Calling All Dis Reservation Experts!!!

[NHBelle]

I need help. My reservations are so confusing my TA doesn't even get it. We are going for two weeks in August. Although I would love the free dining for both weeks, my kids have to go back to school so I am only able to be ther for one week for free dining. The other week will be before the diining pkg starts so I would like to just pay for the dining pkg. Not too complicated right??? Well I also need tickets so here is the tricky part. I want a 10 day hopper plus ticket. No big deal right, BUT Disney says I have to make two seperates ressies to get free dining which means I have to buy a 1 day base ticket to get it. Its a cost of about 200.00 for 2 adults and 2 kids and is a ticket I do not need. I explained this to TA to see if there was any way I could get the 10 day ticket and NOT have to get the 1 day base on week 2. She said no problem, BUT Disney told me now way. So who do I believe. If I book with TA and can't get my tickets till week 2 (because thats how she booked it. The tickets would be on week 2 ressie) then I have no tickets for the whole 1st week. Does this make sense. I just want to do whatever saves me $$$$.

 

[threeboysmom]

Hmmm, that is a tough one, NHBelle! In order to book the free dining package, you HAVE to have tickets included with your room. I don't see any way to get around this other than to buy the 1-day base tickets your second week (which would be the free dining week). If you are planning on going to WDW again, it really wouldn't be such a bad deal. If you don't use those tickets this trip (which it sounds like you wouldn't since you are buying 10-day tickets), you could always hold onto them and then apply them to a future ticket purchase ($200 worth).

 

[EthansMom]

So, you'll need two reservations:

Week 1 would be a room only reservation. Look into getting the AAA rate -- it may be worth getting a AAA membership to get the discount, if available. You will need to purchase your tix separately. I would get them from a discounter like Ticketmania. Sign up for the Mousesavers newsletter at http://www.mousesavers.com -- the newsletter contains a link to special discounts on WDW tix from Ticketmania.

Week 2 would be the Free Dining Package with tix.

The only thing is you need to determine which tickets to purchase. How many days will you be at WDW during Week 1? I would definitely get MYW tix for at least the number of days I plan to be at the parks during the first week. You may want to make them Park Hoppers.

For Week 2, you'll need at least 1 day MYW tix.

But it may be more cost-effective to purchase 7 day MYW tix for Week 1 and 7 day tix for Week 2. Or, if you think you'll make it back to WDW in the future, you may want to get 10 day MYW tix with no expiry for Week 1 and Week 2. If you spend 14 days at WDW, you would have 6 days left from 2 sets of 10 day tix. You really need to figure out how many days you'll be at the major parks, whether you want any plusses, whether you want park hopping and then figure out the split of days on the tix. It will take some number crunching to come up with the best combination.

 

[Lollipop Mom]

if you were my client and you wanted to book this I would be asking if are you absolutely certain you want dining plan for both weeks? In order to get the dining plan (free or paid) you must book a package which means tickets. If you definitely want dining I'd recommend that you book 2 packages both with 1 day passes for everyone. Then once you get there, upgrade all but one of you to 10 day. Upgrade that last person to 6 day. They can then use the 4 remaining single day tickets to make up the 10 (if your kids are under 9 that would mean upgrading one adult and one child to 10 day and the other adult and child to 8 day make sense?). They are not coded with the biometrics till you use them and with a single day it will be coded for that one day. That is your least expensive option BUT there are something you have to be aware of. You will only get those 4 single day tickets when you check in for the 2nd week so make sure you are OK with that. Also, unless you want to be spending close to $90 per adult ticket, these will be single park tickets not hoppers so make sure you are OK with 4 (or 2 depending on if one person uses the single days or 2 people use them) days of non-hopping itenerary.

Does that make sense? Your agent may not be thrilled b/c it's a fairly significant drop in commission since she won't be paid for the upgrade to the longer tickets but it is your least expensive option.