I like the idea of just calling. I wasn't sure I'd actually get the best deal that way though. Are they really good about actually giving the 'cheapest' scenario? I guess I just assumed they'd try to get the most money.
You need to be aware of costs before you call. They can look up the numbers for you based on your PIN code but they cannot recommend one plan over another.
Yes, they will offer "upsells" to you. More reason to know what your prices are before you call.
Be prepared to book when you call. I've read that some people call with a PIN to get a price and don't book right away. Then when they call back to book, they're told that the PIN is no longer valid.
Here's what you need to do to get you numbers lined up:
- Check the rack rate for your resort. Multiply that by 0.60. That will give you the pre-tax nightly rate with your 40% off discount.
- Multiply that number by 1.125 (1.13 for AllStar resorts) to get the nightly rate with tax.
- Multiply that number by the number of nights you plan to stay. That will be your room portion of the reservation.
- Now, check the gate prices for your tickets. The best chart that I know of is located to AllEars.net http://allears.net/pl/ticketchart.htm because they factor in the taxes for you.
- Add up your ticket prices and combine with your room price to get the cost of a package using your PIN code.
When you call Disney, the prices should be close, but may be higher due to only preferred locations being available or a CM who automatically adds trip insurance to your package. Yes, it's important to tell them that you DO NOT want the trip insurance if you don't wish to purchase it from Disney.
If you need time to think about it once you get a quote from Disney, make the reservation and ask them to invoice you for the deposit rather than pay for it with a CC or debit card over the phone. Don't worry, there are a lot of people who still pay for things with checks or moeny orders and they are used to it.
They will place a courtesy hold on the ressie for a few days while you mull it over. If you don't send them a deposit within a number of days (I can't remember how many off hand but they should tell you), then they will return the room to inventory and cancel the reservation. Doing it this way will prevent the loss of your PIN code. You can always make changes to that reservation if you need to modify your dates, the number of people, the resort, the ticket options or anything else BUT the first person on the reservation. So as long as you are more than 45 days away from your arrival date, you will be okay to make adjustments.
I still like to just call 1407wdisney with questions like this. They can run different scenarios with you. I tried to figure it out myself and got a different $ online that they gave me over phone. Still good, but just a little different...
