Finally, take a look at the supplementary entertainment and recreation items you can add on to your

It s all but impossible to open the travel section of a major US newspaper and not see several Disney packages offered with language like: Save 20% on a Five Night Stay or Kids Stay Free. With call-outs like these, many packages LOOK fantastic, and indeed some of them are, but it s important to put on your analyst hat to determine whether a package really makes sense for your needs. We re here with tips on how to how to determine the value of a Disney World vacation.
aarp hotel discounts montana In some cases, buying a package makes sense, and in other cases purchasing your vacation aarp hotel discounts montana components separately is more cost effective. Here are some things to think about as you work out your vacation budget and decide whether a Disney vacation package is a good value for your family.
To decide whether to purchase a package, you ll want to compare three versions of your travel elements: the basic, non-discounted price (which you can find on the WDW website) vs. the discounted price of your vacation components purchased separately (hunt for discounts on sites like mousesavers.com) vs. a bundled package price (usually promoted in advertising).
Finding the non-discounted price and the package price are fairly easy, but it s really column two the discounted component price that will tell you if a package makes sense. Most of the information below discusses how to put together equation two.
The most basic Disney vacation package includes a stay in a Disney resort hotel plus theme park tickets . While this seems fairly uncomplicated, even this starter package may include additional items to sweeten the deal. Some recent sweeteners we ve seen include:
The next category aarp hotel discounts montana of packages include a room, park tickets, and a dining aarp hotel discounts montana plan . There are three primary variations on the Disney Dining Plan (all include a refillable mug for each guest age three or older, for use at the resort hotel):
More complicated packages include the Premium and Platinum plans which include allotments of entertainment and recreation items such as golf and tennis, full-service aarp hotel discounts montana spa treatments, Cirque du Soleil tickets, backstage tours, and the like. We re just going to say up front that those super swanky package plans rarely make sense from a financial standpoint.
Some decisions will be easy. For example, if you re traveling with a party of only adults, you won t be using a childcare discount coupon. If you re visiting for just a few days, you may not have time to indulge in a spa treatment.
Other decisions, particularly those involving the dining plan, may necessitate a bit more soul searching or number crunching. For example, you should sort out your personal philosophy about the live to eat vs. eat to live question. If you re in live to eat mode, elaborate table service meals may be a focus of your vacation, whereas eat to live folks may think sit-down meals are a waste of time. Each choice will impact the relative value worth and utility of the Disney package options.
Some package components may seem like a deal, but upon closer inspection some items might be stealth money spenders rather than savers. An example aarp hotel discounts montana of this might be something like an offer of two free DisneyQuest vouchers with a package purchase. If you ve got three people in your party, you may end up spending about $45.00 on person #3 s DisneyQuest admission ticket, when you didn t really have to go there at all. Similarly, 15% off a massage may be a good deal, but not if you hadn t intended on spending $150 on a massage in the first place.
Pay particular attention to this topic if you re considering aarp hotel discounts montana something like a Free Dining offer. You might have been content to eat primarily quick service food during your vacation, but an offer of a free Standard Disney Dining Plan enticed you to book some table service meals. Although the meals themselves may be free with promotions such as this, remember that tips are not included when using the dining plan . The tip for your free table service meal could actually approach the cost of out-of-pocket quick service dining, aarp hotel discounts montana depending on what you order.
Many Disney package offers include a full-time attorney s worth of fine print. aarp hotel discounts montana Common benefit restrictions include time limits on the use of a package component. For example, many packages include blackout dates. If a portion of your intended travel falls during the blackout aarp hotel discounts montana period, you ll be subject to a higher rate for some, or even all, of your vacation. Some resorts or room categories may be excluded from packages or promotions. Even the minor sweetener benefits may have caveats. aarp hotel discounts montana For example, aarp hotel discounts montana your package may include a mini-golf voucher, but that may be of limited value if you re required to use it before 4:00 p.m. when you re likely to be playing in the parks.
In addition to looking at benefit restrictions, the purchase of a package may make you subject to additional constraints on required deposits, cancellation deadlines, payment deadlines, or the refundablity of your vacation payments. Be sure to compare the details of components purchased separately with those found in the package.
Another consideration for packages is that, in most cases, all guests sharing aarp hotel discounts montana a single aarp hotel discounts montana room must be on the same package. For example, if one member of your party (in the same room) is participating in the Disney Dining Plan, all must participate in the same configuration of the plan. This might not make sense if not all party members will be present for the entire duration of the trip or if different party members have markedly aarp hotel discounts montana different eating habits.
Similarly, at DisneyWorld.com click on the Parks and Tickets tab. Then input the number of guests in your party, the number of ticket days you ll need, and any add-ons you ll use such as the Park Hopper or Water Park Fun More option. This will give you a quote for your ticket pricing . Remember, there may be days that you don t need a theme park ticket. If you re spending a day at Universal Studios or SeaWorld, or taking a down day at your resort pool, then you won t need to purchase a theme park ticket for that time period.
The more complicated part of this process is understanding how much you re likely to spend on food . Again, both the Disney Dining Plan and individual Disney food pricing is readily available online but you ll have to do both some soul searching and some math to figure out your baseline food expenditure. To find pricing, head over to the Touring Plans menu pages . You ll find full listings aarp hotel discounts montana of what s available in the Disney World restaurants and how much they cost, don t forget to consider snacks and tipping in your plan. If you have questions about portion size or plating, you may want to visit DisneyFoodBlog.com which has photos of most Disney food items.
Based on your responses, construct a sample plan for your party and price it out using the menu links. We ve done a sample daily food plan to give you some idea or what yours might look like. You should also consider whether having most food paid for in advance gives you a measure of budgetary peace of mind that outweighs a potential cost premium of the Dining aarp hotel discounts montana Plan.
Please aarp hotel discounts montana note that this rough sample one-day aarp hotel discounts montana food plan does not include character dining. Character meals are often prix fixe and often expensive. Including aarp hotel discounts montana a few character aarp hotel discounts montana meals in your sample dining plan can radically alter any food-related equation.
For informational purposes: the 2014 standard Disney Dining Plan (1 snack, 1 QS, 1 TS per night of stay) is $18.88 aarp hotel discounts montana for kids ages 3-9 and $58.66 for all guests ages 10 and up. Children under age three are not eligible for the plan.
Finally, take a look at the supplementary entertainment and recreation items you can add on to your Disney vacation. First time or quick-trip visitors aarp hotel discounts montana may not have many (or any) of these items to add to their vacations, but Disney World veterans may water to take a tour, enjoy some water sports, or indulge in a spa treatment. The inclusion of discounts on any of these items may make a package more or less valuable to an individual guest.
Now that you know the baseline pricing of your Disney trip, take a look for discounts on the individual components of your trip. Mousesavers.com aarp hotel discounts montana is a wonderful resource for locating Disney discount information. Also check the Disney World Special Offers page for current promotions. You ll find more offers listed on the Disney World website if you re logged into your My Disney Experience account and have any Disney affiliations linked there. For example, when I clicked on the Special Offers page when not logged in, I saw three promotional offers listed. When I tried again while logged on, I saw seven offers, including some reserved for Annual Pass and Disney Vacation Club members.
Use the Touring Plans Ticket Calculator to find lower priced Disney park tickets via reputable non-Disney vendors. Reputable non-Disney vendors include Undercover Tourist, Maple Leaf Tickets, OfficialTicketCenter.com and others.
Coupons for restaurants aarp hotel discounts montana on Disney property are often found in the back of Birnbaum s Official Guide to Walt Disney World. (By the way, this is the only acceptable use of the Official Guide. aarp hotel discounts montana For all research and planning purposes, The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World is the way to go. )
When determining your baseline pricing, it can pay to look a bit deeper than just searching for promotional discounts or coupon codes. Tiny tweaks of your vacation plans might make a significant difference. For example, changing your travel dates by a night or two might put you into a different pricing category for your room, your flight, or both. A particularly large savings might make it worthwhile to pull your kids out of school for a bit. Choosing a different resort might change your need for a rental car , potentially reaping savings. Tinker a bit before settling aarp hotel discounts montana on a strategy.
While there are no guarantees about when/if Disney will offer package promotions in the future, there are some packages that tend to show up year after year. Some commonly seen package promo