Disneymoon - Book through Disney website or not?

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Joined: 12/10/2013
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Disneymoon - Book through Disney website or not?

We are looking at going to Disney World in FL for our honeymoon and the website shows the following rate:

- Special Offer: Play, Stay, Dine and Save
- Disney's Coronado Springs Resort, Prefered Room King (check in 2/17, check out 2/22)
- 6 day ticket
- Disney Dining plan (1 table, 1 quick serve, snack, drink mug)

Total: $2298.54

Breaking this down, it's $1500 for the hotel, $598 for the tickets, and $298 for the meal plan.

If we were to book through a website like hotel's.com, the hotel would be $1000. We could book the tickets seperately for the $598, and skip the meal plan.

That's $1600 with $700 to budget on our own for meals to break even with the package price.

My question is, what is the advantage of going with the package deal vs booking the tickets and hotel seperately? I know that the package includes some vouchers, but are they worth it? Also if we were to not book as a package, do we miss out on anything typically associated with honeymooners who book using the package?

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Joined: 06/18/2013
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Look into a travel agent that specializes in Disney vacations. They can often get you deals that you may not know about and save you money. I would recommend booking the vacation yourself through Disney or through a Disney travel agent. I would check with a travel agent first to see if they can get you a better deal. I would go with the dining plan because it always saves me money and it's nice to have to worry about paying for meals.

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I called both Disney, and looked online. The amount was exaclty the same and the representative said that's the best rate they could give.

I've read that the meal plan for 2 honeymooners is not worth it, if you don't get character meals. What I'm wondering if if we would be missing out on some of the "perks" of being a just married couple if we only use the disney website to book the tickets to the park, and not a hotel or package deal.

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There are different types of dining plans that suit almost every family. Some families don't eat enough or have really picky eaters to not to do it. If you don't stay at a Disney Resort, you are missing out on perks like the dining plan, extra magic hours, transportation to and from airport and luggage delivery. You will also be missing out on my magic plus which includes magicbands, fastpass+ and having everything linked up to the magicband.

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primetime wrote:
I called both Disney, and looked online. The amount was exaclty the same and the representative said that's the best rate they could give.

I've read that the meal plan for 2 honeymooners is not worth it, if you don't get character meals. What I'm wondering if if we would be missing out on some of the "perks" of being a just married couple if we only use the disney website to book the tickets to the park, and not a hotel or package deal.

Hello primetime and welcome to WDWForGrownups. Regarding the perks, they have nothing to do with the way you book, they are a park of the "Magic" nothing is guaranteed but always , always, always let them know when you are making a reservation and when you check in that you are just married and on your honeymoon.

Now if you book a "Honeymoon Suite" , you may get a little more magic than the next person. It all depends on the cast members at your resort at the time.

My wife and I always book through Disney direct and think we get the best deals that way, but we know what exactly to watch for. If your going to use a Travel agent, make sure they are an Authorized Disney Travel agent , not just one that says they have booked plenty of Disney Vacations, they have to be Authorized by Disney. It shouldn't cost you a cent to use them.

Regarding the meal plan, that all depends on how you eat, or want to eat. And being that you are going for your honeymoon, make ADR's so you are guaranteed to get into restaurants you want to get into. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. You don't want to be getting upset about a meal.

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We plan to stay at the Coronado Springs Resort located on the Disney property. Since it's just us 2, after reviewing the dining plan and seeing that it doesn't include tips like past years, and reviewing the meal prices as various locations, we will come out ahead not going with the meal plan. We do plan to do ADR.

I forgot about the extra magic hours, and the magic band looks very convienient.

So if we book the hotel not using the disney website (even though it's a Disney Resort), but instead only the tickets, we don't get a reservation number and therefore no access to disney experience website, which unlocks fastpass+ and the extra magic hours, correct?

I've requested a quote from Dreams Unlimited Travel agency to compare.

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No I'm pretty sure you should still get a reservation number from your travel agent and be able to link your tickets to the MyDisneyExperience. But like I said, we never used a travel agent. The only difference is, if you want to change something on your reservation, you can not do it directly, you have to go through your agent and they have to make the change. That is a bit of a pain in the but IMO. If I have a problem, I want to be able to deal with it right away, not through a third party who may not be available immediately.

Anyone else out there use a travel agent yet with the My Disney Experience & Fastpass+ ?

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Hi and congrats on your wedding -

As long as you book a Disney resort, you still get most of the same "perks" such as extra magic hours, magic band, fast pass+, and the magical express. This is true no matter if you book through the website, through the reservation phone number, through a travel agent, or through a third party site, such as hotels.com or expedia.com. I have to admit, I'm not sure how mydisneyexperience.com works when booking through a 3rd party site, as it didn't exist the last time I did it, but I did get all the other disney perks. But somehow you still have to have a reservation number that ties in to Disney, you may just have to call them and let them find it so that you can activate your mydisneyexperience. The only other "perks" you will miss out on are the vouchers for things like mini golf, etc, which unless you really REALLY want to use those, it's not worth it.

The dining plan is great and convenient if it works into the budget. However, spending the extra money JUST to get the dining plan isn't worth it, as it really locks you into a lot of food that you may or may not want.

I realize that you said you've spoken with the disney peeps as well as checking out the website, but did you ask for a room only discount?? If you have asked about packages (which include tickets) that will indeed be the best they can do. But if you tell them you already have tickets and just need the room, they may find you a cheaper room price, as the ticket price doesn't change if you buy them as part of the package or at the gate when you walk up. Plus you can get them cheaper at undercovertourist.com.

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Like JMUDukz said you still get to use the extra magic hours, magic band, fastpass+, and the magical express since you will be booking a Disney Resort. also free parking is included with that if you drive.

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Disney also usually offers special discounts or deals closer to the time of your trip, too. This could be either a room discount or free dining but they usually don't post it until a month or two ahead of time (for example January 5-April 12th discounts are what is currently posted). If you are already booked through Disney you can usually call and get the current deal credited to your package. Just something to think about.

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I booked my last trip through AAA. I was able to go on MyDisneyExperience and make all my ADRs without any issues. As long as you have your reservation numbers it is not a problem. The only drawback is what Mrhub said. If you book through a travel agent they have to make any changes to the reservation.

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Allie wrote:
Disney also usually offers special discounts or deals closer to the time of your trip, too. This could be either a room discount or free dining but they usually don't post it until a month or two ahead of time (for example January 5-April 12th discounts are what is currently posted). If you are already booked through Disney you can usually call and get the current deal credited to your package. Just something to think about.

do you have a link for the discounts?

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h0ney227 wrote:
Allie wrote:
Disney also usually offers special discounts or deals closer to the time of your trip, too. This could be either a room discount or free dining but they usually don't post it until a month or two ahead of time (for example January 5-April 12th discounts are what is currently posted). If you are already booked through Disney you can usually call and get the current deal credited to your package. Just something to think about.

do you have a link for the discounts?

Here ya go: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/special-offers/