good result nobby. I've often heard it's been cheaper for people to book a package (with unwanted passes) than room only even with AP discount but it's especially good that only one of you needed to purchase the passes.