What are the pro's to a package vs room only?

[rie'smom]

I prefer to do room only because I can cancel if I have to much closer to the time of our trip.

This is sooooo important. There is NO penalty for cancellations or changes made only 5 days before a trip with room only reservations.

With packages, there is a penalty for any changes or cancellations made w/in 45 days of the trip. If you have trip insurnace(which is often added onto the package w/out your knowledge-be sure to check because you can get it cheaper),then this might not matter.

 

[stephgly]

We just got back from our 1st trip to WDW. We did the DDP. We LOVED it!! I enjoyed the fact that we just showed up and could pick anything off the menu. Price wasn't a factor. The cheapest table service meal was around $115 without tip. Most expensive table service meal was $250!

Our cheapest quick service meal was $50. With our most expensive quick service meal being $90! We did have trouble using our snacks, just for the fact that we were so full by the time we were done eating. The night before we left we stopped in Mousegears and let the kids buy candy with snack credits. The morning we left we were able to get milk, cereal and muffins for breakfast with our snack credits.

 

[MsStinkerBelle]

We usually book a package with the DDP for our Christmas trips and room-only for our August trips.

 

[raider97]

You might want to check out menus and see how much you would be paying for your meals versus the daily rate of the DDP for your family. When I calculated for us, it was cheaper to get the dining plan then it was to eat counter service for lunch and dinner plus the few character meals we were thinking of doing.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

I just can't say enough about the dining plan. You would spend $50.00 for a family of four at a CS restaurant. With the dining plan you eat better, healthier I would imagine in most cases, and its all taken care of in advance.

That's not an exaggeration. Its amazing how expensive the food is at WDW.

 

[dishm12/08]

Darn, I've spent months on this board and must be living under a rock as I never realized you couldn't do DDP with a room only reservation. I thought as long as you were staying at a WDW hotel you could add DDP. Bummer as I was going to book a room reservation and get my tix through undercover tourist

We already have our park tickets. So we just added a one day base ticket to get on the DDP. So you could still do that, just get a base ticket.

 

[emmsmama]

We just got back from our 1st trip to WDW. We did the DDP. We LOVED it!! I enjoyed the fact that we just showed up and could pick anything off the menu. Price wasn't a factor. The cheapest table service meal was around $115 without tip. Most expensive table service meal was $250!

Our cheapest quick service meal was $50. With our most expensive quick service meal being $90!

It looks like from your siggy though that you have 4 children. If there was you and your four kids and your hubby/partner (if applicable) then I'm guessing you paid around $172/day for the dining plan. So if you take your $115 meal and your $50 meal that would come out less.

I'm not saying at all that the DDP isn't a good value as I think in most cases you would break even or come out ahead (especially when you consider taxes that you have to pay when you don't have DDP), but just wanted to put it in perspective as when I first saw your post I thought but then saw your ticker that you had 4 kiddos. Dh eats average, but dd, ds and I eat lighter most of the time. It's happened many times when we are out that if we wanted to dh and I could have easily shared our meals with each other or the kids.

We already have our park tickets. So we just added a one day base ticket to get on the DDP. So you could still do that, just get a base ticket.

I didn't think of that but will consider it thanks for the tip! I'm going to have to crunch the #'s and figure out what is the best option. I'm guessing you would have to add a one day ticket for everyone in the room so it wouldn't work out to our advantage. The reason I'm thinking of getting tickets seperate is because I can get 10-day NE, with PH and WPF&M for all four in my family and save a significant amount from UT with the mousesavers code over buying direct from WDW.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

It looks like from your siggy though that you have 4 children. If there was you and your four kids and your hubby/partner (if applicable) then I'm guessing you paid around $172/day for the dining plan. So if you take your $115 meal and your $50 meal that would come out less.

I'm not saying at all that the DDP isn't a good value as I think in most cases you would break even or come out ahead (especially when you consider taxes that you have to pay when you don't have DDP), but just wanted to put it in perspective as when I first saw your post I thought but then saw your ticker that you had 4 kiddos. Dh eats average, but dd, ds and I eat lighter most of the time. It's happened many times when we are out that if we wanted to dh and I could have easily shared our meals with each other or the kids.

But you also get 1 snack per day per person and that could equal $24 a day.

I too didn't look at the siggie when it was posted that the cheapest CS was $50. When I did, my reaction was "how the heck did she feed six people at WDW for $50?"

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

One other plus of the package is that everything is on one card-your KTTW card. I have an AP so I don't do packages anymoe but I enjoyed having room key, tickets, food money (or credits) and everything on one card!

 

[aarmando20]

I am staying at the Swan in June and actually saved a great deal of money by booking everything seperate. I know that staying at the Swan I cant book the DDP but by booking my room directly with the Swan and then buying the tickets seperate I am paying what I would pay for 10 days at a value for 10 days at what I consider a delux.

 

[mrudman]

You might want to check out menus and see how much you would be paying for your meals versus the daily rate of the DDP for your family. When I calculated for us, it was cheaper to get the dining plan then it was to eat counter service for lunch and dinner plus the few character meals we were thinking of doing.

Great idea! I think I'll do that just to see what we would be spending OOP and see if I can figure out which way could be cheaper.

Just a quick question, how much is it for the DDP? Per adult and per child?

Thanks!
Michelle

 

[stephgly]

That was our lows. On some days it would have been cheaper to not have the DDP. Most of our Table Service meals were over $150. That's was just one meal. We did lots of character meals. I do think it all boils down to if you want your meals prepaid or not. I enjoyed not having to look at prices.

 

[rosiep]

Regardless of package or room-only, everyone staying at a WDW owned-and-operated resort is entitled to free airport transfers and automatic luggage delivery (Disney's Magical Express). DME is free, but separate reservations are required.

Was this in place four years ago? I had made room only reservations and bought my tickets elsewhere...but the CM I spoke to said I was not entitled to ME.

 

[armomof3lvsdisney]

I have never booked a pkg, have always purchased separtely. If you book a pkg with less than 45 days do you pay the whole balance when you book. And if you book room only and then decide to purchase tickets later with CRO how late can you wait to do that. TIA

 

[luvdisney24]

Just a quick question, how much is it for the DDP? Per adult and per child?

It's $37.99 per person, per night age 10 and up and $9.99 per child, per night ages 3-9.

 

[luvdisney24]

Was this in place four years ago? I had made room only reservations and bought my tickets elsewhere...but the CM I spoke to said I was not entitled to ME.

I think ME started in the spring of 2005. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Anyone staying at any Disney Resort was and is entitled to this free service regardless of Room Only or Package.

 

[CleveRocks]

Was this in place four years ago? I had made room only reservations and bought my tickets elsewhere...but the CM I spoke to said I was not entitled to ME.

luvdisney24 is correct.

DME was launched on May 5, 2005. Four years ago, there was no such thing as DME ... so you couldn't possibly have asked for it. Since Day 1 of DME, it has been a function of having a resort reservation. Nothing else matters.

Perhaps you are thinking of some other perk, but it couldn't possibly have been Disney's Magical Express.

 

[CleveRocks]

I have never booked a pkg, have always purchased separtely. If you book a pkg with less than 45 days do you pay the whole balance when you book. And if you book room only and then decide to purchase tickets later with CRO how late can you wait to do that. TIA

Yes, if you book a package less than 45 days from the start of your stay, then the full balance is due in-full immediately.

If you book a room-only reservation, you can wait until any time during your trip itself to buy tickets through Disney. You could check-in on Sunday and wait 'til Tuesday to buy park tickets and have them coded onto your KTTW card. Remember, adding tickets to a room-only reservation does not necessarily mean that you've booked a package. It CAN mean that, if you want it to, but it doesn't have to be that way.

 

[mrudman]

Ugh, this is so hard, lol!

Just went through the menus of the restaurants that I think we would probably eat at... wrote down the amounts from the entrees I would choose (or just an average amount based on the entree prices)... included a dinner place, a lunch place, and $10 per day for snack (we share everything.. so think that would definitely cover a snack for us, if we even got one every day).

Then added in $100 for food bought and brought down, or ordered through Graden Grocer, for 5-6 breakfasts that I'm planning on just eating at our hotel, and snack-type food too (such as pb&j, crackers, juiceboxes, etc for my dd's)....

That amount came to about $810.


So then I added up what we'll be paying for the DDP, and for the 4 of us, it would be $768...

Now to get technical, on the DDP, we'd still have 1/2 a day we'd have to buy food for, so let's just add $25 for a CS resort breakfast before we leave on the last day.
But we wouldn't have to pack as many snacks either, since we could buy them down there... so thinking we'd only buy maybe $25 worth of snacks to take down. So kinda break even there.

But then we are planning on doing 2 character meals (at least), which is included in the above price of $810.. but because of that, we'd have to buy dinner separately on one of the days.. so that's adding let's just roughly say $50.

So it all boils down to that the DDP and paying OOP are going to be within a few dollars of each other.

Now I don't know what exactly is considered a CS place down there, what's considered a snack, but what if we eat our huge meal at 2pm (which is when I'm planning on eating all our main meals), and we're only hungry for ice cream later (or something along those lines)... our TS credit would kinda go down the tubes at that point.

Ugh, just too confusing, and too hard, to determine what way I should go.

Is there anything I'm missing here.. maybe something I should be counting, but am not?

Thanks!
Michelle

 

[Cindy's Mom]

OP, you said that you will be a 1/2 without food, that you will have to pay OOP.

The portions at WDW are huge. DH is a big guy6'5, 250 lbs and he can eat. He and I usually split on CS credit for lunch, let the kids use their own and DH just finishes up what they don't eat. This way you don't have a day short on your credits.

Believe me, we make the most of our time at WDW, our first day we are on the first flight in to MCO and the last day we usually head out at 6p or 7p, and we never had to pay OOP for a meal, nor were we hungry.

I am such a firm believer in the DDP and don't forget that this will all be paid for before you arrive on property, so it gives you a little extra time to save some money for unexpected food expenses. Its so nice not to have to stress about the food bills while your down there. You just order your food, they swipe your card and your done. That me for is as they say, is worth the price of admission.

If you are on a tight budget, about a year ago, there was an amazing thread about going to WDW on like $3100 for 2 weeks. This woman didn't skimp on anything, but just knew how to work things. Her name was something like Tinkerbell (good luck on that search ) Perhaps someone can assist you.