Poll of the Day: To "Package" or not to "Package."

[Blue dear.]

I'm curious as to how many of you plan your WDW vacation from scratch and how many opt to purchase one of the packages.

If you have purchased a package, which do you think gets you the most bang for your buck?

 

[year2late]

I initially purchased the Discovery package last year. When a member of my family cancelled, the Discovery features were no longer worth it. We transfered to the "resort magic" package and they credited the room with the balance. We charged EVERYTHING to the room including souveniers and did't hold back on meals.. We had plenty of money left over....I am glad I changed our package. Now that I am a lottle more savvy about WDW, I will probably do all the planning myself, unless a truly great deal comes up!!!

 

[Blue dear.]

Yeah... I guess I'm just really debating on whether or not to purchase a Discovery Magic package for our trip. The cost is much higher but if we go to fancy places to eat, we'll save in the long run.

I tend to take TOTAL advantage of these things and make a note of the most expensive places. Doesn't everyone though?

 

[Disney Stockholder]

I think it all depends on your personality when t comes to vacation.

Some people enjoy the planning and preparation as much as the trip itself.

Other people want a vacation that makes someone else do all the work... like a travel agent.

 

[dianeschlicht]

We have been going to WDW since 1984. We have never used a package, and have been back MANY times. The first 2-3 times we stayed off site, but really coveted an on-site stay. Once we stayed on-site, we could not go back to staying off, so we needed to planahead and find ways to save money on each trip. You can't do that with a package. Eventually we talked ourselves into buying Disney Vacation Club and have not looked back! I only wish we would have done it when it was first made available. We looked at it in the beginning of DVC but thought it was too much money. Now we KNOW that was not the case and we kick ourselves for all those costly trips we took just to stay on site. Now we do it all the time!

 

[disneefamily]

Disnee Dad says.............................................If you want to buy a plan that is fine, but make sure you know two things. First you will spend more money on any plan you get than if you book it yourself. Just in general, if you not work your own bookings, you probably won't trip plan as much as the self bookers. That means you will be paying more for doing less.
We booked our first trip and it went great. We also booked our second trip, but just to be sure we went to a travel agent and explained that we didn't understand why packages are higher then self booking. She told us she had this great plan that was really good. We brought it home, and with no internet at the time and in less than fourty five minutes I knocked her $3000 plan for 3 people down to $2375 and our plan included a towncar, not a bus! We did lose out on one "Happy Super Dooper Excursion", which I think was tickets to a water park for a day. Oh, and didn't get a plastic key ring that said Disney on it. Used the $625 we saved and stayed 3 extra days!!! That's when the savings actually mean something tangible. We joked the last three days "We could be home by now"!

 

[disneyjunkie]

We've only been to disney once (August) , I really wanted to do a package but it just would have been a huge waste of money. It took lots time to research and plan for the trip but I enjoyed doing it. I was able to get that All Star Sports for $49.00, and 5 day park hoppers pluss passes with 4 plus options. The main reason I wanted to the package was so that I
could have everything paid for before we left home. (meals also)

I've started planning our trip for next summer and the discovery magic package looks great, but I'm sure I will be able to do better on my own.

 

[belle25]

We have actually done both but....in our area there are lots of Travel Agencies. We shopped around to find the best deal for a package @ guess where? AAA.

We booked ourselves too and found that way to be cheaper but definitely alot more work.
This year we booked ourselves but booked my in-laws through AAA. They are happy and so are we. We enjoy the research and know where to go and what to do. They, however, haven't a clue so it works out for both.

If you do the research though, you can book cheaper than a package.

Good Luck!

 

[Bob913]

No package
I shop for best air fare
best car rental
best room rate (got $59 rate for AS Mo)
and will buy park tickets at a Disney store
in NH to avoid sales tax