Trip Planning: How would you do this?

[kevind2112]

I hope this is the right place to ask.

We have a trip coming up for December 23 - January 1. We are currently booked at Pop, It is myself, my wife, and our 2 adult daughters. Now it sounds like our daughters are not going to be able to make it until December 26. What are some options we have here?

One I thought of was to essentially book two trips. One for December 23-26 for just me and my wife, and then a second trip for the 4 of us starting on Dec 26. But, we lose the advantage of booking fast passes (I'm assuming they'll be back by December) for the whole trip at once, and I think the price will end up being higher due to 2 short stays.

Any other thoughts or suggestions? Thanks!!!

 

[Deb & Bill]

I hope this is the right place to ask.

We have a trip coming up for December 23 - January 1. We are currently booked at Pop, It is myself, my wife, and our 2 adult daughters. Now it sounds like our daughters are not going to be able to make it until December 26. What are some options we have here?

One I thought of was to essentially book two trips. One for December 23-26 for just me and my wife, and then a second trip for the 4 of us starting on Dec 26. But, we lose the advantage of booking fast passes (I'm assuming they'll be back by December) for the whole trip at once, and I think the price will end up being higher due to 2 short stays.

Any other thoughts or suggestions? Thanks!!!

Your trip may actually be less expensive with only two adults for the first three nights (no extra adult fee required) unless you are reserving two rooms.

 

[ConnMan]

If (big IF) FP+ are back for your trip, and if (big IF) the process is the same as it was before COVID came into being, I don't think you would lose the FP+ advantage by splitting your reservation up.

What you'd do is reservation #1 is for you and your wife's room as well as both of your tickets for the entire stay. Reservation #2 is the room(s) for you, your wife and your daughters as well as your daughter's tickets. When your FP+ window opens at 60 days before you check in, so long as your daughters are linked to you on MDE, you'll be able to make FP+ reservations for you, your wife and your daughters. At least that is how it worked for us on our March 2020 trip before COVID. Me and my family had an 8 night stay. My parents came up for the last 4 days of our trip. When my FP+ window opened up, I was able to make FP+ for my parents, too.

 

[Marthasor]

If (big IF) FP+ are back for your trip, and if (big IF) the process is the same as it was before COVID came into being, I don't think you would lose the FP+ advantage by splitting your reservation up.

What you'd do is reservation #1 is for you and your wife's room as well as both of your tickets for the entire stay. Reservation #2 is the room(s) for you, your wife and your daughters as well as your daughter's tickets. When your FP+ window opens at 60 days before you check in, so long as your daughters are linked to you on MDE, you'll be able to make FP+ reservations for you, your wife and your daughters. At least that is how it worked for us on our March 2020 trip before COVID. Me and my family had an 8 night stay. My parents came up for the last 4 days of our trip. When my FP+ window opened up, I was able to make FP+ for my parents, too.

This really isn't an option unless you do a room-only for reservation #2, otherwise you would end up with two sets of tickets for you and your wife. When booking a package, everyone in the room must have the same package components.

I'm assuming you are booking one room at Pop? If so, personally, I would just book Pop, room-only, for the entire stay and put everyone on the reservation. I would then buy everyone's tickets separately according to how many days each person needs on their ticket. That way, you will be able to make FP+ (if they are available again, which, personally, I doubt). It will cost you slightly extra due to the extra adult fee for your daughters on the nights they won't be there (about $90), however, it guarantees you won't have to switch rooms and will just cause less potential upheaval. Your other option is to simply book the package with tickets knowing your daughters won't use all park days and see if that is less than the $90 you might spend on extra adult resort fees. With both of these options, any "windows" will open for all guests at the same time. If you end up booking two reservations, you would need to either do two room-only reservations with a separate ticket purchase or one package (tix for you and wife) + one room-only and buy tickets separately for your daughters, which would save you the extra adult fees, but would create two booking windows and a potential room move. I hope that makes sense.

 

[ConnMan]

My plan as laid out was for OP and wife to do two reservations. First is room and tickets and second is room only. That strategy has worked in the past. Not sure it will work going forward if/when FP+ comes back.

 

[kevind2112]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I appreciate it!

 

[kevind2112]

Update: I think we are leaning towards the following:

• Keep our current Pop reservation of Dec 23 - Jan 1, but remove our daughters, so it will be just my wife and I (our first Disney trip with our own room!)
• Book a separate reservation for our daughters and their SOs (who have decided to join us) for the shorter Dec 26 - Jan 1 timeframe.

We think this makes the most sense. Thanks again everyone!