Need your advice/opinion...

[PraiseHim247]

Is it better to go with the current "buy4/get3 free offer" or to use a AAA discount for a trip in May, 2009? We know you cannot combine the two, so which one really saves you more in the long run? We would like to have deluxe dining as well with park hopper passes but no extra features.

Also, we are planning a second trip for December 23-26, 2009. Are there usually good deals at that time? How far in advance should we book this trip? How do you get tickets to the WDW Christmas Day Parade?

Thanks for your input!

 

[TwoTigersMom]

Welcome to the boards!

I would suggest you contact a travel agent like Kingdom Konsultants to help you. They will help you determine the best deal for your vacation as well as once you're booked they watch out for future deals that may apply to your Christmas reservation. The best part is they don't cost you anything extra above the price that Disney charges and you get personalized service!

As for the Christmas Day parade, I don't believe you have to buy additional tickets for that. Just find a spot early and sit and wait.

Hope this helps!

 

[Jessie&Buzz]

If you are talking about the Christmas Day parade that is shown on tv, it's pre-recorded in early Dec. I would suggest getting to the park early on Christmas Day though because it does get busy.

I second contacting Kingdom Konsultants. They are really helpful.

 

[CleveRocks]

Is it better to go with the current "buy4/get3 free offer" or to use a AAA discount for a trip in May, 2009? We know you cannot combine the two, so which one really saves you more in the long run?

When you get 7 nights but pay for only 4, it's something like a 42% discount.

From experience, the AAA discount, if it's even available to you, will be between 10% and 20% off.

Going by the math, the Buy 4 Get 3 Free offer is a MUCH better deal.

I'll tell you my recent experience with both. I had 4 nights at Coronado Springs (a Moderate resort) and 3 nights in a theme park view room at Contemporary, each with the AAA discount.

WHen the B4G3F deal came out, I got all 7 nights at Polynesian in a theme park view room FOR THE SAME PRICE!

Polynesian is more expensive than Contemporary (for the theme park view rooms). And I got all 7 nights at Poly for the same price as the AAA discount for 3 nights at Contemporary and 4 nights at a Moderate resort.

Good deal!

 

[Kingdom Konsultant]

The buy 4 get 3 free deal is really a good savings so that would be your best bet since Disney will not allow AAA to discount an already discounted package. Also Disney generally blacks out the dates around Christmas so no discounts for that time frame.

Pam

 

[C.M.O]

AAA is really only a good deal if you have room only

That being said, I had booked AAA before this deal came out and i changed as soon as it came out. I saved 300 dollars. So go with the buy 4 get 3 free. PLUS if you book through AAA in January you will get a 25 dollar gift card ( i am pretty sure) and their normal diamond card which gets you discounts at some stores in DDD and some other things.

HOpe this helps

 

[wvdisneyfamily]

Hey! :wave: Welcome to the boards! The 4/3 deal was BY FAR better for us than AAA (regardless of which level resort). As far as when to book...book early, book often.

By the way...love your screen name.

 

[Rob562]

As other people have already said that the B4G3 promotion is pretty much the best deal out there right now for the general public, I'll suggest one other thing to the OP...

Because you're planning a second trip this year, when you get to WDW in May consider upgrading your tickets to Annual Passes. I don't know how long your May trip is, but the dates you gave in Decmeber are for 7 days. Two 7-day Park Hopper tickets (one for each trip) are $592. An Annual Pass is $500. So you'd be saving $92 per person. (even two 7-day base tickets would be about $15 more than a single AP)
I did this back in September. We were on the Free Dining promotion so we had to book a package with tickets, but I knew I'd be going back down in June, so I upgraded my package's ticket to an AP.

If you decide to upgrade, you just visit a ticket window or Guest Relations window at the parks (they can't do it at the hotel). You'll then pay the difference in price between your ticket and the Annual Pass. When you upgrade, they'll issue you the AP on a separate ticket. It won't be on your room key anymore. So if the convenience of one card is important, wait to do the upgrade until the last day of your trip. (Your AP will then be back-dated to start the 365-day clock as of the first day you used the MYW ticket)

Though one note, if you've bought the Water Parks & More option on your package tickets and you *use* any of those extra admissions, you will only be able to upgrade to a Premium Annual Pass, which is about $638.

-Rob

 

[Ariel484]

I had a similar experience to C.M.O. We booked our trip through AAA before the B4G3 promotion came out. As soon as I read about the promotion, I called the agent we booked through and she re-booked our trip, and we ended up saving $617!! :sohappy:

Hope this helps!

 

[Monkeymama]

Buy 4, Get 3! Not too mention the $200 gift card you get with the promo!

 

[Rob562]

Buy 4, Get 3! Not too mention the $200 gift card you get with the promo!

The gift card is only for arrivals before the end of March. The OP said they were going in May, so they can get the B4G3 promo, but they're not within the time for the gift card part of it.

-Rob

 

[PraiseHim247]

Thanks for the advice!

Wow! Thank you to everyone who responded with such good advice to our questions about the B4G3 for our May trip and visiting again at Christmas. The input on the AP's was great--we had been thinking about it but had not quite decided what to do.
If you do change your MYW pass to an AP, when you go back again to visit on your next trip can you get a dining plan like the ones with MYW packages or must you do the plan for AP holders?

 

[Monty]

Wow! Thank you to everyone who responded with such good advice to our questions about the B4G3 for our May trip and visiting again at Christmas. The input on the AP's was great--we had been thinking about it but had not quite decided what to do.
If you do change your MYW pass to an AP, when you go back again to visit on your next trip can you get a dining plan like the ones with MYW packages or must you do the plan for AP holders?

As far as I know, the DDP for MYW and the DDP for AP holders are the same plan, I'm not sure what you're asking?

EDIT: I checked, the only difference between the two is you have to buy a MYW ticket with the MYW plan, whereas the AP plan you already have tickets.

 

[Rob562]

As far as I know, the DDP for MYW and the DDP for AP holders are the same plan, I'm not sure what you're asking?

EDIT: I checked, the only difference between the two is you have to buy a MYW ticket with the MYW plan, whereas the AP plan you already have tickets.

Correct. There's an Annual Passholder package plus Dining that is the exact same as the regular MYW plus Dining, but it just removes the ticket requirement. And though it's highly unlikely that there'd be any AP discounts that close to Christmas, if you did get a discount you could add the Dining Plan to it.

But, if you'll have the Annual Pass, there's yet another option: Tables in Wonderland (formerly the Disney Dining Experience). For an annual fee (I think it's $65), you get a discount card that's good for 20% food, drinks and alcohol at most Table Service restaurants in WDW, and it's good for up to a group of 10 Guests. If you eat at a lot of Table Service places, it might be a more flexible option than the Dining Plan. It's worth it to figure out how your family would use it. (I did the calculations for how me and my friends would eat, and the TIW came out ahead of the Dining Plan every time, except for when the Dining Plan was free)

Which brings me to my last point... If you book your next trip under a discount that you MUST book as a package with tickets (like Free Dining, or if this B4G3 promotion reappears in the future), you can book the package with 1-day tickets to fulfill the ticket requirement. You can then save that 1-day ticket until your next trip, when you can upgrade it to a longer ticket, use it to renew your Annual Pass, etc.

That's exactly what I'm doing. Back in September, friends and I went down to WDW under the Free Dining promotion. I upgraded my ticket to an Annual Pass. Now, my roommate and I are going back down in June, once again under Free Dining (I got a PIN code special offer email). It's booked with 1-day tickets. My roommate will upgrade his to a 7-day ticket for use that week, and I'll save my 1-day ticket for some point in the future.

-Rob

 

[AGentlRose]

The Buy 4, Get 3 is definitely a better deal. Originally I booked 5 nights, room only at the Poly with the AAA discount. When the Buy 4-Get 3 deal came out, I called, and although at first I couldn't get the Poly, I got the Beach Club for 7 nights, which was 2 extra nights plus tickets and the $200 gift card for less than I paid for the original booking. The Poly is my favorite and I kept on trying and eventually got the Poly.