Worth it to book trip through Disney?

[traveljen1027]

Hi - I am getting ready to book our trip, and we've decided to stay at the Doubletree. We are traveling w/our 4 year-old daughter. In your opinion is it:

(1) Worth it to book online through the Disneyland website? It costs almost $200 more, but I know there are some extras....

(2) Is it worth it to purchase a dining package or just buy our meals as we go?

(3) Is three days substantial enough for the 2 parks (1 day at California, 2 @ Disneyland) or is 4 better?

Thanks so much for your help...any additional tips are very appreciated!

Jen

 

[Sy-]

Hi - I am getting ready to book our trip, and we've decided to stay at the Doubletree. We are traveling w/our 4 year-old daughter. In your opinion is it:

(1) Worth it to book online through the Disneyland website? It costs almost $200 more, but I know there are some extras....

(2) Is it worth it to purchase a dining package or just buy our meals as we go?

(3) Is three days substantial enough for the 2 parks (1 day at California, 2 @ Disneyland) or is 4 better?

Thanks so much for your help...any additional tips are very appreciated!

Jen

1 - $200 more than where? When I was shopping for a package WDTC was the same price as Dreams Unlimited so I went with WDTC!

2 - No cost savings to pre-purchase meals, rather only a chance to get stuck with non-refundable vouchers

3 - 3 is enough, 4 is always better!

 

[poohluv2u]

3 - 3 is enough, 4 is always better!

Totally agree!

I personally wouldn't spend the extra for dining, just choose as you go. If you really want to do Blue Bayou then you can make advance reservations, pretty much anything else you can walk into.

As for spending more money for a Disney package, probably only you can decide if it's worth the extra $$. On our last trip the difference was under $100.00 and we decided to go with it. Partly because Disney was giving away cards for their virtual game but the Toontown morning was fun, as were the great seats we got for Aladdin. We got a special Dreams coin and lanyards from Disney Travel. Over all we were happy we went with Disney, but I would think long and hard before spending an extra $200 .. but that's just my personal budget preference.

 

[Sy-]

and if you use a Disney Visa card to book your trip you get a free backpack!

 

[Sleepless Knight]

It all comes down to what the "extras" are and whether or not they're worth it to you. For a few lanyards and pins, I'd say it's not worth it, but if they're including more early entry type perks, than you may want to consider it.

 

[avalon451]

couple of questions for you:

A. any particular reason why the Doubletree? It looks like a very nice hotel, but with a 4-y.o., I'd want to stay much closer. See Hydroguy's tip thread: "Hotel Rule" http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1199862

It's not really a comfortable walking distance, especially for a 4-y.o. ART can be tedious to wait for, and not always reliable.

B. Have you tried pricing it out separately, air, hotel and tickets? We went through Disney, but after finding the DIS boards and reading about it, I priced it out, and we could have saved over a thousand by staying offsite, booking separately our air, hotel and tickets. I would not consider the package benefits to be that valuable. TTMM was cute but not, you know, absolutely fabulous like a parade or something. Preferred seating was ok for Aladdin (the only show it was really any good for) but would not have been necessary.

This time we're staying at HoJo, across the street and up one block, at the Entertainment book rate of $74 a night for a deluxe Disney facing balcony room (or $59 for a standard room). We got our 5-day park hoppers through GetAwayToday (same price as Disney online; using discount code "Podcast" which waives the $10 processing fee for you); GAT is the only ticket seller which gives you 2 magic mornings/early entry instead of just one. Then we booked our airline separately, and were able to get a good price.

I have read that the meal plan is not a good idea.

3 days is enough, but 4 might give you a bit more leisure. You might want to park hop daily, going over to CA when DL gets busy.

For the best bunch of tips, read Hydroguy's sticky tips thread. The above link is one of them, and I think the main link is in his signature.

That's just a couple of ideas I had... Hope that helps! Have fun planning!

 

[IASWAM]

We booked our trip through WDTC and the only reason it was $200 more is because we opted for the travel insurance. If we didn't get the insurance, it would have been the same price as if we booked everything separately. plus we would not have received the perks that come along with WDTC (lanyards, pins, TTMM, preferred seating in CA, collectible coin)

 

[RudemanRB]

and if you use a Disney Visa card to book your trip you get a free backpack!

And if you apply for one while walking over to the park entrance you can get one as well



Rudy

 

[traveljen1027]

Thanks everyone! We're thinking Doubletree only because I've heard such nice things about it, and I love that it has Starbucks on-site. But I love all the tips, and I will definitely check out the thread that was suggested.

 

[Sy-]

You may want to try and book doubletree directly from their website or from like expedia.com. Then go and buy your parkhoppers from getawaytoday.com (they'll get you 2early entrys). You may be able to shave a few more dollard by breaking things up.

 

[bumbershoot]

Does the Doubletree have A Starbucks, or do they have a cafe that SERVES Starbucks? Huge massive disturbingly big difference.

On their site I'm seeing "3 On-Site Restaurants and Lounges - Café Biscoti, Agio Ristorante, & Grappa Lounge", so I'm thinking they have a cafe that serves Starbucks.

If you're going to have a car, I'd stay closer and drive up a long block and a half to Ball/Harbor, and just go to the drive-thru Starbucks.

Or have a latte in the park. Yeah, it's Nescafe, but especially if you get lattes, there's not THAT big a difference IMO.



So, package or no package.

If you belong to Costco, check out their prices. They go through Walt Disney Travel Company and have the same basic extras. You get a different color lanyard (you get a voucher for the lanyard and pin and pick up the lanyard at certain pin places), with Costco you generally get a character breakfast voucher, and Mickey's ToonTown Morning Madness vouchers. There's also AAA if you belong, and they also have different color lanyards, I think they do reserved seating for some things (so does Costco), etc. Getawaytoday.com is about the same, but they do NOT have MTTMM, and DO give 2 days of Magic Mornings with the ticket, unlike the normal ONE MM day.

We booked our first big trip through Costco, and it was a good way to know what the packages were all about, but mainly it taught us that we do NOT need a package deal. And that we can get things for cheaper booking separately. OF COURSE that depends on when you are traveling and what hotels you want to stay at.


By the way, the lanyard and lanyard pouch we got with our package was really wide and annoying, and we bought lanyards and zippered pouches from DLR anyway. The Costco lanyards are now in a box that stays at home, while we take the purchased ones on trips with us.





Editing to write....

OK hubby SAID that there was a s'bux on ball and harbor. But I don't see one on the google map I'm looking at. Hmm.

But the Expedia page for the Doubletree says that the cafe serves s'bux coffee. Definitely not the same.